One of the main concerns of any newspaper is to persuade the intended readers to buy copies. They will obviously buy the paper if they like what is in it. The reporter, therefore, has two important tasks. 1. To catch the attention of the reader through the headlines and encourage him to read further. 2. To hold the attention of the reader through the articles and encourage him to buy the paper again.
Headlines A headline must prepare the reader for the article to follow. It must therefore be to the point. At the same time it must be short and appeal to the attitudes and interests of the intended reader. Making a headline short 1. The reporter chooses a special vocabulary. Most of these words are commonly used in everyday English, but they are especially useful to reporters because they are particularly descriptive and/or economical. E.g. 'soar' is more descriptive than 'rise' 'soar' is more economical than 'rise dramatically'. 2. The reporter uses a simplified grammar. a) Words are left out. Words which do not add to the content -such as 'the', 1a' and parts of the verb 'to be'-are usually left out. In reconstructing the message, the reader may need to supply these. E.g. Woman new Head of Bank of England = "A woman is the new head of the bank of England"; Actor found dead = "An actor has been found dead" b) Words are shortened. Where this is possible, abbreviations are often used. E.g. FA angry = “The Football Association is angry”; Doc freed = “A doctor has been freed”. c) Prepositions are avoided. E.g. A man from Edinburgh Edinburgh man d) Nouns are piled in front of one another. E.g. A lawyer working on a case concerning drugs has been sacked Drugs case lawyer sacked But there are times when nouns cannot be piled in this way and prepositions cannot be left out. E.g. A model was killed by a doctor Model killed by doctor; A nurse was involved in murder incident in a village Nurse in village killing e) Only certain verb forms are used.
i) Most verbs are in the present simple tense, giving the reader the sense of immediacy. E.g. Famous actor dies means that he died very recently, probably yesterday. ii) The simple past tense is used for reports on reports, particularly court cases. E.g. LONG PC FOUGHT 3 GUNMEN COURT HEARS The policeman’s action took place some time ago, but the court hearing has only just made it public. This use is not very common. If you see what appears to be a past tense, it is probably the passive form with the verb ‘to be’ left out. iii) The future is usually expressed by an infinitive form with ‘to’. E.g. A Member of Parliament is going to open a heath centre MP to open health centre But when the passive form is used in the future, the verb ‘to be’ is not left out. E.g. Health centre to be opened by MP. Appealing to the reader Not everyone finds the same things interesting. A reporter varies the language he uses to appeal to the readership. 1. He can make the language he uses more or less descriptive or emotional 2. He can make the language he uses more or less formal 3. He can play with the meaning or sound of the language 1. Playing with meaning (punning) a. Puns on words with two different meanings b. Puns on words which are pronounced the same c. Puns on words which have similar pronunciation 2. Playing with sound a. Rhyming b. Alliteration