A Critical Study Of China's Image In The New York Times

People have long been paying attention to American news reports related to China. It is actually China's image in American media that people focus on. Nowadays people mainly get to know a country through news media. American news media, with its strong economic strength, rich communication experience and advanced transmission means, occupy a dominant position in the world. Therefore, the international reports in American news media are vital to form a nation's image. However, American news reports about China are mostly negative. These negative reports not only affect the objective understanding of China by people in other nations, but also make China in an unfavorable position in global affairs.The thesis carries out an examination of China's image reported in the New York Times through critically analyzing the news reports in the first six months of the year 2006. The thesis tries to expose China's image in American news media as well as to find out the reasons for these negative reports. The thesis uses Fairclough's three-dimensional model and Halliday's functional grammar model to analyze three news reports related to China, the topics of which appear in the New York Times most frequently in the first half year of 2006. Through a discussion of the research findings, the thesis concludes that there exist negative attitudes in the New York Times in its representations of China. The news in the New York Times demonizes the Chinese government as a dictatorial party that treats its people rudely and severely. There is no democracy in China. These negative descriptions of China not only impose derogatory impressions on the American readers but damage China's reputation in the world. The reasons for these negative attitudes are the foreign policies made by the American administration; the political, economic and cultural differences between the two countries. Besides, the different understanding of news reporting of the journalists in two countries and their lack of communication also lead to America's negative reports about China. Finally, the thesis proposes measures that China should take to help America to report China more objectively, and suggests the theoretical and practical implications of the study.