Journalistikens anatomi : analyser av genrer och textmönster i fem strejkbevakningar i svensk dagspress 1879–1996.
The Anatomy of Journalism : Analyses of Genres and Text Patterns in the Coverage of Five Strikes in the Swedish Daily Press 1879–1996
Author
Summary, in English
This dissertation deals with journalistic texts in the Swedish daily press. The strike event has been chosen to make comparisons of the same event over time possible. The press coverage of five major Swedish strikes is investigated: the strike of the sawmill workers in the Sundsvall area in 1879, the general strike in 1909, the strike of the metal workers in 1945, the strike of the miners in 1969-70 and the strike of the nurses in 1995-96.
The overarching purpose is to show connections between changes in society, in journalism and in the structure of newspaper texts. This is realised through two more concrete purposes. The first is to map how the text universe of the newspapers was constructed and read. The method for this is to reconstruct the genre system of the editorial material of the investigated papers and analyse the functions of the genres. The other purpose consists of discerning, describing and interpreting text patterns in the news genre. The text patterns are structured by dominance for or alternation between voices: the own press voice, another news paper's press voice and the voices of the strike actors.
I call the journalism of 1879 quoting journalism as the papers, owing to personal and technical limitations, simply obtained texts by cuttings from each other or by printing other texts without editing. In 1909, the strike events are selected and the texts are constructed based on the respective political perspective of the newspapers, which justifies the label party-politicising journalism. In 1945, the journalistic ideal is to reflect the events. However, the political perspectives of the papers can be seen in how the events are selected and how the strike actors are presented. I call the period party-politically reporting journalism. The coverage of 1969-70 is characterised by dialogues between the paper and the strike actors, sometimes also between the actors themselves, which motivates the label dialoguing journalism. The main pattern for constructing news is alternation between the own press voice and the voices of the strike actors. In 1995-96, the journalistic texts are still constructed with dialogues between the paper and the strike actors, yet also developed into texts where the event with the participating actors is depicted as a drama on a scene, which leads to the label dramatising journalism.
The overarching purpose is to show connections between changes in society, in journalism and in the structure of newspaper texts. This is realised through two more concrete purposes. The first is to map how the text universe of the newspapers was constructed and read. The method for this is to reconstruct the genre system of the editorial material of the investigated papers and analyse the functions of the genres. The other purpose consists of discerning, describing and interpreting text patterns in the news genre. The text patterns are structured by dominance for or alternation between voices: the own press voice, another news paper's press voice and the voices of the strike actors.
I call the journalism of 1879 quoting journalism as the papers, owing to personal and technical limitations, simply obtained texts by cuttings from each other or by printing other texts without editing. In 1909, the strike events are selected and the texts are constructed based on the respective political perspective of the newspapers, which justifies the label party-politicising journalism. In 1945, the journalistic ideal is to reflect the events. However, the political perspectives of the papers can be seen in how the events are selected and how the strike actors are presented. I call the period party-politically reporting journalism. The coverage of 1969-70 is characterised by dialogues between the paper and the strike actors, sometimes also between the actors themselves, which motivates the label dialoguing journalism. The main pattern for constructing news is alternation between the own press voice and the voices of the strike actors. In 1995-96, the journalistic texts are still constructed with dialogues between the paper and the strike actors, yet also developed into texts where the event with the participating actors is depicted as a drama on a scene, which leads to the label dramatising journalism.
Department/s
Publishing year
2002
Language
Swedish
Publication/Series
Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap. Serie A
Volume
58
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Department of Scandinavian Languages, Lund University
Topic
- Languages and Literature
Keywords
- Scandinavian languages and literature
- journalistic professionalism
- paratexts
- discourse representation
- discourse community
- discourse
- news genre
- text structure
- journalism
- strike coverage
- discursive practice
- text pattern
- voices
- intertextuality
- genre
- Nordiska språk (språk och litteratur)
- General and comparative literature
- literature criticism
- literary theory
- Allmän och jämförande litteratur
- litteraturkritik
- litteraturteori
Status
Published
Supervisor
- [unknown] [unknown]
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0347-8971
- ISBN: 91-628-5262-0
Defence date
1 June 2002
Defence time
10:00
Defence place
Department of Scandinavian Languages, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Opponent
- Per Ledin (Senior Lecturer)