Linguaggio dei giornali

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.

• Subscriber
• Reporter
• Publisher
• Editor
• Typesetter
• Reviewer
• Proof-reader
• Columnist

• A person who is responsible for all editorial aspects of publication
• A person who reads pages and marks errors for correction
• The chief executive and often the owner of a newspaper or other publishing firm
• A writer who writes a column on a regular basis in the same space in a newspaper
• 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
• A person who sets type; a compositor
• A person who contracts to receive and pay for a certain number of issues of a newspaper publication
• A person who writes reviews of books, television programmes, theatrical performances in a newspaper

Exercise 2

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

• To edit
• To edit out
• Edition
• Editor
• Copy editor
• Editorial
• Editorship
• Editorialise

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

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

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

4. She has aspired to the ................................................ 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 ................................................................ about the news they report.

6. The news of her death was not in the early ...................................................... of the paper because it reached the newsroom too late and we had already gone to press.

7. You’d be amazed at the number of stupid mistakes most journalists make in their English. Thank God there’s always a .................................. around to put them right.

8. Now with a round up of what’s been happening in the markets, here is our financial ............................., 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:

• Press secretary
• Press release
• Press pack
• Press gallery
• Press office
• Press coverage
• Press baron
• Press corps

1. The government ................................... 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 .................................... and to hear the President “live” on a regular basis.

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

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

5. The Government ........................................................ deals with all routine enquiries from journalists.

6. ...........................