Language in Use 171
The goal of this unit is to develop an awareness of the degree to which a text
can depend for its effect upon the assumptions it makes about the reader's response
to it. It does this by examining newspaper headlines which are worded so
as to elicit a particular response from the reader.
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[1] This session explores the different ways in which headlines manipulate
response. This may be done by writing up pairs of headlines contrastively worded,
and discussing the implications. The following examples may be useful:
(a) CONCORDE IN SERVICE BY 1972/CONCORDE NOT IN SERVICE BEFORE 1972, where positive
or negative determines the
difference in the reader's response
(b) SPURS YOUNGSTERS FIGHT BACK WELL/ARSENAL OUTPLAY SPURS RESERVES or
(c) TUC BACKS DOWN/TUC ATTEMPTS COMPROMISE, where the choice of headline presupposes
different attitudes in the
readership of the paper.
[2] For this session the class need to collect examples of similar pairs of headlines. The discussion should focus upon particular areas of public interest which supply many examples. These should include, besides sport and politics, a topical crisis like a super-tanker going aground, and the way a major crime like the Great Train Robbery is handled.
[3] In this session, each member of the class should choose one incident like those discussed in [2], think up an appropriate pair of headlines, and write short paragraphs to accompany them. Circulate the results and ask the class to work out the bias underlying the contrast between the pairs. Much of the value of this discussion will come from the writers' attempts to explain what bias they intended, especially where this differs from the interpretation put upon their work by other members of the class.