Read All About It - Looking at Newspapers

Read All About It!
Looking at newspapers

SECTION 2

Emotive Language

If something is emotive it makes people emotional. If you have just had your new bike stolen then your friends might avoid boasting about their bikes: bikes are an emotive subject for you at the moment.

Newspapers often choose emotive language (words) to get their readers to react emotionally to a story. If you call an event a 'riot' rather than a 'disturbance' you are much more likely to get your readers excited.

Below are four pairs of headlines.

In each pair which headline is most likely to excite the reader? (a) or (b)?

(a) Scabs thrown out of the union
(b) Strike breakers must leave union

(a) Fire at school
(b) School blaze

(a) Skilful Graf
(b) Graf magic

(a) Stewart injured
(b) Stewart agony

You probably found that easy.

Now read the headlines below. Re-write them, replacing the words in bold with more emotive words. The first two have been done for you as examples .

Man hit by robbers
( Pensioner hit by muggers )

A hundred peasants killed by troops
(A hundred peasants slaughtered by troops)

Argument closes factory

Train seats cut by teenagers

House prices fall throughout country

Supporters run onto pitch

Shortage of money creates problems in schools

Trouble on roads after snow fall

Player hits referee.

Political meeting ends in disturbance

Re-read The Star's report about the school 'riot'. It is printed below. The report uses a lot of emotive language. For example, it uses "mob" instead of crowd or group ; "refused" instead of declined or decided not .

Bored pupils riot as staff walk out

A MOB of 300 youngsters ran riot through their school yesterday - because they were bored.
   It happened when teachers at the 100-staff comprehensive refused to do dinner duties and walked out in a union dispute.
   Only the headmaster and two teachers were on duty, and they wre powerless to act.
   People living nearby watched, terrified, as gangs of 15 and 16 year olds rampaged through the 1000-pupil school at Bideford, Devon, chanting "We want a riot" as they smashed windows.
   Police who rushed to the giant complex in seven cars calmed the frantic pupils.

Hammers

As the afternoon lessons ended the youngsters said they were protesting about being confined to one playground.
"We were bored and had nothing to do," they said. "We will continue our action until the teachers dispute is over.
"We brought screwdrivers and hammers to school and stole knives from the canteen."

(The Star)

What quieter, less emotive words could the report have used instead of "terrified" (paragraph 4); "frantic" (paragraph 5)?

How do we feel about:
1. the "youngsters", and
2. the teachers who "refused to do dinner duties"?

Explain how the writer's choice of words makes us feel these things about the pupils and the teachers.

You have now learnt two important things:

Newspaper reports often use language that is emotive rather than factual and neutral.
This emotive language affects the way we feel about people and things in the reports.

Now you can do your own study of newspaper language.

On the next pages are two reports published on the same day in 1990. They are about a political protest in South Africa. At that time Black South Africans didn't want other countries' teams to come to South Africa because Blacks were not allowed to play in South African teams. An English cricket team visited South Africa and many Blacks demonstrated angrily against it. A man called Mike Gatting was the English captain. The reports are about what happened at one demonstration.

You will find that one of the two reports is far more dramatic than the other and uses a lot of emotive language . You will also find that the way that Mike Gatting and the black demonstrators are written about encourages us to feel certain things about them . For example, one of the reports makes Mike Gatting sound panicky and even a coward. The other report makes Gatting sound more cool and dignified.

One report is from The Independent; the other is from The Star. The report from The Star is in two parts. Read the reports from both papers.

Mike Gatting gets canned at tea-time
MIKE GATTING walked 150 yards through a chanting throng of demonstrators outside the Jan Smuts Stadium here yesterday to receive a petition concerning poor playing conditions in the Natal townships. Protected by the demonstrators’ own stewards, who linked arms on either side of the pathway, Gatting – with Ali Bacher, the managing director of the South African Cricket Union and the man behind the tour, David Gravney, manager of the English team and John Emburey, one of the players – was subjected to a shower of stones and a few soft-drink cans during the walk back. A can bounced off Gatting’s shoulder, but otherwise the cricket party escaped. "It was the most heroic sporting achievement off the field I have ever seen," Dr Bacher said when the party returned to the pavilion.	From Richard Evans in Pietermaritzburg "You guys in the British press have vilified Mike. But he has come here with no knowledge of the country and has said nothing more stupid than a lot of white South Africans do every day. The situation is extraordinarily complex and many people who have lived here all their lives still don’t understand it." It all happened at thc tea interval during the third match of this inflammatory tour. Within a minute of returning, Gatting walked into the dressing-room and said: "Come on, lads, let’s get out there." He then led the team on to the field and Graveney bowled the second over after tea. The original plan had been for Gatting to walk out of the main gates to receive the petition while	standing behind a low wall. But Mohammed Casimjee, one of the protestors, insisted that he walk to a podium 150 yards from where the biggest rally of the tour – nearly 5,000 blacks and Indians – had been marshalled. "You are guaranteed safe in, safe out," Mr Casimjee said, "Nothing will happen to you." Dr Bacher looked somewhat doubtful about that, but Gatting moved forward and, after a conversation with the protesters, set off. Despite the stones, the anger was contained. Chants of "Gatting go home" went on unabated, but nothing was thrown while the former England captain was on the podium, and on the journey back the stewards did an excellent job. "Gatting is a brave man," one Indian said, "but I still think that the tour should be stopped." (The Independent)

Gatting stoned by mob at demo

CRICKET rebel Mike Gatting ran for his life yesterday when he stoned by an angry mob.
A sea of missiles rained down on him from a 4,000-strong South African horde after he agreed to meet a deputation.
The shocked rebel captain thought he was going to receive a protest note.

Bottles

But instead he was pelted with bottles and stones.
He was hit by a drink can and the crowd screamed "Gatting go home" as he raced for the safety of a cricket ground.

Full story - Page 2

(The Star - cover story)

REBEL GATTING RUNS GAUNTLET OF DEMO HATE

From JACK RIDGE in Pietermaritzburg

REBEL cricket captain Mike Gatting was pelted with stones by screaming hordes yesterday.
   And he was struck by a Coca-Cola can as he faced the fury of a 4,000-strong South African mob.
   Gatting had agreed to meet a deputation of anti-tour campaigners.
   But instead of an expected note of protest, he was met by a hail of stones and a torrent of abuse.
   Stewards were unable to control the angry mob … and the deeply shocked Gatting was jostled and bumped.
   With missiles raining down on him, he raced desperately back to the safety of the ground.
   The demo happened at Pietermaritzburg during the match against a South African invitation team.

Angry

   The rebel skipper had agreed to meet the anti-tour deputation during the tea interval.
   Then he was persuaded to climb on to a podium to receive a protest letter.
   Protest organiser Mohammed Cassimjee assured him: "You are guaranteed safe in, safe out. Nothing will happen.
   "You will be given a memorandum relating to the lack of facilities in townships and general opposition to the tour."
   But as Gatting walked to the podium with other rebel cricketers, the mood of the crowd grew angry.

Shocked

   He looked shocked at the deafening chants of "Gatting Go Home".
   The violence erupted as he raced for the safety of the cricket ground.
   The England side had been tipped off about trouble at the match.
   Thousands of demonstrators swamped fields surrounding the ground.
   And there was a massive police presence with helicopters, armoured cars and water cannon.
   But they kept their distance in an attempt to avoid provocation.

(The Star - page 2)

Make a list of all the words in The Star report that are emotive. Next to each word write a couple of alternative words that mean almost the same but are less emotive. Set out your ideas in a chart - see the example below.

Write at least 150 words about the report in The Independent and the one in The Star. You should compare the two reports and look at the different sorts of language they use. Explain how the two papers make us feel about Mike Gatting and about the demonstrators. Write about details in the reports.

EMOTIVE	LESS EMOTIVE	NEUTRAL
mob	gang	crowd
raced	ran	hurried

Now let your teacher see your work on tasks 1 - 24.

Meanwhile you can get on with the last task - writing a newspaper report.

Think up a very uninteresting story. For example, a member of your family eating their breakfast messily, or your hamster escaping from its cage, or a teacher forgetting to set homework. Now write a tabloid newspaper report of this story.