Editorials/Op-Eds/ and University Newspapers

Today we went over the features of language change in Editorials and Op-Eds. What we need to focus on here is the linguistical changes that have occurred over the decades as presented by Westin's studies. It is utmost important to understand why there has been an increase and decrease in specific features. This is due to the fact that a reader-friendly newspaper is in demand by the readers, such as you and me, and explicity, informality and density of information results from this.

Moreover, take into consideration these features when analysing specific print media. We will be doing more of this in class and I expect most of you to join in and apply your own anaylsis.
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Enough of Eds and Op-Eds...we also talked about University Newspapers. If you are wondering how the content of a newspaper looks like, how the language is, and if it is really true that colloquial language can be used...Take a look at the Gateway. I read this newspaper for 4 years while I was an undergraduate studying Chemistry, Philosophy and Political Science. So, you can get an idea of what variety of news I was interested in rather than the local news being offered by the Edmonton Journal.


The Gateway


Now, your task is to tell me what the differences are? Take notice of the Editorial, is it of relevance? Why is the editorial topic relevant to "this" readership?
Comment on the language? Is there a lot of variety language i.e. Audience understanding? Notice the article in the sports section, I spot some colloquial language and also a few profanities.

Selection Principles of News

In the previous classes we had presentations on frontpages and structure of newsstories. The most recent class, we covered specific selection principles of news.

The main question to focus on is, how do writers, editors and so on, select what will become news. According to the factors presented through Bell, Ruge and Galtung, look at some of the articles found on the website (newsstories in the actual newspaper) to the Edmonton Sun (tabloid style) and select which principles are fulfilled for a specific news story.

read the paper here
Edmonton Sun

Post the link so it is easier for students to navigate. (copy and paste is also fine)

Cheers

Structure of News articles + The Production of News Language

This week we went over as a whole how the structure of a newspaper is and the layout of a newspaper frontpage. Take into careful note that the linguistic features such as salience, ideal/real and so on, will also be used in advertising.

Further, what we will be covering in the next class is the structure of news articles (newsstories) and the production of news language. Here, you will find 2 styles of structure and a brief introduction to how news language is produced.

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Newspaper articles answer the journalistic questions:

Who, Where, When, What, Why , How

Newspaper articles can be formulated in various styles:

1. The Inverted Pyramid



2. Narrative Style

- stories are told with a beginning, a middle and an end
- stories are often told through characters
- anecdotes are used, language is more colourful

The difference, and what I also find, is that the reader tends to be more engaged with the narrative style than with the Inverted Pyramid --> Do you also agree and why is this so?

So what is your task?

***Go through some articles online and try to see which ones use the Inverted Pyramid Style and/or the Narrative Style. Show me the link!

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As mentioned in class, a news article does not appear exactly how it is written by a journalist. What the journalist writes-up and what she submits to the editor goes through various phases before it is published in the newspaper.

**So what are the various processes?

Production of News



Cheers

Evolution of Canadian Newspaper

Since we did not have classes on Tuesday last week, your task was to read the handout that I gave out at the beginning of the semester. What you will have to fully comprehend are:

1. The Penny Press
2. What role the advertisers play in newspaper
3. Where did the support come from for the early newspapers
4. Why newspapers are labelled either right or left wing?
5. Take into careful consideration of the Howe case
6. What does Press Freedom mean?
7. Canadian Press
8. What role does Canadian newspaper play in present day?

We will however, go over and I will answer any further questions in regards to the historical aspects.


**Note: make sure you fully understand point 4, this will greatly aid you with the understanding for the Editorial and Op-Ed section that we will deal with later.