The Language of Journalism - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765800012 ISBN 13: 9780765800015

Publisher: Routledge, 2000

Synopsis

The newspaper is to the twentieth century what the novel was for the nineteenth century: the expression of popular sentiment. In the first of a three-volume study of journalism and what it has meant as a source of knowledge and as a mechanism for orchestrating mass ideology, Melvin J. Lasky provides a major overview. His research runs the gamut of material found in newspapers, from the trivial to the profound, from pseudo-science to habits of solid investigation.

The volume is divided into four parts. The first attacks deficiencies in grammar and syntax with examples from newspapers and magazines drawn from the German as well as English-language press. The second examines the key issues of journalism: accuracy and authenticity. Lasky provides an especially acute account of differences between active literacy and passive viewing, or the relationship of word and picture in defining authenticity.

The third part emphasizes the problem of bias in everything from racial reporting to cultural correctness. This is the first systematic attempt to study racial nomenclature, identity-labeling, and literary discrimination. Lasky follows closely the model set by George Orwell a half century earlier. The final section of the work covers the competition between popular media and the redefinition of pornography and its language. The volume closes with an examination of how the popular culture both influenced and was influential upon literary titans like Hemingway, Lawrence, and Tynan.

About this title

About the Author

Melvin J. Lasky

Reviews

In the first of a three-volume collection, Lasky, former editor of the defunct British periodical Encounter, asserts that sloppy journalism is debasing language and that this, in turn, corrupts culture. To make his point, Lasky collects hundreds of passages from print journalism and then comments on trends in language misuse. Alas, his comments are frequently sneering, as when he claims that a Washington Post reporter is writing "like some aging coquette, trying hard to mime her old come-hither look." This tone of derision permeates the book and distracts from Lasky's argument, creating an atmosphere of contempt rather than instruction. The final chapter, which chronicles the rise of what Lasky calls "the f-word" in common journalistic use, will challenge anyone's assumption of what free speech means. It is unfortunate that getting there is so tiresome, with Lasky so intent on repeating what is bad and ugly in journalism that ultimately the language is diluted even more. Recommended only for academic libraries with extensive journalism collections. Cheryl Van Til, Kent Dist. Lib., Comstock Park, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765800012
• ISBN 13: 9780765800015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 494
• Editor: Lasky Melvin J.