Identifying Markers of Sensationalism in Online News Reports on Crime

Bibliographic Data

ID7499268
AuthorsLezandra Grundlingh (0000-0002-6408-5598, University of South Africa, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume48
Issue2
Pages117-136
Publication date2017-05-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage Matters (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1022-8195 • E-ISSN: 1753-5395
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10228195.2017.1341543
OpenAlexW2754011791
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited6

Objectivity is a key aspect of hard news reporting. Ideally, the reporter should only provide the reader with the facts and not allow his/her personal feelings about a specific event or crime to be identifiable in a report. However, journalists sometimes use both obvious and subtle ways to increase the entertainment value of a specific event or crime in order to grab and keep the attention of the readers. The use of sensationalism influences the reader to form certain opinions about a crime or the individuals involved in the crime. In this study, I attempt to identify the techniques used to incorporate both subtle and obvious sensationalism in online reports of four murders that took place in South Africa between 2009 and 2016. While subtle sensationalism is incorporated in different ways in media reports, appraisal theory is used to identify obvious sensationalism in this study

Advertising · Business · Entertainment · Epistemology · Feeling · Internet privacy · Media studies · Newspaper · Objectivity (philosophy · Political science · Sensationalism · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Computational and Text Analysis Methods · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Law · Social Psychology

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