A Critical Discourse Analysis of Different News Reports on the Same Event: Illustrated with Examples from <i>China Daily</i> and <i>The Guardian</i>

Abstract

Since the 1970s, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has been widely applied to the analysis of news reports. News report, as a kind of public discourse, conveys its state’s political position and ideology and influences its readers’ opinions. The study takes Fairclough’s Three-dimensional Model as theoretical framework, analyzing and comparing 10 reports from The Guardian and China Daily (5 samples each) from the perspectives of wording, modality, news sources, and sociohistorical contexts. Through analysis, the study attempts to illustrate different images constructed in the two media and the two newspapers’ different attitudes towards the Extradition Bill Incident. The results show that the news reports in China Daily and The Guardian do differ a lot. The Guardian uses a bunch of derogatory words to describe the police, while deliberately filters information to glorify the criminal actions of the protesters; it uses “may” and “would” to impose groundless speculation on Chinese central government and adopts protesters’ remarks for many times. The Guardian shapes a righteous and brave image of protesters, and a brutal image of police, expressing its support for protesters. China Daily shows the efforts the police have made for the peace of Hong Kong and the wrongdoings of protesters with substantial behavioral descriptions; it uses “will”, “should” and “must” to show China’s resolution and action to wind down the riots, and express strong condemnation for what the protesters have done, building a positive and responsible image of the police.