this process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals,...
TRANSCRIPT
This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets,
posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs - to every kind of literature or
documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and
almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party
could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment,
ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as
often as was necessary.G. Orwell, 1984
Online NewsGlobal Information on the web
Online NewsGlobal Information on the web
M. Cristina CaimottoUniversity of Torino
News from cyberspaceNews from cyberspace
• Which websites do you usually visit?
• Where do you get your news from?
News providers onlineNews providers online
• 3 typologies:
Mainstream providers
newspapers, magazines and TV channels that publish a website as well
News agencies
Grassroots news: blogs, personal websites, forums, mailing lists, video sharing
News providers onlineNews providers online
Mainstream providersAvailable both online and printed
Newspapers: The Guardian The Independent The Times Financial Times
Tabloids: The Sun
Magazines: The Economist The New Statesman
The Spectator
News providers onlineNews providers onlineMainstream providersAvailable both online and printed
• Newspaper companies feared that their business related to printed versions might be negatively affected → several solutions
• first online newspapers were often defined as ‘shovelware’
• new functionalities, such as linking to new or similar content and customizing the selection of articles, defined as 'recombining'
• availability of the archive
News providers onlineNews providers online
Mainstream providers
• 24/7 information flow
TV channels:
BBC
CNN
News providers onlineNews providers online
News Agencies
Available online
Reuters
Associated Press
Inter Press
BBC Monitoring
BBC MonitoringBBC Monitoring
The essence of BBC Monitoring is open information, in the languages of origin, expertly selected, accurately translated and skilfully supplied in English to meet the requirements of subscribers and customers. By the exercise of our professional skills, and working to the highest standards, we will be an irreplaceable source for the understanding of world events.
(BBC Monitoring, Editorial Policy)
News providers onlineNews providers online
Grassroots newsAvailable online, published afterwards in a few cases
Blogs: Baghdad Burning
Websites: Iraq body count
Forums: Brainstorming
Mailing lists: Mona Baker’s
BLOGSBLOGS
• “blog” short for “weblog” (log = diary)• Blogs are diaries people publish online
for others to read freely. Some have gradually turned into forums of political debate.
• They are not filtered, they are free from market constraints.
• They partly constrast news from mainstream media
Much of this electronic discourse gave voice to dissidents that would have previously gone unheard. And for increasing numbers of people the diversity of information on the internet highlighted the narrow priorities of the mainstream news agenda. […] So while the invasion of Iraq seemed precision-made to suit the voracious demands of global TV news networks - Hollywood media centres, embedded reporters and night-vision footage of POW rescues - the war also saw millions of people go online to see a very different war unfold.
Alexander, Alistair (2004) “Disruptive Technology: Iraq and
the Internet” in Miller, David (ed.) Tell Me Lies
InfotainmentInfotainment
• Journalism has always entertained as well as informed. Had it not done so it would not have reached a mass audience. But today, say journalism critics, the instinct to amuse is driving out the will, and depleting the resource, to report and analyse in any depth. Obsessed with a world of celebrity and trivia, the news media are rotting our brains and undermining our civic life.
• Hargreaves, Ian. Journalism Truth or Dare? Oxford: OUP, 2003.
What happens to language?What happens to language?
News is a representation of the world in language; because language is a semiotic code, it imposes a structure of values, social and economic in origin, on whatever is represented; and so inevitably news, like every discourse, constructively patterns that of which it speaks. News is a representation in this sense of construction; it is not a value-free reflection of ‘facts’. (Roger Fowler, Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press )
What happens to language? What happens to language?
• TRANSLATION OR INTERPRETING?
• Issues related to time-space compression.
• Quickness vs. Quality
• The role of English as a lingua franca.
• Al-Jazeera and BBC Arabic
News linksNews links
World Newspapers
Google News
Internazionale
Interesting websitesInteresting websites
Reuters on Second Life
Students for Orwell
Reporters Without Borders
Thank you!Thank [email protected]