Unit 2 - THE BRITISH PRESS

Lesson 1: Newspapers and Magazines

How often do you read a newspaper?

What type of newspaper do you read?
What do you read about in the newspaper?
Do you read magazines?
What type pf magazines do you read?

Exercise 1
Look at the different types of newspaper and magazine. Match them to the advertisements below:

Exercise 2
Match each description of various people who create and read newspapers with one of the terms below:

subscriber reporter publisher editor

typesetter reviewer proof-reader columnist
a. A person who is responsible for all editorial aspects of publication
b. A person who reads pages and marks errors for correction
c. The chief executive and often the owner of a newspaper or other publishing firm
d. A writer who writes a column on a regular basis in the same space in a newspaper
e. This person is a newspaper’s front-line eyes and ears, gaining information from many sources,
some public such as police records, and others private, in order to assemble the material necessary
for an article
f. A person who sets type; a compositor
g. A person who contracts to receive and pay for a certain number of issues of a newspaper
publication
h. A person who writes reviews of books, television programmes, theatrical performances in a
newspaper

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Exercise 3
Complete each of the following sentences with a suitable form of one of the words in the box:

to edit to edit out edition editor

copy editor editorial editorship editorialise

1. Please note that this newspaper ________________________ letters before publishing them.
2. The Times printed a very strong ________________________ in favour of the Prime Minister’s
Programme.
3. In the following sequence, the interviewer’s questions have been ________________________ out.
4. She has aspired to the ________________________ of this newspaper ever since she set foot in
the place 35 years ago and finally today her dream has come true.
5. Foreign correspondents are not supposed to ________________________ about the news they
report.
6. The news of her death was not in the early ________________________ of the paper because it
reached the newsroom too late and we had already gone to press.
7. You’d be amazed at the number of stupid mistakes most journalists make in their English. Thank
God there’s always a ________________________ around to put them right.
8. Now with a round up of what’s been happening in the markets, here is our financial
________________________, Julia Robbins.

Exercise 4
Getting messages across to the public depends on the collaboration of the press and the media in
general. Here are some words related to the world of the press. Place them into the gaps in the
sentences that follow:

press secretary press release press pack press gallery

press office press coverage press baron press corps

1. The government ________________________ has said that the Prime Minister will make a
statement this afternoon.
2. Most journalists would give their right hand to become part of the White House
________________________ and to hear the President “live” on a regular basis.
3. The Ministry issued a ________________________ explaining the essential information about the
new measures that are to be adopted.
4. I think it’s disgraceful that a ________________________ like Murdoch or Berlusconi can decide
the fate of entire countries thanks to their media empires.
5. The Government ________________________ deals with all routine enquiries from journalists.
6. ________________________ of the elections was biased and unfair.
7. The Democratic Party has said it is preparing a detailed ________________________ with a
variety of materials (posters, fliers, a CD-ROM) to enable journalists to cover their campaign more
comprehensively.
8. Some people say that journalists have the best view of Parliament from up in the
________________________.

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Newspapers’ FRONT PAGES are vitally important. They serve to attract readers, to reinforce the
newspaper’s image and identity, to reassure the regular reader who looks for familiar features.

Exercise 5
Look at the page from the newspaper. Match the words below to the numbered parts of the page:

headline article reporter column title the front page

Now match the words in italics to the definitions below:

given _______________; say what you think will happen in the future _________________________
fantastic number __________________; think that something will happen______________________
Some typical front page features:
Title = the newspaper’s name
Slogan = e.g. The New York Times: “All the
News that’s fit to Print”
Puffs = colour bands that advertise important
stories inside the paper or in a supplement
Headlines = in big type for the main news
stories
Sub-heads = in smaller typeface, sometimes
italicised, explaining more about the story
Leading Story = the principal news story of
the day
By-line = journalist’s name and details
Photographs = usually referring to the Lead
Story. Accompanied by captions.
Additional leading stories = other important
news stories
Menu = The newspaper’s table of contents

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Text 1: What’s inside a newspaper
Newspapers and the journalists who write for them create a representation of the world in language.
Newspapers select events which can be considered newsworthy and present them in a way that attracts
the interest of readers. News stories not only inform but also tend to confirm the dominant attitudes and
beliefs of dominant groups in society.
Newspapers and magazines are made up of different types of texts, each with its own rhetorical
function, discourse organization, and characteristic linguistic features.
Newspapers typically contain the following types of texts:

headlines, which introduce readers to the topic dealt with in the text and attract readers’
attention;

news reports or news stories, which serve to inform readers of significant actors and events
and limit subjective interpretation of facts or unnecessary bias. The headline and the first
paragraph, called the lead, are expected to answer the questions who, what, where, when and why.
The rest of the text or body copy, expands on the main points given at the beginning, adding
more detail, background information, and secondary events, presented in order of decreasing
importance. News stories suggest factuality and objectivity by directly describing events or by
giving evidence from eyewitnesses or from reliable sources, such as authorities or professionals.
They indicate accuracy and exactness through their use of numbers for persons, times and events,
and through the use of direct and indirect quotes, especially when other people’s opinions are given.
At the same time they seek to maximize reader attention and retention by providing information
that involves attitudes and emotions, particularly those reflecting the ideologies shared by their
readers. The narrative structure calls for verbs in the past tense active voice. The use of the third person
(as opposed to the I and you of face-to-face conversation) not only gives the impression of
impersonality, but also creates distance, absolving the journalists from responsibility from what
was said;

feature articles, which offer a balanced analysis of some interesting and controversial issues.
They tend to be longer than news stories and do not necessarily deal with immediate events;

reports on topics related to specific areas like business, law, science, education, fashion, art,
etc.. They are generally produced by specialist journalists and normally appear in a separate
section of the newspaper. They can present not only facts and actions but also the analysis and
opinion of experts, sometimes of the specialist journalists themselves;

opinion articles, which are more evaluative than factual;

editorials, which give readers the newspaper’s point of view on a piece of news or an issue.
The use of I or we and you creates a sense of addressing a real person and establishes a more
personal connection between the reader and the newspaper;

letters to the editor, which give readers’ reaction to articles previously published in the paper;

book reviews, which describe and evaluate recently published books;

classified advertisements, which inform readers of job offers, goods and services for sale,
etc..
A word should be said here also about the visual message, since many newspaper and magazine
articles contain illustrations (photos, pictures, cartoons). Images in themselves are ambiguous and
polysemic. The link between the image and the text is usually provided by a caption or brief text
underneath describing or explaining the image. Pictures are used to attract attention and the fact that
they can convey more than one meaning at the same time means that they involve readers in
constructing the message. Sometimes, the image is needed to complete an elliptic message contained in
the text, a message understandable only by looking at the image which goes with it.

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Exercise 6 (COMPREHENSION)
Decide if the following statements are true (T) or false (F):

1. Newspapers tend to inform about each and every piece of news

2. All news published in a newspaper are neutrally chosen and written
3. A news story is constructed as an inverted pyramid: from the general to the particular
4. The use of the impersonal gives more objectivity to a story
5. Reports on special topics appear on the front page
6. Editorials are the less objective articles in a newspaper
7. Classified advertisements are pages bought by companies in order to promote trademarked
products or services
8. Illustrations are always accompanied by a brief text aimed at explaining the often unclear and/or
ambivalent meaning of the image

Exercise 7
You find these things in a newspaper. Which do you find on the front page, which on the back page,
and which on the inside pages?

Exercise 8
Below are 10 typical extracts from different parts of a newspaper. Identify each one with one of the
following words or phrases.

1. obituary
2. headline
3. gossip column
4. caption
5. editorial
6. court circular
7. television preview
8. weather forecast
9. parliamentary report

a. Starting overcast with intermittent rain, followed by sunny spells. Max. temp. 21°C.
b. The word is that Clinton Ross, 32, playboy son of US steel billionaire Dwight Ross, has left his
girlfriend, actress Lee-Ann Van Post, 26, and is now in Europe.
c. Prince Edward (left) enjoys a joke with actor Sam Cool (centre).
d. PREMIER TO PROBE RIDDLE OF ‘SPIES IN MINISTRY’
e. He received a number of international literary awards, culminating in the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1986. He leaves a widow and two sons.
f. Our front page today gives details of the government’s new economic proposals. Our readers may
think, as we do, that these measures are too little and too late. We say to the government, not for
the first time, it is time…
g. Yesterday at 7 p.m. Her Majesty gave a dinner party at Windsor Castle for members of the Spanish
Royal Family. At noon today Her Majesty will receive the new Ambassador of the Republic of
Venezuela at Buckingham Palace.
h. Mr Richard Caulder (West Hull, Labour) asked if the Minister of Transport could inform MPs of
train-fare concessions for pensioners. However, the Speaker declared that…
i. A hard-hitting documentary series starts tonight at 10 p.m. Viewers might be shocked at scenes of..

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