Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I The process and practice of everyday journalism
- Part II Conceptualizing the news
- Part III Constructing the story: texts and contexts
- Part IV Decoding the discourse
- 10 The impact of the news process on media language
- Conclusion and key points
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- Glossary of news and linguistic terms
- References
- Index
10 - The impact of the news process on media language
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I The process and practice of everyday journalism
- Part II Conceptualizing the news
- Part III Constructing the story: texts and contexts
- Part IV Decoding the discourse
- 10 The impact of the news process on media language
- Conclusion and key points
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- Glossary of news and linguistic terms
- References
- Index
Summary
Throughout this book, I have looked at how news stories can be “read” in terms of the process and the participants involved, from the conceptualization of news to the construction of the news story – all of which are related to the impact of internal processes and practice on media discourse. Delivering the news is the next step in the news production process. In this chapter, I will briefly mention what is of linguistic and discursive relevance at this presentation and delivery stage (Section 10.1), detailing extra-linguistic process-based elements like physical space, time, and seasonal cycles that nonetheless have a concurrent impact on the structure and content of media discourse. In this regard, I also address the larger issue of textual coherence (Section 10.2) as a consequence of following newswriting rules, particularly those related to length.
The way news discourse is manifested as a result of reporting and writing rules also has consequences – for people who are or are not reported on. In Section 10.3 I will apply concepts discussed throughout the book to examine the impacts of the news process on a group I know very well, linguists who are quoted in the news. In this case study, I examine more generally the often contested (or omitted) role of “expertise” in news stories, highlighting an impact that affects the academic's public profile as well as the larger culture's knowledge base.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- News TalkInvestigating the Language of Journalism, pp. 217 - 229Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010