A Study Of The Changing Discourse In The Coverage Of Marriage And Childbirth Issues In China Women’s Daily

Population is a long-term,global and strategic issue facing China,and marriage and fertility are closely related issues.Over the past decade,China has continued to adjust and improve its fertility policy in accordance with the trend of demographic development,scientifically grasping the law of development and actively responding to social expectations.At this critical period of demographic transformation,the mainstream media should do a good job of interpreting the policy,guiding public opinion and educating the nation at the right time.As the mainstream media in China and the only women’s daily in the country,China Women’s Daily has continued to focus on the issue of marriage and childbirth,was founded early and has a strong authority,and plays an important role in the promotion and interpretation of marriage and childbirth policies.This paper based on Van Dijk’s discourse analysis theory,first makes a retrospective overview of the marriage and childbirth policy and the basic situation of China Women’s Daily during the period 2014--2022,in order to prepare the knowledge for the later study.Then,after collecting and collating the marriage and childbirth reports of China Women’s Daily,the quantitative research method was used to systematically sort out and analyse the reports in detail according to their form and content,and to study the changes in their discourse from both macro and micro perspectives.In terms of macro discourse changes,we found that the theme of China Women’s Daily’s coverage of marriage and childbirth has shifted from social to government activities,the structure of coverage has shifted from traditional linear to flexible non-linear,the sentiment of discourse has shifted from positive and optimistic to neutral and objective,the policy orientation of discourse has deepened,and the style of discourse has shifted from serious to soft.The study then explores the characteristics of marriage and fertility coverage through the study of high-frequency words and co-occurring words.However,there are still problems in the discourse change of marriage and childbirth reports,such as the lack of diversified sources of discourse,unbalanced subjects,single perspective of discourse,lack of feedback paths for the public,and less in-depth exploration of marriage and childbirth culture.Taking into account the policy background and the characteristics of the newspaper,China Women’s Daily should improve its coverage of marriage issues by broadening the sources of news,balancing the subjects of the discourse and getting closer to the public discourse,providing a platform for feedback,strengthening in-depth reporting,and strengthening the guidance of public opinion.