Page 90 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Sport and the Press • 79

Newspaper Language

The choice of words (lexis) in newspapers requires careful consideration since the
connotative power of words enables them to ‘convey the imprint of society and of
value judgements in particular’ (Richardson 2007: 47). For example, there is a clear
difference between describing a player’s movement towards a goal as ‘going for-
ward’ or ‘attacking’. The way people are named in newspapers, and the way that
attributes are assigned to them, can affect how they are perceived. Similarly, by
changing the construction of a sentence, a writer can profoundly alter the sense in
which an event is communicated. Richardson (2007: 55) argued that newspaper sen-
tences often transform transitive actions (where someone does something to some-
one or thing) into passive constructions by deemphasising or deleting the agent. For
example, ‘Sarah kicked the ball’ can be rearranged as ‘the ball was kicked by Sarah’,
which retains both subject and object but puts more emphasis on the ball. More pas-
sive still, the agent, Sarah, can be removed altogether, as in ‘the ball was kicked.’
The connotative value of these constructions can be enormous since they com-
municate to the reader who or what is important in the action. The Times reporting of
the Linford Christie incident selectively removed and replaced the agent of the con-
tentious decision. The headline on the back page of The Times (O’Connor 2008: 96)
read, ‘Games Torch Invitation for Christie Sparks Anger’, with a subheading, ‘Liv-
ingstone Attacked for “Perverse” Decision’. While the use of the passive voice in the
headline leaves Christie as the only person named in the action, the remainder of the

story focuses the issue firmly around Livingstone: ‘Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of
London, came under intense pressure last night to withdraw his invitation to Linford
Christie, a convicted drugs cheat, to be part of the Olympic torch relay in the build
up to the Beijing Games.’ The invocation of authority in the quotation from the In-
ternational Olympic Committee (IOC) and the use of the phrase ‘offi cial sources’
enabled the paper to maintain the appearance of objectivity while simultaneously
personating a negative reaction to the decision to involve Christie in the relay.
The connection between newspapers and their assumed audiences can be illus-
trated by comparing differing ways of reporting the same story. On 1 February 2008,
the British press widely reported the controversial decision of Fabio Capello, the
recently appointed England soccer manager, not to select David Beckham to play
for the national team. Players who represent their country in international matches
are awarded a cap for each appearance, and Beckham had previously accumulated
ninety-nine caps. Capello’s team selection meant that Beckham would not get his
100th cap in the upcoming friendly match. Beckham’s celebrity status meant that the

story was not just confined to the sport news section of the British papers. The front
page of The Times had an image of Beckham in tears next to ‘99 and out Capello
drops Beckham’. The front page of the Daily Mirror used a picture of Beckham
looking composed next to the word ‘AXED,’ followed by ‘and Becks fl ees home
after England snub’. The familiarity of using a nickname is a common technique in