| Media is an important medium for audiences to understand the objective world.In a media-oriented society,everyone is influenced and even shaped by media.The media,especially the mass media,convey the value order of the mainstream society through the selective presentation of the media image.As a media spectacle,the Beijing Winter Olympics has attracted the attention of countless audiences around the world in just 16 days.Many of the audiences’ perception of athletes comes from the mass media,so the mass media is crucial to the image building of athletes.In view of this,this paper takes the news reports of Xinhua News Agency,which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee,during the Beijing Winter Olympics as research materials,takes the media image of athletes in the Beijing Winter Olympics as the analysis object,and discusses how Xinhua News Agency reports the athletes as well as the profound meaning construction behind the news reports.Thus,the media image of athletes is summarized.Xinhuanet is the open website of Xinhua News Agency for the public,and it is also the main news report publishing platform of Xinhua News Agency during the Beijing Winter Olympics.Therefore,this paper takes all the reports about athletes on Xinhuanet from February 2 to 20,2022 as the research data,adopts text analysis method and multi-modal discourse analysis as the theoretical tool.The image of athletes presented in the media is systematically and comprehensively analyzed,and finally summarized.With the development of media technology,news reports are no longer limited to words.Pictures and videos have also become important means of expression.Although the theory of multimodal discourse analysis originated from the theory of discourse analysis,it has effectively made up for the deficiencies of discourse analysis in visual symbols such as pictures and videos.Therefore,this study adopts the linguistic modes and visual modes in the theory of multimodal discourse analysis to summarize the media images of athletes.The study found that in terms of language mode,the news report of Xinhuanet mainly presents the competition situation comprehensively through the concept function of language,highlights the dominant position of athletes and the interpretation of the Olympic spirit,and connects the media image of athletes with the image of the nation,shaping a group of hard-working,tenacious and amiable athletes.The interpersonal function of language is mainly embodied in the strong emotional interjection tone and positive and negative modal verbs,which together present the excellent and positive image of athletes’ media.The textual function of language is mainly reflected in focusing on the thematic system of events and athletes,as well as the articulation of transition and causation,which together present a group of athletes who love sports and challenge themselves.In terms of visual mode,the media image of athletes is mainly manifested in the meaning of representation,interaction and composition.Reappearance is the true reflection of the objective world.News reports of Xinhuanet focus on reappearance of athletes’ superb athletic ability and competition details,shaping a group of athletes with excellent athletic ability and solidarity.Interactive meaning shortens the distance between athletes and the audience through four aspects of distance,contact,viewpoint and modality,and shows the media image of athletes as sunny,confident and enterprising.The meaning of composition emphasizes the fairness of the competition and the dominant position of athletes in the media event of Beijing Winter Olympics through the means of framing and significance.Finally,this study summarizes the media images of athletes in Beijing Winter Olympics into four groups: love sports,tenacious struggle,transcendence,excellence and excellence.These images are not only the embodiment of the Olympic spirit,but also the collective pursuit of athletes in the new era. |
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