19th Annual Student Research Conference
Language & Literature
Fox News Live and CNN News Live: Is It What They Say or How They Say It?
Crystal L. Buffaloe♦
Dr. Sally Cook, Faculty Mentor
A linguistic comparison of two simultaneous hours of cable news coverage yields interesting differences in register. Fox News Live and CNN Live Today occupy the same time slot and fulfill the identical purpose of “comprehensive updates of the latest news around the world.” However, the two programs serve different audiences: one widely touted as conservative and the other as liberal. These different intended audiences may lead to differing reporting styles and presentations that are the base of each station’s supposed bias. Anchors make use of different speech styles while communicating virtually the same topics. Thus, adjusting pronunciation, syntax, and vocabulary to achieve registers in varying levels of formality may communicate an underlying message beyond that of the daily headlines.
Keywords: media, news, politics, linguistics, register, audience, language, telivision
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 4-4
Location: VH 1304
Time: 9:00