Η γλώσσα των μέσων ενημέρωσης [The language of the mass media]

This is a concise, yet comprehensive textbook on the analysis of journalistic discourse, particularly the discourse of print journalism.

In the first chapter, the author discusses issues of terminology (what can language of the mass media mean today, how do contemporary social and technological changes redefine the content and function of the mass media) and correlates the mediated (once referred to as mass) dissemination of information with the broader notion of communication. The second chapter examines the two models (the epistolary and the informative) that marked the evolution of print journalism, the conditions which led to the emergence of the journalist (that is, the reporter) as a professional, as well as the historical development of readership. The third chapter views newspapers as semiotic objects and journalistic articles as multimodal texts, foregrounding the importance of the visual element in contemporary news industry. In the book’s epilogue, particular emphasis is placed on the complexities that the study of journalistic discourse presents and on the necessity of investigating journalistic discourse diachronically, because only in this way can light be shed on its dynamics as a discourse practice of immense social significance.

The book’s author, professor Yves Lavoinne, has published a great number of articles on the discourse of the press and on the historical development of journalism.