Analysis of a Story in the Newspaper -- Media Publication

Introduction ‘News media investigate, analyze, and report to stakeholder publics on issues and event s that occur around the globe in a twenty-four-hour, 365-day news cycle’ (Richard,2007:98). Because of the way news media works, we know what is happening in the world and we can have ‘connection’ to other places. With new media arising, the information transmission process become even faster. Though new media is getting more prevalent, still, a considerable amount of people rely on one of the traditional news media – newspaper. Facing the competition, the way news reported may change as newspapers ‘need to maintain large circulation figures to stay profitable’ (Bignell 1997:83). This directly affects how news is presented. To make news appeal to readers, information may under ‘design’ as mentioned by Thorne (2008), the function of newspapers in the 21st century is not only ‘referential’, ‘ entertainment has become equally important in the battle to win readers’(P.262). In this paper, a piece of news was taken from WiseNews for analysis. It was an event occupied a large coverage in newspaper and caught lots of public attention – The Manila Hostage Incident. I would like to see how journalist presents the story to their readers through looking at its structure and the use of language. Information Flow In reporting the news, journalist adopts the story-telling approach. ‘Journalists are professional story-teller of our age’ (Bell,1991:147). When reporting an incident. Journalists tend not to simply report the fact in each paragraph without linking the information together. Instead, they tend to make the piece of text into a story. Headline Te headline is considered as ‘an abstract of the abstract’ (Bell, 1991:149)... ...authority. Appraisal elements are used to align readers including concession, modality and appreciation. Echoing Bell (2004), journalists are ‘story teller’. When presenting news to readers, they do not simply report facts but tell a story by the use of certain format and lexical choices. Works Cited Bell, A. (1991). The Language of News Media. UK: Blackwell Publishers Bignell, J. (1997). Media semiotics. New York: Manchester University Press Kessler, L. and MnDonald, D. (1989). Mastering Writing with Substance and Style. USA: Wadsworth, Inc. Martin, J.R. and Rose, D. (2007). Working with Discourse. London: Continuum. Reah, D. (2002). The Language of Newspapers. NY: Routledge Richard, S. (2007). Media Relations. Australia: Oxford University Press. Thorne,S.(2008). Mastering Advanced English Language. Great Britain: Cromwell Press Ltd.