Discourse Analysis Of The News Reports On Huawei 5G In The Times From The Perspective Of Terministic Screen

With the emergence and development of 5G technology,Huawei,which has made continuous technological breakthroughs in the field of 5G,has attracted much attention.The development of Huawei’s 5G technology has caused serious anxiety in western countries,especially the United States.Since 2018,the United States has launched a comprehensive crackdown on Huawei’s 5G technology and called on allies to boycott Huawei,which has greatly impacted whether other European countries,especially Britain,adopt Huawei’s 5G technology.Opportunities and challenges coexist for China’s 5G development,so a fair competitive environment and a positive media environment are urgently needed.In this case,it is of great value to analyze overseas media reports on Huawei 5G,try to clarify the “reality” built for it,and find ways to promote the international communication of 5G technology.Based on Kenneth Burke’s concept of “terministic screen”,this study employs an integrated approach of rhetorical analysis and corpus-assisted discourse analysis to comprehensively analyze the scientific and technological news reports related to Huawei 5G in The Times.News reports from December 1st,2018 to August 31 st,2022 are collected.This study mainly focuses on the following questions:(1)What kind of “reality” has been built for the audience,that is,what kind of terministic screen has been constructed for Huawei 5G in The Times?(2)What influence does the“reality” of Huawei 5G constructed by The Times have,that is,how does the constructed terministic screen influence the audience’s cognition of Huawei 5G?The major findings of this study are as follows.News reports on Huawei 5G in The Times have formed an internally connected and close-knit terministic screen.Huawei is mainly built as a “transnational spy company”,“national security threat”,“intelligence gathering company of the Chinese government”,“bargaining chip of the Sino-US science and technology war” and “technology provider with good quality and low price” by using language means such as selection of words and intertextuality.Huawei’s 5G technology is the “technical supporter” for Huawei to obtain these titles.In terms of theme,The Times mainly focuses on ideological conflict,then followed by economic consequences.Terministic screen contains different keywords.The first five keywords in order of keyness are “Huawei”,“UK”,“network”,“US” and“China”.“Five Eyes Alliance”,“security”,“decisions about Huawei’s 5G technology”and “Sino-US relations” are recurring contexts.National security and technological security attract great attention.Huawei is feared to have risks of espionage,privacy invasion and monitoring of users,which has no actual evidence and technical reasons.The security threat is mainly created by the United States to call on its allies especially the Five Eyes allies including the UK to boycott Huawei,which may be the result of the rising tension in Sino-US relations under the situation of the Sino-US trade dispute.On the whole,the technical image of Huawei 5G in the UK is mainly negative.Although the newspaper has a positive attitude towards Huawei 5G in actual use experience and thinks that Huawei can provide high-quality and low-cost technologies and services,the positive sentimental tendency is relatively small.In terms of intertextuality,The Times uses a large number of specific sources to strengthen its authority in news sources.The top three news sources are Britain,the US and China.This also suggests that the US has a great influence on Britain’s decision on Huawei 5G.Terministic screens used in the construction of Huawei’s 5G “reality” in The Times are linked with each other to form a continuous terministic screen,which has formed a certain effect in the practice of discourse communication.News reporters of The Times integrate their attitude and assessment of Huawei into its discourse,constructing the subjective reality about Huawei 5G that reflects the reporters’ ideologies,and trying to interfere with the audience’s cognition and judgment of Huawei 5G,ultimately aiming at influencing attitude and action.This study explores the British media’s construction of terministic screen for Huawei’s 5G technology,which is helpful to clarify the reasons why the adoption and technology diffusion of China’s 5G technology are blocked,thus providing some suggestions for China’s 5G technology and other science and technology to have better international communication.