The Language of Journalism: A Multi-genre Perspective

‘This book is a pleasure to read. Its pages brim with ideas that will challenge students and professors alike. The authors are to be commended for their critical appraisal of the language of journalism. Readers are brought to the core of understanding journalism with a focus on the place of language in how stories are built and understood. Key concepts and the techniques of language and discourse analysis are outlined before the authors dissect the role of language in broadcast, print and online journalism. They make a very strong case for why language is central to unraveling the conundrum of what we understand journalism to be today.’ — Kevin Rafter, Senior Lecturer In Political Communication & Associate Dean For Research, Dublin City University, Ireland

‘Through rich analysis of examples from contemporary journalism, this book does an excellent job of introducing readers to analysis of journalistic language. The authors achieve the difficult task of introducing readers to discourse analysis while also remaining firmly focused on the value of that in understanding our media, from the way live news achieves its appeal to how readers of consumer magazines are invited to make sense of themselves. Above all, the book gives readers a wide range of tools to think in greater depth about way journalism’s textual practice constructs versions of our world.’ —Donald Matheson, Senior Lecturer, School Of Social And Political Sciences, University Of Canterbury, Nz

Angela Smith is Senior Lecturer at the University of Sunderland, UK. She has written numerous articles and book chapters on media discourses, gender, the portrayal of immigrants, and the representation of politicians. She is also a contributor to the forthcoming Encyclopaedia of Journalism (Sage, 2009).