Transitivity Analysis Of The News Reports On Diaoyu Islands Issues In Chinese And American Media

News, as an important non-literary discourse, is supposed to report events and convey information objectively and fairly. However, being affected by the ideology, views and attitudes of the writers and social cultural backgrounds, news reports are not always objective and fair. Since the Diaoyu Islands dispute on September 7, 2010, news media all over the world have paid continuous attention to this issue, and the news reports from different media are embedded with different positions and views. The study applies Halliday’s transitivity system to conduct a comparative analysis on sixty news reports on Diaoyu Islands issues on the websites of CNN and China Daily from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. The findings of the research are as follows.The news reports on the Diaoyu Islands in American and Chinese media adopted five transitivity processes, namely, material processes, mental processes, verbal processes, relational processes and existential processes. Among them, material processes took up the largest proportion, followed by verbal processes and relational processes, and then, mental processes and existential processes. In terms of the difference of process types in news reports in CNN and China Daily, more mental and verbal processes were adopted by CNN news reports than CD news reports. No significant differences were found in the use of the other three process types. Analyzing each process type, this study reveals the hidden ideology, attitudes and views of the two news Agencies. With regard to the analysis of each process type, CNN attempted to justify Japan’s illegal detention of the captain and crew and illegal purchase of the Diaoyu Islands and supported Japan’s territorial sovereignty over Diaoyu Islands and presented an unfavorable picture of Chinese government, while China Daily described the determination of the Chinese government and its people to firmly safeguard its territory and also made clear that Japan’s illegal detention of the captain and crew and illegal purchase of the Diaoyu Islands seriously violated China’s rights and interests, and Japan should bear the main responsibility.The study proved that Halliday’ transitivity system is an effective tool for analysis of news reports; on the other hand, the study may help readers read news reports critically, and understand the hidden meaning behind news reports.