SEMINAR 7 SPORT AND THE MEDIA, NEWSPAPER LANGUAGE "The news and truth are not the same thing." Walter Lippmann, American journalist. SPORT AND THE MEDIA What are the mass media? They're huge corporations, massive corporations, linked up with even bigger corporations. They sell audiences to other businesses, namely advertisers. So when you turn on the television set, CBS doesn't make any money from you; they make money from the advertisers. You're the product that they're selling, and the same is true of the daily newspapers. They're huge corporations, selling audiences, potential consumers, to other businesses, all linked up closely to the government, especially the big media. What picture of the world do you expect them to present? – Noam Chomsky, American writer, linguist, and dissident (1928 - ), in Sparrow Talks with Noam Chomsky. From http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ot-quotes.html#QMedia, viewed on April 15, 2003; and http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com. TYPES OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA - VOCABULARY Task 1 Explain the difference: 1. broadcast journalism / print journalism / online journalism / citizen journalism 2. broadsheets / tabloids 3. rolling news / breaking news More vocabulary on media: to cover a story / eyewitness reports / advertising revenue Task 2 Match these words and phrases to their synonyms below: article circulation editorial issue newsreader the papers reporter reviewer critic the dailies journalist leading article newscaster number copies sold report SPEAKING: Effects of technology Technology is really important to the coverage of sport in the media. Not only does it allow all of these forms of media to be possible, but it also allows features like photo finishes, instant replays, split times etc Task 3: Which of the below would you say are the good and which are the bad effects of media coverage on sport: * Money - Media companies pay for the rights to show a sporting event. Also, sports shown on TV generate more sponsorship * Attention - Sport stars often complain of too much attention being paid to their private lives * Education - People learn the rules of the sport from watching it on TV * Role models - Seeing good sports people on tv and in newspapers makes them a role model for people to look up to * Lack of Attendance - For matches that are shown on tv, ticket sales often drop * Demands - The media can put pressure on the organisers of sporting competitions to make the viewing experience better for TV audiences. For example, in a previous Olympics, the marathon was run at a time which suited TV companies, even though it was at the hottest time of day. * Inspiration - Media brings sport to people who may not normally get to experience it otherwise. This can encourage people to get involved * Coaching aid - Watching professionals on the tv can help you see how a technique should be performed which could help your performance * Bias - Only the really popular sports get much attention on the tv and in newspapers etc. This doesn't help encourage people into the less popular sports READING: 15 April 2011 A new Super League is being launched for some of the top English ladies' teams including Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. England's Football Association is hoping the league will attract more supporters to the sport. Women's football - or soccer as it's known in many countries - has been played in England for more than a hundred years. But, unlike men's football, it's always been an amateur game. The new Super League will be the first semi-professional competition for women, with eight teams from across the country competing for the title. The players will get paid for their efforts, although their salaries will be nothing like those given to top male football stars. The Football Association says it hopes to avoid uneven competition, where a country's richest clubs get access to all the best players. Each club in the women's Super League will have a maximum annual budget of around $400,000. Some clubs, like Arsenal and Everton, will be helped by their respective male clubs, but others are trying to match their incomes by coaching school pupils or raising money through social events. Organisers are hoping the league will eventually attract the world's best female players and stop England's top stars heading to Germany and the United States, where there are already major professional competitions. Maddy Savage, BBC News Task 4: Read the above article from the BBC news and summarise the main points. Check the words in bold. Choose the most suitable heading: Female and male footballers clash Football Association backs female football Female players get football league in England NEWSPAPER LANGUAGE – HEADLINE[1] ENGLISH Origins. English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. The first newspapers carried only news, without comments, as commenting was considered to be against the principles of journalism. By the 19th century, newspaper language was recognized as a particular variety of style, characterized by a specific communicative purpose and its own system of language means. National papers in UK can be characterized as belonging to one of two distinct categories: the quality papers, or broadsheets[2] and the popular papers, or tabloids[3]. They use larger headlines and write in a simpler style of English. Broadsheets devote much space to politics and other serious news, the tabloids concentrate on human interest stories, often on sex and scandal. Both types devote equal amounts of attention to sport. The broadsheets are twice as large as the tabloids. Style. As the reporter is obliged to be brief, he naturally tries to cram [4]all his facts into the space allotted[5]. This tendency predetermines the composition of brief items and the syntactical structure of the sentences. The size of brief items varies from one sentence to several short paragraphs. And generally, the shorter the news item, the more complex its syntactical structure. The language of headlines is therefore unusual in a number of ways. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly of what the news that follows is about. Sometimes headlines contain elements of appraisal[6], i.e., they show the reporter's or the paper's attitude to the facts reported. English headlines are short and catching. Grammar words like articles or auxiliary verbs are often left out /Royal Family quits/ A simple form of a verb is used /Queen Opens Hospital Today/ The infinitive is used to express the future /President to visit Iran/ Newspaper articles and headlines use a lot of distinctive vocabulary: NEWSPAPER WORD MEANING NEWSPAPER WORD MEANING aid help key essential axe cut, remove link connection back support bar exclude, forbid bid attempt oust push out blast explosion blaze fire plea request boost encourage clash dispute ploy clever activity curb limit probe investigation drive campaign, effort quit leave, resign go-ahead approval hit affect badly riddle mystery strife conflict threat danger vow promise wed marry gems jewels NOTE: Newspaper headlines often use abbreviations, e.g. PM = Prime Minister, MP = Member of Parliament etc. Task 5 Match the headlines with their topics: Headlines Topics 1. PM BACKS PEACE PLAN a. marriage of famous actress 2. MP SPY DRAMA b. royal jewels are stolen 3. SPACE PROBE FAILS c. person who saw crime in danger 4. QUEEN´S GEMS RIDDLE d. proposal to end war 5. STAR WEDS e. satellite is not launched 6. KEY WITNESS DEATH THREAT f. politician sells secrets to enemy Task 6 Explain the meaning of the following headlines: SHOP BLAZE 5 DEAD ................................................................................................... ....... MOVE TO CREATE MORE JOBS ................................................................................................... ....... GO-AHEAD FOR WATER CURBS ................................................................................................... ....... BID TO OUST PM ................................................................................................... ....... PRINCE VOWS TO BACK FAMILY ................................................................................................... ....... NEW TENNIS CLASH ................................................................................................... ....... BOMB BLAST CENTRAL LONDON ................................................................................................... ....... Task 7 Grammar – Passive Voice Journalistic style, shared by both print and broadcast, uses active voice (the verb in the sentence describes some action that the subject is doing) as much as possible; however, passive voice (to be + past participle) is often used as well. Complete the sentences using the active or passive voice of the suggested verbs. 1. The Guardian ____________ all over Britain. (read) 2. When we join the EU, a lot of Czech people ________________ in Brussels. (employ) 3. The thief would have continued to steal if he _______________ . (catch) 4. Fifteen years after kicking a two-packets-a-day habit to improve his presidential hopes, Jacques Chirac _______________ a "war on tobacco" yesterday. (launch) 5. The Court of Appeal ______________ Giulietta Atkinson, 56, £90,000 for trauma she suffered when her daughter _____________by a car. (award, kill) 6. This newspaper __________________ well in major Czech cities. (sell) 7. The incident _____________________ early in the morning. (happen) Word bank[7] 1. print media tištěná média 2. mass media masmédia 3. electronic media elektronická média 4. media attention pozornost médií 5. broadcast on the radio/on TV vysílat v rádiu/televizi 6. TV channel televizní stanice 7. radio station rozhlasová stanice 8. TV programme televizní pořad 9. distorted news zkreslené zprávy 10. news bulletin přehled zpráv 11. the latest news nejnovější zprávy 12. live broadcast živé vysílání 13. TV presenter televizní konferenciér 14. newsreader televizní hlasatel (ve zprávách) 15. editor-in-chief šéfredaktor 16. column sloupek 17. columnist sloupkař 18. editorial úvodník 19. tabloid press bulvární tisk 20. broadsheet/quality paper seriózní noviny 21. to retouch photographs retušovat fotografie 22. reliable source of information spolehlivý zdroj informací 23. TV documentary dokumentární pořad v televizi 24. ratings figures sledovanost 25. prime/peak time hlavní vysílací doba 26. TV viewers televizní diváci 27. invasion of privacy vpád do soukromí 28. breach of privacy narušení soukromí 29. to sue for libel žalovat pro urážku na cti 30. freedom of the press svoboda tisku ________________________________ [1] Headline - titulek [2] Broadsheets - noviny velkého formátu [3] Tabloid - plátek [4] Cram - nacpat [5] Alloted - přidělený [6] Appraisal - posouzení [7] Adapted form course CJVA2B, FSS MUNI