Journalistic Subgenres: Informative, Opinion, and Hybrid Texts
Characteristics of Journalistic Subgenres
Informative Genres
Informative texts convey factual information of interest to the readers to whom they are addressed. Therefore, personal opinions and value judgments should be excluded.
Key Informative Subgenres
A) The News
News objectively presents current and interesting events. The reaction of a news story usually involves certain key aspects of an event: who did it, what happened, where it occurred, how it happened, and why. A news story can be divided into the following:
- Headline: States the main point of the news.
- Lead: The first paragraph of the news story, containing the most relevant information.
- Source: Indicates the source of information.
- Body: Explains the situation in detail, providing information not included in the lead. It usually includes the background and consequences of the event. The information is organized, highlighting the most important aspects first. This structure, from the point of view of information, is called an inverted pyramid.
B) The Report
A report expands on the news in-depth, incorporating descriptive elements, fragments of witness statements, and avoiding subjective evaluations. The structure is more open, and the ending must be conclusive. It is less objective than the news and can be signed. There are different types of reports: action, content, and quotes.
C) The In-Depth Interview
An in-depth interview provides detailed information from a particular source, the interviewee. In general, it follows this structure:
- Introduction: Presents the interviewee.
- Body: Presents the questions and answers, a description of the interviewee, the environment, and other relevant details.
- Conclusion
Opinion Genres
These texts reflect the opinion of the newspaper or the journalist on current issues. They are intended to help the public form an opinion about social reality.
Key Opinion Subgenres
A) The Editorial
An editorial expresses the newspaper’s opinion on a given topic. It is always in the same pages and is not signed.
B) The Article
Unlike the editorial, an article expresses the personal opinion of the journalist. Articles can cover all topics, not always related to immediate news.
C) The Column
A column is a fixed section of the newspaper reserved for a collaborator (daily or periodically). It receives this name due to its spatial arrangement.
Hybrid Genres
Hybrid genres combine informative data with opinions, sometimes more explicitly.
A) Chronicle
A chronicle is a narrative of current events developed over one or more days. The chronicler is present as a witness to the events.
B) Commentary
Similar to the news, a commentary answers the questions: what?, who?, when?, where?, how?, and why?, but it also interprets the events through commentary.
C) Criticism
Criticism expresses the judgments of a specialized journalist on works such as theater, movies, concerts, records, or books. It is incorrect to relate events without forming an opinion.