JoLIE 11:2/2018

 

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MANIPULATION IN NEWS REPORTING. A CASE-STUDY OF A ROMANIAN SKETCH BY I.L. CARAGIALE

 

 

Teodora Popescu

1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania

 

 

 

Abstract

 

The aim of the current paper is to analyse the discourse strategies used by various newspapers in rendering the same piece of news, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century Romania, and recorded by I.L Caragiale in one of his sketches. The analysis reveals that after more than a century, media manipulation is created through the same discourse strategies, creating biases according to the various political orientations of the newspapers that present a certain piece of news. The author borrows the technique of theme and variations from music and applied it to the literary construction of his sketch, creating four variations on the theme of a fire which was put out by dutiful and country-loving fire-fighters: Variation 1 – The fire is the result of inefficient current government ruling; Variation 2 – The fire is an awake call for educating the citizens to be fire-fighters; Variation 3 – The fire is an occasion for socialising and Variation 4 – The fire did not exist at all.

The modernity and timelessness of I.L. Caragiale is also considered in the context of his fine and sharp dissection of the Romanian society of that time, apparently so much in fashion and immortal nowadays.

 

Key words: Media manipulation; Discourse strategies; Sensation news; I.L. Caragiale.

 

 

References

 

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Cazimir, Șt. (1967). Caragiale. Universul comic. București: Editura pentru literatură.

 

Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold.

 

Fanache, V. (1984). Caragiale. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Dacia.

 

Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the News. Discourse and Ideology in the Press. London:

Routledge.

 

Iorgulescu, M. (1998). Eseu despre lumea lui Caragiale. Bucuresti: Cartea Românească.

 

Marinescu, L. (2012). Modernitate mediatică în lumea operei lui Ion Luca Caragiale. Philologica Jassyensia, 16(2), 87-100.

 

Papadima, L. (1999). Caragiale, firește. București: Editura Fundației Culturale Române.

 

Pârvulescu, I. (2011). Lumea ca ziar. A patra putere: Caragiale. București: Editura Humanitas.

 

Tomuș, M. (1977). Opera lui I.L. Caragiale. București: Minerva.

 

Van Dijk, T.A. (1995). The Mass Media Today: Discourses of Domination or Diversity? Javnost - The Public. Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture, 2(2), 27-45. DOI: 10.1080/13183222.1995.11008592.

 

Vartic, I. (1997). Studiu introductiv. In Caragiale, I.L., Momente (Momente, schite, amintiri). Cluj-Napoca: Biblioteca Apostrof.

 

 

How to cite this article: Popescu, T. (2018). Manipulation in news reporting. A case-study of a Romanian sketch by I.L. Caragiale. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 11(2), 99-112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2018.11.2.7

 

 

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