The Korean War is the war after the second World War with the largest number of participating countries and the largest number of casualties. However

there are significant differences in social perceptions of the war between China and the United States. Therefore

we focus on how the media construct the reality of war for the public and examine the causes of this cognitive difference. This study adopts critical discourse analysis to investigate the reports on the Korean War by the mainstream newspapers of China and the United States

People’s Daily and the New York Times. The conclusions are as follows: first

there is a gap between the media prospects of war and the realistic prospect of war. Second

ideology is rooted in the construction of media discourse. Thirdly

the discourse practice of war report has commonality