News Media English

The world of the media is an area where it is important not to confuse the ‘object’ with the language. There are newspapers; there is radio; there is television. But there is no such thing as a ‘variety’ of newspaper language; or of radio language; or of television language. The media reflect all aspects of the human condition, and make available to the public many varieties of language already well known elsewhere, such as those associated with religion, politics, science, and literature, and the more topic-directed aspects of conversation (e.g. discussion, interview, debate, argument, letter). When we apply the notion of a language variety to the media, we have to look within each product (a newspaper, a radio or TV channel) for uses of language which have been shaped by the nature of the medium, or whose purpose is to make use of the capabilities provided by the medium. And here, the communication and presentation of news is dominant.

The reporting of news, whether in the spoken or written media, reflects one of the most difficult and constraining situations to be found in the area of language use. The chief constraint is the perpetual battle against the pressures of time and space. These pressures are absolutes. To fit a column, 20 words need to be cut. To fit a radio window, 16 seconds of a script may need to go. There is no argument. If the writer of the original material does not meet the demand, someone else higher up the editorial chain of command will do it instead. The average news report, whether printed or broadcast, is the product of many hands – journalists, editors (chief / check / copy / page sub-editors), typesetters, proofreaders, compositors, printers.

The shared authorship of news reports is suggested by their reliance on preferred forms of expression, their lack of stylistic idiosyncrasy, and their consistency of style over long periods of time. Once a publication has opted for a particular style, it tends to stay with it, and imposes it vigorously on its material. This has particularly been the case with the press. It is not difficult to identify certain features which characterize certain newspapers. That is why it is possible to parody them so easily. For example, a collection of headlines from the UK newspaper The Sun was published as a book in 1993. It was called Gotcha (a word meaning ‘I’ve got you’ that is used to surprise someone, or to show them that you have gained a sudden advantage over them).

There are several distinctive linguistic features of the reporting. Most relate fairly to those ‘who, when, where, what, how and why’, which journalists bear in mind when compiling a story.

The headline is critical, summarizing and drawing attention to the story. Its telegraphic style is probably the best-known feature of news reporting.
The first (‘lead’) paragraph both summarizes and begins to tell the story. This paragraph is the source of the headline.
The original source of the story is given, either in by-line (Reuters), or built into the text (A senior White House official said…).
The participants are categorized, their name usually being preceded by a general term (champ, prisoner, official) and adjectives (handsome French singer J. Bruno…).
Other features include explicit time and place location (In Paris yesterday… ), facts and figures (56 people were killed in a bomb blast…), and direct or indirect quotations (PM ‘bungles’, says expert).

Some features convey more than semantic content; they also inform about readership. This is seen in the way a determiner (the definite or the indefinite article) is used or deleted in such contexts as [the] Australian prime minister Paul Keating said… Deletion came to be a socio-linguistic feature of newspaper style, typical of British tabloid journalism. This feature has developed during the 20th century. The so-called ‘serious’ newspapers, which present to their readers important political news, such as The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph make a rare use of it – from 5 to 10 percent. The ‘popular’ papers such as The Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Sun, which often distort the facts in an effort to make the news exciting and entertaining had reached 90 per cent by 1990. Why this particular feature should be so salient is unclear, but it is certainly diagnostic of the social stratification which readership analyses have found for the British newspapers.

Broadcasting

In contrast with most newspapers, only a small part of radio and television output is devoted to news and its discussion (current affairs) – as little as 5 per cent, on some channels – but its significance is perceived to be far greater than this small figure suggests. The core element in this output is well-defined: the news bulletin, consisting of a series of items of varying size, often divided into sections (e.g. general, business, sport, weather), sometimes punctuated by advertising. Each of them fits into a format which may be of any length, but often as short as two minutes.

Analysis of a typical day’s radio or television broadcasting brings to light several varieties of language which are in use elsewhere. Indeed, probably all conceivable spoken varieties will be found at some point or other in the broadcasting media. If a use of language is important enough to develop predictable linguistic features, the situations to which they relate are undoubtedly going to be of regular interests to listeners and viewers. The only constraint is sensitivity to taboo words.

The broadcasting media have also been responsible for the emergence of varieties of their own – though not as many as might be thought. These media are in a continuous search for new ideas and formats, and their fear of the stereotyped favours the promotion of linguistic idiosyncrasy rather than the preservation of stable styles. When such styles emerge, they stand out, as in the case of educational programmes for very young children whose distinctive prosodic features and simplified sentences are often parodied. Another find is game shows which regularly fuel language’s stock of catch phrases.

Weather reporting is one of the best examples, especially on radio where, in its specialized form, it is reduced to its bare essentials, as a restricted language. The names of the Meteorological Office sea areas surrounding the British Isles provide British English with some of the most distinctive weather-forecasting lexicon. Along the well-known areas such as Irish Sea, Plymouth, Portland, Thames, there exist a great deal of new coinages applied to meteorological regions, for example, Viking, Cromarty, Dogger, Forties ( in the east), Shannon, Rockall, Bailey (in the west), or even more confusing phrases North Utsire and South Utsire (the western parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula). Most people know at least some of the names by heart, though few could locate more than a handful with any accuracy. It also usually comes as a surprise to see how these North and South [u:t’sIqrq] are spelled.

Two contrasting styles – informal and conversational or formal and formulaic – are used on BBC Radio in weather forecasting. A successful weather forecast is a mixture of fluent spontaneity, controlled informality and friendly authority.

The fluency is partly a matter of careful preparation, but is largely achieved through the broadcaster’s ability to rely on formulaic phrasing (with light winds and largely clear skies, blue skies and sunshine, widespread frost) and on standard sequences of locations. The number of likely weather situations is really quite limited in a particular region, and certain combinations of features frequently recur.

The conversational tone may be achieved through the use of:

informal lexicon (take a tumble, just a chance, odd rogue shower);
everyday turns of phrase which ‘ordinary’ people use about the weather (become a little bit quieter, turn colder);
fuzzy expressions (more or less, round about);
contracted verbs (it’s, that’s, we’ll);
colloquial sentence connection (anyhow, in actual fact).

At the same time, the scientific element in the weather forecast message is evident in the numerical underpinning (eight degrees, minus one or minus two) and the reference to notions which are generally not found in the speech of the amateur (icy patches on untreated roads, well broken cloud, south-westerly wind).

The other style of forecast has a highly formulaic character and is notorious for its specialized vocabulary, reduced grammar, controlled prosody, and cyclical discourse structure, which is typical of a restricted language, e.g. Now at ten to six it’s time for the shipping forecast issued by the Met Office at one seven double oh on Monday the seventh of February. There are warnings of gales in Viking, North Utsire and South Utsire… In many ways this forecast resembles the language of commentary.

But it is the commentary, used in both media, which is probably the most famous and the most distinctive variety to have emerged from the world of broadcasting.

Commentary is one of the most distinctive of all uses of English. Its roles extend well beyond broadcasting. It will be heard in such varied contexts as fashion shows, race-course meetings, and cookery demonstrations. Within broadcasting the use of commentary extends beyond sporting occasions. It will be heard accompanying such public events as inaugurations, funerals and other processions.

But the most frequent kinds of commentary are those associated with sports and games. Here, two elements need to be distinguished: the ‘play-by-play’ commentary, and the ‘colour-added’ commentary. The latter is important, for it provides an audience with pre-event background, post-event evaluation, and within-event interpretation. But there is little to be said about it stylistically: it is conversational in style, and often in dialogue form. Consider a fragment of colour commentary: It was two dollars before and I just think something’s wrong with those dividends that are showing up on our screen. They’ve got Speedy Cheval the favourite but I’m not exactly sure that that’s correct, but anyway they’re in behind the mobile going towards the starting point now for the first heat of the Lion Brown Rising Star Three-Year-Old Championship just about there.

Stylistic interest in commentary lies chiefly in the play-by-play component.

Because commentary is an oral reporting of ongoing activity, it is unlike other kinds of narrative which are typically reported in past time. Indeed, it is unlike any other kind of speech situation. US linguist Charles Ferguson (1983, p. 156) captured its uniqueness when he described radio sports casting as ‘a monolog or dialog-on-stage directed at an unknown, unseen, heterogeneous mass audience who voluntarily choose to listen, do not see the activity being reported, and provide no feedback to the speaker. If such a strange activity is to survive, and to be successful in maintaining fluency and listener interest, it needs special linguistic features’.

The variety does survive successfully, because of the way language has been adapted to suit unique circumstances. Its chief feature is a highly formulaic style of representation, which reduces the memory load on the commentator and thereby helps fluency. The amount a commentator has to remember can be quite considerable, especially in a football match or a horse race, where many participants are involved. There may be genuine difficulties hindering the commentator from following what is taking place. At such times, the commentator cannot stop. Silence is anathema, especially on the radio. Formulaic language provides a partial solution; it allows the commentator time to think, as the following quotation from a horse race illustrates: it’s Fraytas in the lead / followed by...as they come round the Canal Turn way over on the other side of the field by Everest /...

Presumably the commentator was having some trouble seeing who was in second place, at that point; the formula ‘it’s X followed by Y’ was interrupted by two other formulae (‘they come round the Z’ and ‘ (way over) on the other side of the field’), giving him time to work out exactly which horse it was.

There are several different kinds of formula. Some are used when starting and finishing a race (they’re off!, and at the post, it’s…). Some introduce a fresh cycle of activity (in the straight they come, and round the turn it’s…). Scoring formulae are also important in such games as football, cricket, and baseball (3 – nil; 34 for 3; count of 1 and 1). (After K. Kuiper & P. Austin, 1990).

Look at an extract from a sulky-racing commentary which has been set out in lines (rhythmic units) so that phrasal repetitions and parallelisms can be more clearly seen:

They are off and racing now.
And one of the best was Speedy Cheval
Coming out at number two from El Red
And also Florlis Fella’s away fairly well /
A little wider on the track the favourite Race Ruler.
Twilight Time is in behind those.
Breaking up behind is Noodlum’s Fella
And he went down
And one tipped out was My Dalrae /
And the driver’s out of the sulky.
The horse actually went down on its nose and cartwheeled,
Sulky over the top.
They race their way down the far side (Loop)
1,600 to go
and El Red stroke up / to go to the lead now.

As seen from the extract above, sports commentary is not identified by its vocabulary: sporting terms and idioms can be found elsewhere, such as in press reports and everyday chat. Other factors are more distinctive:

It is extremely fluent, keeping up with the pace of the activities. The rate is steady, and there is little sign of hesitation noises, false starts, comment clauses, nonsense words, and other features of spontaneous speech.
The prosody is suited to the sport, reflecting the atmosphere and drama. Some very unusual prosodies can be heard, and speeds of articulation which differ greatly from everyday conversations (both slower and faster). Some sports (such as horse racing) may be spoken in a monotone, either loudly (as in horse racing) or softly (as in snooker). Others make use of wide variations in pitch range (as in football or baseball). A commentator may have a favourite way of ‘pointing’ a commentary, and idiosyncrasy can be strong.
Distinctive grammar is seen in the use of the Present tense (he sends it back); the omission of elements of sentence structure (Gooch in close), inverted word order (over at third is Smith), and extra modifiers (The quiet Texan Tommy John delivers…; and Smith, who’s scored well this season, runs back…). The frequent use of the Passive is another ‘survival’ device: often commentators see a play before they can identify the player, and the Passive (perhaps with a tell-tale pause) allows them to delay mentioning the player’s name (His shot is blocked by – Jones).
Discourse structure is cyclical, reflecting the way most games consist of recurring sequences of short activities (as in cricket, tennis, and baseball) or a limited numbers of activity options (as in the various kinds of football ). In racing, the structure is even simpler, the cycling here regularly informing the listener of the varying order of the competitors, with each ‘loop’ of the cycle introduced by its own formulae. This is a ‘state of play’ summary, crucial for listeners / viewers who have just switched on – or who have simply lost track of what’s happening.

Commercial Advertising

Commercial advertising is the largest and most visible form of advertising; but by no means the only one. Political speeches, sermons, and several other uses of language can be said to be ‘selling something’. There is also an overlap with announcements, such as births and deaths (a type of prestige advertising), legal notices, health warnings, and other items whose functions are chiefly to inform. But commercial advertising stands out stylistically on several counts. Like literature, it can employ other varieties of language in its service: any fragments of the human condition (and a fair amount of non-human condition) can be found in an ad. Lexically, it tends to use words which are vivid (new, bright), concrete (soft, washable), positive (safe, extra), and universal (best, perfect). Grammatically, it is typically conversational and elliptical – and often, as a result, vague (A better deal [than what?]). It uses highly figurative expressions (taste the sunshine in K – Y peaches), deviant graphology (Beanz Meanz Heinz), and strong sound effects, such as rhythm, alliteration, and rhyme, especially in slogans. It can make effective use of word-play. On television it is also likely to be dramatized and vocalized. Radio uses sound effects, songs and accents to provide a varied brand-name profile.

A most prominent position among the language means in advertising is occupied by slogans. The intention behind slogans is to form a forceful, catchy, mind-grabbing utterance which will rally people to buy something, or to behave in a certain way. In their linguistic structure, slogans are very like proverbs. Sentences tend to be short, with a strong rhythm: Drinka pinta milka day; Guinness is good for you; Safety First. They often have a balanced structure, especially if they get at all lengthy: Make love, not war; When you need aspirin, drink Disprin. There can be a striking use of figurative language: Terylene keeps its promises; Switch on the sunshine (Kellogg’s cereal). Frequent use is made of alliteration (the use of words that begin with the same sound in order to make a special effect) and rhyme: You’ll wonder where the yellow went / When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent; Electrolux brings luxury to life. And several mimic a conversational style: It’s finger-licking good (Kentucky Fried Chicken); I bet (s)he drinks Carling Black Label.

Despite the many variations in content and location, advertising is a remarkably homogeneous variety. The most obvious variations, such as use of pictures, colour, and prominence (peak time, front page) are of little stylistic consequence. However, size (and cost) does have effect in the amount of ellipsis and abbreviations used. For example, crammed into a single line of a three-line narrow-column ad for a mechanic is: ‘Ford / Merc exp a must. Excel sal / bnfts’. (‘Ford / Mercury experience is a must. Excellent salary and benefits’).

ACTIVITIES

Questions

1. What functional styles of language do news media exploit?

2. What is the chief constraint in the reporting of news in both spoken and written media?

3. Describe the most distinctive features of reporting.

4. Comment on deletion of a determiner as a socio-linguistic phenomenon.

5. What is the general proportion of news and its discussion to the total radio and television output?

6. What is the regular composition of the news bulletin in broadcasting?

7. What new language varieties have emerged in broadcasting media?

8. Give an account of the stylistic idiosyncrasies of weather reporting.

9. Describe a commentary as the most distinctive variety of broadcasting.

10. What are the stylistic ways commercial advertising stands out?

EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Compare the two radio forecasts presented on BBC Radio 4 on 7 February 1994. Characterize the styles of both excerpts and give an account of the most essential features.

I. Good afternoon / it’s still unsettled / though not as much as it was / – and after tomorrow it should become a little bit quieter / although at the same time turn colder / – and I emphasize / – that’s after tomorrow / – anyhow back to the present / – and we more or less have an east-west split / – so we’ll start / first of all in the east / with south-east and central-southern England / the Midlands / East Anglia / north-east England / and eastern Scotland / – here most places will be dry / with blue skies and sunshine / – although there’s just a chance of an odd rogue shower / – especially in central-southern England and eastern Scotland / – temperatures will be close to normal – that’s around eight degrees in southern areas / and six degrees in the north / – now during this evening and tonight / with light wind and largely clear skies / temperatures will take a tumble / – and will soon fall below freezing / with frost becoming widespread / – temperatures in actual fact probably bottoming out at round about minus one or minus two / – and in one or two places it’ll turn misty for a time / – and there’ll also be some icy patches on any untreated roads / – now for south-west England / Wales / north-west England / western Scotland / the Northern Ireland / – sunny intervals and showers here / the showers heavy in places / – one or two variations though / for instance in western Scotland / the showers will join forces to begin with / – to give some longer spells of rain or sleet / with snow on the hills / – generally speaking the showers in most places should tend to become lighter / and more scattered during the afternoon / – temperatures / they’ll be close to normal and mostly around seven degrees / – there’ll still be a few light showers around this evening and tonight / but by then most places will be dry / with well broken cloud / – along the coast / temperatures will only fall to around two or three degrees / but inland / they’ll drop below freezing / to give a widespread frost / – and some icy patches / – although later in the night / increasing cloud and a freshening south-westerly wind / will pick temperatures up again across northern Ireland /and the west of Wales /…

II. Now at ten to six it’s time for the shipping forecast / issued by the Met Office / at one seven double oh on Monday the seventh of February / – there are warnings of gales in Viking / North Utsire / South Utsire / Forties / Finisterre / Sole / Fastnet / Shannon / Rockall / and Fair Isle / – the general synopsis at midday / – low / one hundred and fifty miles west of Bailey / nine eight six / will fill / – new low / expected Bailey / nine eight four / by one two double oh tomorrow / – Atlantic high / a thousand and thirty / expected Trafalgar / a thousand and thirty six / by same time / – the area forecasts for the next twenty four hours / – Viking / North Utsire / South Utsire / north-east Forties / – south-east / gale eight / decreasing six / – occasional rain or snow / moderate / occasionally poor / – south-west Forties / Cromarty / Forth / Tyne / Dogger / – southerly four or five / increasing six / perhaps gale eight later / in south-west Forties and Cromarty / – showers then rain / – good becoming moderate / – …… and now the weather reports from coastal stations / for one six oh GMT / – Tyree / – south by west four / – recent showers / – nineteen miles / a thousand and three / rising slowly / – Butt of Lewis lighthouse / – south / – three / – twenty four miles / a thousand and one / – rising more slowly / …

Exercise 2. Read an extract from “Songs of the City” by Owen G. (1985). Identify its genre and justify your choice.

Good afternoon and welcome
To this international
Between England and Holland
Which is being played here today
At 4, Florence Terrace.
And the pitch looks in superb condition
As Danny Markey, the England captain,
Puts England on the attack.
Straight away it’s Markey
With a lovely little pass to Keegan,
Keegan back to Markey,
Markey in possession here
Jinking skilfully past the dustbins;
And a neat flick inside the cat there.
What a brilliant player this Markey is
And he’s still only nine years old!
Francis to Markey,
Markey is through, he’s through
No, he’s been tackled by the drainpipe;
But he’s won the ball back brilliantly
And he’s advancing on the Dutch keeper,
It must be a goal.
No!
It’s gone into Mrs. Spence’s next door.
And Markey’s going round to ask for the ball back
It could be the end of this international.
Now the door’s opening
And yes, it’s Mrs. Spence,
Mrs. Spence has come to the door.
Wait a minute
She’s shaking her head, she’s shaking her head
She’s not going to let England have their ball back.
What is the referee going to do?…

By Galina Goumovskaya

to be continued