Narrativization of the News: A Special Issue of the journal of Narrative and Life History

by Tamar Liebes (Editor)

Traditionally, communication research regarded mass media content as strictly divided between fact and fiction. On the one hand, there were the "serious" genres of reality-oriented news and current affairs, and on the other hand, entertainment genres oriented to lighthearted "escape" into fantasy stories. Recently however, scholars have come to believe that news coverage is also a kind of storytelling. Whether scholarship is only following developments in the profession or foreseeing the trend -- the product of the increasing commercialism of conglomerate ownership -- journalism is increasingly concerned with entertaining -- that is, with telling a good story. At the same time, entertainment is co-opting the reporting of "real life."

Paying attention to this ongoing interaction of genres, this special
* raises questions about the implications of narrativity for the functions of Western journalism,
* demonstrates that present-day questions about the implications of narrativity for "objective" reporting already were central to the relationship between leaders and public in ancient time,
* asks how story forms affect the public's right to know, and the role of journalism in providing a forum in which multiple points of view are given voice,
* questions whether narrative presentation narrows the opportunity to construct an oppositional view -- to provide the type of information that questions the establishment and its story, and
* is concerned with the dramatic elements in press and television news.

152 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994