Critical Discourse Analysis of Brunei's English Mainstream Media Perceptions on the Laos-China Railway

This study aims to comprehensively analyze the coverage of the Laos-China Railway project by mainstream media in Brunei and its impact on public perception. Utilizing web scraping tools such as Octoparse and Heritrix, this paper systematically collected relevant reporting data from two major English news platforms in Brunei, the Borneo Bulletin and Brunei News. Quantitative tools such as AntConc and Excel were employed to process and analyze the data, revealing the frequency, temporal distribution, and emotional orientation of the reports. The qualitative component utilized Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to delve into the language use, discourse structure, and implicit meanings within the reports, further exploring how the media shapes the social reality and public cognition of the Laos-China Railway topic.The findings indicate that Brunei media not only frequently and comprehensively report on the Laos-China Railway project but also cover the project's political, economic, environmental, and social implications from multiple perspectives. Additionally, the media coverage reflects a keen awareness of the project's potential risks and a positive appraisal of its developmental benefits. The novelty of this research lies in its mixed-methodological approach and unique perspective on public opinion cognition, providing insights for policymakers on public opinion guidance and project promotion, as well as offering a rich theoretical and methodological reference for the academic community.