Analisi di un quotidiano

Unit 2 Newspapers

Lesson 1: The Language of Newspapers

Exercise 1: Match each description of various people who create and read newspapers with one of the terms below.

1. Subscriber: A person who contracts to receive and pay for a certain number of issues of a newspaper publication
2. Reporter: This person is a newspaper's front-line eyes and ears, gaining information from many sources, some public such as police records, and others private, in order to assemble the material necessary for an article
3. Publisher: The chief executive and often the owner of a newspaper or other publishing firm
4. Editor: A person who is responsible for all editorial aspects of publication
5. Typesetter: A person who sets type; a compositor
6. Reviewer: A person who writes reviews of books, television programmes, theatrical performances
7. Proof-reader: A person who reads pages and marks errors for correction
8. Columnist: A writer who writes a column on a regular basis in the same space in a newspaper

Exercise 2

Complete each of the following sentences with a suitable form of one of the words in the box.

1. Please note that this newspaper edits letters before publishing them.

2. The Times printed a very strong editorial in favour of the Prime Minister’s Programme.

3. In the following sequence, the interviewer’s questions have been edited out.

4. She has aspired to the editorship of this newspaper ever since she set foot in the place 35 years ago and finally today her dream has come true.

5. Foreign correspondents are not supposed to editorialise about the news they report.

6. The news of her death was not in the early edition of the paper.

because it reached the newsroom too late and we had already gone to press⁷. You’d be amazed at the number of stupid mistakes most journalists make in their English. Thank God there’s always a proofreader around to put them right⁸. Now with a round up of what’s been happening in the markets, here is our financial reporter, Julia Robbins. Exercise 3 Getting messages across to the public depends on the collaboration of the press and the media in general. Here are some words related to the world of the press. Place them into the gaps in the sentences that follow: 1. The government press secretary has said that the Prime Minister will make a statement this afternoon. 2. Most journalists would give their right hand to become part of the White House press corps and to hear the President

“live” on a regular basis.

The Ministry issued a statement explaining the essential information about the new measures that are to be adopted.

I think it’s disgraceful that a media mogul like Murdoch or Berlusconi can decide the fate of entire countries thanks to their media empires.

The Government press office deals with all routine enquiries from journalists.

The coverage of the elections was biased and unfair.

The Democratic Party has said it is preparing a detailed media kit with a variety of materials (posters, fliers, a CD-ROM) to enable journalists to cover their campaign more comprehensively.

Some people say that journalists have the best view of Parliament from up in the press gallery.

HOW TO READ A NEWSPAPER

Newspapers and the journalists who write for them create

a representation of the world in language.Newspapers select events which can be considered newsworthy and present them in a way that attracts the interest of readers. News stories not only inform but also tend to confirm the dominant attitudes and beliefs of dominant groups in society.

Newspapers and magazines are made up of different types of texts, each with its own rhetorical function, discourse organization, and characteristic linguistic features.

Newspapers typically contain the following genres and sub-genres:

• news reports or news stories, which serve to inform readers of significant actors and events and limit subjective interpretation of facts or unnecessary bias;
• headlines, which introduce readers to the topic dealt with in the text and attract readers' attention;
• feature articles, which offer a balanced analysis of some interesting and controversial issues;
• reports on topics related to specific areas like business, law, science, education, fashion, art, etc.;
• opinion articles,

which are more evaluative than factual;
editorials, which give readers the newspaper’s point of view on a piece of news or an issue;
letters to the editor, which give readers’ reaction to articles previously published in the paper;
book reviews, which describe and evaluate recently published books;
classified advertisements, which inform readers of job offers, goods and services for sale, etc.
The function of different types of newspaper texts will determine to a large extent the way in which they are organized and the language they use.
Newspaper front pages are vitally important. They serve to attract readers, to reinforce the newspaper’s image and identity, to reassure the regular reader who looks for familiar features.
Look at the following front pages. The ones in the first page are from British newspapers, the one in the second page is from the famous American newspaper The New York Times.
2 THE FRONT PAGE
Here is a list of some typical front page features:
Masthead = theIl nome del giornale: The New York Times Slogan: "All the News that's fit to Print" Puffs: Bande colorate che pubblicizzano storie importanti all'interno del giornale o in un supplemento Titoli: In GRANDE CARATTERE per le principali notizie Sottotitoli: In carattere più piccolo, talvolta in corsivo, che spiegano ulteriori dettagli sulla storia Principale notizia: La storia principale del giorno Autore: Nome e dettagli del giornalista Fotografie: Di solito si riferiscono alla storia principale. Accompagnate da didascalie Altre notizie principali: Altre importanti storie di cronaca Menu: Indice del giornale