Understanding Newspaper Journalism Genres

Newspaper Journalism Genres

Each genre of journalism has its own structure and linguistic features. Newspaper text can be classified into:

Information Genres

These are designed to convey facts objectively. Therefore, the representational function dominates. They focus on new issues, current events, and social interest. Features include:

• Objectivity: Manifests through impersonal discourse without subjective assessment by the sender.
• Formal Language: The sender uses refined language that is understandable for any reader.
• Textual Features: Narrative and description dominate to represent facts, events, or occurrences. Dialogue is used in texts involving conversation between speakers.

Journalistic subgenres of information are:

• News: Presents clear and objective facts of general interest. Its structure consists of a headline, lead, and body of the story. The information is provided in the form of an inverted pyramid.
• Feature: Provides objective information about a topic of interest in a comprehensive way. It requires research and development by the journalist, who may adopt a personal, almost literary style.
• Interview: Reports the opinions of a character of public interest. It reproduces the direct conversation between the interviewer and interviewee, alternating questions and answers after a brief introduction providing data about the interviewee.

Opinion Genres

In this genre, the sender evaluates current events using value judgments. The dominant language functions are appellative and expressive. The poetic function may also be present, depending on the artistic intention of the sender. Important features:

• Subjectivity: Language is connotative due to the persuasive intent.
• Personalization: The opinion piece is signed by an author responsible for their views, aiming to convince the reader on a particular topic. The theme, structure, and style depend on the author's will.
• Textual Features: The sender uses exposition combined with argumentation to persuade the receiver and defend ideas.

The subgenres of newspaper opinion are:

• Editorial: Presents the opinion of the publishing company on a current topic.
• Article: Collects the opinion of a journalist on a current topic. The theme, structure, and style are personal.
• Review: A critical valuation of a cultural theme developed by a specialist.

Mixed Genres

The most representative is the Chronicle. This is a narrative of an event, differing in story and length from news and features. A journalist uses flexible language to report an event in chronological order.