This article is the first in the series of several instalments aimed to study and highlight the intricacies and inner workings of multimedia journalism. The aim of this work is to attempt to create a general outline for language specifics of multimedia journalism.
Keywords : Journalism, Multimedia Journalism, language specifics, linguistics.
Journalism as a profession and passion for many has existed for quite some time and has seen its share of changes and transformations. According to the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” earliest known journalistic products go way back as far as the times of Ancient Rome. Bearing the name “Acta Diurna”, it was a news sheet that was released daily containing a recollection of important events that the readers could view in prominent and most populated city spaces. Another ancient example can be seen in Chinese culture with the introduction of a “bao”, a court circular report that was released to government representatives. The more recognizable form of journalism appeared in Germany in 1609.
Quite an obvious conclusion can be made from the above-mentioned with it being that journalism has evolved quite a bit since its first iterations however what definitely did not change was the main purpose of the activity — the collection and distribution of information with clarity and lack of contextual distortion in the material.
Nowadays with journalism being referred to as an actual profession, a fact that came about in the early 20 th century, it can be noted that the core principle of journalism being an unbiased and trustworthy informational channel is being actively challenged due to some bending the building tenets of journalism while others try to attract more readers to their written pieces with flashy headlines or risqué topics discussed in the articles. This is even more so stimulated by the new transformation journalism has been undergoing quite recently. With the existence of media convergence came about a field of multimedia journalism that specifies in digital channels that now more than ever gain popularity due to a recent pandemic.
Multimedia journalism in its core is a field focusing on using several digital channels to collect and distribute information through internet. The main selling point of this journalism type is the unique number of forms that the informational pieces can take. With the invention of digital platforms and social media comes a once in a lifetime opportunity to create informational material using writing, audio manuscripts, video footage and picture-focused articles. This field of contemporary journalism brought many positive changes and while the reach of multimedia is quite substantial it comes with its own set of negative consequences which include but do not limit themselves to the huge mental and physical strain that it has on a journalist engaged in this field. The number of skills required to effectively produce multimedia material is growing with the invention of new informational channels and platforms to present them on but while this is an example of a negative effect that is entirely focused around the challenges a person might face, there are more global effects that multimedia journalism has.
One of the more volatile and shape-changing tools at humankind’s disposal is our language. The main channel of communication that humans had in one shape or form since the dawn of creation. It is no surprise that with the intellectual and educational evolution language changes would follow. The changes however were not universal and while obviously shaped by cultures and traditions the changes would also be stimulated by the lexicon used in new professional, educational or sometimes recreational fields among others. Journalism is no exception had its own rules and standards of language use. With the arrival of digital space communication has elevated its status and with it came global changes to how we use language in real life and on digital platforms. And so, with the now prominent existence of multimedia journalism came new linguistic standards and rules.
In this article I will attempt to summarize and highlight the linguistic specifics and tendencies spotted in the mass media by analyzing the works of other researchers and writers. The aim of this work is to create a simple understanding of language used in multimedia journalism.
The importance of the field is supported by Elmhurst University. They state: “Though journalism as a whole has been shedding jobs for more than a decade, multimedia journalism has emerged as a beacon of hope for the future. New outlets, such as podcast networks, streaming services and web startups, mean new job opportunities and new audiences. “With the amount of digital content being produced each year, and with no sign of it slowing down, the demand for individuals with these skills will only continue to increase,” says Kristyn Jo Benedyk, digital media program director at Elmhurst University. Opportunities for growth are everywhere. There are always more skills to be mastered. You will work with similarly creative, driven folks. You will meet and learn about people from all walks of life. You’ll feel the rush of chasing down a story and sharing it with the public” [1].
While skipping the parts about the new socializing opportunities it is entirely reasonable to believe that with the digital content being so prominent among the newer generations is paramount for journalistic organizations to accommodate the brand-new communication channels.
With the use of several communication channels comes a difference in narrative and language use. It is also worth mentioning the contextualized reasoning when it comes to the choice of words in an article or any other piece of informational material. This is mentioned by John E. Richardson in his article “Language and journalism: an expanding agenda”. They state in the article that while it is understandable how important a linguistic analysis of a text is, most of the time the reasoning behind the writing is excluded out of the process which limits the way we, as researchers, can study a text [2]. There is no doubt that text analysis will yield a surplus of linguistic data out of which a linguist can extrapolate needed data, i.e., the presence of cultural or any other types of jargons or institute-specific vocabulary, however such an analysis would most likely skip the general reasoning behind the decision to include these words in the first place.
The answers sometimes are quite simple. While narrative-wise most of the time news vary and for a good reason, the vocabulary choice is focused on the target audience of the particular informational piece. It is no surprise that some articles or other news materials use colors or specific imagery to attract and keep the attention of readers and creating a special mood for a specific article piece [2]. The language on the other hand can make the narrative sound much more interesting than it is while simultaneously creating a connection between the piece of news and the viewer via the specific language patterns or vocabulary. This however varies from one type of journalism to another, as show Angela Smith and Michael Higgins in their book “The language of journalism: A Multi-genre perspective” [3].
The book describes the most commonly used types of journalism and subsequently their language specifics. Smith and Higgins have highlighted in their work:
- Broadcast journalism
- Magazine journalism
- Newspaper journalism
- Sports journalism
- Digital journalism
While talking about the broadcasts they note the informal way of presenting information used by the journalists which is dubbed by Fairclough as “conversationalisation” [3]. However, such linguistic tendencies limit themselves to broadcasts but leak into printed media which is highlighted in their chapter about magazine journalism. As stated in the book the use of such linguistic patterns is used to “create a friendly and approachable community of readers” [3]. The set trends change with the introduction of sports journalism as it is a field combining the traits applicable to spoken and written language since there is a variety of communication channels serving this type of journalism. The matter is also complicated by the spontaneous nature of the commentary received throughout the live events and the sheer variety of sport types and their own unique sport-oriented culture which includes language use.
Digital journalism stands as a last chapter in their book and serves as the most important one for this article. In it, Higgins and Smith look at “online presence of newspapers and broadcasters, examine both the formative constraints and the development of new forms of journalistic language” [3]. While studying the connection between language and narrative is highlighted extensively throughout the chapter there is also a mention of citizen journalists, individuals who are untrained but make contributions to media reporting, usually through one of the many social media platforms like YouTube or Twitter [3].
The points each author made in their resources help us outline the general understanding of language specifics of multimedia journalism. With the general consensus on digital journalism being the fact that the unique opportunities provided by digital space create a field where all of language styles written or spoken collide creating a complex system that creates interesting and attention-seeking articles. Another layer to this already complex linguistic amalgam adds the new progressive worldview. While this topic is quite political and controversial it is impossible to deny the impact it had on multimedia journalism and journalism as a whole. Even right now, in this article, genderless reference is applied to authors in accordance with new standards aimed at acceptance and tolerance. For multimedia journalism this is further stimulated by the main communication channel — the digital space and its platforms.
Ethnicity and minority engagement is another controversial topic that has a serious effect on journalism as a whole. It has been stated multiple times in media outlets how big of a role society plays in news delivery and with how volatile “cancel culture” is nowadays it has become increasingly important to exclude any unnecessary profiling amongst other things. When it comes to language, it becomes apparent that some of the lexical combinations can be taken out of context due to a lack of cultural or perhaps another factor which would be detrimental to the informational piece.
As stated in the articles and books above, language is an ever-evolving communication tool that has seen its fair share of changes in all matter of fields including the journalistic one. Delving deeper into journalism types we notice how the language changes depending on the topic and type of news. With some like sports live broadcasts being quite emotive and spontaneous in their delivery or highly informal when it comes to citizen journalism. The variety of language standards creates a unique opportunity for those working in the field of multimedia journalism. Language is social [3] and while it changes with us, its many forms may create confusion or lead to confrontations that can be so easily avoided. The language specifics noted by the authors are shortly described in this article and deserve to be fully fleshed out in later works however the language specifics of multimedia journalism can be already generally outlined as a complex system that included a number of diverse language types that are shaped not only by the communication channel but also by the target audience, country-specific factors such as culture and the general understanding of a specific topic, all of which play a big role in creating an understandable and clear piece of information.
References:
- Elmhurst University blog on Multimedia Journalism
- Richardson E. J. Language and Journalism — Routledge 2010
- Smith A., Higgins M. The language of journalism: A Multi-Genre Perspective — Bloomsbury Academic
- Encylopaedia Britannica Online — term “journalism”
