The Discourse Study Of Xinhua’s English Coverage Of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Under The Perspective Of National Image

Under the trend of information globalization,mass media is not only the authoritative information source but also the participant and executor of international affairs.News reporting is the most powerful and authoritative form of media,which shapes people’s cognition and attitude while conveying information.Therefore,using news reports to build national image has become an important strategy of every national government.Large-scale sports events are powerful channels to improve China’s image,and the Beijing Winter Olympics is an important opportunity to shape and spread China’s image.Xinhua News Agency is China’s national news agency and the official news agency certified by the International Olympic Committee.It plays an important role in international image building and external communication.Xinhuanet is the comprehensive news and information portal of Xinhua News Agency,which carries all the content produced by Xinhua News Agency.Therefore,this paper takes the English reports of Xinhua Net during the Beijing Winter Olympics as the sample,and uses the critical discourse analysis theory as the research method to analyze the shaping of China’s national image by the English reports of Xinhua Net during the Beijing Winter Olympics.This paper analyzes the English coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games by Xinhuanet from the aspects of text,discourse practice and social practice.At the level of text analysis,this paper analyzes the title,theme,transitivity,excessive embellishments and news schema.It is found that the title of Xinhua’s English report on Beijing Winter Olympic Games intuitively presents China’s contribution and efforts.All the reports are mostly centered on six themes: sports,politics,COVID-19 epidemic prevention,culture,economy and environmental protection.In addition,Xinhuanet used a large number of positive words to describe China and the Winter Olympics,portraying China as an active and responsible actor.In terms of discourse practice,this paper explores intertextuality and metaphor.It is found that Xinhua uses a large number of direct and indirect quotes,and clearly introduces the sources and situations of the quotes.In addition,it has formed an intertextual relationship with foreign public opinion and social media.In the metaphorical part,ontology metaphor,direction metaphor,war metaphor,journey metaphor and drama metaphor are used to enrich the expression of discourse and provide material and support for the building of national image.In terms of social practice,from the perspectives of foreign public opinion environment,domestic realistic needs and cultural confidence,the paper analyzes the social factors that influence the news report to shape the national image.Through the discourse study of Xinhua’s English coverage of Beijing Winter Olympics,it is found that Xinhua has shaped China into a socialism country with strong national strength,responsible and enterprising,a sports power full of vitality and unremitting self-improvement,and a friendly,peaceful,profound and open eastern power.From the Angle of the image "self-plastic",Xinhua starts from the facts,multi-dimensions and various ways to build China’s national image,to a certain extent,can break the western stereotype of China,at the same time,it also provides help and support for our country to be increasingly close to the center of the world stage.