Language of Online News

LANGUAGE OF ONLINE NEWS

E. BURUMOĞLU and G. BAYKAN

Translation and Cultural Studies, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY

In this paper, we present a study about the language ofonline news, also referred as digital news, in terms oflanguage, characteristics, and structures. During thisstudy, we examined several of university libraries andonline media guides, and have made researches of the mostpreferred online news sites. Our aim is to point out thedifferences between the paper printed and online news.

Keywords: Online journalism; Online news; Digital journalism;Language of online journalism

1. Introduction

The fast and vast growth of the internet and worldwide web has

started the newest medium for news--online news. As the world

changes and the way of thinking changes, journalists had to adapt

to those changes and the online news appeared.

Journalism has traditionally been published in print, presented on

film and broadcasted on television and radio. Online journalism is

defined as the reporting and of facts produced and distributed via

the internet. Online includes many venues.

Although there are many differences between online journalism and

paper journalism, some of the principals will remain the same:

Clarity, Accuracy and Brevity.

Because many kinds of news writing are being published online,

much of it adapted from newspapers or television news scripts.

2. What is Online Journalism

2.1. Characteristics of online journalism

- Hypertextuality is one the most important characteristic of

online journalism. Hypertexts are the texts that lead to other

links which can be in the same website or in another website.

Using hypertext links, they are sometimes called shells, offers

readers collections of background stories on recurring topics

in the news. For example, Times topics pages on people, places

and issues, or the Washington Post politics page, links to a

database of congressional voting records.

- Hyperlinkability is the ability to provide internal and

external links. These links provide more information about the

content of the news. So huge data can be provided for the

audiences. The websites contain an online archive of the old

and new information about the news. hyperlinks that easily

allow readers to select stories.

Note: A hyperlink is when you type the link of the site you would

like in order to quickly send the reader where you would like. A

hyperlink looks like this: www.google.com 

A hypertext is when you type a word, and then attach a link to

that word so that upon clicking on that word the reader will be

send to the site attached. A hypertext looks like this: Google

- Interactivity is another characteristic of online journalism.

Online news helps the users to become active not passive

audiences. Interactivity leads readers to participate posting

and publishing news about events. The users can save, print, or

share the news. Interactivity, a quality of new media and the

Internet in particular, fundamentally challenges the

traditional one-way directional flow of news by providing news

audiences with increased choice options and even allowing them

to participate in the production of information.

Online journalism has three categories of interactivity,

which are navigational interactivity, functional

interactivity and adaptive interactivity. Navigation

interactivity is allowing the audiences to navigate in the

site or in external sites through hyperlinks. Functional

interactivity is giving the users the opportunity to interact

with other users, journalists and the media organization.

Adaptive interactivity is customization of the website to

suit the user's interest.

- Citizen journalism: “ordinary person’s capacity to bear

witness, thereby providing commentators with a useful label to

characterize an ostensibly new genre of reporting” (Allan,

2009). Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an

alternative and activist form of newsgathering and reporting

that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as

a repose to shortcoming in the professional journalistic field,

that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by

different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative

sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream

journalism.( Radsch, Courtney C. The Revolutions will be

Blogged: Cyberactivism and the 4th Estate in Egypt. Doctoral

Dissertation, American University, 2013.) Jay Rosen proposes a

simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the

audience employ the press tools they have in their possession

to inform one another (Jay Rosen (14 July 2008). "A Most Useful

Definition of Citizen Journalism". PressThink. Retrieved 21 May

2012.)

- Customization of content is also one of the characteristics of

online journalism. It is related to interactivity. The audience

can personalize the news.

- Immediacy is another one. The news is posted the moment they

happen. Consequently, the users can be easily informed.

- And as a last one, multimediality is the other distinguished

characteristic of online journalism. It is the use of

multimedia to enrich the news by adding audio, video, photos,

graphics, animations and other elements.

2.2. Inverted Pyramid Style

Writing in the Inverted Pyramid style has so many benefits for the

readers that everyone who writes for the web needs to learn to

write this way.

2.2.1. What is the Inverted Pyramid?

In journalism, this method of starting with your conclusion is

called the Inverted Pyramid style. Sometimes referred to as

Front-Loading, it means you should put your most important

information first when writing for the web. This style is called

‘inverted’ pyramid simply because it is an upside-down pyramid

with the most important information at the top. This style of web

writing or news story writing has many benefits:

- Readers can quickly assess whether they want to read your entire

article.- Readers can stop reading at any point and still come away with

the main point of your article.- By starting with your conclusion, the first few sentences on your

web page will contain most of your relevant keywords,

- By front-loading each paragraph, you allow your readers to skim

through the first sentences of every paragraph to get a quick

overview of your entire article.

3. Can Online News Replace Traditional Journalism?

Nowadays the internet has taken over the world. When we need to

find out breaking news, we directly go into the internet because

it is the quickest, easiest, cheapest and the most efficient way.

We have mentioned a lot of advantages. However, we are not sure if

the online news can completely take over traditional journalism or

not; since how reliable is that?

3.1. Advantages of Online News

Over the past decades, the Internet has become a time saving

research resource for journalist and editors. Online media reaches

a wider audience. People all over the world read the news from New

York Times, Cumhuriyet, etc. and share what they read. On social

networking websites like Twitter, Facebook, people find the news,

read them quickly, they can subscribe to breaking news and even

can get them to their phone. As we said in the characteristics of

online news part, journalists, in online news, have the ability to

publish news events as they happen. Then, they can update the news

with other information speedily at any time at the day. As soon as

the news is uploaded to the web, it is available all around the

world.

3.2. Disadvantages of Online News

Online journalists have the same influence on their audiences that

traditional journalists have. Besides the professional journalist,

because of the popularity of the net, some people can add their

own news to the net. So people should select what they believe

while they are reading and sharing. For example, a story can be

told from both the point of view of a victim and a criminal. This

gives rise to some ethical issues about what is right and wrong.

4. The importance of language

The main task, as a journalist is to help people understand what

is happening around them; in their village, in their country and

in the world. Most readers or listeners will not have the

knowledge of everybody’s language, so online journalist must

simplify the language for the readers. Online journalists should

be able to examine the most complicated issues and events then

translate them into language, which your audience can understand.

If they fail in this, people will stop reading the news online.

They will be failing in their job.

For many journalists today, English is the main language used for

newspapers or magazines, radio, television or the Internet. It is

worth remembering, however, that even a language as common as

English is not exactly the same all over the world. There are

differences between, for example, UK English and American English.

There are often also differences in the way English is written or

spoken within individual countries. It may sometimes be difficult

to decide what is correct in the English used in your country.

Language is developing all the time, and a country may not yet

have a well-established set of rules for the language. Above all,

it is significant to use words and grammar, which are most easily

understood by readers or listeners. Many of the general points

will apply to other languages.

5. Language of Online News

5.1. Be succinct

Whether you write for newspapers, broadcasting or the Internet,

you should always aim for words and sentences, which provide the

maximum amount of understanding with the minimum risk of

confusion. This generally means keeping words and sentences short

and simple. You can use long words, but you must be sure they are

doing their job properly. There is no rule about the length of

sentences. But while writing online news, you should remove non -

essential adjectives, adverbs and even nouns. You should use short

paragraphs and one idea per paragraph. A single sentence with

three or four words can sell the story on the front page.

5.2. Be consistent.

You should check that paragraphs are clear, balanced, consistent

and provide the related content with the headline.

5.3. Be careful about sentence structure.

It is not enough to write short and clear sentences but also you

have to make sentences in such a way that ideas are easy to

understand.

5.3.1. Using active and passive voice

The best way of doing this is to use active voice. It bring your

press release to life.

"The man hit the table." is correct,

"The table was hit by the man." is a wrong sentence.

However, there are sometimes you can't avoid using the passive

voice and this can be right thing to do. Rather than writing

"entered into the partnership" use "partnered" instead.

This is particularly so when it is not clear who is responsible

for the action or when the subject of the sentence is unimportant

or unclear. For example we would write:

Three children have been admitted to hospital with suspected food

poisoning. (Passive voice)

It would be wrong to use either of the following versions, the

first because it is not clear who admitted them (was it a doctor

or a nurse?), the second because we are not sure that it was food

poisoning:

Someone admitted three children to hospital with suspected food

poisoning.

or:

Food poisoning put three children in hospital.

5.3.2. Using Subordinate clauses

Starting a sentence with subordinate clauses should be avoided.

Subordinate clauses usually begin with words such as "while...",

"as...", "although...", "even though...", "because ..." and

"despite...". They are separate phrases within a sentence, which

help to put the main part of the sentence in context.

BAD Although there has been a 20 percent increase in murders this

year, the Prime Minister has vowed not to bring back hanging.

The main point of the sentence is that the Prime Minister has said

he will not bring back hanging. The subordinate clause sets this

promise in the context of the rising crime rate. In the example

above, putting the subordinate clause at the beginning of the

sentence may confuse your readers or listeners. They expect to

hear the main facts first.

BETTER: The Prime Minister has vowed not to bring back hanging,

despite a 20 percent increase in murders this year.

5.3.3. Using “And” & “But”

Even simple conjunctions like “and” and “but” can cause confusion

if they are not used wisely. The word and is quite acceptable when

used to join together two words or phrases:

The man and the woman had two daughters and a son.

However, it should not be used to join together long lists of

ideas, which can quite easily be split into separate sentences. In

the two examples which follow, the first version is confused by

using “and” and “but”. By splitting it into separate sentences we

do not alter the meaning, we simply make it easier to understand,

for reasons we discussed in the section on sentence length:

RIGHT:Import duty on meat and vegetableswill be reduced by ten percent. The special subsidy for rice exporters will be increased by five percent. These changes will come into effect after the next budget.

WRONG:Duty on imported meat and vegetables will be reduced by ten percent and the special subsidy for rice exporters will be increased by five percent but these changes will not come into effect until after the next budget.  

5.3.4. Using Paired Negatives

Paired or double negatives in English are not only bad grammar,

they usually create confusion, especially in the spoken word.

Although logically paired negatives simply cancel each other out,

many people do not use them in this way. Many other languages have

totally different rules about paired negatives, and even some

British dialects use the paired negative to add stress to a

negative idea.

For example, the sentence "He was happy" is easy to understand. So

is the sentence "He was unhappy". But what do you understand by

"He was not unhappy". Was he happy or unhappy? The usage of using

paired negatives causes a great confusion about the state of the

person.

6. Don't make duplication.

"Comrades hail killed soldier killed in Afghanistan."

7. Explain

Readers want to know just what happened and why it matters. They

don't care who publishes it the first. The important issue is to

use understandable vocabulary. Thus, while writing the online

news, you should choose your words carefully, stay with familiar

vocabulary and explain the words you think that they can be bot

understood easily. Shortly, you should choose lively language

thinking that your reader can be from different ages, genders and

especially cultures.

8. Be Objective

The online journalists should use direct addresses to the

audience. Words like "you, I, we, etc." should not be used.

Language of online news must not only be easily understood, it

must also be fair. Many words develop special, biased meanings. In

particular, online journalists should be careful about using words

which describe disputes or conflicts. Biases can be introduced by

the use of adjectives, adverbs, verbs or nouns.

Online journalists must also be on guard against bias in choice of

words. Words like "claimed" or "according to" can imply doubt what

is being said. Words like "fears" or "hopes" might suggest that

the news are taking sides. Verbs like "rebut" or "refute"(which

means to disprove) or like fail (as in failed to comment) can

imply an editorial judgment and are best avoided.

- A protester's peaceful resistance may seem like violent to a

policeman on duty or,

- A building can be house to a poor person, but seem like a shack

to a rich man.

9. Don't pass judgments

The first thing a journalist to is to get rid of your judgments

especially in writing. They must never be altered other than to

delete a redundant word or clause, and then only if the deletion

does not alter the sense of the quote in any way. Selective use of

quotes can be unbalanced. Quotes should be are representative of

what the speaker is saying and that you describe body language (a

smile or a wink) that may affect the sense of what is being

reported. When quoting an individual always give the context or

circumstances of the quote. So the words should be given in quotes

and let the reader judge the news event for them.

For example, here you can read an event from two different points

of view. The reader decide on their own.

- The migrate said: "These were mean and despicable thefts, carried

out against a defenseless family for no good reason."

- The accused said: "I never robbed anyone. I just took from the

rich people and gave it back to the poor."

10. Don't used mixed metaphors and clichés

Lots of stories suffer from these. And they are resulted from theinexperienced journalist.

11. Use humor

Conversational styles mostly work well on the online news writing.

You can add humor the news unless you exaggerate.

12. Limit jargon

The best way writing online news is to use plainly ordinary

language. Using an abundance of technical language and jargon can

limit the audience and make the audience lose their interest in

the news.

Here is the jargon list.

13. Writing in Layers "microcontent"

Summaries and headline lists aren't just "teasing." Web writers,

editors and producers must compensate for the difficulties of

reading on a computer screen. Online, a writer's headlines and

summaries become navigation tools that lead readers to "inside

pages" of the site. An online newspaper or magazine reader can

take in two broadsheet pages at a glance, skim the headline and a

few paragraphs of each story, flip through pages.

Writing effective headlines and summaries takes practice. Writing

clearly is even more important online than it is in print. Readers

are in a hurry; online journalists should make it easy for them to

find and absorb information. Follow the old "print journalism"

advice; use the active voice, strong verbs, summary leads,

inverted pyramid structure, tight writing and punchy headlines.

13.1. So what's "microcontent"?

Most news sites also recognize the value of "microcontent" --

smaller units of information. It means headlines and summaries,

but also things like captions, subheadings, quotes and bullet

lists.

13.2. Are "layers of news" a new thing?

"Some readers might be satisfied with a study of the upper

narrative. Others might also want to read vertically, pursuing

certain themes deeper and deeper into the supporting essays and

documentation. Still others might navigate in unanticipated

directions, seeking connections that suit their own interests or

reworking the material into constructions of their own."

(Darnton,1999,np, The Handbook of Global Online Journalism)

Newspapers have told stories in layers for a century and more.

Newspapers, as well as web sites, generally confine themselves to

one or two headline decks for most stories, possibly with a

summary "blurb" before the story's lead paragraph.

Another layering approach, in both print and online, is what a

Poynter Institute article called "non-linear narrative." One of

its examples was a Sun News feature about spring planting. The

story was a natural for slicing into smaller pieces like the

watermelon wedges at the top of this page. In the full-page

newspaper layout, each vegetable or fruit had its own "wooden"

box. Online, a designer might separate the boxes into individual

pages linked to a pile of vegetables or a map of a garden -- with

hypertext links leading to a separate page for each fruit or

vegetable. The same short "chunks" of text probably would work on

the Web page or in the newspaper layout without much rewriting.

On more complex topics, breaking a story into parts can require

advance planning by the writer and editor. How much background

does each chunk need, especially if the reader doesn't follow a

set sequence through the collection? (Hypertext novels have been

written, taking advantage of that uncertainty to experiment with

literary theories about storytelling and "closure." News writing

should solve mysteries, not create them.)

An online story may be presented in several forms -- one designed

for reading on the screen, another for printing, and another for

downloading to a Palm organizer. Sometimes that will be a matter

of reformatting a single text, but it also might mean writing

separate versions.

14. They should not be ambiguous. (Using the correctpunctuation)

14.1. Full stops (.)

Called "periods" in America, full stops are used at the ends of

sentences, and with certain standard abbreviated place names. For

example, in America Cal. for California or N.Y. for New York; in

Australia W.A. for Western Australia or Vic. for Victoria.

However, unless the abbreviation is one well-known to your

audience, write the name in full. Journalists working for radio or

television normally give the names in full.

When used at the end of a quote, the full stop comes within the

closing quotation mark:

He said: "This is not what we wanted."

Not all abbreviations use full stops. Most newspapers today do not

use them to abbreviate Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Rev and similar common

titles.

14.2. Commas (,)

The comma in written English acts very much like a pause in the

spoken language. It is used within sentences to separate phrases

or lists of words, as in the following example:

The company, which was only set up last year, now produces a range

of goods including tyres, steering wheels, exhaust systems and

windscreens.

Commas should only be inserted to help reading or listening. If

you find you have several commas in your sentence, it is probably

too long and should be split into separate sentences.

14.3. Semi-colons (;)

Their main use is to separate phrases, which already contain

commas, especially in lists:

The winners were: Bagu Lagi, geology; Jim Ho, physics; Peter

Graham, Doro Meeni and Fa'afo Tokala, economics; and Nga Nganda,

history.

14.4. Colons (:)

There are two principle uses for the colon in news-writing. One is

at the start of lists, as in the example above.

The second is when going from attribution into a quote:

The judge said: "This is not the first time I have had to deal

with this kind of case."

15. Discriminatory language and stereotypes

We must avoid inappropriate references to gender, ethnicity,

religion, culture, appearance, age, and sexual orientation. When a

story relies on such references, we should ask if it is an online

news story at all. An online news journalist must be sensitive to

unconscious stereotyping and dated assumptions. Is it really

important that the person in the news is black, blonde, female,

overweight or gay? Is it really relevant to our facts? Our

language should be neutral and natural. We should avoid artificial

words such as "spokesperson" when describing a role. Reporters

must resist the assumption that their cultural values, religious

beliefs or social mores are the norm. We should also be suspicious

of country stereotypes - the usually negative notions about a

national character. These can be offensive.

16. Avoid sensationalism and hype

When covering people in the news, online news journalists: Avoid

needless pain and offence. Treat victims with sensitivity and

avoid sensationalism and hype. Seek clear, unambiguous accounts of

the facts.

17. Language of Headlines

The headline is often referred to as most important part of a

news. It is the first part of an article that reader will see and

research about.

A research shows that four out of five readers will skip the news

if the headline doesn't excite them.

- Don't tell the whole story.

A good headline will tell the user what happened without reading

the whole article.

Good headline: Manchester United signs Japanese midfielder.

Bad headline: United signs Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa for £

17 million from Borussia Dortmund.

Good headline: Two surrey schools to benefit from £ 15 million

council grant.

Bad headline: Weydon Academy and De Stafford School to receive £

15 million grant from council.

- Focus on the most exciting part of the story.

Jason Collins becomes first NBA player to admit he is gay.

First gay NBA player comes out of the closet.

the second one is a good example for a good headline.

- Headlines usually have verbs.

Britain's top policeman resigns

- They can include keywords.

Ideally a news story will feature at least one or two keywords.

The idea of making text "scannable" by emphasizing keywords  will

help attract web users who are interested in that news.

Activity: Look at these online news headlines. What do you think

the stories are about?

Texting woman falls into fountain.

Chinese vase sells for $53 million.

The app that saved an iPad.

Granny stops robbery.

18. To Summarize

1. You must keep your language clear and simple so that your

readers or listeners can understand easily.

2. Sentences should be short- no longer than 20 words or three

ideas.

3. Sentence structure should be simple; It is best to write in the

active voice.

4. Explain any new words whenever you use them.

5. Avoid jargon, unnecessary words and clichés.

19. Discussion

So, why there is a difference between paper printed news and

online news in terms of character, language, format? It is clearly

seen that there are several possible answers to this question.

First of all, the character of the online news are considerably

different. The usage of computers, Internet makes the format and

the content of the online news with the help of hypertexts,

hyperlinks and hypermedia. The Internet provides the opportunity

to deliver additional information about the related article,

without distracting the attention from the originally given text;

and what is more the readers are able to reach for audiovisual

information. Internet also helps in the attainability of news for

anyone almost immediately, unlike the paper printed media.

Further, online news provides readers and audience to participate

in the news with the comment sections.

"The past decade has seen more change in the craft of journalism

than perhaps any other. Some of the changes have erupted into the

mainstream, others have nibbled at the edges." Paul Bradshaw British Online Journalist

The language usage and the Inverted Pyramid Style are featured

characteristics of the online news. Much as the correct usage of

language, structure of sentences and the grammar has great

importance in journalism, interactivity feature of the online news

may occasionally bring forth the smallest failures into the

biggest ones; usage of some of the most common grammatically

important clauses in paper printed journalism is accepted, in

online journalism they are tend to cause ambiguity. The fact that

online news provides the integration of user-generated content may

seem not like much, with the help of today's technology, the

attainability and instantaneity of online news is non-negligible

and the gap between paper printed news and online news is

undeniable.

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