Language as Ideology

Adopting the analytic method of critical discourse analysis, this study explores, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the quotation patterns in two ideologically opposed newspapers in Taiwan, namely the pro-unification United Daily News and the pro-independence Liberty Times. It is found that in reporting Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian’s “one country on each side” statement, both newspapers prefer to use indirect quotations. However, there are significant differences in their selections of quotation contents and quoted speakers. The same speaker is quoted as saying completely different things by the two newspapers, which are also more likely to quote those who voice their positions on the controversial news event. As a result, this study has demonstrated that the choice of quotation patterns is by no means objective or neutral and presentations of speech in the news tend to be loaded with ideological bias.