Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- General Preface
- Abbreviations for Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I The Textual Record
- Part II Lighthouse Works and Authors
- Part III Genre and Medium in the Record
- 17 Grammatical Treatises in Early English
- 18 History Writing
- 19 The Language of Religious Texts
- 20 The Language of Courtroom Documents
- 21 Medical and Scientific Writing
- 22 The Language of Newspapers
- 23 ‘Bad Data’: The Case for Early Audio Records
- 24 Ego Documents in the History of English
- 25 Personal Letters in a Community Context
- 26 Women’s Voices in the History of English
- Part IV Modelling the Record: Methods and Theories
- Appendix: List of Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- Index
- References
22 - The Language of Newspapers
from Part III - Genre and Medium in the Record
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 October 2025
Book contents
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- The New Cambridge History of the English Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- General Preface
- Abbreviations for Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I The Textual Record
- Part II Lighthouse Works and Authors
- Part III Genre and Medium in the Record
- 17 Grammatical Treatises in Early English
- 18 History Writing
- 19 The Language of Religious Texts
- 20 The Language of Courtroom Documents
- 21 Medical and Scientific Writing
- 22 The Language of Newspapers
- 23 ‘Bad Data’: The Case for Early Audio Records
- 24 Ego Documents in the History of English
- 25 Personal Letters in a Community Context
- 26 Women’s Voices in the History of English
- Part IV Modelling the Record: Methods and Theories
- Appendix: List of Corpora and Other Electronic Resources
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter examines key features of the language of print newspapers in Britain from the founding of the London Gazette in 1665 up until the present day. It describes significant milestones in the history of English newspapers, outlining major socio-historical, economic, cultural and technological developments which have had an impact on the emergence, diversification and professionalisation of this important mass medium. After an overview of the major subgenres found in these multi-text conglomerates – news, opinion and advertising – the focus is on news reports. The chapter outlines how the chronological mode of reporting news preferred in the first two hundred years of newspapers gave way to the inverted pyramid style of news narration, subsequently abandoned for more flexible models like the package approach in modern news discourse. Furthermore, this chapter provides insights into contemporary journalistic ideals and practices employed in positioning the paper and balancing information density and readership appeal.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge History of the English LanguageDocumentation, Sources of Data and Modelling, pp. 534 - 558Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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