<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side two <&>0:20 stories are an important part of any culture and society a lot of humanity's most important experience has been embodied in stories they come in many kinds and they include fairy tales fables parables gospels legends epics and sagas the stories of OUR age are carried in the news where the fairy tale starts once upon a time there was an old woman the news story begins fifteen people were injured today when a bus plunged off a bridge journalists are the professional story tellers of our age <,> and <&>1:00 they write stories not articles a story has structure direction and viewpoint but an article may lack these <,> the most striking way news stories differ from other kinds of stories is in the time sequence used in news stories at the heart of any story is a succession of events which occurred in most kinds of stories the action's told in the order in which it happened <,> but news stories are seldom if ever told in chronological order listen to this typical international story received in new zealand through reuters and published in the dominion it's one of a kind that appears every day in our newspapers <&>1:38 <&>reading of story by different speaker not transcribed <&>2:14 even within the first sentence the chronology of events is stood on its head result comes before cause the military alert is mentioned before the ambush that caused it down in the story proper the time sequence is also reversed compare the news story with how one of the soldiers might have told a family member what had happened THAT narrative would have gone something like this <&>2:37 <&>reading of story by different speaker not transcribed <&>2:52 the news story runs these events in precisely the reverse order to how they happened the result is placed before the action that caused <&>3:00 it the story moves like a downward spiral through the available information this is described by journalists as the inverted pyramid style gathering up all the main points at the beginning and progressing through decreasingly important information to the end news stories often deliver information in instalments an event is introduced then returned to in more detail two or more times this makes the time line of some news stories so complicated that an intricately plotted film or novel looks straightforward by comparison the wilful violation of our expectations that stories usually proceed in chronological order is a distinctive of the news in most story telling if you change the order in which you tell something you're ALSO changing the order that it happened in but in NEWS order is everything chronology is nothing as news consumers we're so accustomed to this approach <&>4:00 that we forget how strange it is compared with other kinds of stories and with earlier ways of news reporting <,> listen to the following news story dated the tenth of december eighteen seventy six tut this was a year as the centennial issue of the washington post from which this was taken says when general custer was wiped out at little big horn wild bill hickock shot from behind and the james gang ambushed it's typical content for a news story which could run in any local paper today but the manner of its telling is very different <&>4:33 <&>reading of story by different speaker not transcribed <&>5:24 this is narrated in absolute chronological order the modern story would begin <&>5:32 <&>reading by different speaker not transcribed <&>5:36 but the reporter of a century ago begins at the beginning and goes to the end <,> even the headline above the story tells a chronological tale <&>5:44 <&>reading by different speaker not transcribed <&>5:50 where most kinds of stories end with the punch line news stories begin with the punch line and they're not rounded off they end in midair the <&>6:00 news story isn't turned in a finished fashion <,,><&>3 one very good reason for this is that the journalist doesn't know how much of her story will be retained by copy editors for publication stories are regularly cut from the bottom up which is a great incentive to get what you believe to be the main points in early the nineteenth century story of schwartz and the cincinnati express couldn't be cut from the bottom because the main point is at the end not the beginning <,,> where chronological order defines the way we usually tell stories a completely different force is driving the presentation of the news story this force is news value that is a news story begins with what the journalist thinks is most newsworthy not with what happened first <,> all kinds of stories contain evaluation but in the news evaluation is so dominant that it reorders the sequence in which the story is told <,,> the honduras ambush story read out earlier stresses <&>7:00 repeatedly the importance of what has happened the united states troops are on high alert at least six of them have been wounded two of those seriously all these phrases in the first sentence stake claims on the reader to take the event seriously <,> and the claims continue in the rest of the story but with diminishing frequency and force <,> so what are the values of the news they'll be familiar to you as a consumer of news although you may never have given them explicit labels they include things like negativity it's a true platitude that news is bad damage injury death deviance conflict are all the staple of news indeed the ultimate in conflict news war reporting was one of the earliest historical forms of news and a stimulus for the growth of news media recency means that the best news is something which <&>8:00 only just happened most news media work on a daily cycle so that news is something that happened within the past twenty four hours proximity means quite simply that geographical closeness enhances news value the minor accident is reportable only in the settlement where it happens not a hundred miles away superlativeness says that the biggest building the most violent crime the most destructive fire is the one that gets covered and the eliteness of the news act is as important something happening to a politician or film star can make news but would be ignored if it happened to ordinary people <,,> and if you add several news factors together you get something which is even more newsworthy so royal scandal combines eliteness and negativity to be a sure fire story now journalism usually claims to be an objective business presenting the unvarnished facts without fear favour or <&>9:00 interpretation from the internal evidence of how news stories are written this clearly isn't the case journalism is driven by value judgements of what is newsworthy look at the first sentence of any news story you come across in it you'll find words chosen purposely to stake out the newsworthiness of the story words which stress the eliteness of the person mentioned or the scale of the disaster that's happened the vocabulary of news stories is often more loaded than that of advertising which makes no claims whatever to objectivity the values of the news are focused in a story's first sentence what journalists call the intro or the lead paragraph the intro doesn't merely summarise the action it focuses the story in a particular direction it forms the lens through which the remainder of the story is viewed the intro's the most distinctive feature of news stories and framing the intro is the journalist's primary writing <&>10:00 skill remembering of course that journalists don't write the headlines themselves other news people do that the intro distinguishes the journalistic craft from any other form of professional writing and it's also the most difficult aspect of news writing for nonjournalists to reproduce the associated press' text book on news writing calls its chapter on intros the agony of square one journalists hate starting to write as much as anyone does and when they do their aim is to produce intros which are packed with information and news appeal but as short as possible and clearly understood newsworthiness brevity and clarity are the values of the intro the intro is a micro story indeed it often has to serve as a one paragraph stand alone story the intro compresses the values and expertise of journalism down into one sentence so that understanding <&>pronounced understounding how the intro works is to <&>11:00 understand the nature of news stories <,> the intro concentrates the news value of the story symbolised in the vocabulary of newsworthiness so in one single sentence you will often find half a dozen highly charged news words in the intro to this story from south africa there are even more than that <&>11:16 <&>reading of news item by different speaker not transcribed <&>11:27 that sentence is a pearl of the newswriter's craft with nearly half of its twenty five words stressing the scale or vigour of the conflict the status of the people mentioned or the polar opposition between the two parties involved <,> who what when and where are basic facts that journalists concentrate in a story <,> who the story is about almost always appears in the first sentence the honduras ambush story read <&>12:00 out earlier crammed no fewer than five sets of people into the one sentence tut united states troops six american soldiers two seriously wounded leftist guerillas and united states officials <,> a related question to who does is who says and that's one of the primary questions of news work it should also be a issue which is high in the news audience's mind what credentials does that person have for saying this who says <,,> news is mostly what someone says either as witness to facts or as an actor in the news <,> the ideal news source is also a news actor someone whose own words make news news is what an authoritative source tells a journalist politicians and officials are the most cited sources even on topics where they may not be experts unofficial news sources are <&>13:00 little used alternative sources such as individuals opposition parties unions minorities and the disadvantaged tend to be ignored unlike other kinds of stories news stories don't take time out to describe their characters a fairy tale may begin with whole sentences of description and characterisation but the news story describes its actors in passing within the flow of telling the action a title like modern megastar michael jackson or estranged husband captain mark phillips embodies a person's claim to news fame <,,> time and place make up the setting of a news event the when and the where they're also an important part of its news value and presentation <,> recency of occurrence and geographical proximity <&>pronounced priximity are the news values of time and place time of course is central to the nature of news it's a <&>14:00 perishable commodity with a limited shelf life the next edition renders it OBsolete and so time prescribes the first principle of news story structure lead with the most recent events <,> journalists work in a stop watch culture the drive to headlines to get the news first by a few minutes or even a few seconds is embedded deep in their professional culture getting it first is reason to congratulate oneself and being scooped is a cause for mourning <,,> but the rush to meet deadlines is largely selfinflicted it's a fetish of journalism itself there's no evidence that the audience really expects such timeliness but journalists expect it of themselves and expect to be evaluated by it the audience couldn't care WHO gets the scoop <,> WHAT is another of the journalists basic questions journalists are always in search of what they see as the facts <&>15:00 and so facticity is at the core of news writing in standard stories there are standard facts to be included a story about a fire will say when and where the fire occurred how many victims or rescued there were the number of firefighters or fire engines how long it took to bring under control how it is thought to have started and the estimated cost of the damage precisely such ingredients make up this radio story <&>15:25 <&>reading of news story by different speaker not transcribed <&>15:47 this item uses the regular currency of fire reporting somewhat devalued by overuse battling blaze engulfed at the scene appliances <&>16:00 threatened stories like this are so standard you could almost computerise them the story also carries no fewer then four sets of figures covering the size of the damaged area numbers of firefighters and the numbers of fire engines numbers are at the core of facticity numbers are the most verifiable quantifiable undeniable of facts so typical news numbers will include dates ages distances weights heights dollars percentages or scores journalists use numbers to support the claims of news to be objective facts but numbers simultaneously undermine that principle since the numbers themselves are chosen JUST to make the most of the news value of the story <,> a lot of the what of news is pure talk most of the jounalist's information's gained through talking to people since usually journalists aren't on the spot to see what <&>17:00 happened <,> and a large proportion of news is just talk ABOUT talk especially in political and diplomatic affairs it consists entirely of what newsmakers have said by way of announcement protest or plea and sometimes this becomes verbal tennis as in this particular item <&>17:16 <&>reading of news item by different speaker not transcribed <&>17:23 THAT story consists only of talk in fact no fewer than five statements and counter statements news as talk is particularly useful to journalists something <&>pronounced somethin becomes a news fact simply because somebody has said it but SOMEone is not just anyone talk is news only if the right person is talking <,> if someone with the right authority says I ANNOUNCE or I DENOUNCE that's both newsworthy and the saying itself constitutes an indisputable fact the fusion of word and act is <&>18:00 ideal for news reporting no other facts have to be verified the only fact is that someone said something <,> and there i'll leave it in midair just like a news story <&>18:10