NATIONAL PAPERS IN GREAT BRITAIN

National newspapers cater for a wealth of tastes and interests. They are often described as either 'quality' or 'tabloids', depending on their format, style and content. Quality newspapers - broadsheet in format - cater for those readers who want detailed information on a wide range of news and current affairs. National papers usually cover national and foreign political matters. Tabloid papers tend to appeal to those who want to read shorter, entertaining (and occasionally bizarre) stories with more human interest, and they generally contain a larger number of pictures. While newspapers are almost always financially independent of any political party, they often express pronounced views and show obvious political leanings in their editorial comments, which may derive from proprietorial and other non-party influences.

THE AMERICAN PRESS

Unlike Britain the US has no truly national newspapers, though it has some dailies which circulate nationally, such as the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal. Among US periodicals there are both quality and sensational papers. Responsible newspapers try to avoid sensa­tionalism, though that does not exclude striking news which every paper wants to publish.

Among the serious newspapers that are read on a national scale are the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. The New York Times gives a wide coverage of national and international news and reports on the arts, health, food, etc. The Wall Street Journal is a business daily news­paper but it also carries news of national importance. The Washington Post is of national interest too because it contains full coverage of the Congress.

As to tabloid newspapers, they are smaller in size and they typically use a terse and simple style as well as many pictures. The New York Daily News is the tabloid with the largest circulation. The People's Daily World is a tabloid with a progressive analytical left-of-centre outlook, reporting on national and world news as well as the arts, sports, social issues, public life, etc.

NOT SO WELL RED-TOPS

The UK tabloids have been suffering a gradual decline in sales and readership for over a decade. Since the early 1990s, almost every national tabloid has seen its circulation fall, while the Daily Mail has bolstered the mid-market and the broadsheets have had a more mixed performance.

This trend, attributed to a shift in reader tastes, recently led the Daily Mirror to ditch its red masthead in an attempt to reposition itself as a more 'serious' paper. Early indications are that this has not been successful in stemming the decline.

Another attempt to boost sales has been price-cutting: The Sun and the Mirror have just emerged from a fierce cover-price war. It seems that The Sun has won this battle, with circulation up 4.4 per cent since May, while the Mirror has dipped by 1.6 per cent.

Over the past five years, The Sun has also boosted its share of the market by 3.2 percentage points to 13.9 per cent, reinforcing its position as market leader. The Mirror, meanwhile, has seen its share fall by 2.1 per cent points to 8.1 per cent.

NATIONAL NEWSPAPER MARKET SHARES BY SECTOR

(Figures in brackets show the change over the last five years)

Broadsheet 21% (+1%)

Mid-market 25% (+2%)

Tabloid 54% (-3%)

 

Unit 2

NEWSPAPER LANGUAGE

 

Vocabulary Notes to the text Newspaper language

to infringe	–	1. нарушать, преступать (закон, обязательство, клятву) to infringe copyright — нарушать авторское право 2. покушаться, посягать (на чьи-л. права)
depreciation	–	1. снижение стоимости, обесценивание 2. амортизация
blue chip stocks	–	надежные акции, дающие высокие дивиденды
tax evasion	–	(незаконное) уклонение от уплаты налогов
angioplasty ['æ nʤ i'ə (u)plæ sti]	–	ангиопластика, пластика сосудов (пластическая операция на сосудах)
psychedelic	–	1. психоделический, галлюциногенный (связанный с состоянием необычайно острого восприятия, вызываемого наркотиками или сходно действующими факторами) He compares religious experience to the chemical experience induced by psychedelic drugs. – Он сопоставляет религиозный опыт и химические ощущения, вызванные психоделическими наркотиками. psychedelic painting – психоделическая живопись
midfielder	–	полузащитник
SUV от sport utility vehicle	–	внедорожник (полноприводный автомобиль повышенной проходимости, обычно предназначенный для активного отдыха)
staggering ['stæ g(ə )rɪ ŋ ]	–	ошеломляющий, потрясающий
entourage ['ɔ nturɑ ː ʒ ]; [ˌ ɑ ː ntu'rɑ ː ʒ ]	–	1. окружение, антураж, окружающая обстановка a house with a charming entourage of trees and flowers – дом в милом окружении деревьев и цветов Syn: surroundings, environment 2. сопровождающие лица, свита
Jakarta [ʤ ə 'kɑ ː tə ] = Djakarta	–	Джакарта (столица Индонезии)
knife-wielding - wield [wiː ld]	–	1. орудовать (чем-л.)
epitome [ɪ 'pɪ tə mɪ ], [ep'-]	–	1. конспект; краткое изложение
leaf through	–	перелистывать, листать; просматривать
pun [pʌ n]	–	игра слов; каламбур
defiant [dɪ 'faɪ ə nt]	–	вызывающий; неповинующийся, дерзкий, непокорный
calamity [kə 'læ mə tɪ ]	–	беда, бедствие, катастрофа crushing / dire / great calamity — ужасная катастрофа national calamity национальная катастрофа, бедствие to avert / ward off a calamity – предотвращать катастрофу to survive a calamity — пережить бедствие - calamity howler
Rumble	–	1. громыхание; грохот, грохотанье (орудий и т. п.); рокот Syn: crash, rumbling 2. гул, шум недовольства; ропот (толпы) Syn: murmur, discontent; дурная молва, недобрый слух Syn: rumour; 3.ссора, скандал; драка; разборка (между бандами и т. п.) 4.сиденье для слуги или место для багажа позади экипажа; = rumble seat откидное сиденье 5. обыск, шмон (на предмет наркотиков)
sever ['sevə ]	–	1. отделять, разделять; разлучать, разъединять Syn: separate, part., split; отрезать; разрубать; перерезать; отрубать Syn: cut off, chop, cleave, split 2. разрывать, порывать, прерывать (отношения) to sever relationship – порвать отношения to sever aid to all countries involved in the conflict – прекратить оказание помощи всем странам, вовлечённым в конфликт 3. делить общую собственность на части
avenge [ə 'venʤ ]	–	1. (avenge of) отомстить (за совершённое зло) Hamlet was avenged of his father's murder. – Гамлет отомстил за смерть отца. 2. (avenge on) отомстить (кому-л.) to avenge insult on smb. –отомстить кому-л. за оскорбление to avenge oneself –отомстить, отплатить за себя Syn: revenge, take revenge
drastic ['dræ stɪ k]	–	1. сильнодействующий (о лекарстве) drastic remedies – сильные, сильнодействующие лекарства 2. интенсивный; решительный; радикальный, глубокий; резкий drastic alterations – коренные преобразования drastic measures – энергичные меры Syn: violent 2. сильнодействующее лекарство; сильное слабительное

 

NEWSPAPER LANGUAGE

 

It has long been recognized that newspaper writing has eventually evolved into a separate language style, characterised by a number of features all of which serve the specific purposes of this means of public communication. Depending on the character of reading stuff, which may vary from brief news items to big informational articles, from analytical comment and feature articles to advertisements and announcements, certain devices have come into practical usage and are widely employed as professional tools.

 

While a detailed analysis of newspaper style can be found in numerous books devoted to the subject, this chapter gives you an outline of some of its general features.

Newspaper vocabulary abounds in:

· political vocabulary of a general character (top agenda, nuclear weapons, politician, peaceful talks, terror-attack);

· political terms (to infringe a UN resolution, weapons inspection, primaries, midterm elections, refugee, political asylum, coup);

· legal terms (cross-examination, penitentiary legislation, juvenile delinquency, summons);

· economic terms (fiscal year, ordinary shares, depreciation, blue- chip stocks, tax evasion);

· technical terms, both those of a general character and those reflecting the latest developments in science, technology and medicine (manu­facturing, alloys, injection moulding machines, biotechnology, remote access service, third-generation networks, immune system, side effects, heart attack, to implant a stent, angioplasty);

· cultural terms (first-night performance, mainstream filmmakers, script writer, psychedelic artist, acid rock);

· sport terms (coach, World Cup, Super Bowl, midfielder, defender, semi-finalist).

Since reading a newspaper or a magazine does not as a rule imply a time- consuming routine (unless some material attracts the reader's special attention), a cursory glance should suffice to understand the keynote of each particular piece of information. To facilitate easy and quick under­standing, newspaper writers often resort to cliches, stereotyped expressions, and familiar phrases (the crisis deepens, the apparatus of repression, under the cover of the night, people sick of listening to political rhetoric, the hands-off approach, to pull out of a deal, a tough battle, major job cuts, the tide of events is in our favour).

The need to save space results in extensive use of abbreviations (GM foods, DNA, EU, NATO, WMF, WTO). Abbreviations are especially frequent in headlines, as they not only stand out graphically, but also are quite often either ambiguous or enigmatic, which can be instrumental in attracting the reader's attention. To understand whether GM stands for General Motors or for genetically modified and to make sure that SUVs means sport-utility vehicles, while NTT is deciphered as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one has to take a closer look at the contents of the article.

In conclusion of this extremely brief summary of newspaper vocabulary peculiarities, it should be noted that emotionally coloured words serve to reflect the writer's stand on some particular issue and thus are quite frequently used in journalistic writing (ecological devastation, scandalous behaviour, a staggering sum, vicious attacks, a fabulous story).

As for grammatical peculiarities of newspaper style, they are most pro­nounced in 'news-in-brief' sections. News items usually consist of one or two phrases, which are predominantly complex sentences with a developed system of clauses. Study the following examples taken from the Wall Street Journal's front page What's News:

 

Zimbabwe outlawed insulting gestures and statements aimed at the motor­cade of President Mugabe, whose 20-car entourage has faced growing anger in the streets over the country's food shortages and economic crisis.

 

International schools in Jakarta were closed and under guard amid embassy warnings that Southeast Asian offshoots of al Qaeda considered them targets.

 

The failed hijacker of an El Al flight bound for Turkey is an Israeli Arab who hoped to fly back to Tel Aviv for a Sept. 11 style attack, his Turkish interrogators said.

Twenty Spanish children taken hostage by a knife-wielding teenager at a school near Barcelona were freed by a plainclothes officer, who over­powered him while delivering a pizza. Authorities said the assailant, a former pupil, had demanded a? 1 million ransom.

 

Syntactical complexes (especially the nominative with the infinitive) which allow an impersonal presentation of facts without referring to the source of information are another typical feature (the project is expected to start, the president appeared to have made his choice). Since headlines are the epitome of newspaper writing, special focus will further be made on some stylistic devices used in headline writing.

 

ASSIGNMENTS

1.	Discuss the main features of newspaper vocabulary.
2.	Find your own examples of political, legal, economic, cultural and sport terms used in British or American newspapers and magazines. Translate them into Russian.
3.	Describe some grammatical peculiarities of newspaper writing.
4.	Choose some news items from a 'news-in-brief section and analyse their grammatical peculiarities. Prepare a written translation of these items into Russian.

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES:

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