| Discourse is part of social practice,and news reports reflect various social realities in the objective world.Critical Discourse Analysis explores the relationship between language,power and ideology by analyzing the linguistic features of the discourse and the social and historical context of the discourse.Although Critical Discourse Analysis has been used in the analysis of news reports in previous studies,the Belt and Road initiative as a hot topic in recent years deserves further study.Since President Xi Jinping formally proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013,it has become the focus of attention around the world.The United States,as an important superpower,has an important influence on the international order.Therefore,it is of great significance to study the reports about Belt and Road initiative of the mainstream media in the United State.This thesis uses the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis combining Fairclough’s three-dimensional model in discourse analysis and Halliday’s Systemic-functional grammar.It takes the related reports of The Washington Post as samples.The fifteen selected news reports are analyzed from the following four perspectives:modality(tense,direct/indirect speech);transitivity(material process,verbal process,mental process and relational process);presupposition and metaphor.This thesis explores issues such as how the mainstream American media builds the image of China’s Belt and Road initiative and what images of the Belt and Road initiative has been constructed and what kind of social ideology exists behind the construction of images.The findings are as follows:1)The news reports cannot be completely objective and fair.In the seemingly objective reports,reporters’ subjective attitude is hidden.This thesis reveals the subjectivity of news reports through the perspectives of modality,transitivity metaphor and intertextuality.2)By analyzing the news samples from four aspects,it is found that reporters intentionally use different tenses and speeches in news discourse to hide subjective stance and attitude that are influenced by ideology and power relations.Moreover,the mainstream media in the United States has some presuppositions on the "One Belt and One Road Initiative" and through selective use of sources the subjective evaluation appears as seemingly objective and neutral reports so it has a subtle effect on the formation of public awareness.Therefore,readers must have a critical awareness and adopt objective judgments on news discourse.3)The Washington Post molds China’s "Belt and Road" initiative into an image of hegemony with colonial expansion and interests first.It holds the attitude of suspicion and hostility toward China’s development.Behind this attitude it is closely related to the American ideology,the competition between China and the United States and the "China threat theory" existing in American society.The significance of this research is mainly reflected in two aspects.In a theoretical sense,this thesis reveals the inner attitudes under the surface of news discourse by using critical discourse analysis theory,which enriches the theoretical application of critical discourse analysis.In practical terms,the findings of this study help to cultivate readers’ critical awareness and take a more objective view on news reports. |
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