Evaluation in Media Discourse

Dr Monika Bednarek is Lecturer in English Linguistics at the University of Augsburg, Germany.

• Introduction; Part One: Evaluation and newspaper discourse; 1. Analysing evaluation in the news; 2. The news story in its context; 3. Delimiting evaluation; 4. A new theory of evaluation; Part Two: Evaluation in the press: a corpus-based analysis; 5. Evaluation in the press: core evaluative parameters; 6. Evaluation in the press: peripheral evaluative parameters; Part Three: Empirical and theoretical issues; 7. Evaluation: broadsheets vs. tabloids; 8. Implications for a new theory of evaluation; Appendices; Reference.

"Monika Bednarek's Evaluation in Media Discourse sets itself two goals: to introduce a partially new framework and method for studying evaluation and to apply it in accounting for differences between tabloids and broadsheets... [Bednarek's] approach is eclectic and does not require commitment to a particular theory of grammar. It is flexible and open ended as relevant parameters can be added or subtracted dependent on the material that is being studied. The danger can lie in that the number and combinations of parameters can make the analysis extremely delicate and possibly vague. Bendarek skillfully avoided this trap and succeeded in achieving both goals she set herself to do." Tatjana Radanovic Felberg, Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo, Norway.