Appraisal theory assessment of stance in climate change news discourses in <i>China Daily</i> and <i>The New York Times</i>

Combating climate change is one of the most pressing concerns of our time. Given the complexity of climate change discourses, media analyses of climate change are vital for an informed society. However, discursive tensions exist between the need to popularize climate issues and the increasing politicization of climate change communication. Moreover, despite the increasing politicization of the issue, research on climate change communication focuses on public attitudes rather than the stances adopted by climate change news. As news discourse has specific attitudes, appraisal theory using specific lexical components can provide a comprehensive framework for examining the climate change stance taken by the media. However, few studies have applied appraisal theory to examine specific discourses. This study uses appraisal theory to examine the linguistic features (auxiliary tasks) of the climate change news discourses in different newspapers and identify their varying stances (main task). In the context of US–China climate cooperation, we analyze climate change news in 2021–2023 in one newspaper each from the US (The New York Times) and China (China Daily). We find that the two newspapers have similar linguistic features, using appreciation resources, inscribed attitudes, and clear language and comments related to the social values associated with climate change. However, their stances have some differences. As representative newspapers of developing and developed countries, China Daily emphasizes the commitment and participation of developing countries in climate issues, whereas The New York Times tends to portray developing countries as societies that need help.