Media Studies 6

8/18/2019 Media Studies 6

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Media Studies

Media Discourse (II)

MA I, American Studies


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Media Discourse

Discourse analysis – macro-level• Discourses

De!nition" #$ays of reresentin% the $orld& – articular

$orldvie$s (sets of 'eliefs, values, attitudes), ositions orideolo%ies, such as #li'eral discourse&, #conservativediscourse&, #entrereneurial discourse& etc (airclou%h*++)

o$ can $e reco%ni.e discourses in te/ts0

• 1hemes

• 2ie$oints

– 2oca'ulary (semantic !elds, semantic relations, metahors etc)


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Media Discoursehtt"33$$$tfstudentactionor%3olitically-incorrect3a'ortion34+-reasons-$hy-a'ortion-is-evilhtml

10 Reasons hy !"ortion is Evil # Not a $%ro-Choice$

• 6y 17 Student Action

• &ince the le'ali(ation o) a"ortion in 1*+,, over 89 millionun'orn children have 'een :illed, more than the entire oulationof Sain 1hat;s 4 'a'y every *+ seconds

6y the time you !nish readin% this article, more than + innocentlives $ill 'e lost God’s lan for them $ill 'e ruined forever

? So lease read the to 4+ reasons $hy a'ortion is $ron% andmust 'e oosed"

http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/abortion/10-reasons-why-abortion-is-evil.htmlhttp://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/abortion/10-reasons-why-abortion-is-evil.htmlhttp://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/abortion/10-reasons-why-abortion-is-evil.htmlhttp://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/abortion/10-reasons-why-abortion-is-evil.html


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Media Discourse•

Genres#.enre is the term used for a s/ecic /rouct o) a

social /ractice It is a )orm o) iscourse2culturally reco'ni(e, $hich, more or less, o"eyssocially a'ree structures @ B/amles ofliterary and lin%uistic %enres are novels, oems,university lectures, 'iolo%y la' reorts, letters,theatre revie$s @ CGenre’ is also sometimes usedas a term for social events that use re%ular lin%uistic

and discoursal atterns, such as committee meeting,and thus, to some e/tent, can overla $ith the termsocial practice Genres can also 'e seen from theoint of the institutions $ithin $hich they evolved

1hus, minutes of meetings, annual reports, business

correspondence are associated $ith 'usiness


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Media Discourse

Media %enres – e/amles"

•

News stories• Bditorials3 eadin% articles

•


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Media Discourse

#ournalists are the story-tellers of our a%e& (6ell 4JJ4"49F)

Classication o) stories in the news3

• Hard ne$s stories (information of u'lic interest3relevance that needs to 'e delivered ri%ht a$ay –

adated narrative structure)• Soft ne$s3feature stories (#human interest& stories –

classic narrative structure)

6ut $hat are narratives in %eneral0 o$ do ne$s stories


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Media Discourse

A 'rief de!nition of narratives

#A narrative is a /erceive se4uence o) non-ranomlyconnecte events, tyically involvin%, as thee5/eriencin' a'onist, humans or Kuasi-humans, orother sentient "ein's, from $hose e/erience $e canlearn @L our reference is often for the seKuence ofconnected events to ta:e shae around a state or/erio o) tur"ulence or crisis, su'seKuently

resolve& (1oolan *++4" )

• #fore%rounded individuals&

• #seKuenced and interrelated events&

• #crisis to resolution ro%ression&


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Media Discourse

1yical characteristics of narratives"

• #A de%ree of articial )a"rication or constructeness& –#se4uence2 em/hasis and /ace are usually lanned&

• #A de%ree of pre)a"rication& (they contain elements $hichcreate the imression $e have seen or heard them 'efore)

• A #tra6ectory& – #they usually %o some$here or are e/ectedto %o some$here& they are e/ected to have 'e%innin%s,middles or ends ($hich the teller :no$s and controls)

• 1hey have a teller, $ho is imortant, even if s3he is'ac:%rounded or invisi'le

• 1hey recount ha//enin's that may 'e s/atially antem/orally remove from 'oth teller and audience (1oolan*++4" 9-8)


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Media Discourse

1he structure of oral narratives o) /ersonale5/erience – illiam La"ov and 7oshuaalt(8ey (American sociolin%uists)

1$o main functions of the narrative"

• 1he re)erential )unction" the narrative functions

#as a means of recaitulatin% e/erience in anordered set of clauses that matches the temoralseKuence of the ori%inal e/erience&

• 1he evaluative )unction" the narrative should#have a oint&, should #'e $orth tellin%, as far asthe teller (and refera'ly the addressee also) is


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Media Discourse

! si5-/art structure )or a )ully-)orme oralnarrative, later adated to ne$s stories 'y 1eun vanDij: and Allan 6ell

1he si/ arts of the oral narrative"

(4)#A'stract" Nhat, in a nutshell, is this story a'out0

(*)?rientation" Nho, $hen, $here0

()


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Media Discourse

o$ do the characteristics and structure of the (oral)narrative translate in news stories0

As a %enre, ne$s stories are re%ulated 'y media

roduction and consumtion ractices"

• o"6ectivity

• use o) news sources

•

news values 9constructin' meanin' )or ieal2/ro6ecte auiences:

• 'ate-8ee/in' an a'ena-settin'

• economic eterminants – news as commoity

(ulton *++8, amon% others)


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Media Discourse

In har news stories, a'ov’s structural elementsare modi!ed (see 6ell 4JJ4, in your reader)"

•

the a'stract is not otional – it is the mostimortant art of the ne$s story, to 'e found inthe headline and the lead

• the events are not narrated chronolo%ically, 'utin order of their imortance3 ne$s$orthiness –#the inverted yramid style&

• the resolution – tyically missin% or not #!nal&


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Media Discourse

In har news stories, a'ov’s structuralelements are modi!ed (see 6ell 4JJ4, in yourreader)"

• usually no coda at the end of a ne$s story

• ne$s story relies a lot on direct Kuotation –interte/tuality3 multile voices included (the

norms of 'alance and imartiality)• comle/ synta/"


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Media DiscourseSix or seven soldiers were wounded when at least three

men, believed to be leftist guerillas, used high- powered weapons in an ambush of a bus carrying 28 passengers 20 kilometers north of the capitalTegucigalpa, nited States embassy spokesman Terry

!neebone said" (e/amle from 6ell 4JJ4)

Other )eatures o) the har news story, related tothe ideal of o'jectivity"

• #a third-erson narration, in $hich the narrativevoice is e/ternalised and elided from the account&

• #a hi%h roortion of emirical o'servation re%ardin%dates, laces, times, amounts of money and so on&


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Media Discourse

• #a lac: of modality, that is, an a'sence ofadjectives, adver's and hrases indicatin%evaluation or oinion, and a reonderance of

declarative ver's indicatin% certainty& (6P1 lo$

level modality, metahors, loadedreresentations, assumtions introduce

evaluation) (ulton *++8" **)

&o)t news stories are closer to the classicnarrative structure (chronolo%ical seKuence,evaluation, third-erson narrative #$ithin thestory& or !rst-erson narrative, resolution)


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Media Discourse

1eun van Dij: (lin%uist) and Allan 6ell (mediascholar) have analy.ed hundreds of ne$s storiesand come u $ith a classi!cation of the structuralelements that ma:e u the ne$s (for details, seee/certs from 6ell in the reader)"

News te5t

!"stract !ttri"ution &tory

eadline ead Source 7lace 1ime Bisode 4

Bisode n


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Media Discourse

An e/isoe consists of events and an event hasthe follo$in% comonents"

• Attri'ution

• Actors

• Settin% (1ime, 7lace)

• Action

•

ollo$-u (


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Media DiscourseIn ne$s stories, journalists can maniulate 'y"

• ma:in% certain elements salient 'y lacin% themin the headline, lead or other :ey ositions

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creatin% the imression of interte/tuality (multilevie$oints, deli'eration etc) $hile citin% mainlycertain vie$oints (oQcial, for e/amle) andnaturali.in% articular $orldvie$s and ideolo%ies

• leavin% out events $ithout the readers noticin%,due to the reverse chronolo%ical order

• o'scurin% causation – also related to theamal%amated chronolo%ical seKuence

• deconte/tualisin% a%ency – no resolution, little'ac:%round, a sense of temorality in the resent


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Media Discourse• overemhasisin% individual resonsi'ility and

'lame to the detriment of an analysis ofinstitutions, socio-olitical causes etc

• focusin% on the individual as a !ctional character– #individualisin%& or #narrativisin%& ne$s" heroes,

victims – a feature of soft ne$s, lin:ed to thehenomenon of ta'loidi.ation

• oversimlifyin% events – little discussion,conte/tual analysis

(6ell 4JJ4 ulton *++8 Hichardson *++F)


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Media Discourse

ulton 'elieves that in this $ay reaers areisem/owere, e/osed only to a mosaico) stories with similar /lot lines ancharacters, $ith little conte5t, noresolution (ine/lica'ility), andoverreliance on the a'ency o) iniviualcharacters – olitical leaders, movie stars,charismatic iniviuals – #to restore orderin an other$ise chaotic $orld&


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Media DiscourseNews story analysis – hanouts"

• Nhat structural elements can you reco%ni.e0

• Nhat is the order in $hich the events are narrated inthe te/t0


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Heferences

6ell, A 4JJ4 The #anguage of $ews %edia ?/ford PR Ee$ or:" Houtled%e

ulton, et al *++8 $arrative and %edia

Media Studies 6

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