| As a member of the family of vague language, hedge was introduced and analyzed first by G. Lakoff in 1972. Frascr, Brown & Levinson, Hubler. Resell, ete. analyzed hedge from different aspects. Scholars in our country also did some researches on some functions of hedge since 1980s. But the research of vagueness in news is very little and the research of hedges in news is fewer.Hedge is a phenomenon of the vagueness in language. After the author analyzed what causes the vagueness of language, this thesis introduced different categorization of hedges. According to E. F.Prince ct al, from pragmatic aspect, there are two types: approximates and shields, their difference is whether it affects the truth-value of proposition. This thesis also analyzed four semantic features of hedge. They are cancelability, markedness, indefinitencss and indirectness.As a mass media, news has an important position in people's daily life. It requests the latest information in the shortest time. News emphasis accuracy which is the most important element of news. Can it allow hedges, a kind of vagueness, exist in it? The answer is positive. Through analyzing a number of news material, the author found that lacking of information, no needing of specific information, avoiding absolulizalion, being objective, timeliness and being briefly arc the reasons for the existence of hedges in News. According to faclualncss (i.e. the fact or information a piece of news contains), news can be divided into three levels: Pure Hard News, Feature Articles and Pure Soft News. Through statistic analysis of hedge in 64 pieces of news (include 21 pieces of pure hard news. 23 pieces of feature articles and 20 pieces of pure soft news), the author found the more the factualncss of a piece of news is, the higher the accuracy and timeliness that news requests, the more hedges may that news has. The frequency of hedge in these three levels is descending.Lastly, by using the Co-operative Principle of (iricc's Conversational Implicating Theory, the author analyzed the pragmatic functions of hedges in news. Usually, hedges' flouting of one maxim is just in order to obey anther maxim. After comparison, it is found that combined use of approximalors and shields is belter than single use. The author found that hedges can achieve the pragmatic functions of increasing the creditabilily of news, making news briefer, protecting reporters themselves and being polite.So, news not only permits the existence of hedge but also relies on it to rcllcct the truthfulness, reliability, objectivity and timeliness. Having an all-around and deep exploration of hedges in news not only promote the research of semantics and pragmatics but also be propitious to correct use of hedges in news.
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