Emotive language in reports

Tom Dunne

Is anyone else getting sick and tired of unnecessary emotive language that seems to be de rigueur these days?

I was reading an article in today's Indo where people using mobile phones while driving weren't "given" penalty points, they were "slammed" with penalty points.

Any article that mentions a child seems to require the phrase "brave little <insert name>". Most people nowadays seem to be either "tragic", "heroic" or "courageous". And did you ever hear of a community that was not "close knit"?

flogen

I think the incident you cite is an example of the way the Indo has gone over the years; (not to turn this into an Indo-bashing thread because they're not the only ones using this emotive language but) they try to spice up their stories by making it far more expressive than the facts need it to be.

The real problem in emotive language, however, doesn't arise when they try to sex up an article but when they try to force an opinion the reader by overtly making one person out to be the villian and another the victim rather than letting the reader come to that conclusion by themselves.

Tom Dunne

flogen wrote:

I think the incident you cite is an example of the way the Indo has gone over the years; (not to turn this into an Indo-bashing thread because they're not the only ones using this emotive language but) they try to spice up their stories by making it far more expressive than the facts need it to be.

Exactly, it's not just the Indo. I don't read the tabloid trash, but I have also noticed this language creeping into news reports on the radio.

flogen wrote:

The real problem in emotive language, however, doesn't arise when they try to sex up an article but when they try to force an opinion the reader by overtly making one person out to be the villian and another the victim rather than letting the reader come to that conclusion by themselves.

Or, are they simply siding with popular opinion and giving a viewpoint that they expect the Average Joe to have? The assumption being that Average Joe will find the story "heartbreaking", thereby avoiding an opposing viewpoint and perhaps discouraging any kind of debate?

lostexpectation

yeha and in this case it was the guy driving while on his mobile phone that was the apparent victim!

mike65

News is no longer about conveying facts but about illuminating some greater "truth"

Ahem.

Mike.

flogen

tom dunne wrote:

Or, are they simply siding with popular opinion and giving a viewpoint that they expect the Average Joe to have? The assumption being that Average Joe will find the story "heartbreaking", thereby avoiding an opposing viewpoint and perhaps discouraging any kind of debate?

A little from column A...
While it's often the case that they put stories forward in a way that appeals to their market, they also try and manufacture a reaction too.
The usual whipping-up of hysteria and making a story out to be bigger/more dangerous than it really is to get the reader to agree with them.
Many newspapers now try to tell people what to be outraged about... they're spoon feeding the readers with emotion, saying "this is an outrage, isn't it?".

Dundalk Daily wrote:

yeha and in this case it was the guy driving while on his mobile phone that was the apparent victim!

No, this was just a boring story that got sexed up to make it more interesting. In reality these people broke a (relatively small) law and probably got penalty points from a Garda in a most undramatic fashion... it's far more interesting if they were "slammed" with points, as it paints a far more exciting image.

J.S. Pill

Its not just emotive language and loaded words I'm sick of

Have you ever noticed that TV3 newscasters will lower and raise their voice tones for sad and happy stories respectively? Very difficult to describe in words so keep an eye out for it.

I really admire RTE's stiff upper lip approach to emotive stories. Ann Doyle could announce a busload of children plunging off a cliff without showing the slightest glimmer of emotion - brilliant

Tom Dunne

flogen wrote:

Many newspapers now try to tell people what to be outraged about... they're spoon feeding the readers with emotion, saying "this is an outrage, isn't it?".

Nail. Head.

mike65

Have you ever noticed that TV3 newscasters will lower and raise their voice tones for sad and happy stories respectively? Very difficult to describe in words so keep an eye out for it.

Michael Burke on BBC was joshed for his habit of aurally and visualy switching from Sad to Happy mode.

Mike.

lostexpectation

J.S. Pill wrote:

Its not just emotive language and loaded words I'm sick of

Have you ever noticed that TV3 newscasters will lower and raise their voice tones for sad and happy stories respectively? Very difficult to describe in words so keep an eye out for it.

I really admire RTE's stiff upper lip approach to emotive stories. Ann Doyle could announce a busload of children plunging off a cliff without showing the slightest glimmer of emotion - brilliant

LOL

ah its easy pickings but 'slammed' jaysus

J.S. Pill

Staying with TV3 news, a few days ago their top story was 'woman speaks out after husband convicted of marital rape' - THIS IS NOT NEWS!!!

Christ, the message to women seems to be 'y'is are not safe, not even in yer own home, sure yer own f****'n husband could rape you'

J.S. Pill

mike65 wrote:

Michael Burke on BBC was joshed for his habit of aurally and visualy switching from Sad to Happy mode.

Mike.

Yeah it can be quite funny to watch news readers rapidly osculating between happy and sad

'Authorities say the death toll could reach 4,000....(sad)'

'now an Hay-larious video from one of our viewers of a bear eating a cake!!...(happy)

I wonder if doing that sh!t all day can lead to manic depression?

Tom Dunne

J.S. Pill wrote:

Christ, the message to women seems to be

No, being a low-end tabloid TV station, the message is "We can sensationalise anything - text us if you think we are right".

mike65

That sounds like Newstalk.

Mike.

I think the whole thing of calling people by their first name is a little cynical.

Tom Dunne

Deleted User wrote:

I think the whole thing of calling people by their first name is a little cynical.

Jackie laughlin

The idea that news can be entirely without opinion is a fantasy. Our choice of words always conveys an argument. One of the functions of media is to help define normality and consensus. Adjectives are a dead giveaway; the opinion is "outed".

Tom Dunne

Jackie laughlin wrote:

One of the functions of media is to help define normality and consensus. Adjectives are a dead giveaway; the opinion is "outed".

Are you seriously saying that the likes of the tabloids are morally obliged to define what is acceptable in a society? That we should take everything at face value? That the likes of Sky One/TV3 et al actually contribute something to society?

Milktrolley

The front page of today's Star describes the events of Saturday night at RTÉ, where people "jumped for their lives".

The Punto bounced off the door. If you want to say it's fortunate nobody was injured then fair enough, but that article is a fine example of sensationalism.

Elsie

In response to the OP, I don't think it's so much about whipping up hysteria than telling readers or listeners what they expect to hear. A few years ago I did work experience for a UK regional newspaper, comparable to the Herald or latter-day tabloid Indo. Articles were always stylistically adjusted to conform to the house style of the paper, even if this led to inaccuracies in content. In this case then, I think describing a driver as being 'slammed' with penalty points is just part of journalistic clichéd vernacular in the same way that sportsnews readers always talk about 'visiting' teams being 'entertained' by the opposition, whose new manager might have just been 'unveiled' this week. I find the lack of originality the most depressing thing.

r3nu4l

There are a few reasons for this type of language

1. Support and enforce the view, slant and opinion of the Newspaper editor/owner
2. Lazy journalism, leading to use of tired clichés
3. To create and sustain loyalty from a targeted demograph

All of these are base and low reasons for such language, I often find myself actually trying to decipher the actual content of news reports for the facts of the story.

Even then, facts may be selectively reported to support the opinion of the paper rather than give the full story. It's sad to see that there is no real record of events any more, in many cases newspapers try to fill in the blanks with phrases like "It appears as if...", "It has been speculated that...(speculated by whom?)", "It is possible that the victim was...".

Wholly disingenuous.

[ASIDE]
However, this isn't just confined to news reports. Take a look at any advert for a charity and you will find a lot of emotive language, music and video imagery/lighting to try and force you to part with your hard-earned money.