THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH (1): JOURNALISTIC STYLE.
THE PRESS: QUALITY PAPERS
AND POPULAR PAPERS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH
2.1. Variety of media
3. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MEDIA: JOURNALISTIC STYLE
3.1. The language of journalism
3.2. The low-end tabloid style
3.3. The mid-range tabloid style
3.4. The style of the serious press
4. THE PRESS
4.1. The written press & The major newspapers
4.1.1. The broadsheet press
4.1.2. The tabloids
4.1.3. Newspapers in the U.S.A.
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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1. INTRODUCTION
Unit 67, aims to provide a useful introduction to the mass media in English
which comprises the main means of communication: press, radio and television. Yet,
we shall namely concentrate on the press as one of its main manifestations.
In order to do so, we shall start by briefly analysing the press within the scope
of mass [Link], the Journalistic style will be dealt with in an attempt to analise
the main structures , features and aims of the language portrayed in the press. Finally,
quality and popular (yellow press) will be analysed first in the UK and then in the USA.
2. THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH
The mass media comprises three types of modern communication, that is, the press,
the radio, and the television.
The mass media began as a commercial enterprise and it is still quite true today.
Indeed, nearly all the media in free countries are private enterprises which, by their
nature, exist to make money, and will naturally do so by any means the law allows.
They must sell their product: information.
2.1. Variety of media
The sources of information at our disposal are so numerous. There are now
dozens of a)television stations both in Britain and the States, hundreds of
b)newspapers and radio stations, and hundreds of c)specialized magazines devoted to
very particular fields. Moreover, even in countries that are not English-speaking, there
are media in English.
To complicate matters further, there is now an alternative source of journalism.
Indeed, there are millions of bloggers, most producing little more than personal or
family diaries, but some serving as a small-scale news services.
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In fact, the Internet has meant a tremendous shift in the sharing of
information. All major newspapers have a website nowadays, and most of the contents
of many major libraries are now available online.
This means that, nowadays, with the Internet, the scenario is the following: we
have a surplus (excedente) of information, soreaders have to decide which portion of
information is valid and which one is not, and this is a tremendous task, especially in
the case of our teenage students, who will frequently feel tempted to just copy and
paste anything that the internet says.
3. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MEDIA: JOURNALISTIC STYLE
The main aims of journalistic communication are three:
1. to satisfy the need of informing about matters of common interest
2. to spread the news
3. to cultivate the audience’s opinion, by informative objectivity
Mass media report the latest events around the world, and answers the set of wh-
questions: what?, who?, when?, where?, why?, what for? and how?. The report must
be a complete piece of news according to a decreasing interest order.
The audience is regarded as the market of news.
3.1. The language of journalism
The journalistic language relies on the formula “the 3 c’s code”, that is, language must
be CLEAR (all people from different social classes must understand it), CONCISE (say as
much as possible with the smallest number of words), CORRECT (no inventive is
allowed and well structured).
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In newspapers, the article has to attract the reader´s attention. As a result, the
importance of headlines is vital. This explains why in British newspapers it is very
common to have some sort of pun or game with words in the headline
It is important to know that the language of newspapers has acquired a number
of conventions that differ from the common usage of ordinary English. Let us now
analyze them:
1) Auxiliary verbs are almost completely excluded. This is achieved by using
[Link] simples instead of present perfects, [Link] stead of futures,
[Link] with negative meaning instead of negative structures, and
[Link] participial clauses with ellipsis of “to be in the passive voice”.
2) Non-lexical words are avoided: conjunctions by using commas, prepositions
by giving no complements.
3) Nicknames are used, for familiarity and because they are shorter: Bruv = Big
Brother.
4) Specific vocabulary, not common in ordinary English:
Wed = marry / married. Boffin = scientist.
Cheat / rat = adulterer / traitor. Vow = promise / asset.
Shame = incident that should not have been public.
Cop = policeman. Axe = reduce /abolish.
Grab = arrest. Toll = number of victims.
5) Use of inverted commas to suggest something interesting.
6) Open and rethorical Q. in headlines:“Are we entering a new ice age?”
7) Use of cliché, the repetition of standard forms of expression which have
become meaningless
8) Unnecessary variation among terms which are not synonymous.
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9) Treating an unimportant detail as the central “hook” of the story because it
is considered more anecdotally interesting.
10) Structure: Headline, and then the rest of the story in a single size of text, as
opposed to the Spanish papers, where details are introduced little by little.
3.2. The low-end tabloid style
Headlines in the low-end tabloid style usually take up more space than the
entire article. They are very frequently incomprehensible without specialist
knowledge, and use a high number of abbreviations, on many occasions with double
meanings. It has a familiar and informal tone to make the reader feel that they are
part of the world the gossip is about:
3.3. The mid-range tabloid style
The most striking (llamativo) characteristic of these articles is their constant
appeal to emotion through the use of verbs and adjectives, which are inserted into
the story to force the reader to respond in a certain way. Likewise, names,
relationships and other details are inserted repeatedly in order to make the reader feel
part of the story. (Ex. Daily Mail)
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3.4. The style of the serious press
The serious press tells interesting stories for public. They do not exaggerate the
importance of the subject and they use informal headlines expressing their point in a
natural fashion. They use longer quotes, authentic to tell the public exactly what the
parties said. As a result, they do not seem to be hiding anything, nor trying to make the
reader react in any particular way rather than another:
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4. THE PRESS: the major newspapers
We will focus now on a particular form of journalism: the written press turning our
attention to the main types of newspapers in Britain and the United States:
4.1.1. The broadsheet press
The broadsheet press is formed by the so called “serious” newspapers in
Britain. Broadsheet is a size and format for newspapers. It is twice the size of a
standard tabloid. Historically, broadsheets were developed when in 1712 a tax was
placed on British newspapers based on the number of their pages. Broadsheet
newspapers tend to be more intellectual in content than their tabloid, examining
stories in more depth and carrying sensationalist and celebrity stories less often.
The most well known broadsheets in Great Britain are:
[Link] Times: A daily newspaper founded in 1785 by John Walter as the Daily Universal
Register, changing the name to The Times in 1788. Its pioneering coverage of foreign
news made it a paper of reference for all those who wished to know what was going
on in the world, especially in finance and politics.
It has shaped an opinion and has been a supporter of 1)liberal government,
2)commerce, 3)the Church of England and 4)the Conservative Party. In recent decades
it has reduced its foreign coverage in favor of anecdote and gossip following the
example of other British newspapers.
[Link] Guardian: Originally The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in
1821 by a group led by John Taylor. The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust, a non-
profit organization owning a number of associated media outlets nationally and
internationally. The Guardian was founded to be reformist and radical, and has always
taken a strongly left-wing line on matters of political and social moment.
[Link] Telegraph: Joseph Moses Levy re-launched the paper reducing its price to a
penny. This was the beginning of the “penny press” competing with the “serious”
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press. For many years it has been associated with the right of British politics, and
especially with the Conservative party.
[Link] Independent: It was intended to be a paper of record with no political affiliation
and no social axe to grind. Although it quickly positioned itself on the centre-left as it
was more likely to move the Guardian readers than The Times ones.
[Link] Financial Times: Founded in 1888, it is a daily newspaper dedicated to the
financial markets and the political and economic news, with sections on sports and
arts. It is perhaps the only truly serious paper left in England. It still uses a broadsheet
format, and is generally left-of-center politically. It is now an international paper
printed in different countries and producing European, American, and Asian editions
daily.
4.1.2. The tabloids
In the newspaper industry, a tabloid is a smaller newspaper format; for a weekly or
semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest stories and
entertainment that tends to sensationalize/emphasize/exaggerate crime stories,
gossip columns, scandals about personal lives of celebrities and sports stars. The
tabloids are also known as redtops, the gutter press or the yellow press. The most well-
known British tabloids are:
1) The Sun: It is the most popular tabloid. Since 1970 it has been known for
girls-full-page pictures of naked models, printed almost daily, and for
sensational stories and celebrity gossip. The main concern of the paper is
the headline, and it has frequently admitted to inventing stories in order to
use a particular headline.
2) The Mirror is a left-wing tabloid similar in style and content to the Sun, but
taking its politics contents more seriously. It competes directly with the Sun,
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but has a rather lower circulation, partly because it does not attract readers
from the professional classes.
3) The Daily Mail is less sensationalist than the ones I have already
mentioned, attempting to cover some serious topics, but is essentially a
popular tabloid.
4) The Daily Express is a right-wing tabloid in the style of the Mail.
5) The Daily Star is even more sensationalist than the Sun.
6) The Morning Star has been the mouthpiece for the Communist Party, but is
distributed nationally, though it is hard to find in most places.
4.1.3. Newspapers in the U.S.A.
The most important ones in terms of international perspective and formation of
opinion are the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the New York Post:
[Link] New York Times: It is considered a paper of record, with great authority, and is
known as “The Gray Lady” because of its serious and sober presentation. It is very
extensive, especially on Sundays, when it has a large number of supplements
dedicated to the 1)arts, 2)sport, 3)travel, 4)business, 5)property. It is felt to be left-of
center politically, but it would consider itself to have no editorial line on the matter,
nor to defend any particular position.
1) The Washington Post is a similar publication for the Washington area,
although both are read nationally and internationally.
2) The Los Angeles Times is a serious paper for the West Coast area, though it
also contains a certain amount of celebrity gossip.
3) The Wall Street Journal performs the function of providing reliable market
information to those who require it, much like The Financial Times in
Britain.
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5. CONCLUSION
Throughout the unit I have provided an in-depth analysis of the mass media in
English, paying special concern on the press. After examining the journalistic style and
the features of the language and layout portrayed in the press, I have made a
contrastive analysis of a British and American press.
But I cannot conclude this unit but pointing that the 21st century is the century of the
Internet. The accessibility and immediateness are displacing the original version on the
press written in paper.
Thus, in order to raise my students’ interest towards the English language, I always try
to use it and show it in context. To do so, I use the new technologies as they offer a
wide range of possibilities to get access to English material. We can read online
British/American newspapers or we can watch series or film in original version.
All in all, this is an exciting topic for students since they can realize the functionality of
the English language, and how it is present in different fields of their lives such as in
newspapers, magazines, TV series…. This also links with the so-called socio-cultural
competence which contributes to achieve one of our curriculum’s major goal, that is,
communicative competence.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
EMERY, MICHAEL and EMERY, EDWIN; The Press and America. An
Interpretative History of the Mass Media, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1988.
GOLDING, P., The Mass Media, London: Longman, 1974
MCLEAN, A. Profile UK. Heinemann, Oxford: OUP, 1993
TEBBEL, J., The Media in America, New York: Cromwell Company, 1984
WELL, A., Mass Communication; A World View, Cambridge: CUP,
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