An Analysis Of English-based News Discourse’s Persuasive Effects Towards Its Audiences

In our age of "media bombardment", news-and with it the journalistic rhetoric-has become an important part in people’s daily life. And Jack Fuller, former editor-in-chief, president and CEO of Chicago Tribune and a winner of Pulitzer Prize, once observed "There is no one in any career who pays more attention to rhetoric than a news writer"(Zhan,1999). News discourse is, in the final analysis, a rhetorical discourse which performs not only the informative function but also the persuasive function. Yet people in general have long tended to regard informing as the primary function of news discourse while ignoring its persuasive function. This is in great part due to the fact that news writers imperceptibly apply rhetorical resources to the writing of their reports on news events, so as to make the audiences believe what they read about from the media are true accounts.Western media claim that they reject "rhetoric" and that they uphold the principles of "objectivity","fairness" and "freedom." This thesis takes a close look at how western mainstream media, such as the Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times and Nature reported on Chinese female swimmer Ye Shiwen’s winning of championship in the400IM in2012London Olympic Games. Using this as an example and applying western rhetorical resources to a close examination of the case, the paper means to throw light on the biases that necessarily lie under western news discourse and the rhetorical devices it employs to cover them up. Since journalism has become a crucial part of a country’s "soft power," playing an increasingly important role in disseminating the mainstream values of the society and in improving the country’s image, this study is expected to add to China’s sophistication in dealing with western news reports and to its competence in using internationally oriented news to enhance its "soft power."...