Textual meaning: Media messages of Bangladesh–China relation and its Themes

Abstract

This study, within the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), aims to explore how Bangladesh’s news agency BSS (1975–2016) represents Bangladesh–China relations. Following this framework, three methods are employed to collect data: (1) the 41-year media coverage, (2) questionnaires and (3) observations at the newsrooms. By examining 140 news reports and investigating linguistic features, this article shows how the BSS under government control represents China and Bangladesh–China relations. Utilizing Systemic Functional Grammar as a tool for CDA, this study focuses only on the analysis of the news headline, which is considered a ‘micro story’. The findings will show how social subjects are historically constructed through the BSS media discourse on the topic. The Theme as a driving force is located at the clause as a message with its own configuration. CDA promoted values and hidden ideologies in the news headlines of the diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and China in 1975. This article clearly explains how the media message reflects social practice, ideology and power relations in social structures at the time of reporting.