The language of Newspapers

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The language of Newspapers
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(No Transcript)
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QUALITY PAPERS

• Heavies or broadsheet papers
• They have a more serious editorial content and
  have longer articles and smaller photos than
  tabloids
• The Times (tbld) The Sunday Times
• The Guardian The Observer
• The Daily Telegraph The Sunday Telegraph
• The Independent (tbl 2003) The Independent on
  Sunday
• Scotland
• The Herald Sunday Herald
• The Scotsman Scotland on Sunday
• They are read by better educated readers.

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TABLOIDS

• popular papers
• They have pages half the size of boadsheets
• The Sun News of the World
• Daily Mirror Sunday Mirror
• Daily Express Sunday Express
• Daily Mail The Mail on Sunday
• Daily Sport Sunday Sport
• Daily Star Daily Star Sunday
• The People Sunday People
• They have a large circulation, and are more
  popular and sensationalistic.

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Political position of the British newspapers
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Journalistic texts

• The term journalistic may refer to several
  kinds of texts contained in a newspaper
  advertising, horoscopes, weather reports,
  crosswords, business reports, cartoons, film/book
  reviews, obituaries, letters to the editor and
  agony aunt columns newspaper (a columnist who
  answers questions and offers advice on personal
  problems to people).
• But, the most representative genre is the
  informative news report (articles, editorials)

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• Whats the main function/aim of a newspaper text?
• To inform.
• But also to persuade.

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Pragmatic presentation of information

• Major headline, minor headlines (leads)
• Inverted pyramid
• The most important items of information are
  presented first, in the various headlines and in
  the opening sentences of the text.
• Concentration of information into
  easily-accessible chunks, but with the risk of
  overloading a headline with copious data
  (misleading) nominalisation (an efficient way of
  condensing and encapsulating information)

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• Orbital pattern
• Most clauses in the text refer back directly to
  the headline and lead.
• Hypertheme created in the headlines
• Especially in tabloids, in order to create
  sensationalism

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Creation of interpersonal communication between
the writer and the reader

• by exploiting many of the characterstics of the
  spoken language
• 1) the speaker is postplaced (i.e. its time for
  IRA truce, says Adams).
• 2) quotation of single key words (i.e. IRA
  dismisses truce as unworkable)
• 3) use of questions to create a kind of dialogue

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Register

• In tabloids more colloquial, familiar language
• Journalese
• Tabloidese

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Always keep in mind the 5 wh Who when what why
where

• Headline summarizes and draws attention to the
  story
• Lead summarizes and begins to tell the story.
• Original source given in a byline (Reuters) or
  built into the text (An official said)
• The participants are categorized, their name
  often being preceded by a general term and
  adjectives (handsome French singer Ives Montand)
• Explicit time and place locators (in Paris
  yesterday)
• Facts and figures
• Direct or indirect quotations

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What about the paragraphs?

• And what about the lexical aspect?
• How is meaning and orientation/opinion conveyed?
• Article
• Language (formal-informal)
• Lexical choices (idioms and expressions)
• Adjectives
• tenses
• Lenght
• Structure

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Text analysis (newspaper article from The
Guardian)

• Does the article answer the five W questions in
  the first few paragraphs?
• Does the article include all the information you
  want to know about the topic? If not, whats
  missing?
• Is there a photo accompanying the article?
• If so, what information does it provide? Does it
  help the reader understand the main point of the
  article?
• Can you detect any slant or viewpoint in the
  article (in the word choice or selection of
  facts?)
• Does the information in this article differ in
  any way from what you have heard on the radio,
  seen on tv, or read in another newspaper about
  the same event?
• Does the article deal with a controversial issue?
  If so, are the opposing points of view given
  equal space and objective presentation? Can you
  tell which side the journalist favors?
• Do you consider this article a good example of
  clear, objective news reporting?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of this
  article?
• If an editor had asked you to write this news
  story, what would you have done differently?

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NINE GOLDEN RULES OF NEWS-SPEAK

• Most newspapers have their own style book - a
  policy statement which lists all the different
  rules about the styles of writing, spelling and
  language used for the newspaper. This is so that
  all articles will follow the same standard rules,
  and the papers house-style will be instantly
  recognisable.

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• 1 KISS
• Keep It Short and Simple
• Broadsheet newspapers usually have sentences of
  30 - 35 words tabloids and local papers normally
  carry shorter sentences of 16 - 20 words.
• Stay as close to popular speech as you can, and
  keep to familiar, simple words
• Sentences should be full of bricks, beds,
  houses, cars, cows, men and women.
• Check the news story you have just written. Did
  you KISS it?

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• 2. Reading for Speed
• Everything about a newspaper is set up to enable
  you to read it fast.
• Sentences and headlines are short, crossheads
  between paragraphs break the story down into
  bite-sized pieces, columns are narrow and easy to
  read. Words should be short too.
• 3. Never Use Three Words When One Will Do
• Here are some phrases which you would rarely see
  in a newspaper - theyre too wordy.
• Can you think of the shorter version using
  only one word for each phrase?
• In the near future
• In the first instance
• On the subject of
• In the small hours
• In consequence of
• Can you find briefer ways of saying the
  following?
• The constabulary was able to demonstrate that the
  alibi of the defendant was inadequate.
• It was approximately twelve noon when the suspect
  was apprehended.
• A mobile phone is an accessory typical of a young
  upwardly mobile person.
• She subscribed unequivocally to dedicated support
  of Take That.

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• 4. Dont Repeat Yourself
• Keep things short by making sure of the
  following
• Dont use two words which mean the same - eg.
  uniquely special, important essentials, final
  outcome.
• Try not to repeat a word in the same sentence.
• Avoid words like very, quite, rather - theyre
  unnecessary and dont add anything to the
  meaning.
• 5. Use Active Verbs
• Burglars took the corgi works better than The
  corgi was taken by the burglars - and its
  shorter.

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• 6. Play With Language - Use Lots Of Puns
• In 1952, journalists at the Daily Express were
  told by their proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook, that
  he intended to ban the use of puns in headlines
  and text. He failed puns are too much fun, and
  readers enjoy them too much. Forty years on,
  were still groaning at them, and these days
  theyre almost as frequent in broadsheet papers
  as they are in tabloids.
• 7. Make the Story Personal
• News often tries to simplify events to make the
  facts easier to understand. One way of doing this
  is to link the news story to a particular person
  . For example, in reporting the devastating 1995
  earthquake in Kobe, Japan, many papers chose to
  personalisethe event by telling the story of
  particular victims or survivors, mainly British
  students, with whom their readers can identify.
  In reporting problems in the National Health
  Service, journalists often look for a
  heartbreaking story of a child whose life is at
  risk without expensive private treatment.

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• 8. Categorise People In The News
• In the tabloid and middle-market newspapers,
  people are the most important currency - often as
  important as the news events themselves. Look
  back to the coverage of Jean Kierans and John
  Major.
• Here is a list of the different ways in which
  Jean Kierans was described by the press over two
  days in February 1995
• Grey-haired pensioner
• Secret lover
• The driving force behind Majors rise from
• oblivion to Downing Street
• Retired teacher, 65
• Loyal
• Divorcee
• Sultry beauty
• Mother of two
• Beautiful brunette
• Woman who put Premier on path to power
• Ex-lover

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• 9. Things to Avoid
• Almost every newspaper style book contains a list
  of donts- forms of language which a good
  writer should avoid.

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Headlines

• Headline-writing is considered a very skilled
  job. A good headline must
• Fit the story and tell the reader clearly what
  its about.
• Make the reader interested in the story and
  want to read on.
• On a front page, be visually striking enough to
  grab the eye of readers at stations, newsagents,
  newsstands,etc.
• Reflect the newspapers attitude to the news
  story.
• Fit into a very limited space.

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Redundant grammatical items are often removed

• Channel raily link decision this week
• Article
• Fresh fruit the pick of the bunch this week
• Copular verb
• Mother tells of babys death at hospital
• possessive

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Headline TechniquesBelow is a list of some of
the forms of language and techniques often used
by headline writers.

• Metaphor implied comparison between two
• unconnected people or things.
• Metonym where the name of a specific object or
  idea stands for something else to which it is
  related or a part of. Thus, the Royal Family is
  often referred to as The Throne, or The Crown
  the bottle could mean milk or alcohol.
• Mis-spellings words deliberately mis-spelt for
  effect, e.g. Gawd for God.
• Parody an imitation of a well-known phrase or
  saying which is in some way distorted or changed.
• Pun a play on words, often with a doublemeaning
• Rhetorical question a question to which no
  answer is expected.
• Rhyming words ending in identical sounds, e.g.
  Pix nix flix in stix.
• Slang words or phrases not considered part of
  standard English, e.g. fresh, cool, dread.

• Alliteration repeating the same first letter or
  syllable (usually a consonant) in successive
  words to create a poetic or humorous effect
• Assonance repeating certain vowel sounds in the
• same phrase or sentence. (Away Day for Gay Ray)
• Cliché An over-used phrase or expression which
• has lost its originality - e.g. Phew ! What a
  scorcher!
• Euphemism the use of a polite or pleasant form
  of words to describe something less pleasant,
  e.g. the little girls room.
• Exclamation usually used to indicate surprise,
• sarcasm or amusement, e.g. Gosh!
• Expletives exclamation or swearword, usually
• expressing a strong emotion, and usually deleted
• or substituted by a less offensive word or
  sound.

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Nominalisation and pre-modification

• In specialised texts, that is all those texts
  that diverge from everyday English, these two are
  very frequent phenomena.
• Nominalisation is the use of nouns instead of
  verbs. Nouns structures are preferred because
  they are considered right tools to condense
  information.
• Example
• What has been decided today is in line with EU
  which is planning to improve its financial and
  economic situations. (20 words and 4 verbs)
• Todays decision is in line with the EUs plans
  for economic and financial improvement (14 words,
  three nominalisations and 1 verb).

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• Pre-modification is the use of a certain number
  of words (usually adjectives and nouns, but also
  adverbs) before another main noun that is called
  headword.
• A simple pre-modification can be bad boy where
  the headword boy is premodified by only one
  adjective (bad that is called premodifier)
• The English language is full of simple
  premodifications like this, but specialised texts
  often make use of longer and complex
  premodifications (made of 3, 4 , 5 or even 6
  elements) like
• - energy-saving car engines
• - Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area
• - Railway station murder inquiry shock
• - Latin American intra-regional research
  networking infrastructure
• - United Kingdoms post war geo-strategic future
  ambitions
• WHICH IS THE HEADWORD?
• HOW COULD YOU TRANSLATE THESE IN ITALIAN ??? ???
  ???

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Lexical density

• Taylors definition of LD
• LD refers to the proportion of lexical words
  (that is words which carry meaning, such as
  verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) in a text
  compared to the number of function words
  (pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, copular
  verbs ect.).
• Examples boy, car, eat, go, poor, nice,
  friendly, kindly etc. are lexical words, while
  for, to, the, than, and, of etc. are function
  words.
• Written language is usually much denser than
  spoken language,
• AND specialised texts are even denser from a
  lexical point of view.
• Read the texts and compare them in terms of
  lexical density
• 1) Rubbish incineration in the context of this
  scientific article is the combining of oxygen
  with noxious material to form harmless non-toxic
  compounds, usually carbon dioxide and water
• 2) I try to explain to her that I feel like the
  Rejection Man and that she wanted to sleep with
  Chris because he is cooler than me.

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• Read the previous list carefully. Then try and
  match each form of expression up with a headline
  which uses that particular technique to make its
  meaning.
• Oh Gawd, shes here.
• No go in Soho
• Away Day for Gay Ray
• WHAT A DI!
• Saucy Sarahs Sex Secrets with Secretary of State
• Clarkes bummer for the summer

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Now read the following outline story.

• Top pop singer Madonna has announced her
  intention to give up her controversial and
  massively successful musical career in order to
  attend university and retrain as a doctor.

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• With a partner, try and create a headline of your
  own for the story.

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• Read again the following headlines.
• Oh Gawd, shes here.
• WHAT A DI!
• No go in Soho
• Away Day for Gay Ray
• Saucy Sarahs Sex Secrets with Secretary of State
• Clarkes bummer for the summer
• Work out what kind of news item you think they
  refer to, and write the first paragraph of the
  accompanying story of one of them.

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• ROYAL traitor Major James
• Hewitt claimed yesterday he had
• a five-year affair with Princess Diana.
• He says they made love at
• Kensington Palace, Highgrove, at
• Dianas family estate Althorp and
• in Devon.
• Details of their grand passion
• are revealed for the first time by
• journalist Anna Pasternak, with
• Hewitts full co-operation, in the
• kiss-and-tell book Princess in
• Love.
• It describes how Diana believed
• the Life Guards officer, now
• dubbed Britains biggest bounder,
• was someone to trust after Prince
• Charles rejected her.
• She had recognised it instantly.

But last night Diana was said to have told close
friends I have never slept with Hewitt.
One friend said The Princess is telling people
James made it all up. She is very upset and angry
over these allegations. Hewitt was obsessed with
Diana and everything he has said is a product of
his fevered imagination. . . a lot of what
Hewitt says in the book has been embellished,
the friend added. The Princess regards the book
as the ultimate betrayal and is said to feel
deeply hurt and bitterly disappointed. Hewitt
even claims Diana was so in love she planned to
leave Charles for Hewitt. The book says She
told him how she wanted to marry him, how she
yearned to have his child.
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Descriptions Of Witnesses

• In the coverage of the Princess Di and James
  Hewitt story, James Hewitt is described in a
  variety of ways
• Money-grabbing James Hewitt Love-rat (The Sun)
• Kiss-and-tell cavalryman James Hewitt (Daily
  Mail)
• Royal traitor Major James Hewitt (Express)
• Former Cavalry Officer Major James Hewitt
  (Guardian)
• What impression is created by each phrase? What
  is the effect of putting the description first
  and the name last? Which of these descriptions
  can be proved to be truthful?
• Whose Side Are They On?
• Check out exactly whose words or opinions have
  been used in an article.
• In the story above, how many times has James
  Hewitt, or any of his friends or colleagues, been
  quoted?
• What effect does this have on your understanding
  of the story?

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Tabloid vs. Broadsheet or Popular vs. Quality?

• Tabloid newspapers have often been accused of
  being sensational - a term of abuse when aimed at
  the press. But the comments below, published in
  the early 1950s on the front page of the Daily
  Mirror by the editor, Sylvester Bolam (Editor
  1948-1953) suggest some of the more positive
  aspects of sensationalism.

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• The Mirror is a sensational newspaper. We make
  no apology for that. We believe in the
  sensational presentation of news and views,
  especially important news and views, as a
  necessary and valuable public service in these
  days of mass readership and democratic
  responsibility.
• We shall go on being sensational to the best of
  our ability...
• Sensationalism does not mean distorting the
  truth. It means the vivid and dramatic
  presentation of events so as to give them a
  forceful impact on the mind of the reader.
• It means big headlines, vigorous writing,
  simplification into familiar, everyday language,
  and the wide use of illustration by cartoon and
  photograph...
• As in larger, so in smaller and more personal
  affairs, the Mirror and its millions of readers
  prefer the vivid to the dull and the vigorous to
  the timid.
• No doubt we make mistakes, but we are at least
  alive.

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• Here is a simple news story which would not have
  appeared in a national newspaper.
• Read it carefully. Then, with a partner, try and
  rewrite the story so that it could be published
  on the front page. One of you should rewrite the
  story for a tabloid newspaper, and the other for
  a broadsheet newspaper.
• When you have finished your rewritten versions,
  try and work out exactly what you did with each
  one to make them printable.
• Make a list of all the changes you made, and why
  you made them.
• Give your piece a title.

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• In the middle of the night last night, some
  burglars broke into Buckingham Palace and got
  away with a whole heap of the Queens most
  valuable jewellery as well as kidnapping her
  favourite corgi whose name was Tootles and who
  slept in the Queens bedroom with her. The Queen
  wasnt actually around that night as she was away
  on her tour of Japan with Prince Philip, but her
  ladies in-waiting were, and they were terrified
  and extremely worried about Tootles who is quite
  old and needs a special diet so he does not get
  too overweight.