A Discursive Analysis of Identity in Newspaper Reports

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Abstract：Adopting the Critical Discourse Analysis approach, this paper sets out to analyze the underlying reasons that cause the differences between two Chinese newspapers -- Qianjiang Evening News and China Daily, both of which are concerning the Chinese player Wu Peng’s winning the 200-meter butterfly at the World Short-course Championship. The identity of both the newspaper itself and its readership will be analyzed to explore the relationship between identity and reporting strategies.

Key words：critical discourse analysis; identity; genre mixing

中图分类号： H315.9 文献标识码： A 文章编号：1672-1578（2012)08-0001-02

1 Introduction

Drawing from linguistic theory and social theory, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an approach to the study of language and discourses in social use. From the perspectives of genre, intertexuality and the context of texts, etc., the CDA theorists explore how social relations, identity, knowledge, power, etc., are constructed through Discourse.

One significant use of methodologies within CDA has been in the investigation of how texts position readers to view events in a particular way. Thus Critical News Analysis comes to be an important aspect. As an indispensable tool in people’s daily life, newspaper reports not only serve as a mirror reflecting social life but also take an active part in the process of making social changes as well as constructing new social identities, which is defined as “the socially defined, publicly visible embodied being, endowed with all kinds of powers and capacities for public, meaningful action” and “the private experience of being an origin of one’s perception, the constant, ongoing phenomenological center of one's existence” respectively.[1]

As an indispensable everyday practice,Discourse constitutes, reproduces and transforms social identities and relations, which can be easily traced in newspaper reports. Every newspaper has its own orientation and readership, and thus decides its discourses, which in turn, help to mold social identities.

2 Analysis

2.1 identity of the newspaper

In Wupeng’s case, we can not avoid talking about the function of national identity, which is created by Discourse. Wodak holds the view that national identity is a sort of habitus.[2]Our sense of national identity such as national pride or humiliation is molded by discourses and discursive actions since ideas, concepts and perception schemes are created by discourse.

As state-owned newspapers, both China Daily and Qianjiang Evening News carry inspiring titles and large colorful pictures of the champion to emphasize the importance of the event and boost a national pride. The former puts the story in the front page while the latter not only spares a whole page to carry the story but also adopts light green as its back color to create a celebrating atmosphere. The red star on the horizontal subtitle can be regarded as a hidden implication of the national flag. Such typeset delivers a hidden message: Wu’s winning the championship is a national glory. Thus the national identity is emphasized here: we are Chinese, though we are not acquainted with Wu Peng, we should at least know what he has done and be proud of him.

2.2 identity of the readership

Qianjiang Evening News is a local newspaper with large circulation. As a Chinese newspaper with Hangzhounese as its main readers, it aims to cater to the reading expectations of the local people. We can trace the flavor of traditional model of agitation propaganda in this report. First, the large title emphasizes Wu’s “bonze fracture” with an exclamation mark, which is not only a way of expressing the author’s strong personal emotion, but also a device of raising readers’ receptivity. Second, the whole passage is loaded with subjective expressions and vague words, which serve to fulfill the task of gaining the readers’ resonance. Take the opening paragraph for example:

Filled with ecstasy, Wu Peng raised his hands to make his typical “No.1” hand sign again and again, more powerful and ambitious than before. The time he touched the wall of the natatorium he knew that there was no need to look at the screen this time for the gold medal would definitely go to nobody but him. (My Translation)

It is more like part of a fictional story than a piece of news report due to its subjective description. How can the journalist know what Wu Peng was thinking about when he reached the goal? And the words “powerful” and “ambitious” are too flexible to be accurate and objective: what is the standard of judging which hand sign is more “powerful” and “ambitious” than another? Such descriptions reveal the author’s intention of creating an ideal “model” for readers to worship and to enhance their national pride.

Besides, the contents are also typically Chinese. The whole passage is divided into five parts: 1) the description of Wu’s mother takes about one fifth. The author tries to indicate an intimate mother-son relationship: Wu waves to his mother as soon as he steps out of the pool, which indicates that he regards his mother as the most important person and bears her in mind during the competition; his mother goes to Shanghai to watch his son’s play and expresses her confidence in Wu. “I never give him any pressure or set any goal for him. I would be content as far as he tries his best.” A loving mother has thus been “created”. Since family is highly valued in the traditional Chinese culture, such details would help to describe Wu as a morally sound hero, a step also serving for the propagandistic purpose. 2) Wu expressed his ambition of outperforming the Olympic champion, but in a quite conservative and modesty way. “Wu modestly expressed that since Phelps has not taken part in the competition, the gold medal he got is not as heavy as the Olympic medal.” While confirming Wu’s ability, this report praises Wu’s modesty, which is considered as a virtue in the Chinese society. This also helps to build up an image of a hero. But in the following paragraph, the journalist indicates Wu’s content with his record and depicts his ambition of outperforming Phelps, emphasizing that Wu told him “privately”. Here we can detect mixed discourses. With China’s integration into the world economy, more and more people are influenced by western values either consciously or unconsciously. On the one hand, the author cherishes western ambition and confidence; on the other hand he or she is engraved with traditional judging standard. Thus a hero possessing both “modern” spirit and “traditional” value is “born” and it seems that both elder and younger readers can be satisfied. 3) Report on Wu’s bone fracture takes up another one fifth of the space. “Most people did not know that Wu has got injured and he seldom mentioned it before the competition.” Such contents aim to indicate Wu’s strong willpower and his virtue of bearing sufferings alone, which is also a highly valued virtue in China.

This report also enhances local pride on the readers by mentioning Wu’s identity as a Hangzhounese in the second paragraph. To certain extent, the descriptions of Wu’s mother and his “private” talk with the reporter also tend to help create an impression of intimacy between Wu and the journalist.

On the other hand, China Daily takes foreigners as its main readers. Besides reporting important events, it also shoulders the mission of building Chinese images, or more accurately, of “selling” the national concepts to the westerners. To make it more acceptable to foreign readers, it integrates western discourses with its own. Thus reports in China Daily are more neutral and fact-based.

First, the diction of this report is objective and less vague. Though also embedded with comments, they are based on facts rather than the reporter’s mere imagination. The following is its opening paragraph:

“Like Olympic hurdles champion Liu Xiang, China’s swimming sensation Wu Peng proved that Chinese men can scale the heights of the sporting world with a historic victory in the 200-metre butterfly at the World Short-course Championships here yesterday.”

While Qianjiang Evening News starts with a story-telling style by depicting Wu Peng’s psychology (though totally based on the reporter’s imagination), China Daily’s matter-of-fact attitude makes a more convincing opening. But still, the sense of national pride can be traced. Phrases such as “Liu Xiang”, “scale the heights of the sporting world” and “historic victory” are emotion stirring. The image of Wu Peng as a national hero is built through a low-key way: the author compared it with Liu Xiang, a now widely-recognized national hero.

Second, the focus is on the game itself without mentioning other irrelevant things. Besides introducing Wu’s victory, it also provides information such as the silver and bronze medal winners of the 200-meter butterfly and 1,500m free-style, the top three countries of the medal table, etc. In general, this report is less “we” focused than that of Qianjiang Evening News because foreigners would be fed up with obvious self-centered promotion.

Third, this report depicts a more confident Wu when quoting his remarks. The following are some examples:

1)“We have definitely proved ourselves at the international stage,” said a delighted Wu.

2)“I think Asian swimmers have a better chance in long-distance swims compared with European and American athletes.”

3)“Tonight’s victory is a huge boost to my confidence,” he said. “I am just thrilled.”

The above sentences help to constitute a self-confident player with positive attitude. It caters to the aesthetic appreciation of western readers.

But since all forms of collective identity are culturally produced, this report can not avoid the influence of Chinese discourses. Wu’s sense of collectivism is highlighted when he says “not only myself, my teammate Zhang Lin can also do it”. And his modesty is revealed when he says“I know it would be hard for me to win a medal in 2008 even if I swim like tonight because some big stars are missing from the tournament”. Under the veil of western form and concepts, traditional Chinese values are remained and consequently mixed discourses are produced.

3 Conclusion

Discourse is the reproduction of existing social relations and structure including identity. As a discourse-bearing device, Newspaper expresses the identities of the institution and readership. In this context, Chinese national identity is clearly shown in both reports, whether it applies a traditional eastern or modern western form. People’s discursive actions are shaped by historical discourses without which they would lose their own identity; on the other hand, modern society has stimulated them to create new discourses to constitute and construct their society. In newspaper reporting, identity of both the newspaper itself and its readership is an important perspective that constructs its peculiar style and content. Since Qianjiang Evening News and China Daily are both state-owned newspapers, they naturally share similarities due to social and historical reasons. But still, they differ greatly both structurally and quantitatively due to their different orientations. By analyzing the discursive narratives of the two newspapers and the extent to which they are defined at a local or global level, we can find the great influence of identity on news discourse.

References：

[1]Gover, Mark R. and James Gavelek, Persons and Selves: The Dialectic of Identity [OB/OL].www.msu.edu/user/ govermar/ident.htm, 2006-01/2006-05.

[2]Rudolf De,Cillia, Reisigal Martin and Ruth Wodak, The Discursive Construction of National Identities[J]. Discourse and Society, 2 (10): 149-173.

[3]Yamaguchi,Masataka,Discursive Representation and Enactment of National Identities: the Case of Generation 1.5 Japanese [J].Discourse and Society 2 (16): 269-299.

[4]黄敏.新闻作为话语——新闻报道话语分析的一个实例[J]. 新闻大学学报,4(2004):27-34.

[5]托伊恩·A.梵·迪克.作为话语的新闻[M].北京: 华夏出版社,2003.