A Comparative Analysis of Engagement Resources in News Reports on Korean Nuclear Issue between China Daily and The Washington Post

DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L318.274

Authors: Lei Yue, Yi Zhang, Jiayu Wang

Abstract: By Appraisal Theory, this study aims to compare engagement resources used in news reports on Korean Nuclear Issue from Chinese and American newspapers. The author compiled two small corpora including ten news reports from China Daily and ten news reports from The Washington Post, and calculating frequencies of engagement resources. The result showed that there appeared more dialogic expansion than dialogic contraction. Regarding dialogic expansion, China daily used more attribute resources while The Washington Post employed more entertain resources. Within dialogic contraction, disclaim occupies a large part in both two newspapers while proclaim occupies a little, however, more specifically, deny resources are more applied in Chinese news reports and counter resources are frequently used in American news report. Moreover, it is found that differences in the distribution and usage of engagement resources in two newspapers are triggered by cultural background and political ideology.

Keywords: appraisal theory; engagement resources; news reports