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The development of discourse presentation in The Times, 1833–1988


Jucker, Andreas H; Berger, Manuel (2014). The development of discourse presentation in The Times, 1833–1988. Media History, 20(1):67-87.

Abstract

Newspaper preferences for particular formats of speech presentation differ and they change in the course of time. In this contribution we focus on The Times and trace such developments in the formative years of the modern Anglo-American newspapers, from 1833 to 1988. We extracted data from The Times Digital Archive in six samples of roughly 5000 words at intervals of 31 years and analysed the texts manually for instances of reported speech. Our analysis shows that the focus has shifted from the presentation of speech events as coherent wholes in earlier newspapers towards a more selective use of individual statements that summarise an event or characterise it from different angles. And it also shows that the frequency of indirect forms of discourse presentation decreases over the years in favour of direct forms. This gives further support to the claim that in terms of discourse presentation broadsheets slowly develop into the direction spearheaded by tabloids.

Abstract

Newspaper preferences for particular formats of speech presentation differ and they change in the course of time. In this contribution we focus on The Times and trace such developments in the formative years of the modern Anglo-American newspapers, from 1833 to 1988. We extracted data from The Times Digital Archive in six samples of roughly 5000 words at intervals of 31 years and analysed the texts manually for instances of reported speech. Our analysis shows that the focus has shifted from the presentation of speech events as coherent wholes in earlier newspapers towards a more selective use of individual statements that summarise an event or characterise it from different angles. And it also shows that the frequency of indirect forms of discourse presentation decreases over the years in favour of direct forms. This gives further support to the claim that in terms of discourse presentation broadsheets slowly develop into the direction spearheaded by tabloids.

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Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:06 Faculty of Arts > English Department
08 Research Priority Programs > Language and Space
Dewey Decimal Classification:820 English & Old English literatures
Scopus Subject Areas:Social Sciences & Humanities > Cultural Studies
Social Sciences & Humanities > Communication
Social Sciences & Humanities > History
Language:English
Date:2014
Deposited On:18 Mar 2014 15:21
Last Modified:03 Nov 2023 08:03
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
ISSN:1368-8804
Additional Information:This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Jucker, Andreas H; Berger, Manuel (2014). The development of discourse presentation in The Times, 1833–1988. Media History, 20(1):67-87. 24.01.2014 copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2013.879793#.UymhJxDYNsI[Article DOI 10.1080/13688804.2013.879793].
OA Status:Green
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2013.879793
  • Content: Accepted Version