Views in the News

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Views in the News
English I content
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Dott.ssa Caroline Clark

• Ricevimento martedì 11-13
• Phone [phone] / 2825 / 2826
• PAIS http//didattica.spbo.unibo.it/pais/clark/in
  dex.html for avvisi , e-mail etc.
• Text Views in the News (LED) available at
  Feltrinelli

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Exam

• Part 1 grammar
• Part 2 content- c. 10 questions- short
  answers- questions all based on material
  covered- dictionary not permitted- sample
  exam on site
• Exam will be immediately after the course, or in
  last week during lesson.
• Frequentanti must do exam at this time.

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Aim of course

• To be able to read newspapers critically
• Understand the politics behind newspaper
  production
• How the politics is exerted
• How to read between the lines ie, how to
  arrive at a message or ideology that may not be
  obvious on the first reading.

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To think about

• How often do you read a newspaper?
• Do you always read the same one(s)? If so why?
• What distinguishes one paper from another?
• What is the difference between the news as it
  appears in a newspaper, online, television and
  radio.

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And..

• Why are newspapers so important to society?
• What would be the repercussions if they were
  abolished?
• Would life change in any way?

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Free press

• Freedom of the press is limited to those who own
  one.
• A. J. Liebling, US journalist (1904-1963)
• What does freedom of the press mean?
• Is it possible for the press to be truly free?

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1 amendment American constitution

• Congress shall make no law respecting an
  establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
  free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom
  of speech, or of the press or the right of the
  people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
  Government for a redress of grievances.

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• Il Congresso non potrà fare alcuna legge per il
  riconoscimento di qualsiasi religione, o per
  proibirne il libero culto o per limitare la
  libertà di parola o di stampa o il diritto che
  hanno i cittadini di riunirsi in forma pacifica e
  di inoltrare petizioni al governo per la
  riparazione di torti subiti.

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Free Press

• The guarantee that news organisations (press,
  radio, TV) will not be hindered or coerced by
  state interference in the publication and the
  distribution of the stories, photos, editorials
  that they wish.

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Who owns the papers?

• Who pays for the newspapers?
• What is a media magnate?
• Can a privately-owned consortium really be
  impartial?
• Can newspapers be impartial?

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Looking at the papers

• Are newspapers all the same?
• How much space (as ) is advertising?
• Where is the advertising found?
• What is the difference between the following
  papers?

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tabloids
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broadsheets
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• 1. Financial support to the banking industry
• After consultation with the Bank of England and
  the Financial Services Authority, the Government
  announces that it is bringing forward specific
  and comprehensive measures to ensure the
  stability of the financial system and to protect
  ordinary savers, depositors, businesses and
  borrowers.
• In summary the proposals announced today are
  intended to
• Provide sufficient liquidity in the short term
  
• Make available new capital to UK banks and
  building societies to strengthen their resources
  permitting them to restructure their finances,
  while maintaining their support for the real
  economy and
• Ensure that the banking system has the funds
  necessary to maintain lending in the medium term.
• In these extraordinary market conditions, the
  Bank of England will take all actions

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• 2. Bank bailouts and no one's bovvered
• WELL, congratulations. You are now the proud
  part-owner of TWO busted banks.
• Nice of Labour to ask you first, wasnt it?
• The poor bloody voter just doesnt seem to matter
  any more apart from picking up the bills. The
  British public have become a giant pooper
  scooper, used by Labour to scrape up the mess
  from the bankers backsides.
• In America, a gigantic public battle has been
  raging as politicians argue whether or not to
  make the public pay to rescue banks. The
  President and the two men after his job have
  fought to seize the airwaves. Every politician
  has been elbowing his or her way into the debate.
  
• Here, silence. The state is using billions of OUR
  money to buy up banks and there has been not a
  word of discussion.

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Newspapers are not all the same.

• The quality press (or broadsheets) have more
  international news, finance and politics. They
  have less colour and smaller headlines which are
  more grammatical. They have a more detached
  relationship with the reader.
• The popular press (or tabloids) have a flashy
  layout, bigger photos, big headlines which are
  less grammatical and more difficult to
  understand. The reader is presumed to be part of
  their community. Stories are more local, more
  dramatic and often trivial. Celebrities are a
  favourite topic.
• Advertising makes up about 25-30 of quality
  papers and 30-40 of popular papers

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Yes, Minister!

• BBC television series which was a send up of
  the Prime Ministers office.
• PM is worried about what the papers say.
• Advisor points out that the papers pander to
  their readers.

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• The Mirror is read by the people who think they
  run the country
• The Guardian is read by the people who think they
  ought to run the country
• The Times is read by the people who actually do
  run the country
• The Mail is read by the wives of the people who
  run the country
• The Financial Times is read by the people who own
  the country
• The Morning Star is read by the people who think
  the country ought to be run by another country
• The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who
  think it is!
• The Sun readers dont care who runs the country
  as long as she has got big tits.

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Qualities
Populars

• The Times (centre right)
• Daily Telegraph (right)
• Guardian (left of centre)
• Independent (centre)
• Financial Times

• Daily Mail (mid-market, right)
• Daily Express (mid-market, right)
• The Sun (right)
• Daily Star (right wing)
• Daily Mirror (pro labour)
• The People (left wing)
• Morning Star (socialist)

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Newsworthiness

• When a dog bites a man, that is not news, but
  when a man bites a dog, that is news.
• Charles A. Dana, American journalist (1819-1897)
• How much of the paper is news?
• What makes up the rest of the paper?
• Look at some news articles, can you define
  news?

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What is News?

• According to Oxford Dictionary, news is new
  information about something which has happened
  recently.
• But this is not enough!
• It must also be of interest to, or affecting the
  lives of, a large number of people.
• according to whom?

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Newsworthiness

• Newsworthiness, or news values, are the criteria
  which help decide if a story will make a good
  news item.
• What are these criteria?
• Look at some news stories, why are they in the
  paper while other stories are not?
• What do many stories have in common?

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• Man finds his gold watch
• Man finds gold in back garden
• Car crash kills 6 in New Zealand
• Car crash kills 2 in Bologna
• Johnny Depp loves pasta
• John Smith will divorce
• Man kills wife
• Man kills mosquito

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News values (newsworthiness)

• Timely a story must be recent
• Negative bad news (disasters, crime)
• Novel unexpected, unusual, bizarre
• Celebrated VIPs are interesting
• Geographically close the same town, country,
  etc
• Culturally close situations and people with the
  same cultural values

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News values (2)

• Attributable - authoritative sources, with quotes
  
• Factual facts and supporting evidence (numbers,
  places, names)
• Numerical bigger numbers make bigger news.
• Personal familiar and personal terms
• Relevant how it affects the readership

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tragic death (p 20)

• Van Ginneken (1998 23-24) considers the news
  value of tragic death.
• 10,000 deaths on another continent equals 1,000
  deaths in another country equals 100 deaths in an
  outpost equals ten deaths in the centre of the
  capital equals one celebrity.

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• 1. Australians killed in Nepal plane crash
• Two Australians were among 18 people killed when
  a small plane crashed as it tried to land near
  Mount Everest today, an airport official said.
• Mohan Adhikari, general manager of the Kathmandu
  airport, said two Australian tourists and 12 from
  Germany were among those killed.
• The Yeti Airlines 19-seat Twin Otter plane
  crashed and caught fire today as it tried to land
  in foggy weather near Mount Everest.
• It had taken off from Kathmandu and snagged its
  wheels on a security fence during landing at
  Lukla Airport, about 60 kilometres from Mount
  Everest, Mr Adhikari said. ( cont)
• AP(163 words)

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2. Half-ton Mexican dies of heart failure

• A 449-kilogram bedridden man who had appealed on
  Mexican television for help tackling his weight
  problem has died of heart failure, his family
  says.
• Emergency officials had to knock down Jose Luis
  Garza's bedroom wall and load him onto the back
  of a friend's pickup truck as he fought for his
  life.
• The 47-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at
  a hospital in northern Mexico. ( cont)
• AP (323 words)

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3. Eleven die in Egypt building collapse

• At least 11 people were killed in the Egyptian
  port city of Alexandria before dawn when a
  four-storey apartment block collapsed as families
  slept.
• Eleven bodies were pulled from the rubble of the
  building where 35 people lived, and 10 people
  were injured, the official told AFP.
• The recovered bodies included a woman locked in
  an embrace with her baby, the official MENA news
  agency reported, adding that the search was going
  on for more bodies.
• The building collapsed at around 1am as most
  residents were sleeping, the official said. (
  cont)
• AFP (214 words)

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4. Woman suicide bomber kills nine in Iraq

• A woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside a
  courthouse north of the Iraqi capital, killing
  six security personnel and three civilians,
  officials and witnesses said.
• Two Iraqi army majors were among five soldiers
  killed while a policeman also died in the attack
  in Baquba, capital of the restive province of
  Diyala, a security official said.
• The director of the main regional hospital, Ahmed
  Fuad, said 18 people were initially brought for
  treatment. One of them died, raising the toll to
  nine.
• The attack was in front of the city courthouse,
  some 60km north of Baghdad. ( cont)
• AFP (270 words)

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4 types of newspaper text

• hard news
• soft news
• special interest news (travel, sports, art)
• headlines, subheadings, captions etc.
• What is the difference between hard and soft
  news?

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• hard and soft news are based on the concepts of
• seriousness - topics such as politics, economy,
  war, disasters, accidents, and also science,
  technology, and law.
• timeliness - the immediacy of the story, e.g.
  the progress of the war, the result of the vote,
  the deaths in an accident etc.

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• Hard news stories combine both concepts by
  telling what happened, why, attempts to resolve
  the situation, how reader will be affected, etc.
• Soft news stories aim to informing or satisfying
  curiosity. They emphasise human interest and
  novelty. Timeliness is less important no single
  event can be seen as triggering the story.