News in the pressIdentifying structure

• We have looked at the structure of broadcast news• Now we will be looking at the structure of news in written form• Again you need to learn to identify the text is organised• You will also be looking at attribution and evaluation

newspapers

• You need to be able to quickly identify the various parts of a news article in order to be able to see the choices made and to be able to place it in context and understand some of the underlying values

News reports• Reports have a recognisable structure• Attribution (source, place, time, byline or who is

taking responsability)• Abstract (headline, lead) • Story (Episodes, events(1 – n)• Events (actors, action, setting, attribution or who is

given a voice within the story, follow-up, commentary, back-ground)

Inverted pyramid

The structure of the news story

• The ‘lead’ (US) or ‘intro’ (UK)• Who?• What?• When?• Where?• Why?• How?

Found: prehistoric rodent that was as big as a bull By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Published: 16 January 2008

The fossilised skull of a giant rodent that grew to the size of a bull has been discovered in South America, where it lived about four million years ago alongside sabre-toothed cats, huge flightless "terror" birds and giant ground sloths.

Scientists have found the almost complete skull of the extinct rodent, which weighed about a ton and grew about 5ft tall and about 9ft long.[…]

Tokyo: Two ‘sake’ brewers were seriously ill after being overcome by fumes when one fell in a half full vat and the other was trapped trying to rescue him. Reuter.

(from Bell 1998)

Deportation setback

• Storms over Iceland delayed the deportation from Norway yesterday of 12 American anti-abortion activists who had allegedly planned to stage demonstrations during the Winter Olympics and were detained by police when they arrived in Oslo’s airport.

• (From Bell 1998)

News reports - revision• Structure• Attribution: source (byline/agencies), place, time• Abstract: headline, lead(or intro)• Story: episodes (1-n), events (1-n), attributions,

actors, actions, settings (time, place),• follow-up (consequences, reactions), commentary

(context, evaluation), background (previous episodes, history)

Headlines are summaries,

• their main functions are to: • Attract the reader’s attention to the story (or paper, if on the front

page)• Tell the reader what the story is about by:

• summarising the content of the story• indicating the evaluation of the story• indicating the register of the story• indicating the focus of the story

News reports: the abstract

• Headlines are powerful framing devices and prepare the reader by priming their expectations as to evaluation

• The ‘lead’ (US) or ‘intro’ (UK) tells us:• Who?What?When?Where?Why?How?

Inverted pyramid structure

• Beginning of text Greatest amount of information (Headline and lead)

• As text progresses less really new information , more detail, background, commentary

• Pope cancels trip in Rome over security

By Malcolm Moore in Rome, Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 16/01/2008

• The pope has been forced to cancel a visit to a university in Rome because of fears for his safety.

• Benedict was due to address students at La Sapienza University, but called off his trip at the last minute because of a sit-in protest. The last papal trip to be cancelled for security reasons was in 1994, when John Paul II was due to visit Sarajevo. However, the pope has never been unable to tour Italy in modern times. Angry students had threatened to blast dance music at the pontiff, and also to dress up as nuns. According to sources close to the Vatican, there had also been "more serious threats". The official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano, said that "this is a dramatic threat against the papacy, culturally and civilly".

• The controversy began after 67 professors at the university signed a letter saying the pope should not be allowed to give the inauguration speech for the academic year.

• The professors accused Benedict of being opposed to science, and cited a speech he gave two decades ago. They argued that the pope would have supported the Church's 17th century trial against Galileo for claiming the earth revolved around the sun.

• Although there is little evidence in the speech to support their claim, the students lent their support to the cause, and occupied the dean's office, waving banners which said: "The Pope has occupied La Sapienza. Free the Intellectuals!"

• The Italian Bishops' Conference said they were "worried" about the state of the university, which was founded by the Vatican seven centuries ago. "There seems to be part of the secular world which does not argue, but demonises and which does not discuss, but creates monsters," said a spokesman for the bishops.

• Students rejoiced when the Vatican finally conceded and cancelled the trip, shouting "Get the Pope out !"

• However, Renato Guarini, the dean of the university, said he was "bitterly upset" at the tension on campus.

• Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, also condemned the students' actions, saying that it had been "unacceptable".