Media Discourse. The television (3)

Transcription

1 Media Discourse The television (3)

2 Look and Listen The newspaper can exploit the images of the news for a better understanding and fuller representation. The radio cannot complement the message with the visual image, but can exploit sound. On television the visual is an added element to the spoken word (see the radio) as well as the written one (see( newspapers) The combination of the spoken,, the written and the visual offers a powerful means with which to provide information of what is happening around the world.

3 Instantaneous coverage The viewers are made to feel that they are witnessing the event as it happens. The concept of breaking news came into being during the Gulf War. Television has become the predominant medium for news reporting. It forms part of the so-called stop-watch-culture, where newsrooms are constantly operating against the clock.

4 Infotainment The added visual is not a negligible element: : news editors exploit it in a number of ways in order to increase the infotainment. They emphasize the dramatic effect that news report should contain in order to arouse and hold the audience s attention. Every news story should display the attributes of fiction, of drama.. (Reuven( Frank s memo to his editorial staff, 1960 s)

5 Dramatic aspects of news stories Dramatic aspects of stories, particularly when they are visually presented, carry more punch than non dramatic elements, because they engage emotions as well as thoughts. A story showing screaming demonstrators is a heck of a lot more exciting than your local Congressman sitting at his desk in Washington DC. (in Graber 1994: 504)

6 Diary events Unpredictable events There are two basic kinds of news coverage: Diary events: official cerimonies, political conventions. Unpredictable events: natural disasters (forest fires, flooding, earthquakes and so on) The fundamental difference between the two forms of coverage is whether the whole event is recorded live or it is pieced together with previously recorded material.

7 Real time coverage pre-recorded recorded video clips Real time, unfolding live coverage is clearly evidenced by the language accompanying the moving images.. The time references indicate that what the camera is filming is happening at that very moment (ex. This is the scene right now in Trafalgar Square) The language of news presentation can, however, be deceptive. Expressions like: We go now for the latest on may refer to an on-location live coverage including pre-recorded recorded video clips

8 The interactants The news presenter or presenters in the studio (often( called anchor(s) ) The outside reporter or correspondent News experts or editors in specific fields (business or sports editors) Experts from other institutions (universities, health authorities) Elite persons (politicians, celebrities) Vox pop (vox populi) The viewer/audience

9 A dialogic relation hierarchically structured The direct address speech of the newsreader represents the news voice of the network. He/she stands in for the institution charged with the responsibility of serving a public interest through the impartiality of its reporting

10 The newsreader s authoritativeness An assertive body language formal clothing clear pronunciation contribute to produce a sense of credibility and integrity

11 The newsreader s s art His art consists of evoking the cool authority and faultless articulation of the written or memorized text while simultaneously naturalizing the written word to restore the appearance of spontaneous communication.. (Stam( 1983: 28)

12 The news presenter(s) The news presenter(s) or anchor in the studio is the viewers main point of reference. The news studio is the headquarters from where the presenter has the possibility and capacity to speak both to the audience and the reporters on location. The presenter will normally be sitting at a desk or standing to the side of a video wall when there is a particular image or graphic relevant to the story. The setting gives the idea of immediacy of the news and its continual updating. The increasing trend is to have two news readers

13 Positioning of the news presenter(s) a) facing the camera and therefore the viewer b) turning to co-newsreader c) turning his/her back to the camera to face the video and talk to the outside correspondent, looking in the same direction as the audience. d) side by side with a correspondent on two joined video walls. e) standing by a video wall with notes in his hands

14 Various tasks of the news presenter Opens the programme by reading the summary news headlines Sets up the news item to hand over to an outside reporter Interacts directly with the reporter Interacts directly with an interviewee Concludes the program addressing the audience directly, often including a teaser to the next programme

15 Reporter and correspondent The correspondent is in a more senior position than the reporter. Reporter is the more generic term to indicate the on-the the-spot news gatherer and provider. Reporters will be filmed by a cameraman with portable equipment. Reporters face the camera directly and rarely look down or away. If they do, it is usually to their notepad. Reporters are freely interrogated by the news presenter; ; on such occasions their speech may be full of hesitations,, false starts, re-phrasings phrasings. Their standing position gives an impression of greater activity with respect to the more passive stance adopted in the studio setting.

16 Institutional roles and authority Even though the interactional roles of the news presenters and reporters have many of the characteristics typical of radio news, television has the added implications of the visual componenet. The sequencing of the news items moves from the news reader in the studio, who tends to be perceived as the representative of the news-giving institution, to the scene of the event from which the reporter trasmits first hand information gathered on location

17 The news reader vs the reporter The news reader moderates and mediates between what is happening in the world and the viewer s s home. The reporter assumes the role of the authority on site; he has a claim to the right to describe the scene, the people and events which constitute the story. His version of the story is cast as the more authoritative of the two

18 The specialized news reader There are other specialized reporters called into the studio to provide information on a specific area of news: Business editor Sports editor Weather forecaster

19 Accessed voices Apart from the predominant institutionalised voices and faces of the regular news providers,, news programmes include a number of other voices that are called in to support the story. Whatever an individual character may say, its meaning will be determined not by his or her intentions or situation, but by the placing of the interview in the overall of the story. The terms he/she uses may be taken up approvingly,, or be contradicted and appear to be cynical,, short sighted or bloody-minded minded.

20 The expert (opinion/information information) Opinion: : the expert called in to give an opinion is usually of some importance. His statements usually include deontic modality (ex. Now that should be checked out) or/and hedging Information: the expert providing information is usually an institutional figure representing, for example,, the police,

21 Vox populi Vox pops are a common feature in the kind of news involving the general public and its opinion.the people on the street are usually not named.

22 The audience Like the radio audience, the TV viewers are not in the position to interact in a two-way way dialogue with the news presenter. However, they are treated as if they are present behind the camera, not only due to the direct gaze of the news presenter, but also to the language with which they are addressed.. (e.g. greetings at the beginning of the programme).

23 The component parts Signature or theme music Greeting and summary headlines Main news bulletin Break for adverts regarding future programs Continuation of news bulletin Summary headlines Salutation Signature music and credits

24 The language of TV news The main sense of the news is carried by the various forms of speech that it comprises. It is the words in the text that carry the burden of naming and description,, of interpretation and evaluation.

25 The language of newspapers vs broadcast news Newspaper readers can read and re- read the same item until they can make sense of it. Broadcasters have only one chance to score with their audience. The information is fleeting.. The broadcast story has to be crystal clear the first time of hearing.

26 Simplicity and conciseness The sentences should contain only a minimum of ideas, yet not lacking of style, energy and colour. Simple language means avoiding confusing clauses and inverted sentences. E.g. Because of the fall in mortgage rate, which has stimulated home buying, house prices are going up Rather: House prices are going up again. The fall in the mortgage rate has led to an increase in home buying. Short sentences, where each sentence contains one thought and each paragraph just one sentence. Words should be familiar to a varied audience covering a wide range of background and education.

27 Short everyday words E.g. adjectives: a fat man : a rotund man man is a Verbs: to extinguish a fire is to put out a fire Nouns: a : a residence is a house or apartment

28 Tenses: present and present perfect Broadcasters are able to follow events as they unfold; they highten the sense of immediacy by using the present or present perfect tenses. E.g.:.: newspaper: Victory celebrations took place yesterday in both India and Pakistan. (past tense) TV bulletin: India and Pakistan have both claimed victory over the agreement to end the fighting in Kashmir (present perfect)

29 Other useful words indicating immediacy News just in We are live with the latest This morning Very shortly Tonight today Time reference indicates a time as near as possible to NOW

30 Ending of the news story (signposting) Finally the story is rounded off by placing the whole event in a wider context to illustrate its significance. The reporter highlights and restates the main points of the story without making them sound like repetition. (see example 36, p. 210)

31 TV language and discourse representation The way in which the news is reported by the news presenter in the studio or the reporter on location is presumed to reflect the reality of the event as it has just happened, is happening or is going to happen. Television has the added medium of the visual,from which viewers will be able to form their own judgements. The TV audience is using both the sense of sight and hearing when decoding a text, for which certain linguistic choices have been made.

32 A systematically organized presentation of reality A reporter may witness an event and then be faced with the choice of calling it a demonstration, a riot,, a street battle, war on the streets,, a confrontation and so on. These initial selections are crucial, for they settle the limits within which any following debate or rethinking of reality takes place. (See examples p.214,215p.214,215)

33 News narrative: fact or fiction? News reporting is made up of both narrative and expository text types. In narrative texts the heroes such as the police inspectors or private investigators make their appearance week after week while their antagonists (the criminals) do not survive from episode to the next. In the news the institutional presenters are always there to guide us from day to day while the newsworthy characters are different from day to day. The accessed voices (the experts,, the elite people, vox pops ) ) do not survive the individual episode, but their funcion remains. Voices are routinely stereotyped.

34 Stereotypes Ministers, trade-unionists unionists,, etc. do achieve a personal continuity from the stereotypes, which are then exploited to render events meaningful. In the police series (fiction)) the opposition is established between the criminals and the police, who represent opposing values: good and bad, central and deviant, order and chaos. Likewise the news proceeds on the us and them dichotomy. Us representing the culture, the nation,, public, viewer,, family, news presenter and institution. Them the strikers, terrorists, foregn power, burocracy,, and so on.( see Hartley, quoted on p. 218)

35 Information structure The most important newsworthy facts are given first, after which the text will contain background material. As in newspapers the greater emphasis is on when at the expense of why, how. The journalistic concept of when,, of immediacy as a value, defeats the coverage of the why and how The newspresenter provides the result,, the effect on the present.. The subsequent in-depth report (often a pre-recorded recorded video clip), will give the details. Television provides constant updates.

36 TV news talk Television news text is predominantly narrative and expository. It consists in a) a text written to be spoken. b) the real spontaneous language between newsproviders. c) the semiprepared, but nonetheless spoken script between the newspresenter in the studio and the reporter on location. d) the news interview between the newspresenter or reporter and an expert The institution offers to present the world beyond the familiar and familial in a familiar and familial way

37 Happy talk (bantering( bantering) Informal verbal exchanges between newspresenters in the studio

38 Two-Ways The question and answer exchange between the newspresenter and the reporter on location. This form of questioning comprises a number of features of spontaneous speech. Two ways are generally concluded by the news presenter in the studio with thank you followed by the name of the reporter, who,, at most, will nod or smile at the camera.

39 Turn taking and transition point from one speaker to the next An interesting feature in newsreader turn- taking is how one sets up the story for the other. They do not introduce each other, as with the outside reporter, but know exactly when to speak. It is easy to notice the split timing and the transition relevance point: the reporters are looking at the camera and therefore at the viewers,, and the switch over does not rely on eye contact but on a previously prepared script ( possibly on the teleprompter).

40 Handing over to the outside correspondent a) actually naming the person b) if the reporter is not introduced, his name will appear at the bottom of the screen. This is also an economic means of naming people without losing precious seconds of broadcast time

41 Various kinds of interview Variety of participants The hard exposure interview (investigating a subject) The informational interview (the audience in the picture) The emotional interview (revealing the interviewee s s state of mind)

42 Boyd s further categories(1) (2001: 97-98) 98) (in Mansfield: : ) 229) 1) hard news interview 2) informational 3) investigative 4) adversarial 5) interpretative 6) personal interview

43 Boyd s further categories (2) 7) emotional 8) entertainment 9) actuality 10) telephone or remote 11) vox pop and multiple 12) grabbed

44 The norms of news interviews They are identified as an institutionalised genre of discourse They will comprise a number of forms of turn- taking : a) questions are set up by the interviewer b) the first question may be in the reported form. c) the salient part of an inteview may be inserted without the original question. d) interviews are usually closed by the interviewer (see ex. 56, 58, 59,60 pp ) 33)

45 The news interview The questioning is preceded by an introductory segment which presents an agenda of the interview and articulates it with relevant events of the day (Clayman( 1991: 48) The encounter is recognizable as a prearranged interaction, one that is orchestrated on behalf of the viewing audience.

46 Three question forms How does it feel? The question delves into the emotions of the IE. Isn t it? It is used in particular with experts, who have been envited to explain and give their own opinion. But surely? The question is put to public figures who are trying to put a convincing case. The IR can take a stance that is in opposition to that of the IE

47 Ask questions that will get answers This involves all the Wh questions. They must be formulated as to produce good useful quotes rather than single words comments (Yes/No) Also the questions whose scope is so wide that it is practically unlimited should be avoided. Questions should be confined to asking for the main reason,, or what in particular. Also avoid double questions. Only one should be asked in each turn.

48 Editing Editing is a very delicate operation, because cutting may distort the meaning of what has been said. Moreover it might be revealed by the slight jump between two subsequent images

49 Positioning of the news interview during the news bulletin Whatever an individual may say, each meaning will be determined, not by his intention, but by the placing of the interview in the overall context of the story. The terms he/she uses may be taken approvingly,, or be contradicted and appear to be cynical, short-sighted sighted or bloody- minded. Further the things some people say can perform the important task of making sense of a story in terms that are denied to the impartial professionals.

50 NO ANSWER A very interesting technique adopted during an interview to Tony Blair, during the Iraq crisis, was to display captions across the screen with the words: NO ANSWER. Blair was made to cut a poor figure by not providing what the reporter thought were satisfying responses. There is also an irriverent use of the recurrent pronoun he instead of The Prime Minister.. (see( ex. 63, p. 238)

51 Conclusion The news interview, whether edited or live, whether it be hard exposure, informational or emotional, takes a central place in the news bulletin.

52 TV news images The visual image is described as an interface with the world in action, one external to the news talk. Part of most news reports includes speech about abstractions (opinions, consequences, implications) ) and images are necessarily of the physical world, whatever their abstract connotative force, some degree of indirectnes in speech-image relation is inevitable.. (Corner 1995: 60-63) 63)

53 The visual structure of a news programme (1) Elements: a) the newsreader who frames the topic,, and rounds the story off at the end. b) the reporter/correspondent who places the topic in context and explains its significance. c) the film report which presents images and actuality from out there

54 The visual structure of a news programme (2) Modes of presentation: 1) The talking head (the newsreader/ / the correspondent) 2) Graphics 3) Nomination: : the captions that appear on the screen naming the participants in the news story (the reporter and the individuals being interviewed.

55 The visual structure of a news programme (3) 4) Actuality: the film report or video clip, the essential characteristic of television news. The film report or video clip can be further divided into 4a. film with voice over 4b. The stake-out out: : the reporter on location addresses his commentary direct to the camera and thus the audience. The event being reported is clearly visible 4c. The vox pop: : the interviewee (hardly ever nominated) is seen talking in full frame to the unseen reporter.

56 Relationship between the the participants in images and the viewer It is an imaginary relation. People are portrayed as though they are friends,, or as though they are strangers regardless of their actual relation to the viewer. Images allow us to imaginarily come close to public figures as though they were our friends,, or look at people like ourselves as strangers. (Kress and Van Leeuwen 1990: 45)

57 The use of visuals In the early days of British television news broadcasting the use of visuals was not exploited to the extent it is today. The news presenter takes the viewers live to the on-location reporter, giving them a sense of immediacy and almost witnessing the event, but on-location reporting is often the relating of what has already happened and speculation about what will happen. The spoken text tells the story and the image sets the context in which it all happened, for the very fact that, apart from live commentary of public events such as ceremonies, sports commentaries, most news is unscheduled.

58 The images chosen for use in a news report The images chosen are often traditional or official shots of important or elite people arriving in a car, walking into/out of a builiding, inspecting a military parade. These shots are spoken over and generally relate to an important event. Repertoire shots are used when a news topic involves a politician, but the place is not of particular importance.

59 Symbolic vs iconic shots A relatively small proportion of the total number of shots is iconic (directly representative of the people, places and events which are the subject of the news text). A far greater proportion has an oblique relationship to the text; they stand for the subject matter symbolically.. (Davis( and Walton 1983:45

60 A picture is worth a thousand words Visuals as props: visualizations act as reinforcing marker points around which other components of the news discourse are organized. Reinforcing markers: images and film sequences of a strongly evidential nature or of a strongly affective kind. They alter the balance between word and image. Self-evident evident nature: : when sufficiently strong in revelatory/dramatic character, the pictures tend to crystallise the whole report and become a truly forceful form of representation.

61 Timing The length of the spoken and the visual should be balanced.

62 The sense of trust The process of reporting is simultaneously a spatial,, social and personal imaging (who, where, talking to whom?), linking the viewer to a seen source of information and allowing the personalised investment of a trust in the visible process of inquiry,, of the search for truth. This trust is not available in the same way for other kinds of journalism.

63 How ideology is presented through visualization The image offers itself as the witness of the actuality of the event and implies that the event really did happen (the photo or film is a proof). The newspresenter constantly reminds the viewers that a report is live. But the choice of this moment of the event, of this person rather than that,, of this angle rather than another,is a highly ideological procedure

64 A semiotic approach to the representation of the real A semiotic approach analyses the combination of words, pictures and sounds together and the way in which they develop three kinds of communicative function or metafunction: ideational interpersonal textual

65 Metafunctions (1) 1. the ideational metafunction: every semiotic mode of analysis will have resources for constructing representations of aspects of the world with which to reconstruct representations of the world.

66 Metafunctions (2) The interpersonal metafunction: every semiotic mode of analysis will have resources for constructing relations between the communicating parties (writers and readers, painters and viewers,, speaker and listeners), and relations between these communicating parties and what they are representing (attitudes to the subject they are communicating about).

67 Metafunctions (3) The textual metafunction: every semiotic mode of analysis will have resources for combining and integrating ideational and interpersonal meanings into the kinds of wholes we call texts or communicative events and recognize as news articles, paintings, jokes, conversations, lectures and so on.

68 Images and the construction of meaning Levels of signification: a) a denotative level, where the sign-image image appears to designate that to which it refers b) a connotative level where additional meanings are derived from the representational strategies that are part of the cultural stock of knowledge at hand c) a mythic level in which the sign-image image orders and classifies the world into conceptual categories

69 Definition of myth One of the function of myth is to establish models for behaviour, it offers patterns for the mind. It had four functions: Mystical (the awe of the Universe) Cosmological (the shape of the universe) Sociological (supports and validates a certain social order) Pedagogical (suggests how to live a human lifetime under certain circumstances)

70 Myth in our days According to R. Barthes (Mythologies) bourgeois society asserts its values through myths. There is the naturalization of a sign as truth.

71 Conclusions On the one hand the image itself is processed or adjusted ;; on the other, it is combined with a verbal message, having functioned either as the stimulus for the creation of the verbal text or as an illustration of it. (Haartman 1999: 26)

72 Teletext Teletext has the capacity to get news on air even faster than radio. Teletexts are displayed directly on the TV screen. The copy style is concise. News teletext is made up of a series of headlines at the end of which there is a page of reference for a fuller report.. The headlines are exclusively summary headlines. They appear to have the same characteristics as newspaper headlines.

73 Characteristics of teletext headlines Disjunctive grammar The use of the present tense Use of to be to (to indicate the future) Omission of the verb to be Use of noun group to package information Nominalization Abbreviations and symbols Use of quotation marks

74 teletext provides links Teletext is able to guide the viewer to access to more detailed coverage of the topic in a few seconds by tapping in the number of the page on the TV console. In recent years, however,, teletext has been eclipsed by the Internet.