Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I argue for a linguistic-anthropological approach to the study of news language to provide fundamental insights into journalistic ways of being, the routines that underlie news practice, the influence of news-editorial decisions on the shape of news stories, and the relation of news values to community values.

Paper long abstract:

Using linguistic data and ethnographic insight accrued over two decades of newsroom and classroom work, I argue for a linguistic-anthropological approach to the study of news language. Emphasizing the "ethnographic advantage" for researchers provides fundamental insights into journalistic ways of being, making evident the routines that underlie news practice through a focus on news process and production, the influence of news-editorial decisions on the shape of news stories, and the relation of news values to community values. A good deal of social science research devoted to the news media fails to consider how communication patterns derive from the needs or values of a particular community (Cotter 2010). But study of the community itself may reveal a better sense of what their message, behaviors, and actions mean. An ethnographic and interactional approach looks to the community and the context it inhabits: how the community itself regards its relation to language, what counts as viable text or talk, the roles and behaviors of the participants, what constitutes communicative competence. It is a foundation for critical approaches. The purpose is a greater understanding of a community (speech community, micro-community, group of people, or social collective) and its particular "ways of speaking" (Sherzer and Darnell 1972, Hymes 1974 and 1984, Heath 1983, Gumperz and Hymes 1964, 1972). At a time of uncertainty within the profession, and disquiet about what constitutes journalism, a focus on both linguistic meaning and social activity is paramount. Data from newsrooms in the US, UK, and Ireland will be presented.