(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a critical discourse analysis of CNN online and BBC online news on beijing olympics 2008

Vietnam national university hanoi College of foreign languages and international studies Postgraduate department NGUYỄN THU TRANG A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CNN ONLINE AND BBC ONLINE NEWS ON BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008 (PHÂN TíCH DIễN NGÔN PHÊ PHáN TIN TứC TRUYềN THÔNG Về OLYMPICS BắC KINH 2008 TRÊN BáO ĐIệN Tử CNN Vµ BBC) M.A minor thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI, 2009 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF TABLES .iii Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Design of the study Chapter II Theoretical background 2.1 Critical Discourse Analysis 2.1.1 What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? 2.1.2 The history of CDA 2.1.3 Critical, ideology and power 2.2 A review of media news discourse studies 2.3 Systematic functional grammar and its role in CDA 10 Chapter III: A Critical Discourse Analysis of CNN Online and BBC Online News on Beijing Olympics 2008 3.1 Content and presentation analysis 15 3.1.1 Highlighted topics 15 3.1.2 The use of pictures and videos 18 3.2 Lexical analysis 20 3.2.1 Use of neutral referring expressions for the event 22 3.2.2 Use positive references to indicate the Games 22 3.3 An analysis of two sample texts 23 v 3.3.1 Syntactic structure analysis 23 3.3.1.1 The use of transitive and intransitive sentences 23 3.3.1.2 The use of active and passive voices 24 3.3.2 Cohesion 26 3.3.2.1 Conjunction 27 3.3.2.2 Reference 30 3.3.3 Transitivity 32 Chapter IV Conclusion 42 4.1 Conclusions 42 4.2 Suggestions for further study 43 REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES .I iii LIST OF TABLES Table Summary of process types (adapted from Halliday, 1994) Table 2: Topics focused in BBC online Table 3: Topics focused in CNN online Table 4: Wording of competition fields in headlines of BBC online and CNN online Table References to Olympics Beijing 2008 in BBC and CNN online Table Number of transitive and intransitive sentences in two sample texts Table Active and passive voices used in BBC and CNN texts Table Passive clauses found in the BBC article “Beijing bids farewell to Olympics” Table Passive clauses found in the CNN article “Grand spectacle closes Beijing’s Olympics” Table 10 Conjunctions used in BBC article “Beijing bids farewell to Olympics” Table 11 Conjunctions used in “Grand spectacle closes Beijing’s Olympics” of CNN Table 12 Referring words/phrases used in BBC article “Beijing bids farewell to Olympics” Table 13 Referring words/phrases used in “Grand spectacle closes Beijing’s Olympics” of CNN Table 14 Analysis of transitivity used in BBC text Table 15 Analysis of transitivity used in CNN text Table 16: Summary of transitivity analysis data Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Rationale of the study The Beijing Olympics 2008, which took place from the 8th August to 24th August 2008 in China, is one of the most successful Olympic Games which won great approval from the media world With a total of 11,468 athletes from 204 countries and regions, about 100,000 Olympic volunteers, 400,000 city volunteers, and million social volunteers, Beijing saw the largest number of female athletes competing in the history of the Games As the NBC Universal assesses, the Beijing Olympics is the most-watched U.S television event of all time More than 220 television agencies and over 25,000 journalists covered the event The IOC site logged million clicks during the entire process of the Beijing Games, whereas it logged 2.8 million clicks during the Athens Olympics More than 80 heads of states and governments participated in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games About 80 percent of the people in China and about half of the people in the United States and Europe watched the opening ceremony on television This was a record number Few other events have received so much attention The closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics received wide coverage by most U.S media outlets, with many praising the Games as the most memorable summer Olympics It was described as "the most memorable Olympics ever." In a piece titled "Truly exceptional Games," NBC said the Beijing Olympics made history "in virtually every regard.‖ Beside, many U.S media outlets heaped praises on the Chinese volunteers at the Beijing Games; the Los Angeles Times praised the Chinese volunteers for their friendliness and efficiency BBC (The British Broadcasting Corporation) and CNN (Cable News Network) are the world's largest broadcasters which are very familiar with English users BBC has bases or correspondents in more than 200 countries and, as officially surveyed, is available to more than 274 million households, though also possibly far more individual persons and groups than surveys can gather, and it is the oldest surviving entity of its kind and is more widely known internationally than any other news organization As of June 2008, CNN is available in over 93 million U.S households Broadcast coverage extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms, and the U.S broadcast is also shown in Canada Globally, CNN programming airs through CNN International, which can be seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories While According to Alexa's Traffic Rank system, in July 2008 BBC Online was the 27th most popular English Language website in the world, and the 46th most popular overall, CNN.com is now one of the most popular news websites in the world Critical discourse analysis (CDA) has made the study of language into an interdisciplinary tool A great number of researchers with various backgrounds, including media criticism use it Most significantly, it offers the opportunity to adopt a social perspective in the cross-cultural study of media texts While most forms of discourse analysis "aim to provide a better understanding of socio-cultural aspects of texts," CDA "aims to provide accounts of the production, internal structure, and overall organization of texts." One crucial difference is that CDA "aims to provide a critical dimension in its theoretical and descriptive accounts of texts." With all above reasons, the author has the temptation to carry out a study named: ―A Critical Discourse Analysis of CNN Online and BBC Online News on Beijing Olympics 2008‖ 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The study aims at: - Providing an analysis of CNN Online and BBC Online News on Beijing Olympics 2008 in the light of Critical Discourse Analysis; - Giving an illustration of CDA approach; - Raising language users as well as newspaper readers‘ awareness of the power and ideology of discourses 1.3 Scope of the study In critically analyzing CNN and BBC News on Beijing Olympics 2008, the author concentrates only on the coverage in the CNN and BBC online, not the other kinds like printed or radio news Specifically, in this study, the writer particularly examines the content and presentation of the articles, the use of word, grammar (transitive and intransitive sentences as well as active and passive voices) Besides, some cohesive devices like conjunction and reference and transitivity are also factors of concerns in the thesis 1.4 Methods of the study In order to obtain the aims of the study, the following activities will be carried out: In the first place, a literature review will be carried out to provide a theoretical background for the study Then, a number of articles on BBC online and CNN online about Beijing Olympics will be analyzed in the light of critical discourse analysis The research method applied in this part is both quantitative and qualitative The analysis will be made in terms of the content and presentation Apart from that, vocabulary, syntactic structure and cohesion are also analyzed From the analysis, a comparison between the news reported in the two newspapers will be interpreted and analyzed 1.5 Design of the study The thesis is divided into chapters: Chapter I is the Introduction which provides the rationale, the aims, the methods and the design of the study Chapter II naming Theoretical background first gives an overview of Critical Discourse Analysis In this part, the history of CDA and some aspects such as critical, ideology and power are mentioned and analyzed Then, it deals with media discourse studies and systematic functional grammar Chapter III is entitled A Critical Discourse Analysis of CNN Online and BBC Online News on Beijing Olympics 2008 This is the main focus of the thesis which provides and discusses the main findings of the study Chapter IV is the Conclusion summarizing the main findings of the study, drawing important conclusions and offers suggestions for further research Apart from these main parts, appendices and references are also included Chapter II Theoretical background 2.1 Critical Discourse Analysis 2.1.1 What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context With such dissident research, critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality Some of the tenets of CDA can already be found in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School before the Second World War (Agger 1992b) Its current focus on language and discourse was initiated with the "critical linguistics" that emerged (mostly in the UK and Australia) at the end of the 1970s (Fowler et al 1979) CDA has also counterparts in "critical" developments in sociolinguistics, psychology, and the social sciences, some already dating back to the early 1970s As is the case in these neighboring disciplines, CDA may be seen as a reaction against the dominant formal (often "asocial" or "uncritical") paradigms of the 1960s and 1970s CDA is not so much a direction, school, or specialization next to the many other "approaches" in discourse studies Rather, it aims to offer a different "mode" or "perspective" of theorizing, analysis, and application throughout the whole field We may find a more or less critical perspective in such diverse areas as pragmatics, conversation analysis, narrative analysis, rhetoric, stylistics, sociolinguistics, ethnography, or media analysis, among others Crucial for critical discourse analysts is the explicit awareness of their role in society Continuing a tradition that rejects the possibility of a "value-free" science, they argue that science, and especially scholarly discourse, are inherently part of and influenced by social structure, and produced in social interaction Instead of denying or ignoring such a relation between scholarship and society, they plead that such relations be studied and accounted for in their own right, and that scholarly practices be based on such insights Theory formation, description, and explanation, also in discourse analysis, are socio-politically "situated," whether we like it or not Reflection on the role of scholars in society and the polity thus becomes an inherent part of the discourse analytical enterprise This may mean, among other things, which discourse analysts conduct researches in solidarity and cooperation with dominated groups 2.1.2 The history of CDA In the late 1970s, Critical Linguistics (CL) was developed by a group of linguists and literary theorists at the University of East Anglia (Fowler et al., 1979; Kress & Hodge, 1979) Their approach was based on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) CL practitioners such as Trew (1979a, p 155) aimed at "isolating ideology in discourse" and showing "how ideology and ideological processes are manifested as systems of linguistic characteristics and processes." This aim was pursued by developing CL's analytical tools (Fowler et al., 1979; Fowler, 1991) based on SFL Following Halliday, these CL practitioners view language in use as simultaneously performing three functions: ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions According to Fowler (1991, p 71), and Fairclough (1995b, p 25), whereas the ideational function refers to the experience of the speakers of the world and its phenomena, the interpersonal function embodies the insertion of speakers' own attitudes and evaluations about the phenomena in question, and establishing a relationship between speakers and listeners Instrumental to these two functions is the textual function It is through the textual function of language that speakers are able to produce texts that are understood by listeners It is an enabling function connecting discourse to the co-text and con-text in which it occurs Halliday's view of language as a "social act" is central to many of CDA's practitioners (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995b, 1995a; Fowler et al., 1979; Fowler, 1991; Hodge & Kress, 1979) According to Fowler et al (1979), CL, like sociolinguistics, asserts that, "there are strong and pervasive connections between linguistic structure and social structure" (p 185) However, whereas in sociolinguistics "the concepts 'language' and 'society' are divided…so that one is forced to talk of 'links between the two'", for CL "language is an integral part of social process" (Fowler et al., 1979, p 189) Another central assumption of CDA and SFL is that speakers make choices regarding vocabulary and grammar, and that these choices are consciously or unconsciously "principled and systematic"(Fowler et al., 1979, p 188) Thus choices are ideologically based According to Fowler et al (1979), the "relation between form and content is not arbitrary or conventional, but form signifies content" In sum, language is a social act and it is ideologically driven Further development of CDA Over the years CL and what recently is more frequently referred to as CDA (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; van Dijk, 1998a) has been further developed and broadened Recent work has raised some concerns with the earlier work in CL Among the concerns was, first, taking into consideration the role of audiences and their interpretations of discourse possibly different from that of the discourse analyst The second concern has called for broadening the scope of analysis beyond the textual, extending it to the intertextual analysis Fairclough (1995b) has raised both issues He claims that the earliest work in CL did not adequately focus on the "interpretive practices of audiences." In other words, he claims that CL has, for the most part, assumed that the audiences interpret texts the same way the analysts In a similar vein, commenting on Fowler (1991), Boyd-Barrett (1994) asserts that there is "a tendency towards the classic fallacy of attributing particular 'readings' to readers, or media 'effects,' solely on the basis of textual analysis‖ The other issue put forward by Fairclough (1995b) is that while earlier contributions in CL were very thorough in their grammatical and lexical analysis they were less attentive to the intertextual analysis of texts: "the linguistic analysis is very much focused upon clauses, with little attention to higher-level organization properties of whole texts" Despite raising these issues with regards to earlier works in CL, Fairclough (1995b) inserts that "mention of these limitations is not meant to minimize the achievement of critical linguistics they largely reflect shifts of focus and developments of theory in the past twenty years or so" The "shifts of focus and developments of theory" which Fairclough (1995b) talks about, however, have not resulted in the creation of a single theoretical framework What is known today as CDA, according to Bell & Garret (1998), "is best viewed as a shared 40 39 Demonstrators at unauthorized protests Goal were detained Material 40 U.S diplomatic officials/ concern Actor/goal raised Material to Beijing over eight Americans arrested the previous week for planning or staging protests Spatial 42 Another shadow Goal was cast Material during the opening weekend Temporal 42 Grisly attack at a Beijing tourist site/ U.S volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-inlaw fatally Senser/ saw Mental Phenomenon 44 Who Actor committed suicide Material 46 Worries over pollution and its impact on athletes Carrier seemed Relational 46 Distance running events Actor Ran Material smoothly Manner 47 The air Carrier was Relational with smog on many days during the Games Accompaniment 48 Foreign media/ health concerns by the tens of thousands of foreigners attending the Games Actor/Goal did not report Material Widespread Manner 41 Table 16: Summary of transitivity analysis data Process BBC text CNN text Material 32 (72.73%) 28 (66.67%) Verbal (6.82%) (9.52%) Relational (11.36 %) (14.29%) Existential (0%) (4.76%) Mental (9.09%) (4.76%) Behavioral (0%) (0%) Total 44 (100%) 42 (100%) In terms of Material process, differences can be found between the two sample texts For illustration, let us compare two pieces of texts reporting the same event from BBC and CNN: Spectacular fireworks kicked off the proceedings, while a beautifully choreographed drumming and dancing display recalled the opening ceremony (Extracted from BBC text) Fireworks across China's capital as a crowd of more than 90,000 at the landmark "Bird's Nest" National Stadium watched the pyrotechnics (Extracted from BBC text) In both texts, writers use Material process to report the fireworks in the closing ceremony of Beijing Olympics However, BBC reporter prefers the actors ―Spectacular fireworks‖, ―a beautifully choreographed drumming and dancing display‖ and the verbs ―kicked off‖ and ―recalled‖ With this choice, the BBC author would like to describe the closing ceremony as a celebratory affair In CNN text, however, with such actors as ―Fireworks‖, ―a crowd of more than 90,000 at the landmark "Bird's Nest" National Stadium‖ and verbs ―across‖ and ―watched‖, the journalist emphasizes the grandness and remarkability of the closing ceremony 42 Chapter IV Conclusion 4.1 Conclusions The study has analyzed the news on Beijing Olympics 2008 reported in two online media organizations – BBC and CNN It can be seen that there are a number of similarities and discrepancies in coverage of the two e-newspapers of the same issue in terms of both content, use of illustrative methods, referring expressions, syntactic structures, cohesion and transitivity From the findings, some conclusions on the two media institutions‘ ideological positions can be drawn as follow: Both newspapers highly praise the success of the games, and accordingly, show their respects for China who organized the unforgettable Games They focus their attention on results of the competitions, successful athletes and medals won The opening and closing ceremonies which gain great approval from people all over the world are also of importance Besides, these two media institutions also mention some weaknesses that existed in the Games hosted by the communist nation China To show its positive comments, BBC and CNN use many opinion-led words to label the Olympic Games positively The Games are referred to as one of the best Games, the most memorable Olympics of all times The closing ceremony, in its turn, is regarded as a party - a very grand party The clever uses of transitive and intransitive sentences, active and passive sentences, cohesive devices as well as transitivity of both British and American media agencies prove to be a good tool to express their own ideological intentions Among these, Material process and participants are used most by both texts to describe actions and events In reporting a sport event where activities can be seen, Material process – the process of doing things proves to be a good choice These findings and conclusions give evidences that language, power and ideology are closely related The two newspapers‘ coverage was driven by their ideological opinions Language can serve as a tool to exert power and it is often used implicitly to exercise language users‘ power With a large number of readers, newspapers prove to have great power In many cases, reporters may take advantages of these media products to position readers to view issues in a specific way Therefore, it is suggested that readers should be aware of how language can 43 be used in a text (including news reports) to place readers to a certain set of values as well as know how to uncover ideology of texts 4.2 Suggestions for further study Due to the restricted time, the scope of research, as well as limited capacity of the researcher, the study entitled ―a critical discourse analysis of CNN and BBC online news on Beijing Olympics 2008‖ only touches upon some textual features at micro level Although the author has made great efforts to complete the thesis, shortcomings and deficiencies are unavoidable Therefore, the author hopes to receive constructive comments and recommendations from readers CDA, as a linguistic approach, has proved to be a very useful tool for discerning ideology and power hidden behind a discourse Therefore, it is suggested that the approach should be introduced to language learners and researchers Regarding this study, more comprehensive researches with larger scale should be carried out Future studies may deal with greater database collected from other media types, including television, or radio and more comprehensive aspects of discourse Other news agencies apart from BBC and CNN tend to be good to consider 44 REFERENCES English Agger, B (1992b), The Discourse of Routledge and Kegan Paul Bell, A (1991), The Language of News Media, M.A: Blackwell, Cambridge Bell, A., Garrett, P (1998), "Media and discourse: a critical overview", in Bell, A., Garrett, P (Eds), Approaches to Media Discourse, Malden, Oxford Bell, A (1998), "The discourse structure of news stories", in Bell, A., Garrett, P (Eds), Approaches to Media Discourse, Malden, Oxford Boyd-Barrett (1994), Media texts: Authors and Readers (With D Graddol) (Eds.), Multilingual matters, London Chouliaraki, Lilie & Fairclough, Norman (1999), Discourse in Late Modernity, Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh Fairclough N.L (1989), Language and Power, Longman, London Fairclough N.L (1992), Critical Language Awareness, Longman, London Fairclough N.L (1995), Media Discourse, Edward Arnold, London 10 Fairclough, N L (1999), Linguistic and intertextual analysis within discourse analysis In Jaworski & N Coupland (Eds.), The Discourse Reader Routledge, London 11 Fairclough, N.L (2001), The discourse of New Labour: critical discourse analysis, In Wetherell, M., Taylor, S and Yates, S (eds) Discourse as Data: A Guide for Analysis, London 12 Fairclough, N.L (2003), Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research, Routledge, London 13 Fowler et al (1979), Language and Control, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 14 Fowler, R., & Kress, G (1979), Critical linguistics, In R Fowler, B Hodge, G Kress, & T Trew (Eds.) 15 Fowler, Kress, Hodge and Trew (1979), Language and Control, Routledge, London 45 11 Fowler R (1991), ‗Critical Linguists‘, In K Halmkjaer (ed), The linguistic Encyclopedia London, Routledge, New York 12 Fowler R (1996), Linguistic Criticism, second edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford 13 Halliday, M.A.K (1978), Language as Social Semiotic, Arnold, London 14 Halliday, M.A.K (1985) (1994), An Introduction to Functional Grammar, first and second edns, Arnold, London, Oxford University Press, New York 15 Halliday, M.A.K (1994), An Introduction to Functional Grammar (Second Edition), Edward Arnold, London 16 Juan Li (2009), “Intertextuality and national identity: discourse of national conflicts in daily newspapers in the United States and China” 17 Lee, J and R.L Craig (1992), ‗News as an Ideological Framework: Comparing US newspapers‘ coverage of Labour Strike in South Asia and Poland‘, Discourse and Society, (3) 18 Nguyen Hoa (2000a), An Introduction to Discourse analysis, NUP, Hanoi 19 Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2004), “Critical discourse analysis of President Bush’s ultimatum to President Saddam Hussein”, M.A thesis, VNU-CFL, Hanoi 20 Renkema, Jan (2004), Introduction to Discourse Studies, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/New York 21 Simpson, P (1993), Language, Ideology, and Point of View, Routledge, London 22 Teo, P (2000), ‗Racism in the News: A critical Analysis of News Reporting in Two Australia Newspapers‘, Discourse and Society 23 Trew, T (1979), ‗What the Papers Say: Linguistic Variation and Ideological Difference‘ In: R Fowler, R Hodge, G Kress and T Trew, Language and Control, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 24 van Dijk T.A (1998), Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Sage Publications, London 25 van Dijk T.A (e.d.) (1985), Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Academic Press, New York 46 26 van Dijk, Teun A (1985), ‗Structure of News In the Press‘, in Teun A Van Dijk (ed.) Discourse and Communication: News approaches to the Analysis of Mass Media Discourse and Communication, de Gruyter, Berlin 27 Wodak, R (1989), ‗Introduction; In: Wodak, R (ed.), Language, Power and Ideology, Benjamins, Amsterdam 28 Wodak, R (1996a), Disorders of Discourse, Longman, London and New York 29 Wodak, R (1996b), ‗Critical Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis‘, In: J Verschuenren (ed.), Handbook of Pragmatic, Benjamins, Amsterdam 30 Young, R.F (2008) Language and Interaction, Routledge, London Vietnamese: Nguyễn Hồ (2007), Phân tích diễn ngơn phê phán: lý luận phương pháp, ĐHQGHN Trần Hữu Mạnh (2007), Bàn thêm cấu trúc ngữ nghĩa tiếng Anh tiếng Việt góc độ Ngữ pháp Tri nhận Tạp chí Khoa học Xã hội Nhân văn - Tạp chí Khoa học ĐHQG Hà Nội, 23 Trần Thị Thu Hương (2009), Mạch lạc diễn ngôn hội thoại số tác phẩm văn học đại: Luận văn ThS, Ngôn ngữ học: 60 22 01, ĐHKHXH & NV Websites: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPECIALS/2008/news/olympics http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/default.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/academy/default.stm http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/ I APPENDICES Appendix Transitive sentences found in the BBC article “Beijing bids farewell to Olympics” Clauses Lines Spectacular fireworks kicked off the proceedings, while a beautifully choreographed drumming and dancing display recalled the opening ceremony Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy, who claimed three gold medals in Beijing, 19 carried the flag for Team GB as more than 200 flag bearers led the way for the thousands of athletes China staged the Olympics against a background dominated by fears of 25 pollution, worries over security and protests about its human rights record We shared their joys and their tears and marvelled at their abilities, and 35 will long remember their achievements here It heralded the start of an eight-minute segment for London organizers to 43 offer a flavor of the 2012 Games, as a red London bus arrived into the stadium Hoy, dressed up as a city gent, and fellow British cyclists Victoria 47 Pendleton and Jamie Staff accompanied the bus on bicycles alongside a troupe of dancers holding umbrellas Legendary Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and Chinese soprano Song Zuying joined forces to sing, while Hollywood actor Jackie Chan later joined a throng of dancers and singers for a closing number 60 II Appendix Transitive sentences found in the CNN article “Grand spectacle closes Beijing’s Olympics” Clauses Lines The ceremony marked a climax to a Games that has delivered many world-breaking sporting performances and redefined the international image of the communist nation "Through these Games, the world learned more about China, and 11 China learned more about the world." China had invested more than $40 billion in the games, which it 21 viewed as a chance to show the world its dramatic economic progress Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won three golds in the 100-meter 33 dash, 200-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay And although Chinese organizers had created designated "protest 37 zones," people allowed to protest appeared non-existent On the final weekend of the Olympics, U.S diplomatic officials 39 raised concern to Beijing over eight Americans arrested the previous week for planning or staging protests III Appendix BBC TEXT Beijing bids farewell to Olympics Page last updated at 15:14 GMT, Sunday, 24 August 2008 16:14 UK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7578133.stm) Video - Beijing Olympics come to an end The Olympic Games have drawn to a close with a glittering ceremony inside Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium Spectacular fireworks kicked off the proceedings, while a beautifully choreographed drumming and dancing display recalled the opening ceremony It was a more celebratory affair, as exuberant athletes, dancers and musicians got into the party spirit The Olympic flag was handed to London mayor Boris Johnson, with organizers briefly showcasing the 2012 Games The countdown to 2012 has started, and organizers will know they have a great deal to live up to with China hosting one of the best organized Games in history and staging some of the most memorable opening and closing ceremonies ever seen IV Beijing's dramatic farewell to the 29th Games of the OLYMPICS BLOG modern Olympiad got under way with a magnificent The ceremony was staggering in firework display, which quickly segued into an scale, perfectly choreographed, amazing display of dancing and drumming visually stunning and absolutely Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy, who claimed three gold on time How does London medals in Beijing, carried the flag for Team GB as follow that? more than 200 flag bearers led the way for the thousands of athletes After speeches from Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Organizing Committee, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, the Beijing Games were officially declared to be over BBC Sport's Matt Slater in Beijing Send us your comments China staged the Olympics against a background dominated by fears of pollution, worries over security and protests about its human rights record But the sporting action was enthralling, with highlights including Michael Phelps swimming to a record eight gold medals and Jamaica's Usain Bolt breaking three world records on his way to three golds "We have come to the end of 16 days which we will cherish forever," said Rogge "New stars were born and stars from previous Games continued to amaze us "We shared their joys and their tears and marvelled at their abilities, and will long remember their achievements here "These were a truly exceptional Games." V The British flag was raised and "God Save the Queen" sung by the choir, before Johnson was handed the Olympic flag from Guo Jinlong, the major of Beijing, and Rogge It heralded the start of an eight-minute segment for London organizers to offer a flavor of the 2012 Games, as a red London bus arrived into the stadium Hoy, dressed up as a city gent, and fellow British cyclists Victoria Pendleton and Jamie Staff accompanied the bus on bicycles alongside a troupe of dancers holding umbrellas London mayor Boris Johnson Singer Leona Lewis and former Led Zeppelin guitarist accepted the flag ahead of 2012 Jimmy Page emerged as the bus transformed into a grass-covered carnival float, and the pair combined for a rendition of "Whole Lotta Love" And the biggest star turn came when former Manchester United star and England captain David Beckham arrived to kick a football into the crowd of athletes The Olympic flame was then extinguished, before the attention shifted to a "memory tower" in the centre of the stadium Legendary Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and Chinese soprano Song Zuying joined forces to sing, while Hollywood actor Jackie Chan later joined a throng of dancers and singers for a closing number The sporting action was finally brought to an end earlier in the day, with France's men claiming gold in the final of the handball It was the 302nd and last gold medal to be awarded, and followed Sunday's finals in boxing, basketball, volleyball and water polo, while Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru won the men's marathon VI Appendix CNN text Grand spectacle closes Beijing's Olympics August 25, 2008 Updated 0823 GMT (1623 HKT) (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/08/24/olympics.close/index.html#cnnSTCText) BEIJING, China (CNN) Grand fireworks and spectacular choreography brought to a close the Beijing Games Sunday as one of the most remarkable Olympics in recent history were declared at an end A dancer performs Sunday during the Olympics Closing Ceremony in Beijing more photos » Fireworks across China's capital as a crowd of more than 90,000 at the landmark "Bird's Nest" National Stadium watched the pyrotechnics The ceremony marked a climax to a Games that has delivered many world-breaking sporting performances and redefined the international image of the communist nation "Tonight, we come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever," IOC President Jacques Rogge said "Through these Games, the world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world." VII "These were truly exceptional games," he said, declaring them formally closed Joining the sportsmen and women at the event were a delegation from London, host of the 2012 Summer Games, including soccer star David Beckham who rode into the stadium on a red double-decker bus Watch a gallery of the Closing Ceremony » British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also in attendance while London's mayor, Boris Johnson received the Olympic flag from Beijing Mayor Go Jinlong Watch preparations under way in London » China had invested more than $40 billion in the games, which it viewed as a chance to show the world its dramatic economic progress Unlike previous Summer Olympics, logistics appeared to run smoothly for the Games Also impressive was the emergence of a new world sporting superpower the host nation China, which won its first Summer Olympic gold medal in 1984, clinched first place in the gold medal standings long before the final hours of sporting competition came to a close The United States led the overall Medals table Don't Miss E-mail us: What did you think of the Olympics in China? CNN's Olympics blog Emotion kicks off China's Olympics Join: The Fan Zone Special report: Beijing '08 Other spectacular sporting accomplishments were recorded at the Beijing Olympics: U.S swimmer Michael Phelps became the face of the Games, winning a record eight Olympic gold medals in a single Games See a timeline of daily highlights » Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won three golds in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay Watch a gallery of Olympic moments However, questions and criticism remained about China's stance on free speech and political protest Objections were raised over certain Web sites being blocked And VIII although Chinese organizers had created designated "protest zones," people allowed to protest appeared non-existent Demonstrators at unauthorized protests were detained On the final weekend of the Olympics, U.S diplomatic officials raised concern to Beijing over eight Americans arrested the previous week for planning or staging protests Another shadow was cast during the opening weekend when grisly attack at a Beijing tourist site saw U.S volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law fatally stabbed by a Chinese man who then committed suicide Watch as two elderly Chinese women face detention » Worries over pollution and its impact on athletes seemed to fade away Distance running events ran smoothly, and while the air was thick with smog on many days during the Games, foreign media did not report widespread health concerns by the tens of thousands of foreigners attending the Games ... media news discourse studies 2.3 Systematic functional grammar and its role in CDA 10 Chapter III: A Critical Discourse Analysis of CNN Online and BBC Online News on Beijing Olympics. .. Online News on Beijing Olympics 2008? ?? 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The study aims at: - Providing an analysis of CNN Online and BBC Online News on Beijing Olympics 2008 in the light of. .. dimension in its theoretical and descriptive accounts of texts." With all above reasons, the author has the temptation to carry out a study named: ? ?A Critical Discourse Analysis of CNN Online and BBC