A Critical Discourse Analysis on News Reports abroad about Human Rights of China

【Abstract】：Critical Discourse Analysis （CDA） is a mode of discourse analysis originated from western linguistic field. Through analyzing texts， discourse practice and social practice， it aims to reveal the hidden ideology and power relations in the discourse. News report， as a kind of influential public discourse， has long been paid attention to by CDA researchers. Based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional model and Halliday’s systemic-functional grammar， this paper analyzes the two news report about human rights from the Washington Post and the Telegraph， trying to interpret the hidden power relations and guidance of the ideology of the mass media.

【Key words】： CDA， social practice， human rights， ideology

Critical Discourse Analysis （CDA） is a mode of discourse analysis originated from western linguistic field. It aims to reveal the hidden ideology and power relations in the discourse through analyzing texts， discourse practice and social practice. This paper elaborates the critical analysis of two news reports from the Washington Post and the Telegraph. Both are about the human rights of China. It gives a description of the texts， an interpretation to the news process， and an explanation to the hidden ideology and power from the social context in the news discourse.

1 Analysis from aspect of Ideational function

The ideational function of language is concerned with the expression of context and the transmission of information. Through the ideational function of language， the speaker or writer expresses his experience of the outside world and his internal world， such as his thought， beliefs and feelings. In this paper， ideational function analysis is mainly based on the analysis of transitivity and vocabulary.

1.1 From transitivity

Transitivity is the way through which Halliday’s ideoational function works. It is a grammar of processes： material process， mental process， relational process， behavioral process， verbal process and existential process. In other words， transitivity refers to how meaning is represented in a clause （Halliday， 2000）.

The material process is identified with verbs like “doing”， “happening”， “being”， “exist”， etc. That is to inform people what is happening. In the news The Olympics gives China a second chance at human rights reforms， there’s words：

“Sure， there were some “spontaneous” celebrations， in which hordes of dancers just happened to show up in identical costumes performing synchronized moves conveniently in view of nearby state-run TV station cameras.”

The words “there were” “performing” represents the material process and seems to draw a picture of what was happening. According to Halliday， “A fundamental property of language is that it enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality.”

The verbal process is a process of saying， which mainly realized by words like “say”， “report”， etc. The example

“As was Yang Chunlin， who was sentenced to five years after organizing a petition saying， “We want human rights， not the Olympics.” Huang Qi， who wrote about the victims of the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008， got three years.”

With these direct quoted words， it makes the most reliable sources of the news.

Relational process， as a process of being， is appropriate to explain the complex relationships between some abstract items because it sounds definite （HuZhuanglin， 1988）. As a result， the process accounts for a large proportion in these addresses to elaborate the relationship between traditional ideals and their beliefs.

Mental processing is a process of feeling， thinking and seeing. And actor is not the real subject of doing， but the feeling. It represents inner experience， such as perception， reaction and cognition. We call the two participants are sensor and phenomenon. For example，

“So it is reasonable to think that anyone who cares about human rights may be wary about giving Beijing yet another excuse to stamp out dissent.”

The sensor is “anyone”， the mental process is “care about” and the phenomenon is “human rights”. From this example， it can be seen that mental process， as a process of sensing， appeals to the readers’ inner heart to connect the emotions that the writer proposed. In this way， the audience;s emotion of concerning about human rights is aroused and strengthened.

1.2 From vocabulary

As talked about previously in this paper， language reflects power， ideology， and relations of the society， and news report mostly is the voice of government or the ruling party. Besides the objectivity it seems to show， the vocabulary it chooses reflects the hidden view of the writer. For example， the words were copied from a report which talks about the fact that China won the right to hold the 2022 Winter Olympic Games， but about the human right， what it reported can obviously show the bias of the writer.

Example 1：

“The last time Beijing was selected to host the Olympics， in 2001 for the 2008 Summer Games， ebullient locals burst into the public squares， cheering and singing. The response here this time around， after Friday’s announcement of the city’s selection for the 2022 Winter Games， was slightly less . . . euphoric.”

The adverb “slightly” originally means to some degree but not to a very large degree. In news report， writers suppose to use nouns and verbs， instead of large amount of adjectives and adverbs， to describe the event for the objectivity of the news. The principle is called nominalization. However， in this paragraph， the writer use “slightly”， seems to indicate the small amount of degree of the joy Chinese people show. But actually this word caused a opposite effect that the writer wants to express： the reaction of Chinese people after this event is much too peaceful， in a ironical way.

Example 2：

“Explanations abound for the underwhelming response. Maybe the prevalence of social media atomized the celebrations by giving people other， cellphone-bound outlets for their effusion. Maybe locals just aren’t that into winter sports. Maybe hosting the biggest international sporting event is old hat by now， especially when there’s so little competition from other cities （or in this case， city， singular： Almaty， Kazakhstan， was the only other contender for the 2022 Winter Games）.

Or maybe Beijingers just have other things on their minds， given the economic slowdown and the recent plunge in the stock market.”

The reason for the underwhelming response of Chinese people can be listed as four “maybe”s. Maybe supposes to mean the uncertainty of the speaker， but here the writer just convey the opposite information of that the writer believes that the maybes to be true. In other words， the writer imperceptibly force the reader to accept these reasons， which may arise the emotion about the indifference of Chinese people.

Example 3：

“Last time Beijing was selected as the host city， there were， understandably， concerns about China’s checkered human rights record. But China’s leaders promised that the event would lead to reforms.”

It is what the article really want to talk about： the “poor” conditions of China’s human rights. The word “understandably” make the closer relationship with the readers. But it convey the information that it is a fact that the unsatisfactory condition of human right in China is obvious and agreed by everyone. But clearly， there’s no standard regulations of human right in the world and the so-called satisfactory human right condition comes from the “human right defender”， which is a lie in the eyes of many domestic citizens.

2 Analysis from aspect of Interpersonal function

The interpersonal function should be realized by the modality. It expresses personal personal wills obligations and presumptions of the event. In news reports， the modality reflects the reporters’ opinions and the standpoint the media represents. Modality can be realized by modal verbs， modal adverbs， and modal adjectives and so on. Following are examples：

Example 1：

“For some Chinese， though， recent history may provide a more compelling reason to curb their enthusiasm about hosting another global sporting event.”

Example 2：

“The eyes of the world would be upon China， after all; what choice would its government have but to respect human rights？ ”

Example 3：

“Last time Beijing was selected as the host city， there were， understandably， concerns about China’s checkered human rights record. But China’s leaders promised that the event would lead to reforms.”

The modal verbs “may” “would” “would” in the three examples implies the certainty although these are all modal words that express the uncertainty oppositely. It is the euphemistic way to judge human right condition in China： it did not promote before and although the whole world’s eyes are on this issue in China， it is still a question that whether China could keep its promise.

3 Analysis from aspect of Textual function

The textual function is realized by theme-rheme roles. Thematic choices reveal the focus of the discourse and gives prominence to certain participants. The reporter gets the reader’s attention to a certain topic by placing the participant at the place of theme. The starting point of the clause represents the reporter’s attention to the event. The point of departure implies the reporter’s ideological attitude.

Example 1：

“The eyes of the world would be upon China， after all; what choice would its government have but to respect human rights？”

Example 2：

“This indifference set a precedent that emboldened other harsh regimes staging international sporting events， including Russia， host of the 2014 Winter Olympics， and Qatar， host of the 2022 World Cup. ”

Example 3：

“The last time Beijing was selected to host the Olympics， in 2001 for the 2008 Summer Games， ebullient locals burst into the public squares， cheering and singing. ”

In the last example， passivization is a means of thematization by putting the receiver of the action in the theme place to make it prominent. “The eyes of the world” and “this indifference” is the strategy that put some words in the place of theme which convey the information the readers already know. But obviously it is the attitude the media holds， not the real fact that every reader may agree.

This paper investigated the linguistic features and discursive effects of two samples from the Washington Post and the Telegraph and interpreted the hidden power and ideology in the news. In a broader way， this paper takes that CDA a good way to interpret news report， which should be paid more attention on. The mass media is the important transmitter of ideology which is conveyed by news report. Thus， the interpreting of news report could help researchers understand the power distribution and the dispute of different of ideology， which will in turn help the public to recognize the nature of the mass media and construct their own value system so that a more equal， and fair society will be built.

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