Viewpoint representation in journalistic crime narratives: An analysis of grammatical roles and referential expressions

Abstract

This study examines how grammar and reference in journalistic narratives help to represent the viewpoints of eyewitnesses to shocking criminal acts. Grammatical roles of eyewitnesses and non-eyewitnesses and the expressions referring to them were analyzed in four journalistic narratives about different shocking events and compared to four non-narrative news reports about the same events. Results show that in the narratives, but not in the news reports, eyewitnesses appear more often in subject position of a clause than non-eyewitnesses. This indicates that in narratives, journalists choose eyewitnesses as the lens through which they narrate the events. Furthermore, eyewitnesses are more often referred to with pronouns than nouns, whereas non-eyewitnesses are more often referred to with nouns than pronouns. This indicates that eyewitnesses are cognitively highly accessible in news narratives and that their viewpoints are conceptually most proximate to the viewpoints of journalist and reader. It is argued that the strategic use of grammatical roles and referential expressions in journalistic crime narratives puts the reader in the position of a ''mediated witness''.

Story Perspective and Character Similarity as Drivers of Identification and Narrative Persuasion

“…This character can be, but need not be represented as an "I"-character. There are numerous perspectivizing devices available to represent thoughts, perceptions, and emotions of third-person characters, varying from direct thought representation and free indirect mode that represent the character's consciousness from up close to implicit viewpoints that merely hint at the character's consciousness (Sanders & Redeker, 1996;Van Krieken, Sanders, & Hoeken, 2015). 2 The experimental materials are available from the first author.…”

A Multi-layered Analysis of The New York Times Op-Ed: A Case Study

“…A consistent pattern in terms of the rhetorical organization and stylistic strategies of these genres (to frame particular ideologies, advance specific propositions, and shape public opinions) is well documented in prior scholarship. Whereas some studies dwell upon the use of evaluative language in editorials (Blanco, 2011;Morley, 2009;Plungian, 2001), other studies are geared toward the use and form of storytelling techniques in news texts (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2013a, 2013bVan Krieken, Sanders, & Hoeken, 2016) and the effects of such techniques on the engagement levels with news texts (Shen, Ahern, & Baker, 2014;Van Krieken, Sanders, & Hoeken, 2015).…”

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“…A consistent pattern in terms of the rhetorical organization and stylistic strategies of these genres (to frame particular ideologies, advance specific propositions, and shape public opinions) is well documented in prior scholarship. Whereas some studies dwell upon the use of evaluative language in editorials (Blanco, 2011;Morley, 2009;Plungian, 2001), other studies are geared toward the use and form of storytelling techniques in news texts (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2013a, 2013bVan Krieken, Sanders, & Hoeken, 2016) and the effects of such techniques on the engagement levels with news texts (Shen, Ahern, & Baker, 2014;Van Krieken, Sanders, & Hoeken, 2015). Seemingly sublimated to the editorial page, the Op-Ed dialogue is essentially one that is among readers, experts, and freelancers, unfettered by the newspaper᾽s official editorial positions (Salisbury, 1988, p. 317).…”