Journalistic Genres: News, Opinion, and Interpretation
Journalistic Genres
Types of Journalistic Genres
We can establish three types of journalistic genres: news, opinion, and interpretative. Newspapers and magazines include pages for information, opinion pieces on current events, and interpretative journalism, combining data and information with the journalist’s own personal approaches.
News
News is the story of a current event of public interest. The journalist must report events or facts objectively and truthfully. The language style is defined by clarity, conciseness, and concreteness. News writing follows rigid guidelines, leaving little room for creativity. However, this genre effectively fulfills the journalist’s primary purpose: to inform.
Parts of a News Story
- Headline: Aims to attract the reader’s attention and announce the content with minimal words and maximum impact. It appears at the beginning of the news body with larger font size. It may include:
- Sub-headline: Informs the reader of the context and background. It’s a second-order title with a smaller font.
- Subtitle: Includes complementary aspects of the title, making it more understandable. Its font size is smaller than the title but larger than the body text.
- Banner: Stands at the top of the page to include all information regarding the same event. It’s a brief phrase (maximum four words) with different typographic treatment, usually bold.
- Lead or Intro: The opening paragraph, typographically distinct from the rest. It provides a concise summary of the news, answering the five W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why.
- Body: Contains the rest of the information, presented in an inverted pyramid structure. Details are presented in descending order of importance.
Chronicle
A chronicle is expanded news with commentary on a current issue, signed by the author. The writer is a qualified informant providing personal narrative and analysis. It offers a rich and detailed version of events, like a direct witness account.
In Spain, a chronicle incorporates elements of assessment and interpretation, secondary to informational elements. It maintains continuity and frequency, either by the journalist or the theme. The reader recognizes the writer’s style, allowing for a direct and relaxed tone. The style should be direct, plain, and objective, reflecting the writer’s personality. Objective and subjective elements complement each other. Value judgments or editorializing are not advisable, as the main objective is narrative and data exposure.
Editorial
The press adds to its functions of reporting and interpreting a third one: to express its opinion. The editorial represents the newspaper’s opinion on a news item, giving it public significance. Editorials do not use introductory paragraphs due to limited space.
Opinion Piece
The opinion piece is a fundamental model of opinion journalism. The author analyzes and interprets a specific issue, offering their opinion. It is analytical, interpretive, guiding, evaluative, and judgmental. Unlike editorials, opinion pieces are signed and represent the author’s private opinion, usually a journalist or intellectual with experience and public recognition. Two types of writers exist: those addressing various current issues with certain frequency, and those publishing regularly or occasionally on specialized topics. Freedom of expression is limited only by word count and clarity for readers. They are a hybrid genre between literature and journalism.