T67 PDF

http://www.sarasuati.
com
Tema 67:
Los medios de
comunicación en la
lengua Inglesa (1):
El estilo
periodístico. La
prensa. Periódicos
de calidad y
periódicos
sensacionalistas.
Topic 67: 2
L medios de com
Los municación en la lengua Inglesa: El estilo periodístico ódicos de calidad y sensacionalistass.
o. La prensa. Perió
Topic 67:
Los medios de
d comunicación en la lengua Inglesa a (1): El estillo periodísticco. La prensa
a.
ad y periódiccos sensacion
Periódicos de calida nalistas.
Table of contents
1. Th
he journalisstic style. __________
__ __________
______________________________
___ 3
1.11. The news story. __________________________
________________________________
____ 3
1.1.1. Basic News
N story strructure. _____________________________________________________
_____ 3
1.1.2. Convenntions of Jourrnalistic writinng. _________
____________________________________
_____ 4
1.22. Feature articles. __________________________
________________________________
____ 4
1.2.1. Characcteristics of Feeature Writingg ___________
____________________________________
_____ 5
1.2.2. Parts of
o a Feature Sttory: ____________________ ____________________________________
_____ 5
1.33. Languagee and style. _____________________
________________________________
____ 5
1.3.1. Headlinnes. _______________________________
____________________________________
_____ 6
1.3.2. Articlees. _________________________________
____________________________________
_____ 7
2. Th
he British print
p media.. __________________
______________________________
___ 8
2.11. The importance of th
he national press
p ______
________________________________
____ 8
2.1.1. The Naational papers and Scotlandd.___________
____________________________________
_____ 9
2.22. The two tyypes of national newspaaper. ______
________________________________
____ 9
2.33. The charaacteristics off the nationaal press. ___
________________________________
___ 10
2.3.1. Politicss __________________________________
____________________________________
____ 10
2.3.2. Sex and scandal ___________________________
____________________________________
____ 12
3. Th
he North Am
merican priint media. __________
_ ______________________________
__ 13
3.11. The presss. _______________________________
________________________________
___ 13
3.1.1. Compeetition from Radio
R and televvision. ______
____________________________________
____ 15
3.1.2. Governnment-Press Conflict
C _________________ ____________________________________
____ 16
3.22. Magazinees and period
dicals. _______________
________________________________
___ 17
Bibliiography_____________
____________________
______________________________
__ 18
Summary _______________
____________________
______________________________
__ 19
Iván Matellaness’ Notes

Topic 67: 3
Los medios de comunicación en la lengua Inglesa: El estilo periodístico. La prensa. Periódicos de calidad y sensacionalistas.
1. The journalistic style.

1.1. The news story.
News is the basic material for the media and the NEWS STORY the
basic form of writing. It demands simple, straightforward prose,
complete understanding of the subject, conciseness and precision in the use of
the Lg. There are millions of events that take place in our society, but only a
few of them will deserve to be given the treatment of news events. They
should follow the next criteria to be considered worth writing for:
- Impact: Events which affect people’s life.
- Timeliness: Recent events.
- Prominence: Celebrities always create
news, even about their most trivial actions.
- Proximity: Home stories are more
interesting, as a general rule, than foreign affairs.
- The bizarre or unusual.
- Currency: Events related to the issues
being discussed by the public (abortion, death, penalty …)
There is a traditional formula to summarize what every NEWS STORY
should contain, namely the answers to “5Ws and 1H”: Who, What,
When, Where, Why & How.
1.1.1. Basic News story structure.

The goal of any proper structure is to get information to the reader
quickly and to allow the reader to move through the story easy. Some of the
most widely used structures are:
1. INVERTED PYRAMID: This is the most common type. It concentrates the
most interesting and important information at the top of the
story, so that the reader can get the essential facts. Headlines and
leads should describe what the story contains as concisely and
interestingly as possible. The body should provide more evidence and
illuminating details.
Iván Matellanes’ Notes

Topic 67: 4
2. SPIRAL: the writer takes each element of the lead and goes into
progressively greater detail. Each expansion includes references to
the above level in order to provide a smooth transition.
3. BLOCK: Very similar to the SPIRAL, except that paragraphs are
independent, with no reference to any except the lead.
4. SEE-SAW or PRO-CON: Conflicting arguments are presented when
dealing with a controversial story.
5. CHRONOLOGICAL: The story is presented in chronological order.
1.1.2. Conventions of Journalistic writing.

1. The Headline and the lead are the most important parts of the
story. They must interest the reader. Leads on NEWS STORIES generally
contain the answers to most Ws and H, and essentially who, what,
where and when. It can take the form of “straight news” (giving just the
facts), “summary”, “direct address” (using the pron you) or “direct
quote”.
2. Short paragraphs: A feature of journalism is that full development
of each idea within a paragraph is not compulsory, as is the case
in other forms of written English.
3. Attribution and quotations: Direct quotations bring life to a
story, but they are used with discretion and always attributed to the
speaker. Paraphrasing is often used to speed up the story and
communicate the information more concisely.
4. Avoidance of 1st and 2nd person prons (related to objectivity).
1.2. Feature articles.

FEATURES STORIES actually have a great deal in common with NEWS
STORIES. The difference is in the emphasis; they go beyond facts by

trying to discover the interesting sides of an event. They also humanize
the news, as most of them center around people and their activities or interests.

Topic 67: 5
1.2.1. Characteristics of Feature Writing

In comparison to the NEWS STORY, are:
1. More relaxed style.
2. Greater amount of detail.
3. Descriptions of actions, people and places.
4. More quotes and even dialogues with dialectal features to
illustrate descriptions of people.
1.2.2. Parts of a Feature Story:

1. The lead may be longer than in the NEWS STORY, but it must gain
the reader’s attention from the beginning and keep it until the end.
2. The body expands the subject introduced in the lead and answers
every question raised there.
3. The ending makes a conclusive point about the story, for, in
contrast to the NEWS STORY, the FEATURE STORY is not usually be
expected to be cut from the bottom when making the layout of
the page.
1.3. Language and style.

One of the purposes of any newspaper, apart from providing information
to society, is to make itself attractive enough to persuade the intended
readers to buy copies. They will obviously buy the paper if they like its
contents. This entail, therefore two tasks for the news story writer:
1. To catch the attention of the readers and encourage them to
read further (through headlines)
2. To hold their attention through the articles and encourage them to
buy the newspaper again.

Topic 67: 6
1.3.1. Headlines.
A headline must prepare the reader for the article content. It must go
to the point, short and appealing, so that it calls the attention of the
reader.
1. Economy devices:
a. Choice of special vocabulary: Common words typically used because
they are particularly economical (toll = number of people dead; probe =
Investigation; row = quarrel or disagreement)
b. Use of simplified grammar:
i) Omission of certain function words: Articles, auxs, Pps
ii) Nouns are accompanied by premodifiers: Adjs and especially other Ns.
iii) Present tense is the predominant tense in headlines (FAMOUS WRITER MARRIES =
he married recently or yesterday).
iv) Simple past is only used for reports on previous events. What appears to be
a past tense will be most often a passive form with the aux be left out. (WATER
SUPPLIES INVESTIGATED AFTER COMMON GASTROENTERITIS)
v) Future is expressed by a to-inf (MP TO OPEN LONDON HIGH-SCHOOL)

vi) Abbreviations and shortening are often used: PC (police), DOC (doctor), MP
(member of the parliament), PM (prime minister) …
2. ANTICIPATION: headlines should prepare the reader about what to

expect in the article, avoiding ambiguity or misleading the reader. They
may anticipate one or more of this aspects:
a. Content.
b. Style.
c. Reporter’s attitude.
3. APPEALING TO THE READER:
a. Plying with meaning (punning); all suggested meaning must be
relevant to the story.
i) A word with two different meanings.
ii) Words with the same pronunciation but with different spelling.
iii) Words with the same pronunciation.
b. Plying with sound.

Topic 67: 7
1.3.2. Articles.
An article must meet the expectations raised by the headline. Therefore,
it must appeal to the interests and attitudes of the intended reader, as
well as be clear and economical, although economy is more important for
NEWS STORIES than for FEATURES ARTICLES or EDITORIALS.
1. APPEALING TO THE READER:
a. Style: The register of the writer may be neutral, descriptive or
emotional. The choice will depend on the likely attitude of the
intended reader towards the subject matter. Whenever a writer
chooses emotional Lg, s/he is expressing an attitude.
b. Thematization (content display according to topic): The most
interesting parts (in relation to the intended reader) are emphasized.
c. Use of humor and irony achieved through Lg that is not
appropriate to the situation or making the readers build up false
expectations.
2. CLARITY: An article must show both coherence and cohesion by clear links
btw the ideas in the text.
a. Reference words (cohesive devices): Anaphoric and cataphoric
references.
b. Linking words (connectors): Coordinators and subordinators.
c. Juxtaposition of ideas, usually with an implied meaning of time,
cause ...
d. Use of typography (Capital letters, italics, underlying or bold type) to
emphasize certain points or to draw attention.
3. ECONOMY: in NEWS STORIES, where the focus is on giving the most facts
in a relatively short space, economy may be more relevant than in
comment articles (FEATURES or EDITORIALS), where the reader already
knows the facts in most cases.

Topic 67: 8
2. The British print media.

British people watch a lot of TV. They are also reported to be the world’s
most dedicated home-video users. However, this does not mean that they have
given up reading. They are the world’s third biggest newspaper buyers;
only the Japanese and the Swedes buy more.
2.1. The importance of the national press

Newspaper publication is dominated by the national press, which
is an indication of the comparative weakness of regional identity in
Britain. Nearly 80% of all households buy a copy of one of the main national
papers every day. There are more than 80 local and regional daily papers;
but the total circulation of all of them together is much less than the
combined circulation of the national DAILIES (newspapers published
everyday). The only non-national papers with significant circulations are
published in the evenings, when they do not compete with the national
papers, which always appear in the mornings.
Most local papers do not appear on Sundays, so on that day the
dominance of the national press is absolute. The SUNDAY PAPERS are so-called
because that is the only day on which they appear. Some of them are
sisters of a daily (published by the same company) but employing separate
editors and journalists.
The morning newspaper is a British domestic institution; such an
important one that, until the laws were relaxed in the early 1990s newsagents
were the only shops that were allowed to open on Sundays. People
could not be expected to do without their newspapers for even one day,
especially a day when there was more free time to read them. The SUNDAY
PAPERS sell slightly more copies than the national DAILIES and are
thicker. Some of them have 6 or more sections making up a total of 200 pages.
Another indication of the importance of the papers is the
morning PAPER ROUND. Most newsagents organize these, and more than
half of the country's readers get their morning paper delivered to their
door by a teenager who gets up at around 5:30 every day in order to earn a
bit of extra pocket money.

Topic 67: 9
2.1.1. The National papers and Scotland.

There is an exception to the dominance of the national press
throughout Britain. This is in Scotland, where one paper, the Sunday Post,
also has a large circulation. There are also three other notable “Scotland
only” papers, but two of these, The Glasgow herald and The Scotsman, are
QUALITY PAPERS with small circulation; the other, The daily record, is actually
the sister paper of the (Londond) Daily Mirror. The other national British
papers are all sold in Scotland, although sometimes in special Scottish
editions.
2.2. The two types of national newspaper.

Each of the NATIONAL PAPERS can be characterized as belonging
to one of two distinct categories. The QUALITY PAPERS, or BROADSHEETS,
available for the better educated readers. The POPULAR PAPERS, or
TABLOIDS, sell to a much larger readership. They contain far less print than
the broadsheets and far more pictures. They use larger headlines and
write in a simpler style of English. While the BROADSHEETS devote much
space to politics and other serious news, the TABLOIDS concentrate on
human interest stories, which often means sex and scandal!
However, the BROADSHEETS do not completely ignore sex and
scandal or any other aspect of public life. Both types of paper devote
equal amounts of attention to sport. The difference between them is in the
treatment of the topics they cover, and in which topics are given the most
prominence. For instance, imagine a piece of news about a football player who
had a bad match last Saturday. A BROADSHEET would probably explain the
sportive reasons of this bad day (he was strongly watched over by a defence).
A TABLOID, though, would probably blame him because of his personal life
troubles (his quarrels with his wife; his night out in the pub …)
The reason that the quality newspapers are called BROADSHEETS
and the popular ones TABLOIDS is because they are different shapes.
The BROADSHEETS are twice as large as the TABLOIDS. It is a mystery why, in
Britain, reading intelligent papers should need highly-developed skills of paper-
folding! But it certainly seems to be the rule.

Topic 67: 10
L medios de com
B
British News
spaper circu
ulation (2002)
Daily Mirror; 2148

Daily Mail; 2342
The Sun; 3541
Ta
abloids B
Broadsheets
s
2.3.. The cha

aracteris
stics of th
he nation
nal press
s.
2.3.1. Politics
s
The wayy politics iss presented in the na
ational new
wspapers rreflects the
e fact
that British political parties
p arre essentiially parlia
amentary organizattions.
Alth
hough diffferent pa
apers hav
ve differiing political outlo
ooks, non
ne of
the large ne
ewspapers
s is an organ
o of a politica
al party. M
Many are often
o
obvio
ously in favour of the
e policies of
o this or th
hat party (and
( even more obvio
ously
against the po
olicies of an
nother parrty), but no
one of the ever use we
em would e w or
us to
o refer to a certain party.
Even th
hough none of th
he nation
nal news
spapers b
belongs to
t a
polittical partty, each paper ha
as an idea
a of wha
at kind off reader it is
appealing to
o and they show a fairly
f pre
edictable political outlook. Each
can therefore be seen, rather
r simplistically, as occupyying a certtain positio
on on
the right
r left sp
pectrum.
As you can see in
n the below
w graphic,, the rightt seems tto be hea
avily
overr-represe
ented in the
t national press
s. This is not
n becausse such a large
majo
ority of Brritish people had right-wing views. It is partly because press
p
tend
ds to be owned by
b conservative party
p supporters. IIn any casse, a
large
e number of readerss are not very
v intere
ested in th
he political coverage of a
pape
er. They bu
uy it for the sports orr some oth
her reasonss.

Topic 67: 11
What counts for the newspaper publishers is business. All of them

are in the business first and foremost to make money. Their primary concern
is to sell as many copies as possible and to attract as much advertising
as possible. They normally put selling copies ahead of political
integrity. The abrupt ideological change in the posture of the Scottish
edition of the Sun in early 1991 is a good example. It had previously, along
with the Conservative party which it normally supports, vigorously
opposed any idea of Scottish independence or home rule; but when it
saw the opinion polls in early 1991 (and bearing in mind its comparatively
low sales in Scotland), it decided to change its mind completely.
The British press is controlled by a rather small number of
extremely large multinational companies. This fact helps to explain two
notable features. One of these is its freedom from interference from
government influence, which is virtually absolute. The press is so
powerful in this respect that it is sometimes referred to as the fourth
estate (the other three being the Commons, the Lords and the monarch). This
freedom is ensured because there is a general feeling in the country that
freedom of speech is a basic constitutional right. A striking example of
the importance of freedom of speech occurred during the WW2. During this

Topic 67: 12
time, the country had a coalition government of Conservative and Labour

politicians, so that there was really no opposition in Parliament at all. At one
time, the cabinet wanted to use a special wartime regulation to
temporarily ban the Daily Mirror, which had been consistently critical of the
government. The Labour party, which until then had been completely loyal to
the government, immediately demanded a debate on the matter, and the
other national papers, although they disagreed with the opinions of the
Mirror, all leapt to its defence and opposed the ban. The government was
forced to back down and the Mirror continued to appear throughout the war.
2.3.2. Sex and scandal

The other feature of the national press which is partially the result
of the commercial interests of its owners is its triviality. Few other
European countries have a popular press which is so low. Some of the
TABLOIDS have almost given up even the pretence of dealing with
serious matters. Apart from sport, their pages are full of little except stories
about the private lives of famous people. Sometimes their stories' are not
articles at all, they are just excuses to show pictures of almost naked
women. During the 1980s, page three of THE SUN became infamous in this
respect and the women who posed for its photographs became known as
page three girls.
The desire to attract more readers at all costs has meant that, in
the late 20th C, even the BROADSHEETS in Britain can look rather popular
when compared to equivalent quality papers in some other countries.
They are still serious newspapers containing high quality articles whose
presentation of factual information is usually reliable. But even they now give a
lot of coverage to news with a human interest angle when they have the
opportunity. (The treatment by The Sunday Times of Prince Charles and
Princess Diana is an example).
This emphasis on revealing the details of people's private lives
has led to discussion about the possible need to restrict the freedom
of the press. This is because, in behaving this way, the press has found
itself in conflict with another British principle which is as strongly felt as that

Topic 67: 13
of freedom of speech: the right to privacy. Many journalists now appear to

spend their time trying to discover the most sensational secrets of well-
known personalities, or even of ordinary people who, by chance, find
themselves connected with some newsworthy situation.
Complaints regarding invasions of privacy are dealt with by the
Press Complaints Commission (PCC). This organization is made up of
newspaper editors and journalists. In other words, the press is
supposed to regulate itself. It follows a Code of Practice which sets
limits on the extent to which newspapers should publish details of people's
private lives. Many people are not happy with this arrangement and various
governments have tried to formulate laws on the matter. However,
against the right to privacy the press has successfully been able to oppose the
concept of the public's right to know.
3. The North American print media.

3.1. The press.
In 1997, almost 1,500 daily newspapers (morning and evenings)
were published in the USA. There were also 900 Sunday papers. In addition,
there are some 7,000 weekly, semi-weekly & monthly local newspapers.
These newspapers cater for different readerships. Just as in
Britain, some are characterized as QUALITY or SERIOUS PAPERS and have in-
depth international and national new coverage. Others are POPULAR or TABLOID
publications, which emphasize crime, sports, comic pages, sex and scandal.
It is often observed that the US does not have a national press
(centered in one city) or newspapers with a mass national circulation
which are available in all parts of the country on the same morning (as
the United Kingdom does). This is due partly to the nation’s size and its
number of different tome zones, but mostly because of a concern with
local issues and identity. We must always bear in mind that the USA is a
federation of States, and many people consider themselves as citizens of
their State rather than of the USA. However, the national influence of some
large quality metropolitan newspapers, such as The NY Times, The

Topic 67: 14
L medios de com
Wasshington Post, The

e Los Ang
geles Tim
mes and Th
he Wall sttreet Jour
urnal,
ether with the US Today
toge T , is considera
able. Theyy are read
d through
hout
the country, in part thrrough the use
u of com
mputer an
nd satellite
e technolog
gy.
Newspapers have exp

perienced fundam
mental c
changes and
deve
elopmentts in rec
cent deca
ades, whicch have resulted
r in
n a numbe
er of
featu
ures being characteriistic of the
e contempo
orary indusstry.
U
USA aper circulattion (1997
Newspa 7)
U
US Today;
The Washington Post; 775
18
800 1713
Houston Chronicle; 549
Chicago tribune; 653
16
600
14
400
12
200
The Wall Street journal; 1774
10
000
8
800
The NY Times; 1074
6
600
LA Times; 1050
Newsday; 568
Daily News (NY); 721

4
400
2
200
Q
Quality T
Tabloids
There has
h been a considerrable dec
cline in th
he circula
ation of la
arge
city papers and
a the ac
ctual num
mber of ne
ewspaperrs sold ha
as decrea
ased.
Criticcs maintain
n that this is due to
o: (1) Peop
ple movin
ng to the suburbs from
the large citie
es and de
eveloping
g new media
m hab
bits; (2) m
mergers btw
exis
sting pape
ers; (3) co
ompetitio
on from ra
adio, TV and
a other media sources;
(4) and
a circula
ation batttles btw differentt print forrmats (succh as maga
azine
supp
plements).
These newspaper
n r declines have bee
en accomp
panied by reduction in
com
mpetition and a lac
ck of varriety in publicatio
p ons at loca
al and nattional
levells. Newspa
aper ownerrship is no
ow held by a few pub
blishers and corporattions.
Unlikke previouss decades,, the numb
ber of citiess within co
ompeting n
newspaperss has
been
n reduced and many
y cities with daily papers ha
ave a sing
gle publis
sher.

Topic 67: 15
A number of the remaining newspapers are owned or controlled by

nationwide chains, which have over a third of all daily newspaper sales.
Concentrated ownership of newspaper by large groups or
conglomerates supposedly results in economies of size, efficiency and
rationalization and gives greater profitability. However, it also causes
monopolistic conditions, a similarity in content and format and raises
questions about objectivity and accuracy.
Newspapers have experienced significant technological changes
in recent years, such as automated composing rooms and the use of
computer and electronic technology to process news. Some news is still
gathered by individual reporters, but in fact most newspapers, radio
networks and television companies obtain their news directly from the 2
US-Based news agencies: ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) and UNITED PRESS
INTERNATIONAL (UPI). They are independently owned and collect
national and international news which are sold to newspapers and
other media sources (just like the EFE AGENCY in Spain)
3.1.1. Competition from Radio and television.

The rise of radio and television broadcasting posed new
competitive threats to newspapers. Radio began offering the American
public another source of news and entertainment as early as 1920. By 1929,
10,000,000 million American households had radios. Despite early efforts by
newspaper publishers to prevent radio stations from using news and stories
distributed by the Associated Press, radio made significant gains as a news
medium. Radio reached the height of its influence during WW2, when
it carried war news from the battlefronts directly to the homes of millions of
listeners.
The arrival of television after WW2 ended nearly two centuries
of news reporting dominated by newspapers. In 1940 one newspaper
circulated in the United States for every two adults. Fifty years later, far fewer
Americans relied on newspapers as their primary news source. Cable and
television network news reporting had largely supplanted newspapers

Topic 67: 16
in this capacity. In one survey, only 9% of Americans said they kept up with
news of the Persian Gulf War primarily through newspapers.
Television and radio stations had an advantage over
newspapers: they could broadcast breaking news stories minutes after
they occurred. American newspapers struggled to maintain their place in the
world of news reporting. Realizing that most of their readers had already heard
breaking news stories on television, they began covering more news in
greater detail than did television and radio news. Newspaper articles
provided historical context for current events and in-depth analysis
from two or more perspectives.
3.1.2. Government-Press Conflict

In the 1960s Americans were divided over the wisdom of the Vietnam
War (1959-1975). During this period, unquestioned loyalty to the American
cause fell under criticism. The concept of press freedom expanded to
assume an almost adversarial relationship between press and
government. This relationship climaxed in 1971, when the New York Times
published the PENTAGON PAPERS. This publication gave Americans a look
behind the scenes at government planning and policies that led to the
USA role in the Vietnam War. When the government tried to prevent
publication of this material, the Supreme Court of the USA upheld the
right of the newspaper to print it.
Publication of the PENTAGON PAPERS heightened interest in
investigative reporting. No longer content to report only what the
government said it was doing, newspaper reporters sought to report with
authority what the government actually did. Reporters CARL BERNSTEIN and
BOB WOODWARD, then working at the Washington Post, showed the world
how powerful investigative reporting could be when they reported the
details of the WATERGATE SCANDAL to the American public in 1973. Their story
revealed a pattern of corruption in the administration of President
RICHARD M. NIXON. These revelations sparked a series of events, including a
grand jury investigation of the burglary and wiretapping of the

Topic 67: 17
L medios de com
Dem
mocratic Party’s national
n campaign
n headqu
uarters th
hat culmin
nated
with the resignation off Presiden
nt NIXON in 1974.
3.2.. Magazin
nes and periodic
cals.
Some 11,000 ma
agazines and perio
odicals arre publish
hed in the
e US
at varying
v t
times from
m weekly
y and mo
onthly, to
o quarterlly (each three
t
mon
nths) & half-yearly. They are suitable fo
or most ta
astes and interests. Some
S
have
e small and
d others have
h large circulation
ns. There are
a about 100 magazines
that sell btw 500,000
5 & 1 million copies each issue, while
w an a
additional small
s
num
mber have huge cirrculations. Some ha
ave intern
national editions orr are
transslated into other Lgs.
USA mag
gazines circ
culation (19922)
25
5000
20
0000
15
5000
10
0000
5
5000
0
retirementt general in
nterest spec
cialist wome
en's interestt
Mo
odern Maturity NRTA/AAARP Bulle
etin Reader's digest TV Guide National Geogrraphic
Bettter homes and ga
ardens Fa
amily circle Good housekeeping Ladies home jou
urnal Woman's day
The mass circulation GENERA

RAL MAGAZIINES have declined considerrably
sinc
ce the latte 1950s
s. They ha
ave had to
o compete
e for adv
vertising and
sale
es with TV
V and new
wspapers
s. Tradition
nal and pop
pular publications succh as
Life,
e, The Satturday ev
vening Pos
ost and Loo
ook are no longer pub
blished beccause
of economic problems
p a
and relativvely low circulation figures.
f Bu
ut the gen
neral
cons m s (such ass Readerr’s digestt) continu
sumer magazines ue to be
e an
important pa
art of Am
merican cultural liffe. They were
w origin
nally desig
gned
prim
marily fo
or enterttainment purpose
e. Howeve
er, they could still be
influ
uential in
n areas off social an
nd political ideas. Today, gen
neral consumer

Topic 67: 18
L medios de com
magazines are
e mainly informatio
i onal and are concerrned with tthe very varied
v
life of
o society at many le
evels and are
a aimed at readerss in speciffic age, intterest
or ecconomic grroups.
The mo
ore SPECIIALIST MA
AGAZINES are targe
eted at people with
w
partticular orr professional occ
cupations
s and inte
erests an
nd serve as
a an
impo
ortant mea
ans of com
mmunicatiion amon
ng them. In
I fact, the
e majority of all
magazines are specialist publication
ns. They provide
p for a wide ran
nge of activ
vities
in bu
usiness, prrofessional,, technical,, industriall …
Bib
bliograp
phy
http:///www.ifrance.coom/g-carrier/ (O es (1997). BRITAAIN. The country
O’Driscoll, Jame ry and its peopl
ple: An Introduct
ction for
learner
ers of English. Oxxford Press.)
Mauk, D & Oakland, J. (1995) Americcan civilization. An Introduction
n.
http:///www.naa.org/in
nfo/facts98/14.h
html

c 67: Brief Sum
Topic mmary
y: Los medioss de comunicacción en la lenguaa Inglesa: El estilo periodístico. La prensa. Periódicos de caliddad y amarillos.
Summary
- The
T Journalistic Sty
yle:
- The Style:
♦ NA deman nds simple, stra aightforward prose,
p complt un nderstanding off the subject, co
onciseness & pre ecision in the us
se of the Lg.
♦ The conve entions of Journalistic writin ng:
___ The HEA ADLINE & the LEAD are the most important partts of the story. They T must intere
est the reader.
___ Full development of eacch idea w/in a paragraph
p isn’t compulsory,
c as in other forms of
o written Englissh.
___ Direct quotations
q bringg life to a story, but they’re useed w/discretion & always attribu uted to the speaker.
___ Paraphrrasing is often used to speed up u the story & communicate
c e information more concisely
the
st nd
d
___ Avoidan nce of 1 & 2 person prons (related to obje ectivity).
♦ There are millions of evennts that take pla ace in our societty, but only a few
w of them will deserve to be givven the treatme ent of news even nts. They
should follo
ow the next critteria to be considered worth writing for:
___ IMPACT: Events which affect
a people’s life. ___ PROMINENCE: Celebrities alwayys create news, even about their most trivial acctions.
___ TIMELINEESS: Recent eve ents. ___ PROXIMITY: Hom me stories are more
m interesting,, as a general ru
ule, than foreign
n affairs.
___ THE BIZAARRE or UNUSUA AL. ___ CURRENCY: Eve ents related to th
he issues being discussed by th he public (abortion …)
- Two MAIN ty
ypes of artic cles:
♦ News Artticle (NA): An article
a reporting news ♦ Featurre Article: A special or promine
ent article in a newspaper
n
___ There’ss a traditional formula to summ marize what eve ery NA should ___ FS differ
d with NS in the emphasis; as FS go beyond facts by
contain: Th he “5Ws & 1H” - WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY & HOW trying to discover
d the inte
eresting sides of
o an event.
___ BASIC NSN STRUCTURE: ___ CHAR RACETRISTICS O OF FEATURE WRITING:
1. Invertted pyramid: Fo ocus the most imp information at the top of the e 1. More relaxed style e.
NS, that the reader can get the essential facts 2. Gre
eater amount off detail.
2. Spiral: The writer takkes each elemen nt of the lead & goes into greatter 3. Desscriptions of acctions, people and
a places.
detail. Ea
ach expansion includes referen nces to the abovve level 4. More quotes & even with dialecta al features.
3. Blockk: Very similar too the Spiral, exccept that paragrraphs are
___ PARTTS OF THE FEATU URE STORY:
independ dent, with no reference to any except
e the lead
d.
1. Thee LEAD may be llonger than in the NS.
4. Pro-con: Conflictin arguments r pressnted when dea alin w/a
2. Thee BODY expands the subject in ntroduced in the
e LEAD.
controveersy
3. Thee ENDING makess a conclusive point about the story,
5. Chron nological: The story is presentted in chronolog gical order
for the ally expected to be cut from the
e FS is not usua e bottom.
- Main Chara acteristics of the differe ent parts of a newspape er article:

♦ Headlines s must prepare the reader for th he article content. They must go g to the point, short
s & appealin
ng, so that it calls the reader’s attention.
a
___ ECONOM MY DEVICES:
1. Choicee of special Voc cabulary: Comm mon words typiccally used bc they’re economiccal (toll = numbe er of people dea ad; probe = Inveestigation)
2. Use off simplified grammar: i) Omisssion of certain Fn F words: Art, au uxs. ii) Pr tensee is the predominant in headlines iii) S.Past is only used
for reportts on previous events
e (passive form with the au ux be left out. iv
v) Future is exprressed by a to-inf v) Abbreviatio ons often used: MP, PM .
___ ANTICIP PATION: headlin nes should prepare the reader abouta what to ex xpect in the article, avoiding ammbiguity or misle eading the readder. They
may anticipa ate one or more of this aspects: a. Content; b. Style & c. Repo orter’s attitude.
___ APPEAL LING TO THE REA ADER: Either a)) playing with meaning
m (punniing) or b) playin ng with sounds s.
♦ Articles must
m appeal to the
t interests of o the intended reader, as welll as be clear & economical (economy is + imp in NS than FA A).
___ APPEAL LING TO THE REA ADER:
1. The Sttyle of the writerr may be neutra al, descriptive orr emotional. The e choice will dep pend on the attitude of the read der towards the subject.
2. Thema atization: The most
m interesting parts (in relatio
on to the intende ed reader) are emphasized.
e
___ CLARITY Y: An article mu
ust show both co oherence & coh hesion by clear links btw the ide eas in the text by means of Refference words (a anaphoric /
cataphoric re eferences), Linkking words (Co & subordinatorss), juxtaposition of ideas & the use u of typography (Italics, bold d type) to emphasize.
___ ECONOM MY: in NS, wherre the focus is ono giving the mo ost facts in a relatively short spa ace, economy m may be more relevant than in comment
articles (Fea
atures or Editoria als), where the reader already knows the facts s in most cases.
- The
T British
h print Me
edia: Britons are
a the world’s
rd
s 3 biggest ne
ewspaper buye
ers; only the Japanese & the Swedes
S buy more
- The importa ance of the National Pre ess:
♦ Newspaper publication is dominated by b the nationall press, which is an sign of the e comparative wweakness of regiional identity in Britain.
e more than 80 local/regional dailies, but their circulation is mu
___ There’re uch less than th
he combined circculation of the national
n ones.
___ The onlyy non-national papers
p w/significcant circulationss are published in the eveningss, when they do not compete w//the national’s (mornings).
(
___ Morningg newspapers arre a Br domestic institution; Un ntil the early 199
90s, newsagentss were the only shops allowed to open on Sun ndays.
___ Morning g paper round:: Delivery of the
e morning paperr to ones door by a teenager wh ho gets up at arround 5:30 everry day.
___ There’s an exception tot the dominan nce of the natio onal press throu ughout Br.: Scootland, where TThe Sunday Pos st has a large circulation.
c
♦ The SUNDAY PAPERS are so-called becau use that is the only
o day on whhich they appe ear. Some of the o a daily (published by
em are sisters of
the same company) but employing separatte editors and jo ournalists.
___ The Sunnday Papers sell slightly more e copies than thet national Da cker (some mayy end up with a total of 200 pag
ailies & are thic ges).
- The 2 types s of nationall newspaperr:
♦ Quality Papers
P or Broa
adsheets for the
e better educate
ed readers ♦ Popula
ar papers or ta
abloids sell to a much larger re
eadership
___ Far much print & less pictures
p ___ Far less print and mmuch more pictures
___ Far much elaborated English
E (imperso
onal & formal Ennglish) ___ Simpple style of Engllish (Slang, popular, Phrasal Vss)
___ Devote much space to o politics and oth
her serious newws ___ conccentrate on hum man interest storries (sex & scanndal)
___ Many popular
p news (ass compared with other Europea an Newspapers s) ___ Dealling with really trivial matters (P
Page three girls))
___ Sports (sportive commments) ___ Sporrts (personal isssues of the playe ers)
a big as Tabloids (highly-deve
___ Twice as eloped skills of paper
p folding) ___ Smaaller in size than Broadsheets
___ Daily Telegraph
T (900 copy per day), The Guardian (700 cpd) ___ The Sun (3500 copy per day), Dailly Mail (2300 cp pd)
Topicc 67: Brief Sum mmary 20
- The characteristics of the t National Press:
♦ Politics: Although
A diff pap
pers have differring political outlooks, none of the
t large newsp papers is an organ of a political party.
___ Many arre often obvioussly in favour of the policies of thhis or that party (and even more e obviously agaainst the policies
s of another partty).
___ the right seems to be heavily
h over-reppresented in th he national pres ss, bc press ten
nds to be owned d by conservativ ve party supporrters.
LEFT CNTR
N -LEFT CN
NTR CNTR-R RIGHT RIGHT
T Guardian
The The Daily
D Mirror The Independent The Timmes The daily Tele
egraph
The Dailyy Mail The Sunn
* Broadshhe ets * Tabloid ds The Daily e express
The SStar
♦ What cou unts for the new wspaper publis shers is busine ess, so selling copies
c to attract advertising. Th
hey even put sellling copies ahe ead of
political integ
grity (Ex.: ideolo
ogical change in n the Scottish ed dition of The Suun – From oppo ose Home Rule to support it afte er seeing opinioon polls).
♦ British pre ess is controlled by a rather sm mall number of multinational companies
c whiich gives them ffreedom from go overnment interrference.
___ The pre ess may be so powerful
p in thiss respect that it is sometimes re eferred to as THE FOURTH ESTATTE (Ex.: During WW2 the cabin net wanted
to temporarilly ban the Dailyy Mirror, very crittical towards the e government. TheT Labour partty, which until th hen had been lo oyal to the government,
immediately demanded a de ebate on the ma atter, and the otther national papers opposed th he ban. The govvernment was fo orced to back down)
♦ The emph hasis on revealinng the people's private lives has led to discuss sion about the possible need to o restrict the fre
eedom of the press.
p
___ The pre ess has found itself in conflic ct with another British
B principle as strong felt as
a that of freedoom of speech: th he right to privaacy.
___ Compla aints regarding g invasions of privacy
p are dea alt with by the PRESS COMPLA AINTS COMMISSIO ON (PCC). This organization
o is made up of
newspaper editors
e & journalists. In other wo ords, the press s is supposed to t regulate itse elf
- The
T North America print Media.
- The Press:
♦ Just as in
n Britain, some are characterized as QUALITY PAPERS and oth hers are Populaar or TABLOID PU UBLICATIONS.
♦ US does s not have a na ational press orr newspapers withw a mass na ational circulation which are a available in all parts of the co ountry.
___ This is due partly to thhe nation’s sizee & its number of diff tome zo ones, but mostlyy because of a cconcern w/loca al issues & identity.
___ Howevver, the n.ationa al influence of some large qu uality metropolitan newspape ers, such as The e NY Times, Th he Washington n Post &
The Wall Street
S Journal isi considerable.. They are read throughout th he country, in part
p through the use of computter and satellite e technology
♦ USA New wspapers Circulation:
___ Broadssheets: THE WALL A STR JOURNA AL (1,774,000); THE NY TIMES (1 1,074,000); THEE LA TIMES (1,0550,000); THE WASHINGTON POS ST (775,000).
___ Tabloidds: USA TODAY Y (1,713,000); DAILY NEWS (721 1,000)
♦ There haas been a considerable declin ne in the circulaation of large cityc papers & th he actual nº of n
newspapers solld has decreased due to:
___ (1) Peoople moving to o the suburbs from
f the large cities
c & develop ping new media a ___ (2) Mergers btw w existing pap pers
habits
___ (3) and
d circulation ba attles btw diffe
erent print form
mats (such as magazine
m ___ (4) competition n from radio, TVT …
supplemen nts).
♦ These ne ewspaper declin nes have been accompanied
a by reduction in competition & a lack of varie ety in publicatio ons at local/national levels.
___ Many cities
c with daily papers have a single publisherr.
___ A nº off the remaining newspapers are e owned or con ntrolled by nationwide chains s, which have ovver 1/3 of all daily newspaper sales.
s
___ Concentrated ownersh hip of newspapeer gives greaterr profitability, bu
ut also causes monopolistic
m connditions, a simila
arity in content/fformat &
raises Qs about
a objectivityy & accuracy.
♦ Most USSA newspapers, radio networks & television companies obtain n their news directly from the e 2 US-Based ne ews agencies:
___ Assoc ciated press (A AP) ___ United Prress Internatioonal (UPI).
___ They are
a independenttly owned & colllect national and d international news
n which are sold to media ssources (= EFE in Spain).
- Competitio on from Rad dio and TV: The T rise of radioo and televisionn broadcasting posed
p new comppetitive threats to
t newspapers.
♦ In 1920ss, despite early efforts
e by newsppaper publisherrs to prevent rad m using news disstributed by the Associated Pre
dio stations from ess, radio
made signnificant gains as a a news mediium. Radio rea ached the heigh ht of its influen
nce during WWW2.
___ The arrrival of TV afterr WW2 ended nearly two centuries of news rep porting dominate ed by newspape ers.
___ TV & radio stations ha ad an advantage e over newspappers: they could broadcast bre eaking news stories minutes affter they occurrred (11-S).
___ Realiziing that most off their readers had already heard the news stories on TV, new wspapers begann covering more e news in greater detail
than did te
elevision & rad dio.
___ Newsp paper articles prrovided historiccal context for current
c events and
a in-depth analysis from two or more perspe ectives.
- Governme ent-Press Co onflict: The cooncept of press freedom expannded to be an almost adversariaal relationship btw b press & govvernment.
♦ This rela
ationship climaxeed in 1971 (Durring VIETNAM WARA ), when the New
N York Timees published th he PENTAGON PAPERS A .
___ This puublication gave Americans a look behind the scenes
s at govern nment planning & policies that led to the USA role in the Vietn nam War.
___ When the government tried to preven he Supreme Court of the USA u
nt publication of this material, th upheld the right of the newspap per to print it.
♦ CARL BERNSTEIN
E & BOBB WOODWARD (W Washington Po ost) showed the world the powe er of newspaperrs by means of the t WATERGATE SCANDAL.
___ Their story
s revealed a pattern of corrruption in the administration
a of
o Pr. RICHARD M.
M NIXON (1973)) that culminated d with his resignation.
USA magazines circulation (1992) ♦ Mass circula ation General Magazines
M
M i d i d
di l have declined d considerably since the
late 1950s. Th hey’ve had to co ompete for
25000 advertising & sales w/TV &
newspapers.
___ Traditiona al & popular pubblications
20000
such as Life, The
T Saturday evening
e
Post & Look area no longer pu ublished.
15000 ___ But the ge eneral consumer
magazines (R Reader’s digest, …)
continue to be an imp part of USAU
10000 cultural life.
♦ Specialist magazines
m are targeted
5000
at people w/particular or pro ofessional
occupations & interests & serve as an
impmeans of communication
c n among
0 them.
e majority of all magazines
___ In fact, the
retireme ent g
general interes
st sppecialist women's innterest
are specialist publications.
p
Modern Maturity NRTA/AAARP Bulletin Reader's digest TV Guid
de National Geographic
c Better homes and gard
dens Family circle Go
ood housekeeping Ladie
es home journal Woman
n's day

T67 PDF

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

T67 PDF

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

http://www.sarasuati.

Iván Matellaness’ Notes

1. The journalistic style.

1.1.1. Basic News story structure.

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

1.1.2. Conventions of Journalistic writing.

1.2. Feature articles.

STORIES. The difference is in the emphasis; they go beyond facts by

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

1.2.1. Characteristics of Feature Writing

1.2.2. Parts of a Feature Story:

1.3. Language and style.

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

v) Future is expressed by a to-inf (MP TO OPEN LONDON HIGH-SCHOOL)

2. ANTICIPATION: headlines should prepare the reader about what to

b. Plying with sound.

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

2. The British print media.

2.1. The importance of the national press

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

2.1.1. The National papers and Scotland.

2.2. The two types of national newspaper.

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

Daily Mirror; 2148

2.3.. The cha

Iván Matellaness’ Notes

What counts for the newspaper publishers is business. All of them

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

time, the country had a coalition government of Conservative and Labour

2.3.2. Sex and scandal

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

of freedom of speech: the right to privacy. Many journalists now appear to

3. The North American print media.

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

Wasshington Post, The

Newspapers have exp

Daily News (NY); 721

Iván Matellaness’ Notes

A number of the remaining newspapers are owned or controlled by

3.1.1. Competition from Radio and television.

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

3.1.2. Government-Press Conflict

Iván Matellanes’ Notes

The mass circulation GENERA

Iván Matellaness’ Notes

Iván Matellaness’ Notes

- Main Chara acteristics of the differe ent parts of a newspape er article:

Potrebbero piacerti anche