Values and Choices in Television Discourse ― A View from Both Sides of the Screen

In a high-pressure, fast-paced environment, television professionals are focused on the production and coherence of their broadcasts, as well as their responsibility to their audience (both in terms of professional commitment to the viewers and consideration of their evolving tastes). They can rarely take the time to reflect on how their choices of texts and images will be interpreted outside of these more immediate broadcast imperatives; and how their productions are understood and analysed by other professionals, for instance academics, at a different pace and away from the process itself. Such television analysts study the final product and attribute intention with often limited direct knowledge and appreciation of the production processes, its practicalities and imperatives. This book offers the possibility of a reflection on television for and from both parties, as well as an insight into the final product and the choices made during its preparation. This book will be of great interest to students and academics in both linguistics and media, as well as professionals in the broadcasting industry.

Roberta Piazza is Senior Lecturer in English Language & Linguistics at the University of Sussex, UK. Her interests range from anthropological linguistic studies of identity, as explored in her recent book, Marked Identities (2015, co-edited with A. Fasulo), to media discourse, as she discusses in The Discourse of Italian Cinema (2011) and Telecinematic Discourse (2011, co-edited).

Louann Haarman is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bologna, Italy. Her principal research interest is in the field of media discourse analysis, focussing principally on television news in a cross-cultural perspective. Her publications include Backstage Activities as Frontstage News (2012, with Joanna Thornborrow), Toward a Definition and Classification of Human Interest Narratives in Television War Reporting (2011, with Roberta Piazza), and Evaluation and Stance in War News (2009, co-edited with Linda Lombardo).

Anne Caborn is a communications consultant for The Content Lab, as well as an editor and lecturer. She is a former journalist and worked for a number of years as a television correspondent, contributing articles to UK national newspapers. In 2007 she was elected as a Life Member of the National Union of Journalists. She was a contributor to One Day in the Life of Television, part of a project organised by the British Film Institute, and is co-author of Information Overload: An International Challenge for Professional Engineers and Technical Communicators.