A Comparative Study On The Same Event From The Perspective Of Critical Discourse Analysis

News report is an important channel for people to acquire information.Despite the fact that news reports try to be objective, Hodge and Kress believe newsreporters may use language strategies to represent their own attitudes and stance.The ideologies of certain social entities the reports belong to exert significant effect onthe choice of language, in an attempt to influence and control the readers by concealingtheir ideologies. Therefore, readers need to make critical reading in face of the newsreports, not just mechanically or passively accept the information, but explore thedeeper reasons behind the news reports.The news samples in this thesis are selected from China Daily and New York Times,concerning the reports on Korean peninsular issues. Within the framework ofFairclough’s Three-dimensional modal, the present thesis unveils the relationshipbetween language and ideologies behind it, with Halliday’s Systemic FunctionalGrammar as an analytical tool.From analysis, words with commendatory meanings are used to describe the US-ROKjoint military exercise, however, words with derogatory connotations to modify NorthKorea in New York Times. By contrast, more negative words are preferred by ChinaDaily to describe US and US-ROK military drills. More neutral words are employed inthe description of DPRK.In terms of transitivity, material process occupies an overwhelmingly large proportion inboth news discourses to enhance the objectiveness. However, they are applied todifferent aspects in reporting the event, indicating the different attitudes towards theevent.Nominalization and passive voices, the two devices of transformation can also be foundin both news reports with the purpose to improve the impersonal effect.Direct and indirect speeches are widely adopted to boost the objectiveness as well.However, the discrepancy in information and other aspects represent the differentideologies hidden behind the news discourses.In conclusion, news reports are not transparent medium for communication. They are influenced by the social and cultural factors. Even the reports on the same event may becovered differently. Thus people should raise their critical reading awareness and have abetter understanding of the news reported and not manipulated by the news media.Besides, the critical discourse analysis attaches great importance to English teaching.The combination of social and cultural background and reading teaching can cultivatestudents’ critical awareness.