A Contrastive Critical Analysis of George Floyd’s Death in China Daily and The New York Times

Abstract

Based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, the paper conducts a critical contrastive analysis of the reports related to George Floyd’s death in China Daily and The New York Times to reveal the hidden positions and ideologies of the Chinese and American media. It is found that at the description stage, China Daily objectively presents the main participants and holds a critical attitude towards the violent law enforcement, while The New York Times portrays George Floyd and the protesters as negative images and affirms the actions of the US police. In the interpretation level, specified sources and direct speeches are used more frequently in both media reports. But China Daily had a wide range of news sources, and a higher percentage of direct speeches than The New York Times. Regarding explanation, social factors and institutional factors contribute to the similarities and differences in constructing images of key players in the two media.