Newspaper Style.

Newspaper Style

Functions

- provides information without comment or appeal

- delivers ‘hot news’

- addresses general public

Forms

- primarily written

- newspaper reporting: short news, informative articles, interviews (called ‘journalese’)

- statements, announcements

- advertisements

- special form of headlines

Substyles

- the style of quality newspapers (The Times, independent; The Guardian, left-winged; The Daily Telegraph, right-winged; The New York Times, USA)

- the style of tabloids (The Sun)

- Sunday papers (The Sunday Times)

General Characteristics

- clear, concise, brevet

- stereotypical in terms of both lexicology and syntax

- reliance on situational context

- nominal character /‘according to WHO statistics, heart diseases are the no. 1 killer’/

- condensed character

- quotations for the sake of objectivity, immediacy, dramatic effect /‘I’m innocent, please God, I’m an innocent woman,’ she shouted./

Graphical Layout

- paragraphing

- different script types and sizes

- diagrams, charts, sketches, illustrations

Punctuation

- sometimes lack of commas to separate pre-posed adverbials, adjectives in a sequence, sentences in co-ordinating relationship

- frequent inverted commas

- frequent dashes (parenthesis) and colons (headlines)

Syntactical Features

- mostly declarative sentences, sometimes interrogatives and rhetorical questions, rarely imperatives

- sentence condensers and semi-clausal structures rather than dependent clauses

- co-ordinating sentences rather then subordinate clauses

- parenthesises separated by dashes

- mostly past tense, sometimes present tense

- no tense shift in reported speech

- anaphoric reference /‘When he is seeing X, Y could also discuss with him the nuclear non-proliferation draft treaty.’/

- shorter sentences for the sake of easy reading

- passive constructions for the sake of objectivity /‘the bomb, which is believed to have been put under a seat, could have been put on the train…’/

- complex pre-modification and post-modification

- inventive attributes /‘hoped-for; faster-arriving; computer-made’/

- noun groups /‘the Dundee full-time trade union officials’ group; a $ 13 million pre-tax profit increase’/

Word-order

- mostly neutral

- inversion with the verbs ‘declare, say, explain, laugh’ /‘said Dr Mason’/

- fixed in leads or intros (= opening sentences of a longer article)

- ‘five-w-and-h-pattern rule’ = who-what-why-how-where-when > ‘svompt’

- special formula ‘S ADV-TIME V’ /‘Bush yesterday said…’/

Focus > topic

- the crucial information in the 1^st sentence or the main clause in a complex sentence

- main clause precedes the dependent clause

- the quotation precedes the identification of the source /‘…, X said, reported, announced’/

Lexical Features

- neutral expressions

- euphemisms and ‘politically correct’ expressions /‘chairperson’ for ‘chairman’; ‘differently abled’ for ‘disabled’; ‘visually challenged’ for ‘blind’/

- no words outside the standard language variety; no dialect, no slang

- no emotional words, no interjections, no phraseology

x but: colloquial words, slang words, jargon in headlines and quotations

- politic and economic terms

- neologisms /‘laser, sputnik, missile’/

- inventive word-forming /‘peacenik; nixonomics; highjacker’/

- semantic condensers /‘British-appointed civil servants; semi-skilled rate; anti-cut leaflets’/

- quotational compounds /‘flight-on pledge; stop-tour plea’/

- newspaper clichés /‘bitter end; calm before the storm; long arm of the law; leaving no stone unturned; lending a helping land; nipped in the bud’; also ‘generation gap’/

- proper names, numbers, figures

- acronyms /‘UNO, NATO, AIDS’/

- abbreviations /‘Gvt, Hq, Ltd; A-bomb, H-bomb, D-Day’/

- conventional symbols /‘©, ₤, %’/

- initials for names of political personalities /‘JFK’ for John Fitzgerald Kennedy; ‘FDR’ for Franklin Delano Roosevelt/

- no verbosity in ideal case /‘many’ for ‘a large proportion of’; ‘now’ for ‘at the present time’; ‘since’ for ‘in view of the fact that’/

- no redundancy in ideal case /‘35 acres (of land); blue (coloured) car; collaborate (together); dates (back) from; (entirely) absent; may (possibly)’/

- no abstract and vague longwords in ideal case /‘principles, assumptions, conclusions, assertions, requirements, arguments’/

Special Nomenclature

- acronyms: DNA /deoxyribonucleic acid/; laser /light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation/; CD-ROM /compact disc read on the memory/; WWW /world wide web/; AIDS /acquired immune deficiency syndrome/; FAQ /frequently asked questions/; BBC /British Broadcasting Corporation/; EU /European Union/; UNICEF /United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fond/; OPEC /Organisation of Petrol Exporting Countries/; GMO /genetically modified/; PIN /personal identity number/; NATO /North Atlantic Treaty Organisation/; CIA /Central Intelligence Agency/; WHO /World Health Organisation/

 

Headlines

Functions

- provides a basic idea about the content of the following article

- should tell the story

General Characteristics

- condensed, concise, catching and attractive /‘Ludwig van and his Era’/

- verbal character /‘Door Closes on South Africa’/

- punctuation: dashes /‘How Danag Became Free – Star Gets Full Story’/, colons /‘Sex Bias: Say How it Hits You’/, inverted commas /‘“Expel these ten” Demand’/

Morphological Features

- contractions

- omission of articles and auxiliaries /‘Union Leaders (are) on the Spot’/

Syntactical Features

- present tense for the sake of topicality and dramatic effect /‘Prisoners Revolt in Belfast’/

- past tense for older events seen from a new perspective /‘How Danag Became Free – Star Gets Full Story’/

- ‘to’ infinitive for future /‘Nuclear Danger to be Raised’/

- sometimes as if a fragment taken from a broader context /‘Lloyd Confirms he won’t Stand’/

- ellipsis /‘Still in Danger’/

- rhetorical questions /‘The Worse the Better?’/

- sentence condensers; semi-clausal structures /‘Fishermen Sailing Home’/

- semantic condensers; noun groups /‘Rail Safety Call’/

Lexical Features

- headline vocabulary: short, monosyllabic, polysemic /‘ban, bid, claim, crash, cut, hit, plea, quit, rush’/ > /‘Bid to Stop New Police Powers’/

- words outside the standard language variety

- colloquial words, slang words, jargon

- frequent use of ‘no’ /‘Youth Told: Say “No”’/

- puns /‘Target: Trade Union Unity’/

- alliteration /‘Teaming is Tops for Training’/

- numbers, abbreviations, conventional symbols /‘Last Hurdle! $ 80 Needed by 3 PM Today’/

- short forms and acronyms in title > full forms in text /‘Cig Ads Accused’/