Journalistic Language and Information Genres
General Characteristics of Journalistic Language
Journalistic language is influenced by several factors: technological advancements, foreign languages (especially English), other discourses (e.g., political, literary, colloquial), and sometimes, deliberate ambiguity and casual language use.
Morphosyntactic Features
- Tendency to place the subject at the end of the sentence.
- Lengthy sentences due to verbal phrases, paraphrases, prepositional and conjunctive phrases, redundant expressions, subheadings, explanatory phrases, and subordinate appositions.
- Anglicisms and Gallicisms: Incorrect use of “a” + infinitive, “be still” + participle, and conditional rumor.
- Mix of direct and indirect style, using declarative verbs and the conjunction “that” with direct quotes.
- Frequent use of passive voice.
Lexical-Semantic Features
- Media introduces neologisms, including foreign words (Anglicisms), semantic calques (e.g., “match” instead of “meeting”), standard language formations (derivation, composition, acronyms), and euphemisms.
- Routine use of rhetorical figures like metaphor, metonymy, personification, and hyperbole.
Nonverbal Resources
Beyond verbal language, nonverbal aspects are crucial: images, graphics, font size, design, and page layout. Often, the upper-left corner of the page is dedicated to fundamentals and sought by advertisers.
Information Genres: News
News is the quintessential informative genre, characterized by objectively presenting accurate, topical facts of general interest (importance, proximity, significance, spectacle, rarity, emotional impact, or involving famous people).
News Structure
- Headlines (pre-headline, headline, subtitle; only the headline is mandatory): Condense the essence of the fact, attract readers, and provide a preview. Pre-headline and subtitle supplement the headline. Headlines are brief, concise, often using verbs in the present tense or omitting the introductory verb, and favoring direct style.
- Lead: The first paragraph, containing the most relevant information, sometimes in bold or a different font.
- Body: Provides a detailed account of the event.
News often follows the inverted pyramid structure, starting with essential facts and adding progressively less important details. This structure is iterative, repeating information from the headline in the lead and body, with increasing detail.
The Rule of 6 Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why, How) guides news writing, although not all questions need answers.
The Report
A newspaper account, descriptive or narrative, with a personal writing style, explaining how certain facts happened and providing insights. Reporters gather information on-site, including statements. Documentation services (news agencies and media archives) are crucial.
Key Report Elements
- Headline: Attractive, using phrases, song titles, puns, etc.
- Theme: Engaging (human interest, social, sports, etc.).
- Image: Pictures, graphs, maps, etc., attract attention.
Reports, due to length, are common in weekend and specialized publications.
Linguistic Features of Information Genres
- Clear, concise, and correct language; medium-high register; descriptive (not evaluative) adjectives; generally objective glossary; specialized vocabulary when appropriate.
- Morphosyntactically, linked to the narrative nature of information: third-person verbs, perfect tense, indicative mood.
- Precision and clarity through supplements and subordinate clauses.
- Direct style for objectivity, combined with indirect style through selective quoting.
- Frequent use of passive voice (analytical and reflexive).