The Publicistic Style

Analysis
A discourse analysis focuses on the interaction of three components: the
author/ addresser – the addresseee / recipient (the reader/ the general
public) – the object of this interaction (the problem raised / the topic) A
discourse analysis tackles this relationship as a living process (more or less
vibrant, dynamic) rather than anything stationary, a process the purpose of
which is to persuade the Recipient to share the opinion expressed and,
ultimately, to exert influence on the Recipient, to shape public opinion)

A reminder:
In an effective journalistic article  the author's argumentation (reasoning) must
beconvincing and his presentation persuasive обладать силой убеждения (in order to get
his/her (their) message across, increase the public's awareness of the problem and thus
exert influence and shape public opinion)
The two instruments of persuasion are logical argumentation (ensured by careful
paragraphing, effective use of connectives, logical syntactic structures) and (not in all
articles)  emotional appeal (through the use of expressive means, the form of direct address
to the reader). The speech may be a combination / mixture  of formal and informal registers.
Colloquialisms in the author's text and in the speech of the people interviewed add to the
emotional appeal of the article. 

Journalistic Article, Essay

STATE:

1. The problem raised by the author (take note of the headline). Is it topical in the
current socio-economic, political, etc. context?
2. The premise from which the author proceeds (his stance on the issue, which you may
find controversial).

3. The author’s purpose in writing the article (to persuade the Recipient to share the
opinion expressed (to inform the public, to increase public awareness of the scale of the
problem, to warn, to persuade / to urge to take action); ultimately, to exert influence, to
shape public opinion)

4. Type of the author’s speech: the author’s speech may be 1st person or 3rd person; the
author’s speech may comprise narration/reporting (facts/findings, real-life scenes, first-
person opinions, interviews), description, argumentation (in a journalistic article and
in an essay argumentation / personal reflections normally prevail over reporting).

5. Type of the author’s reasoning: the author’s reasoning is deductive (reasoning from an
assumption/a general rule or law to facts) or inductive (reasoning from factual
evidence/statistics to a conclusion). Prove that the form of presentation is deductive or
 inductive by quoting or rendering passages of the text: the author’s
arguments/assumptions/conclusions, statistics cited in the article, references to
authorities, elements of reporting real-life scenes, first-person opinions, interviews with
experts.

On points 4 and 5 you may say that the text combines reporting and
argumentation. In fact, the article is dominated by factual material (: …), which forms the
basis for the author’s reflections. [Or, as the case may be, … the article is dominated by
the author’s reflections supported by sufficient factual material]. Here you quote passages
of the text: the author’s arguments/assumptions/conclusions, statistics cited in the article,
references to authorities, elements of reporting real-life scenes, first-person opinions,
interviews with experts.

6. Elements of other styles in the text. A journalistic article / essay is often a combination
of the publicistic style with features of the style of scientific prose and the Belles-Lettres
style (expressive means: emotive vocabulary, neologisms, figures of speech, which are
used to liven up the (dry) presentation and ensure the emotional impact on the Reader.).

The objective rationalised discourse (literary vocabulary including terms and cliches,
formal syntax) is frequently interrupted by inserts of real-life everyday speech (colloquial
vocabulary including most recent slang, informal syntax, illiterate speech).

7. Your assessment of the article / essay. Do you find that the idea is consistently pursued,
with factual accuracy, careful paragraphing and appropriate discourse clichés to
ensure text cohesion? Do you find the arguments convincing, research data
scientifically grounded, references reliable?
(So the presentation is (not) well organized, the idea is (not) clearly set out.) Does the author
manage to establish emotional rapport with the Recipient?

What is there in the article that ensures its persuasive effect on the Recipient?