Task 1- Language and Journalism
- niraylgrech15
- Apr 1, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 6, 2022
"Because the mind goes quicker than the pen, writing becomes a matter of learning to fire a few wing shots at the bird of idea as it flies by." A writer is a gunner, waiting in the dark for something to come in, or scouring the countryside in search of something to frighten up."-The Elements of Style, E.B. White
Media companies frequently identify themselves with a set of concepts and ideas that guide their writing style and multimedia content. For a country with a population of half a million people, Malta has a modest number of news media outlets, yet this provides the audience with a diverse choice of sources from which to obtain information. Newsbook is an online portal that also broadcasts its information on the radio. It is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Malta, which means it follows the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines. When it comes to categorizing Newsbook in the political spectrum, it falls under the center-right. Newsbook frequently looks to be anti-abortion Newsbook (2019), in favor of immigration as a reason and accuses the government if it refuses to welcome these fellow human beings, claiming that this violates the catholic church's beliefs (ibid., 2021). It also opposes the legalization of marijuana as a recreational substance and the practice of euthanasia.
The story from Newsbook that I chose was published on May 27th. This is a piece that expresses a point of view. It was authored by Ivan Bartolo, who is a nationalist party candidate. It mostly focuses on the fact that he wrote a Facebook post on his beliefs, which are pro-life from conception to death. There are around nine paragraphs in the article. The visual which was a photo was shown at the start of the piece. There were no visuals throughout. This article uses calm language that is appropriate for the intended audience. In some ways, the language did reveal his predisposition in terms of word choice. The bold typeface was used to emphasize the theme he intended to emphasize in the article.
Throughout the article, he also incorporated questions. As an opinion piece, it is helpful in assisting the audience in understanding their own beliefs and ideals, as well as developing a more complete image of reality in today's life and current problems. He handled the situation admirably, especially in terms of terminology, given the sensitive nature of the subject of abortion. He mentioned politics at the end of the piece. He stated that the Nationalist Party is unambiguous in this regard and that he is glad to be a member of it. In this party with a long history, no one will try to undermine the human soul, he added. This party's ideology is unmistakable. A quote was included at the end of the article.
When it comes to defining it in the political spectrum, this is a liberal who belongs under the center-left. Malta Today takes a neutral stance on topics like abortion, although it supports LGBTIQ+ rights and was once pro-European in its outlook. It also has an online news portal, Media Today, which is owned by the company. Media Today also owns the newspapers L-Illum and Business Today, both of which share Malta Today's political leanings. From Malta Today, I opted to choose a blog article written by Josanne Cassar. This article mainly focuses on the trial and the effect of the media on the case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
The article began by doing a statement. She said that while she was writing the article, the jury started deliberating the verdict defamation trial. She explained what was happening during the court case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. By doing that, she gave brief information to all those out there who were not understanding the situation. Josanne also gave her personal experience and said that she chose to stop following the live stream of the trial. Awareness is spreading out throughout the whole article. Social media was clearly divided into two camps in terms of who the audience believed. While their notoriety makes them public figures, the intensely personal details were too much for her.
Josanne was disturbed by the fact that every delicious piece of testimony exposed in court is forever archived in cyberspace for the public to study and debate. She couldn't understand why this private matter was being shown on television in the first place, because, unlike the OJ Simpson trial, which featured murder and was in the public interest, a defamation case isn't. In the article in Newsbook, in this article, there were also questions included. The questions were there to make the audience think while they read the article.
Link of article: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/117018/this_trial_by_media_has_not_helped_domestic_violence_victims_one_bit#.Ypfu96hBy3B
The Times of Malta is a liberal-conservative publication, which means it is a center-right publication (2014). Despite the fact that it leans to the right. The New York Times has backed liberal causes such as same-sex marriage and LGBTIQ+ rights recognition. It also publishes opinion pieces written by liberal experts. It is the world's oldest operating newspaper, having been launched in 1935 by Lord Gerald Strickland.
It is an article written by Joe Borg. An opinion article mentions God and all those who believe in God. David Ogilvy, the legendary advertising reformer, understood that headlines are the most crucial part of your material. The following is a famous quote of his: “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” In this case, Joe Borg has written a headline that is attractive for the audience to read; Easter for holy troublemakers.
With regards to the language, the article has many short paragraphs. While reading the article, one would notice that it has direct quotes and questions. The article was mainly about the fact that the election, the Pope's visit, and Easter all happened in the same period of time. He described the electoral campaign, including these words; alienations, fake news, blatant abuse of the power of incumbency, promising everything to everyone, disregard of the common good, the glorification of Mammon, etc. For those who do not live in Malta, this article might help them to understand better what happens during Easter. In the article, Joe Borg in fact mentioned the Sebgħa Visti, Good Friday processions, il-ġirja tal-Irxoxt, and figolli.
The times have a liberal-conservative agenda, as they support both religious practice and the idea of moving forward from the past and toward societal liberation and modernization. In conclusion, this article demonstrates that this portal values religion and is consequently somewhat conservative, but that in these modern times, it is critical that we embrace constructive change and move away from the past.
Lovin Malta, like Malta Today, but a little bit different, stands between the center-left and left-wing political spectrums. Lovin Malta is a liberal who favors causes like marijuana legalization as a recreational substance. Other liberal concerns, such as abortion, are also supported by Lovin Malta.
The article that I followed was published on April 20th, 2022. The article was entitled; 'Malta's first CBD Burger Lands in Pembroke for One Month only 4/20 Special'. This article is mainly promoting a burger that is limited and one needs to be 18+ in order to buy it. As an article, it is not so long. It contains 4 paragraphs, and each paragraph has between one and three sentences. The article is also audio-visual. In the beginning, there is a visual of what the food looks like. In the mid section of the article, there is a hyperlink. If one presses the link, it leads to a Facebook post. The audio visual was posted on Instagram and in the article, there is a link that is showing the visual that leads to their Instagram account.
Link: https://lovinmalta.com/news/watch-maltas-first-cbd-burger-lands-in-pembroke-for-one-day-only-4-20-special/
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