Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Introduction to Journalistic Language

Introduction to Journalistic Language
6
16206
1
Second semester
FB
Main language of instruction: Spanish

Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English

Introduction

Introduction to Journalistic Language is a basic training course that provides students with the theoretical and analytical foundations needed to understand how language functions in the media. Throughout the course, students analyse the specific characteristics of journalistic discourse, the linguistic and discursive mechanisms involved in the production of informative and opinion texts, as well as the processes of meaning-making that operate across different media languages —verbal, visual, audiovisual, and digital—. Particular attention is paid to the relationships between language, power, ideology, and culture, fostering a critical reading of the discourses that circulate in traditional media and digital environments.

The course combines the acquisition of fundamental concepts with the practical analysis of news articles, features, interviews, photographs, infographics, communication campaigns, and multimedia content. It provides students with the tools needed to critically interpret journalistic communication and lays the foundations for the courses in journalistic writing, production, and storytelling that students will take later in the programme.

Pre-course requirements

No. 

Objectives

  • To understand the fundamental characteristics of journalistic language as a specific form of social communication.
  • To identify the main concepts and authors in discourse analysis applied to the study of the media.
  • To understand the foundations of semiotics and its application to the analysis of journalistic texts, images, audiovisual messages, and digital environments.
  • To analyse the mechanisms involved in the construction of meaning in informative and opinion discourse.
  • To recognise the linguistic, rhetorical, narrative, and argumentative strategies used by the media to represent events and social actors.
  • To critically interpret the ideological, cultural, and ethical dimensions of journalistic discourse.
  • To analyse the interaction between text, image, sound, and other semiotic systems in contemporary communication.
  • To use the basic terminology of discourse analysis, textual linguistics, and semiotics applied to journalism accurately and appropriately.
  • To develop a critical and reflective attitude towards the processes of information production, circulation, and interpretation.
  • To apply basic discourse and semiotic analysis tools to the study of real-world cases from different media and digital platforms.

Syllabus

Topic 1. Language as a Construction of Social Reality

  • Communication, information, and meaning.

  • Journalistic language as a social practice.

  • Functions of language in the media.

  • Objectivity, subjectivity, and interpretation.

Topic 2. Fundamental Concepts in Discourse Analysis

  • Text, discourse, and context.

  • Enunciation and polyphony.

  • Cohesion, coherence, and thematic progression.

  • Speech acts and pragmatics in journalistic discourse.

Topic 3. Discursive Strategies in News Reporting

  • The construction of social actors.

  • Framing and the representation of reality.

  • Presuppositions, implicatures, and informational silences.

  • Argumentation, legitimation, and persuasion.

  • Discourse, power, and ideology.

Topic 4. Critical Analysis of Media Discourse

  • Main approaches to Critical Discourse Analysis.

  • Van Dijk, Fairclough, and Wodak.

  • The representation of gender, diversity, and minorities.

  • Political discourse and media coverage.

  • Disinformation and discursive strategies in digital media.

Topic 5. Foundations of Semiotics Applied to Journalism

  • The sign and systems of signification.

  • Saussure and Peirce.

  • Code, symbol, icon, and index.

  • Denotation and connotation.

Topic 6. Media Semiotics

  • Roland Barthes and contemporary myths.

  • Umberto Eco and the interpretation of texts.

  • Intertextuality and polysemy.

  • Visual narratives and symbolic construction.

Topic 7. Digital Discourses and the Media Ecosystem

  • Digital platforms and new forms of enunciation.

  • Language on social media.

  • Multimodality and transmedia communication.

  • Artificial intelligence and automated content generation.

  • Ethical challenges in contemporary journalistic discourse.

Bibliography and resources

Chandler, D. (2025). Semiotics: The basics (5th ed.). Routledge.

Johnstone, B., & Andrus, J. (2024). Discourse analysis (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Smith, A., & Higgins, M. (2020). The language of journalism: A multi-genre perspective (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.

van Dijk, T. A. (2017). Discourse and power. Palgrave Macmillan.

van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford University Press.

Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2023). How to do critical discourse analysis: A multimodal introduction (2nd ed.). SAGE.

Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and power (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Sarısakaloğlu, A., & Löffelholz, M. (Eds.). (2025). The handbook of artificial intelligence and journalism. Wiley.

Print version