• In journalistic discursive practice, direct speech has been an effective means to facilitate objective reporting, and has become virtually a vital constituent of most journalistic texts.
• Consequently, in news discourse, direct speech is considered as the literal reproduction of the original utterance, and therefore is the direct form of informational storing and releasing.
• As the direct form of information storage and release, direct quote is an important constituent of most news reports.
Popular Myth of Direct Speech
Guidelines for direct quotations
• Use direct quotations for specific, vivid statements. • Use direct quotations for descriptive statements. • Use direct quotations for inner feelings. • Use direct quotations to capture personality. • Use direct quotations to supplement statement of fact. • Use direct quotations for dialogue. • Use direct quotations to reduce attribution.
• Direct quotes in the popular belief is able to communicate an even more authentic piece of information for it implies a greater fidelity to the source of information.
• The basic categories of direct speech include the reporting clause and the quote, i.e., the reporting signal and the information reported.
• This myth of direct speech instills into people the idea that direct speech can preserve a higher degree of faithfulness to the information source than does indirect speech.
• News report quotes frequently from the witnesses of the events reported or the viewpoints of those in authority. The result is the presence in news discourse a large number of direct and indirect speeches
Types of quotations
• Complete direct quotations • Partial quotations • Indirect or paraphrased quotations
Direct quotations
• The reporter considers the sentences to be so well stated, vivid and important that they are worthy of a complete direct quotation.
• The label ―in military uniform‖, as a result, guides and goads the audience to associate the launching of Shenzhou-VI with military purposes, insinuating the military threat of China triggered by the Anglo-American apprehensions of China’s enhanced capability in outer space. In this way, a negative appraisal meaning is subtly worked up in accordance the socalled ―China Threat‖ ideology.
Sample analysis of direct speech
• Analyze all the occurrence of direct speech in an online news report on China’s successful launching of Shenzhou-VI (on October 12, 2005) by the mainstream western media of the New York Times.
Attributing quotations
• Attribution tells readers the source of information.
When and how to attribute
• Attribution for some factual information is ludicrous. • Attribution is needed, however, when an opinion or some other information subject to change or controversy is cited.
• In example 9), the bold-letter part provides the source of the direct speech. Among all features of the quoted subject, the reporter selects but one —―in military uniform‖— to label and nail do in military uniform announced, ―Ladies and gentlemen, we now declare that China’s second manned space mission is a complete success.‖ (―On Live Television, 2 Chinese Astronauts Begin 5 Days in Low Orbit of Earth‖ Oct. 12, 2005)
Quotation in news
• Quotations can generate emotion; they can provide vivid description, anecdotes and explanatory or exclusive material. • Quotation can be the soul of a news story or feature. They can bring a dull story to life; and they can make a good story even better.
Indirect and paraphrased quotations
• The reporter only paraphrased the source’s statement.
When and how to quote
• Quotation marks around a sentence mean that the words are exactly –or nearly exactly what the person said.
• Besides, the choice of reporting verbs serves as another important channel to analyze direct speech.
• A reporter or an editor may evaluate the reported information as true (acknowledge, point out, establish), false (fail, exaggerate, ignore, claim, allege)
Pitfalls to avoid in quoting
• • • • • • • • • Beware of inaccuracies in quotations. Beware of rambling quotations. Beware of incomprehensible quotations. Do not reconstruct partial quotation. Avoid using fragmentary quotations. Avoid illogicalities in presenting quotations. Observing taste in quotations. Handling offensive language. Handling dialect.