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Article published In: Chinese Language and Discourse
Vol. 11:2 (2020) ► pp.198–225

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Televised confessions in the People’s Republic of China

A multimodal analysis of lexical grammar, gaze, and identity

 | University of California
Published online: 24 November 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.20006.car
Abstract
This study examines the use of lexical grammar and gaze in three televised confession news segments discussing national identity shown on PRC state-backed media in 2016. It aims to apply discourse analysis methodologies previously used to study PRC mass media (Fang, Yew-Jin. 1994. “‘Riots’ and Demonstrations in the Chinese Press: A Case Study of Language and Ideology.” In Discourse & Society, 5(4), 463–481. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2001. “Reporting the Same Events? A Critical Analysis of Chinese Print News Media Texts.” In Discourse & Society, 12(5), 585–613. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Feng, Debing. 2013. “National Voice: A Discourse Analysis of China Central Television’s News Simulcast.” In Discourse & Society, 7(3), 255–273.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2016. “Doing ‘Authentic’ News: Voices, forms, and strategies in presenting television news.” In International Journal of Communication, 101, 4239–4257.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Renwick, Neil, and Qing Cao. 1999. “China’s Political Discourse Towards the 21st century: Victimhood, Identity, and Political Power.” In East Asia 171, 111–143. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) to subject matter previously researched mainly in other disciplines (Leung, Janny H. C. 2017. “Publicity Stunts, Power Play, and Information Warfare in Mediatized Public Confessions.” Law and Humanities, 11(1), 82–101. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Fiskesjö, Magnus. 2017. “The Return of the Show Trial: China’s Televised ‘Confessions’” In The Asia-Pacific Journal, 15(3), 1–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Sorace, Christian. 2019. “Extracting Affect: Televised Cadre Confessions in China.” In Public Culture, 31(1), 145–171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Dahlin, Peter. 2018. In Trial by Media: China’s New Show Trials and the Global Expansion of Chinese Media, ed. By Peter Dahlin. Safeguard Defenders.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Following multimodal analysis of lexical grammar and gaze patterns, social identity theory is applied to understand narrative messaging similarities across the three segments. By applying the methodologies of discourse analysis, multimodal analysis, and social identity theory to a heretofore neglected topic, the study aims to better understand this phenomenon and to determine what methodological adjustments might be necessary in its investigation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Data and methods
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Lexical grammar
    • 4.2Gaze
    • 4.3Social identity analysis
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (38)
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