A journalist must be impartial and free, in other words, (s) he should not take sides or express an opinion about the information transmitted. However, there are types of journalistic texts that allow for a more subjective writing, and even opinionative. Then, to avoid confusion, it is crucial to distinguish between informative journalistic genres such as news, feature articles or interviews and opinion pieces, such as the opinion article, editorial or chronicle.
Some tips can help.
Some tips can help.
Let's see the examples:
1: News
Before us is the news, one of the most common journalistic genres. It concerns an informative text and has the following characteristics:
- Text relatively short;
- Written in clear and direct language;
- Based on genuine and current information;
- Here is the representation of a structure with the following elements: title, 1st paragraph with key information (the lead), remaining paragraphs ordered from most to least important (inverted pyramid).
2: Opinion article
The opinion article, a gender present in the example above, has the following characteristics:
- Based on an opinion about a current topic;
- It is written according to the author's writing style;
- It does not follow many rules: it must be easy to read and spark interest.
3: Editorial
Editorials are, in their content, similar to opinion articles. But instead of making known the opinion of a person, they show readers the newspaper's position on a particular current subject. They are almost always written by a member of the newspaper's editorial staff (or someone they trust).
In addition to being acquainted with the main features of each kind of journalistic text, we must also be aware of the indications that the media organisation highlights. Opinion pieces are usually identified as such and appear in a specific section of the newspaper or news website, as we see in the examples below:
In addition to being acquainted with the main features of each kind of journalistic text, we must also be aware of the indications that the media organisation highlights. Opinion pieces are usually identified as such and appear in a specific section of the newspaper or news website, as we see in the examples below:
When we use a photograph or other material, it is important, just like in a written work, to indicate where we find the information (bibliography), referring, for example, the author's name. It is not very pleasant to find our work online without the proper authorization and identification.
In the case of a song, you must identify the author and the name of the song and also the website from where the music was downloaded.
In the case of a song, you must identify the author and the name of the song and also the website from where the music was downloaded.
4: Identification of opinion pieces
Sources:
Comissão Nacional de Protecção das Crianças e Jovens em Risco (2011); Crianças versus Riscos/Perigo: Os géneros jornalísticos. Available: http://www.cnpcjr.pt/Manual_Competencias_Comunicacionais/int_comp_generos.html
This tip was elaborated under the initiative “7 X Média” inserted in the “Operação 7 Dias com os Média” (“Operation 7 Days with the Media”), organised by the Grupo Informal sobre Literacia para os Média (GLIM-Informal Group on Literacy for the Media) of the University of Minho, and is part of a set of good practices related to the use of the media, for teachers to use in the classroom with students.
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