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Understanding Journalistic Language

Journalistic language aims to simplify complex issues and events for readers to understand in a straightforward manner. It uses short, sharp, concise sentences in formal, proper English to inform the widest possible audience. Journalists must adhere to strict word counts in print or time limits in broadcast and convey information concisely. Accuracy of facts, grammar, spelling and punctuation is essential, as errors could change meaning or mislead readers. Reported speech must match tenses and collective nouns are treated as singular.

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507 views2 pages

Understanding Journalistic Language

Journalistic language aims to simplify complex issues and events for readers to understand in a straightforward manner. It uses short, sharp, concise sentences in formal, proper English to inform the widest possible audience. Journalists must adhere to strict word counts in print or time limits in broadcast and convey information concisely. Accuracy of facts, grammar, spelling and punctuation is essential, as errors could change meaning or mislead readers. Reported speech must match tenses and collective nouns are treated as singular.

Uploaded by

Agatha Agatha
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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  • Journalistic Language
  • The Importance of Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Journalistic language

English is a complex language. The English language spoken every


day in the street differs from the type of English language you’ll
hear on TV, in the workplace, as well as in the newspapers, on
television or radio news.

Journalistic language is used to deliver the news across a range of


formats.

What is journalistic language?


Simple – your main task as a journalist is to help people
understand what is happening around them. Not every reader will
have your knowledge of language, so you must simplify it for them.
You should be able to examine the most complicated issues and
events then translate them into straightforward, simple language
which your audience can understand. This means writing in short,
sharp, concise sentences.
Formal – it avoids being colloquial. In order to inform as many
readers, viewers or listeners as possible, regardless of their own
language skills, formal language is used. This is the ‘proper’ English
that is taught in schools and is easily understood by everyone in the
country. It means avoiding the use of slang, and words and
phrases that some readers might not recognise.
Concise – if you’re a journalist working for a newspaper or website
you need to be able to stick to a word count. This is the number
of words required for a particular article. Word counts are needed in
order for the newspaper or website to manage space and
accurately create its layout. If you’re a journalist working in radio or
television you need to be aware of airtime – again, this restricts
the length of the piece you are working on, in order to make sure it
fits into the news programme.
With a larger word count or more airtime you can cover more
issues. With a smaller word count or less airtime you need to be
able to use concise language to fit all of the important points of your
story into your news piece.
The importance of grammar, spelling and
punctuation
Bad grammar, spelling or punctuation can affect meaning. Get it
wrong and you can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
Journalists also need to be incredibly accurate with the facts and
information they convey, so the correct spelling of names and
places is vital too.

You don’t want to confuse or mislead your readers, so grammar,


spelling and punctuation are very important. Here are some
grammar basics that will help to make your journalistic writing more
effective.

Reported speech
Journalism often involves reporting what another person has said.
For this we can use direct speech – quoting the speaker’s exact
words in inverted commas – or we can use reported (indirect)
speech.
The thing to be aware of is that if the ‘said’ word (‘claimed’,
‘insisted’) is in the past tense, the verb in the reported speech must
be changed so that the tenses always match. For example, imagine
politician Alan Smith says: ‘I am resigning.’ You can write:

 Present tense – Alan Smith says he is resigning


 Perfect tense – Alan Smith has said he is resigning
 Past tense – Alan Smith said he was resigning
 Singular, plural and collective nouns
Singular and plural nouns should not be mixed. For example:

 The jury (singular) took fours hours to reach their (plural)


verdict is incorrect
 The jury (singular) took four hours to reach its (singular)
verdict is correct
Collective nouns, such as governments, companies and other
bodies, should be treated as singular.

Journalistic language English is a complex language. The English language spoken every day in the street differs from the typ
The importance of grammar, spelling and punctuation Bad grammar, spelling or punctuation can affect meaning. Get it wrong a

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