Media Language In an increasingly globalized society, the power of mass media is evident in almost every aspect of daily life. Mass media, whether it be social media, broadcast news, journalistic writing, or even academic writing, has a wide and varied effect on the way people interact. Media writing, specifically journalistic writing, has unique characteristics that are not found in any other form of language. The benefits of studying these characteristics with a critical lens are numerous: understanding the internal power structures within mass media, understanding the role of media writing in language use in wider society, and understanding how media language affects the attitudes and opinions in society through the way it presents people’s
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From the first conception of the term Ebonics in 1973 by psychologist Robert L. Williams, a now obsolete terminology, to the modern portrayal of African American Vernacular English, mass media presentation of linguistic differences in the black community has taken a particularly negative stance. The term Ebonics was first used to describe “certain linguistic patterns and codes that house a distinguishable and distinctive grammatical and lexicological base employed by some African Americans” (Daniel 74-5). Since its conception, the terminology has been used in cases where the media’s intent was to distinguish AAVE as inferior to Standard English practices. For example, an article printed in the New York Times which read, “Board’s Decision on Black English Stirs Debate” presented so-called Black English as a necessarily different language from English altogether (79). Despite backlash as a result of the article’s printing, the article’s inherent bias toward linguistic differences in AAVE was clearly not a new phenomenon. The media’s manipulation of sociolinguistic differences drew a clear divide between Standard English practices and AAVE practices by the wording of the article’s title …show more content…
The rhetoric, linguistic and structural manipulation of language, and lexical decisions in news writing contribute to a style of language that is unique to this type of discourse. In an increasingly globalized society, it is important to note the power that mass media has over the way that people interact socially, and the way that mass media crafts the accepted majority opinion on certain social and minority groups. Critically examining and understanding the linguistic techniques employed in mass media writing leads to an overall understanding that language may be manipulated to illustrate clear divides between the dominant power group and cultural and ethnic
From the first conception of the term Ebonics in 1973 by psychologist Robert L. Williams, a now obsolete terminology, to the modern portrayal of African American Vernacular English, mass media presentation of linguistic differences in the black community has taken a particularly negative stance. The term Ebonics was first used to describe “certain linguistic patterns and codes that house a distinguishable and distinctive grammatical and lexicological base employed by some African Americans” (Daniel 74-5). Since its conception, the terminology has been used in cases where the media’s intent was to distinguish AAVE as inferior to Standard English practices. For example, an article printed in the New York Times which read, “Board’s Decision on Black English Stirs Debate” presented so-called Black English as a necessarily different language from English altogether (79). Despite backlash as a result of the article’s printing, the article’s inherent bias toward linguistic differences in AAVE was clearly not a new phenomenon. The media’s manipulation of sociolinguistic differences drew a clear divide between Standard English practices and AAVE practices by the wording of the article’s title …show more content…
The rhetoric, linguistic and structural manipulation of language, and lexical decisions in news writing contribute to a style of language that is unique to this type of discourse. In an increasingly globalized society, it is important to note the power that mass media has over the way that people interact socially, and the way that mass media crafts the accepted majority opinion on certain social and minority groups. Critically examining and understanding the linguistic techniques employed in mass media writing leads to an overall understanding that language may be manipulated to illustrate clear divides between the dominant power group and cultural and ethnic