“Che paura avete voi?" : collocations of it. paura in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron

This paper presents an analysis of the collocations of it. paura (fear) in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. The main goal of the research was to find out how this emotion is conceptualized in Boccaccio’s masterpiece, which is considered a milestone of Italian literature. Following the theory of conceptual metaphors and linguistic research on emotions, as well as a qualitative approach to collocation, it is shown that paura in the Decameron is depicted as an independent and powerful entity that rules the subject experiencing it

Objectivity in newsmaking: an argumentative perspective

Objectivity is a key concept in journalism studies, yet a controversial one. Scholars (e.g., Clayman and Heritage 2002; Hallin and Mancini 2004; Schudson 1978; 2001) disagree on what it precisely implies (distinguishing facts from opinions? Reporting only true facts? Being balanced in presenting positions?) and on how strictly journalists should stick to it. I claim that adopting an argumentative perspective enables to see how journalists deal with objectivity in everyday work. In fact, the objectivity requirement plays the role of endoxical premise in argumentative reasoning that takes place during newsroom decision-making. In the present paper, this is shown by analyzing argumentative discussions in two television newsrooms of the Swiss public service broadcaster (SRG SSR). The case studies shed light on what objectivity means for these two newsrooms, as well as on how the goal of being objective intermingles with that of telling a story. Methodologically, argumentation is reconstructed employing Pragma-Dialectics (van Eemeren and Grootendorst 2004), while endoxical premises and inferential patterns supporting standpoints are traced out applying the Argumentum Model of Topics (Rigotti and Greco Morasso 2009, 2010, in preparation). The examples are taken from a corpus collected during the Swiss National Science Foundation project “Idée suisse” (NFP 56, 2005-2008)

The editorial meeting discussion as an argumentative activity type

A still uninvestigated argumentative reasoning hides behind news texts, in the discussions surrounding the writing process. I try to fill this gap by reconstructing how newsroom decision-making functions from a combined argumentative and discourse analytical perspective. In order to do so, I analyze the editorial meeting discussion about a potential news item and its production as an argumentative activity type, using a French- and German-language corpus collected at the Swiss public broadcast service

On the production of a multimodal news item : an argumentative approach

The present paper deals with the production of a multimodal news item from an ethnographic perspective, aiming at fully understanding the role played by news values, i.e. shared criteria for news selection, in newsroom argumentation. The news item we consider is the picture news from Corriere del Ticino, the main Italian-language newspaper in Switzerland. As the Italian name fototesto says, this news item combines a verbal and a photographical component, presenting the journalists with particular challenges in its selection. To shed light on this production process, we take as a case study a picture news on eco-friendly heat distribution and the editorial conference leading to its choice, which took place on January 24, 2013. We analyze the interaction from the viewpoint of argumentation theory, combining Pragma-Dialectics (van Eemeren and Grootendorst) and the Argumentum Model of Topics (Rigotti and Greco Morasso 2009, 2010, under review), and unravel the reasons behind choices in content and form taken collaboratively by the journalists

Beyond the myth of journalistic storytelling : why a narrative approach to journalism falls short

Despite the journalism education mantra to think story, news media accounts are far more than sheer storytelling. They are more about the punchline first than suspense, more about fragments of information than comprehensive storylines, and more about story-selling than telling. News reporters do not tell stories, as such – but utilize their own narrative routines that evoke stories in people’s minds and in the public sphere. This thematic section scrutinizes the widespread storytelling approaches and techniques that journalists are taught and offers fresh and focused insights into narrative practices in the newsroom

Capturing editorial gatekeeping through the analysis of argumentation in editorial conference discussions

Il presente articolo analizza le riunioni di redazione come attività argomentative, attraverso le quali si realizza la funzione di gatekeeping entro le organizzazioni mediatiche. Particolare attenzione viene devoluta alle diverse norme che regolano le decisioni editoriali, e al rapporto tra queste norme e il dispiegarsi delle argomentazioni nelle discussioni. Ci si ricollega qui a una svolta nella ricerca sul gatekeeping: lo studio di Clayman & Reisner (1998) che considera le riunioni di redazione come luogo in cui il gatekeeping viene esercitato nell'interazione verbale. Questo approccio apre un campo di intervento promettente per l'applicazione della teoria dell'argomentazione allo studio delle norme e dei processi di decisione delle organizzazioni mediatiche. L'analisi mostra che emergono tre tipi distinti di discussione argomentativa entro l'activity type della riunione. Accanto a discussioni deliberative legate a singole decisioni editoriali, troviamo infatti discussioni concernenti la valutazione di decisioni passate e delle norme vigenti in redazione

Virtual reality as a tool for political decision-making? An empirical study on the power of immersive images on voting behavior

One of the strengths of virtual reality (VR) is to provide a highly realistic user experience. How would VR's power of realism affect political decision-making, for example, when experienced by citizens before they cast their vote on an issue? We set out to empirically assess if and how voting information presented in VR would influence people's voting behavior, compared to the traditional text presentation format. In a 2 (format: text vs. VR) × 2 (argumentation: pro vs. con) between-subject factorial experiment, we assessed participants' voting behavior on a fictitious popular initiative. We first asked all participants (N = 179) to cast their vote based on a brief text, inspired by the traditional Swiss voting booklet (baseline). We then randomly assigned participants to one of four experimental conditions containing the same pro or con arguments concerning the voting issue. Participants could then adjust their previously-cast vote. This was followed by retrospective interviews (N = 32) to gain deeper insights into the decision-making process of the participants. Our study shows that the presentation format has a reinforcing effect, that is, leading to more YES votes for the VR group, and fewer YES votes for the text group. Irrespective of the pro or con arguments, participants show an overall increase in YES votes in VR, which is not the case for the text group. We identified six factors that may have led to this positive change with VR: (1) the affirmative power of images, (2) the vividness of immersive images, (3) first-person storytelling and storyliving, (4) the greater affordances of VR for engagement through interaction, (5) the design of the VR environment, and (6) the novelty of the VR technology