A Different China in the Guardian and China Daily: Some Linguistic Components Related to Different Perspectives in Newspapers

Usually different media have different perspectives and positions. The diversity may be noticeable when media are from different countries with different regimes and cultures. The author compared news reports about the same event related to China in two influential newspapers: The Guardian and China Daily from the perspective of a linguist to find different perspectives and how they are expressed. The domains of Critical Discourse Analysis and System-Functional Linguistics are mainly related. Labov?s six elements about narrative structure and Halliday?s transitivity contribute most to the methodology. The author finds that abstract and complicating actions are the only two obligatory elements while others among Labov?s six elements are optional elements. Moreover, Halliday?s transitivity contributes diversely to the bias in a news report. In addition, this research shows that active voice and transactive verbs are the mainstream in news reports, which implies that journalists attach great importance to actors and actions in a news event. This book will be useful for students and researchers on linguistics and newspaper study.