Course Code: EGL 202

Course Title:

Class Day:

Lecture / Week No. 15

Instructor Name:

Department of Business Administration

Glossary of Media & Newspapers and
Thinking the Unthinkable
Contents

1. Definition of the unthinkable

2. Thinking term in Media
3. News Papers
4. Institutions
5. The audience
6. New values
7. Media Language
Reference No. 1

Definition of the unthinkable

Something that one cannot accept, believe, or imagine

especially : something that is so bad that one does not want
to think about it And then, the unthinkable happened: the
car skidded out of control and crashed.
Reference No.1

Thinking term in media

The purpose of being information and media literate is to engage in
a digital society; one needs to be able to understand, inquire, create,
communicate and think critically. It is important to effectively access,
organize, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of
forms.
Reference No.

Newspapers
The language of popular
press newspapers and
websites
Reference No.

Newspapers
The language of popular
press newspapers and
websites
Reference No.

Newspapers
Why are people interested in the news?
It has been suggested people use the media to satisfy their needs.
This is called The Four Needs theory. It has four main parts:
1. Escape and diversion from everyday life

2. Surveillance and information

3. Personal relationships

4. Personal identity
Reference No.2

Newspapers
Popular press and the Four Needs
3. Personal relationships: the audience can chat to each other
about events of the day, sharing opinions and information
about current events, celebrity news, sports and so on. It
provides an opportunity for social interaction.
4. Personal identity: audience members can compare
themselves with people in the news, imagining how they
would react in similar circumstances. Some people like to
identify with a newspaper and describe themselves as ‘a Sun
reader’ or ‘a Guardian reader.’
Reference No.

Newspapers
Institutions
3Institutions are the companies who produce newspapers.
• They operate as profit-making businesses.
• They make money partly through the cover price of the
newspaper, but mainly through selling advertising space in
the newspaper / on the website.
• The advertising should appeal to the same specific audience
group that the newspaper targets.
Reference No.2

Newspapers
The audience
The audience are the people who read the newspaper.
Different types of people read different types of newspapers.
• Each newspaper is aimed at a certain group of people –this
is ‘target audience.’
• Audiences can be divided by demographics – this includes
the age, gender, location and class / income of the person.
Reference No.

Newspapers
Categorization of News Stories
• Hard News

events happening at the time they are reported e.g. death of a high
profile figure, rise in interest rates, acts of terrorism or war, serious
accidents

• Soft News

human interest stories e.g. lottery winners, daredevil charity events etc.
Reference No.

Newspapers
What makes a newsworthy story?

Stories which fit into these categories

are more likely to make it into the news
broadcast/newspaper
Reference No.1

Newspapers
News Values
• First identified by Norwegian academic Galtung and Rouge in 1965
• Built on by Harcup’s News Values – reflect current trends in British and Global News
A. The Power Elite – news regarding powerful individual, organizations and
institutions
B. Celebrity – people who already famous
C. Entertainment – focus on sex, show business, human interest, animals, unfolding
dramas or offer opportunity for humor.
Reference No.

Newspapers
News Values
D. Surprise/Contrast

E. Bad News

F. Good News

G. Magnitude – news significant regarding the volume of people involved

H. Relevance – news concerning issues, groups, nations relevant to the audience

I. Follow-ups – bulletins on subject featured recently

J. News Agenda – stories that set/fit the news organizations own agenda such as
information/entertainment
Reference No.3

Newspapers
Media language:
• In media studies, media language means more than just words. Media
language means everything you can see on a text.
• It includes words, font size and font style, pictures, graphics and other
images, layout and design, color and so on.
• Everything you see is part of media language because it is all part of
the way the text gets its message across. When you read a media text,
you respond to color, pictures, layout, design as well as the words.
Reference No.

1. Chaney, L. H., & Martin, J. S. (2007). Intercultural business communication. Upper Saddle River, N.J:
Pearson Prentice Hall.

2. . Painter, D. (2008) The voice devoid of any accent: Language, Subjectivity and Social Psychology.
Subjectivity, 23, pp. 174 – 187. 2
3. https://www.slideshare.net/CoombeMedia1/lesson-4-media-audiences