MEDIATING NATIONAL IDENTITY: A QUALITATIVE LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF CGTN’S CROSS-CULTURAL DISCOURSE AND FRAMING STRATEGIES

Abstract

This paper is intended to examine the mediation of Chinese national identity through China Global Television Network (CGTN) to a wide range of linguistic and cultural viewers, as a refutation of Western-dominated media discourses during a period of increased global competition. This study discusses this complex act of the CGTN building a messianic and friendly image about China, combating notions of isolationism with discourse and framing. The methodology is based on the theoretical framework of a qualitative linguistic approach grounded on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Framing Theory, which deals with thematically coded analysis of a 75-item corpus of 2020-2025 CGTN broadcasts, articles, and posts, including such themes as the stories of the Belt and Road Initiative and COVID-19. Among its main findings, there is commonly used discourse strategies such as the one promising cohesion that is chain-ganged (like the 45 times in English content) with the rubrics of framing as analyzing diagnostically a geometrically presently where the West failed and arterializing prognostically how the Chinese can improve with adaptation by channeling motive to accommodate cultural conditions. These tactics share many similarities with the theoretical paradigms of banal nationalism and soft power by adding to the diagnostic and motivational power of the Framing Theory and further developing strategies of CDA through cross-linguistic knowledge of ideology reproduction in international media. Its implications are that it informs media diplomacy, encourages the expansion of media literacy across the globe, and there can be developments in the field of linguistics, i.e., by using qualitative tools to examine the role of state media in mediating identity, the role of CGTN in a multipolar media environment.