of same-sex marriage in all fifty States, declaring it a constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment. The event received huge media coverage and soon became a major topic of animated discussions on digital media platforms. As Bednarek and Caple (2014) argue, “news values are typically defined as […] criteria/principles that are applied by news workers in order to select events or stories as news or to choose the structure and order of reporting” (Bednarek and Caple 2014: 136). In this sense, news values are described in terms of the factors that make a news story newsworthy, that is, “the factors that take an event into the news” (Bednarek and Caple 2012: 39). Thus, they have been traditionally considered as linked to news selection, since as Bell (1991) argues, they are “values by which one ‘fact’ is judged more newsworthy than another” (Bell 1991: 155). However, Bednarek and Caple’s (2012a) view is particularly linked to their discursive approach to news values, which investigates “how newsworthiness is construed and established through discourse” (Bednarek and Caple 2012b: 104). Thus, a discursive perspective on news values can allow us to “systematically investigate how these values are constructed in the different types of textual material involved in the news process” (Bednarek and Caple 2012b: 104). As forms of social constructs, news values are not neutral (Bednarek and Caple 2012a, 2012b), reflecting the ideologies and value system of a given newspaper. Thus, highlighting them can help researchers uncover the representation of the actors and events reported in the news story (Bell 1991; Cotter 2010). In the words of Cotter (2010), “[n]ews values govern practice by affording decision-making parameters, and are thus embedded in text. As such, they shape text by reinforcing an ‘ideology’ about what counts as news […]” (Cotter 2010: 67). Drawing on these observations, our investigation will focus on the representation of the main actors and events concerning the US Supreme Court ruling in US, UK, and Italian leading newspapers. In particular, our contribution is based on the analysis of the first article published online by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times in the US; The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Times in the UK; and la Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, il Giornale, il Fatto Quotidiano, and Libero in Italy. The selection was made both on the basis of the printed and online circulation of each newspaper in the respective countries and of their widespread use of digital media. In line with Bednarek and Caple’s (2012a, 2012b) approach to the analysis of news values, which highlights how “[o]nly through close analysis of texts can we find out what values are emphasised (foregrounded), rare or absent (backgrounded)” (Bednarek and Caple 2014: 6), our qualitative analysis will focus on the discursive construction of news values in the textual elements of the selected news stories. The aim of this contribution is to identify differences in terms of negativity, prominence, consonance, and personalisation (amongst the others) in the three countries and different newspapers under investigation.

Power and news values: Analysing Eliteness and vox populi in the US, UK and Italian press on the US same-sex ruling

VENUTI, MARCO
;
2017-01-01

Abstract

of same-sex marriage in all fifty States, declaring it a constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment. The event received huge media coverage and soon became a major topic of animated discussions on digital media platforms. As Bednarek and Caple (2014) argue, “news values are typically defined as […] criteria/principles that are applied by news workers in order to select events or stories as news or to choose the structure and order of reporting” (Bednarek and Caple 2014: 136). In this sense, news values are described in terms of the factors that make a news story newsworthy, that is, “the factors that take an event into the news” (Bednarek and Caple 2012: 39). Thus, they have been traditionally considered as linked to news selection, since as Bell (1991) argues, they are “values by which one ‘fact’ is judged more newsworthy than another” (Bell 1991: 155). However, Bednarek and Caple’s (2012a) view is particularly linked to their discursive approach to news values, which investigates “how newsworthiness is construed and established through discourse” (Bednarek and Caple 2012b: 104). Thus, a discursive perspective on news values can allow us to “systematically investigate how these values are constructed in the different types of textual material involved in the news process” (Bednarek and Caple 2012b: 104). As forms of social constructs, news values are not neutral (Bednarek and Caple 2012a, 2012b), reflecting the ideologies and value system of a given newspaper. Thus, highlighting them can help researchers uncover the representation of the actors and events reported in the news story (Bell 1991; Cotter 2010). In the words of Cotter (2010), “[n]ews values govern practice by affording decision-making parameters, and are thus embedded in text. As such, they shape text by reinforcing an ‘ideology’ about what counts as news […]” (Cotter 2010: 67). Drawing on these observations, our investigation will focus on the representation of the main actors and events concerning the US Supreme Court ruling in US, UK, and Italian leading newspapers. In particular, our contribution is based on the analysis of the first article published online by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times in the US; The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Times in the UK; and la Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, il Giornale, il Fatto Quotidiano, and Libero in Italy. The selection was made both on the basis of the printed and online circulation of each newspaper in the respective countries and of their widespread use of digital media. In line with Bednarek and Caple’s (2012a, 2012b) approach to the analysis of news values, which highlights how “[o]nly through close analysis of texts can we find out what values are emphasised (foregrounded), rare or absent (backgrounded)” (Bednarek and Caple 2014: 6), our qualitative analysis will focus on the discursive construction of news values in the textual elements of the selected news stories. The aim of this contribution is to identify differences in terms of negativity, prominence, consonance, and personalisation (amongst the others) in the three countries and different newspapers under investigation.
2017
9781527503816
News values, same-sex marriage, News Disourse, Critical DIscourse Anlysis, Power
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/303889
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