Understanding Journalistic Genres: Informative & Opinion Pieces

Understanding Journalistic Genres

Newspaper articles are incredibly diverse. They can be broadly classified into two main groups:

• Informative Texts: These present facts objectively and primarily serve a referential function.
• Opinion Texts: These offer a subjective view or interpretation of events, primarily serving an expressive or appellative function.

Informative Subgenres

The News

The news is the primary informative subgenre. It exposes current facts objectively. A news story is considered an event that attracts significant public interest. The structure of news is often taken as a model for other journalistic texts. It typically consists of the following parts:

• Headlines: They provide a brief overview of the reported fact. Headlines are crucial for newspapers as they attract attention. Their brevity and conciseness are emphasized, and a compelling title is essential.
• Lead (Entradilla): This corresponds to the first paragraph of the story, where the most relevant information is accumulated. It is often presented in bold.
• Body or Development: As the story progresses, it includes additional details. The story typically features an inverted pyramid structure.

Feature Article

A feature article is an informative work that necessitates in-depth investigation by the reporter, offering an in-depth perspective on an event. The journalist often conducts on-site investigation. The thoughtful and developed character of such texts makes their appearance frequent in the daily press, though less frequently on television.

Chronicle

A chronicle is another variety of reflective information that blends the journalist's objective assessment with the factual exposition of events.

Opinion Subgenres

Article

An article allows a journalist to convey their view on a particular current event. It is signed and usually varies in length according to the author, the media, etc.

Column

Similar to an article, but more concentrated as it only has a fixed space. It is signed, and newspapers take pride in having good columnists.

Editorial

An unsigned article expressing the newspaper's opinion on a current topic. The reader, knowing the story, looks to the paper for an interpretation. The newspaper, for its part, tries to convince the reader of its position and influence public opinion. Its structure is not fixed.

Interview

An interview presents a conversation between a journalist and a person who shares their views on a current issue. A particular type of interview is the guest interview.