Inglese I - Media & Communication

Tricks of Language in Headlines

Play on Words (Puns):

Example: "Us cool on climate change"

Cool -> polysemy (word with more than one meaning)

Cool = meaning 1. not warm (= fresco in senso climatico)

Cool = meaning 2. not enthusiastic (essere distaccati)

Example: "Women who smoke have lighter children"

Light -> homonymy -> two words, same spelling and pronunciation, totally unrelated meanings

Light: word 1. Verb = to light a cigarette (accendino)

Light: word 2. Adjective = Opposite of heavy (leggero)

Intertextuality:

Inter=tra, text=testi-> scrivere qualcosa che è collegato a qualcos'altro

Example: "Love's Labour's Lost" -> Shakespeare's play

Cultural references: references to famous books/plays/films, quotations, celebrities, foreign languages..

Phonology (alliteration, sound effect with the grammar):

Example: "Paris probe proves palace innocent" /p/

Example: "Butter battle spreads" /b/

Emphatic Language (hyperbole):

Example: "Weeping mum damns teenage killer thug"

Weeping = crying

Damns =

Bruce freed from jail after killing girlfriend - tabloidese (c'è jail e non prison) Brits to expect heatwave hottest in 100 years - abbreviation (britis sta per british)Awesummer is back with great family deals-> pun (awesummer = mixato 2 parole quindi estate è una figata) 4. Nice day! Taxi!-> minor sentence (frase non completa) 15 THE NEWS ARTICLE They are an objective account/report of events=riportano dei fatti, eventi veri e sono oggettivi A news article discusses current or recent news of either general interest (i.e. daily newspapers) or of a specific topic (i.e. political or trade news magazines, club newsletters, or technology news websites). A NEWS REPORT: !!((Scelgo tipo eventi di cronaca nera tipo dei furti x l'esame))!! Where? Dove succede l'evento When? How? Who? Per esempio le vittime e riportare a quotation ovvero una citazione What? Took a safe= preso una cassaforte Ultime 2 sono + importanti. Un'altra citazione dalla polizia dove si capisce che non hanno ancora preso il ladro, ma devono rassicurare la popolazione: Police: "we are doing all we can to arrest the thief"->Queste domande devono essere seguite e

Il primo paragrafo di un articolo viene chiamato The Lead, in italiano viene chiamato l'attacco.

Quale tra i 3 Lead risponde a tutte e 5 le domande: il 3 ha dove, cosa succede, quanti soldi.. Il 1 è troppo generale, senza dettagli. Il 2 generale.

It gives a summary of the news and anwers the traditional 5 W questions

ES 3 LEAD: Staff at Ipswich private kindergarten in Suffolk were shocked after thieves smashed a wall exactly where the safe was. The heavy cashbox containing about £1,200 was taken away in the nursery's wheelie bin.

Who What How Where

THE INVERTED PYRAMID (piramid) AND THE 5 W:

The structure of a news article is like an inverted pyramid:

• It starts from the more general presentation of the news (the lead) and then it provides more specific information (extra details of the event, quotations in direct or indirect speech) in the body and the conclusion.
• The conclusion often includes

memorabledetails/quotations.

POSSIBILI DOMANDE:

1. Dove è headline e perché è importante?
2. Perché sono importanti le quotation? -> il direct speech rassicura la popolazione.
3. Che struttura c'era 1 secolo fa? Si seguiva la storia in ordine cronologico come se fosse un romanzo e ciò creava suspense.

THE CONCLUSION: La migliore conclusione: la 3 è più coincisa. La 1 no perché il giornalista dà la sua opinione e il giornalista deve essere oggettivo. La 2 ha una citazione, ma si preferiscono mettere nel body.

VOCABULARY:

• Kindergarten -> A nursery school
• Premeditated -> Planned in advance
• Baffled -> Confused and amazed
• Raid -> Incursione
• Tinted -> Not transparent
• Wheelbarrow -> A container for moving things in, with one wheel
• Loot -> Stolen money
• Vanish into thin air -> Disappear without trace
• Wheelie bin -> A tall dustbin with wheels
• Spokesperson -> Somebody who speaks on behalf of

1. What’s a news article? An objective account/report of events
2. What’s a lead?
   • The first paragraph in a newspaper article
   • It gives a summary of the news and answers the traditional 5 W questions
3. What’s the inverted pyramid? Contemporary structure of articles: beginning with more general presentation of the news (the lead) and then more specific information in the body and the conclusion.

17 NEWS ARTICLES IN BROADSHEETS VS TABLOIDS

BROADSHEETS	TABLOIDS
Neutral register	Informal register
Neutral/objective naming of participants	Judgemental naming of participants (thief, crook..)
Long and complex sentences and paragraphs	News articles are often similar to stories: they include many personal details (jobless..)
News articles include fewer personal details	Short sentence and paragraphs but more factual information
	Few subordinate clauses

broadsheets often cover the same event, but the information included is often not the same.

What is a register? Is a kind of language or communication set in a context.

Ci sono delle subordinate? Come il quale, after sneaking.

Tabloid spesso raccontano una narrazione con dei particolari da romanzo, gossip.

ANALYSING AND EVALUATING A NEWS ARTICLE:

1. What type of newspaper is the article from?
2. What is the article about? Summarise it using the headline to help you.
3. Focus on the lead (first paragraph). Does it answer the Five W questions?
4. Focus on the main body. What is each paragraph about?
5. Focus on the last paragraph. Is it interesting and memorable?
6. How can you tell that the article is from a tabloid/broadsheet?
• Focus on the language.
• Are the words used mainly neutral/informal?
• How are the participants named?
• Are the sentences/paragraphs long/complex/short etc.?
7. Is direct/indirect speech used in the article? What is the effect of using direct speech?
8. Has the article achieved the

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purpose of a news report?

POSSIBILI DOMANDE

1. Perché hai scelto articolo? Perché mi piace ecc
2. Domande anche sul giornale da cui si è preso il giornale.
3. Di cosa parla? Due righe x spiegare in generale
4. Ha raggiunto lo scopo l’articolo di comunicare in maniera oggettiva?

Newsreport; raccontare i fatti in maniera oggettiva

18 EDITORIALS

An editorial, leading article (UK), or leader (UK) is an opinion piece written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of a newspaper or magazine. Obiettivo dell’editoriale è dare un’opinione ovvero un articolo di opinioni in prima pagina, pezzo di punta. È fatto da giornalistiche ha importanza ed esperienza ovvero senior editorial staff or editor-in-chief.

((Political slant political orientation))

DO OBJECTIVE NEWSPAPERS EXIST?

MEDIA BIAS (baias) (=preconcetto, pregiudizio, condizionamento). Negative meaning->preference towards a particular perspective or ideology.

If a journalist/article is biased, he/she/it is not objective or impartial. For example, ethnic bias (racism).

EXAMPLES OF MEDIA BIAS:

• Political bias
• Religious bias
• Social class bias
• Bias based on sex, background, education
• Corporate bias
• National bias

It is difficult to find objective editorial.

EDITORIALS AND OP-EDS:

The purpose of an editorial is to take a position and to state an opinion. The stronger the opinion is, the more interesting the editorial is.

-Editorials are usually unsigned (no firmato) and may be supposed to reflect the opinion of the periodical. Op-eds are signed. Non è firmato in the UK, why? Perché l'articolo riflette l'opinione dell'intero giornale e non del singolo giornale. In Italia è firmato. In USA no.

-Editorials take a position and to state an opinion -> is not objective.

Op-eds -> controparte dei giornalisti e i loro editoriali are signed perché il giornalista di un'altra testata deve far capire che è lui.

He signed the op-eds editorial. The purpose of an editorial is to create suspense.

THE LEAD IN EDITORIALS:

The lead in editorials is used to catch the attention and the interest of the reader. To do so, a journalist may use different techniques:

• He/she does not introduce the topic of the editorial in the lead. This way, 'suspense' is created.
• He/she includes questions in the lead to involve the reader from the beginning.

ESEMPI:

1. Reclaim our streets: hoodies and baddies:

They are the uniform of thugs and muggers and the sight of young people wearing them makes law-abiding citizens feel scared.

2. Under that hoodie is a child like yours:

Does Prince William own a hoodie? Do the Prime Minister's children have these clothes in their wardrobes? I imagine they do because for teenagers they are almost a uniform.

Baddies= cattivoni

Thugs= malviventi

Muggers= rapinatori

Hoodie= cappuccio

The second example is more emotional and poses questions to the readers.

Crime that happens in shopping centres:

1. I

Non riesco a crederci! Qualcuno ha rubato la mia bicicletta fuori dal centro commerciale! Furto = furto generico Due uomini armati hanno attaccato le guardie di sicurezza mentre stavano consegnando soldi alla banca. Rapina = svaligiare, rapinare tipo appartamento Stavo entrando nel centro commerciale quando un ragazzo mi ha buttato a terra, ha afferrato la mia borsa e se n'è scappato. Rapina = aggressione fisica Paris Hilton è stata sorpresa mentre usciva dal negozio con quattro bottiglie di profumo nella sua borsa. Taccheggio = taccheggio