Rhetorical Comparison Of Print News Writing In China And The West

This thesis is a comparative study of rhetorical differences in print news writing between China and the west, which develops in three aspects: invention, organization and style.Studies show that there are many differences in invention. Chinese newspapers focus on the positive reports while western journalists focus on negative reports, as a result, some Chinese news stories lack necessary background information while western journalists attach importance to the role of background, providing sufficient background. Besides, some Chinese reporters stop on the first level of news, that is, who, what, when and where, while western reports focus on how, why and the impacts.Relatively speaking, the overall arrangement of news stories shows fewer differences between China and the west. The lead in hard news shows differences in what elements are chosen and projected. Besides, Chinese news stories about meetings follow a strict and dull structure without much variation, while western news stories are structured in various ways.As to the style, there remain some differences in diction and paragraphing. Some Chinese news stories are written in journalese and gobbledygook, telling readers the news, while western journalists write in plain language, showing readers the news; Chinese news stories tend to be of long paragraphs with a complete unit of thought, while western news stories are usually divided into short paragraphs with something new following.There are some reasons for these rhetorical differences. Chinese journalists focus on the function of propaganda and base their judgment of newsworthiness on whether...