Sztuka mediów. O świadomości gatunkowej dziennikarzy prasowych
Art of media. About species awareness of press journalists

Author(s): Magdalena Ślawska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Communication studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: genre awareness; genre competence; journalist; journalistic genres; interview; column; reportage; metatext
Summary/Abstract: The interactive model of the genre awareness proposed in the monograph includes two crossing research perspectives. The first one is the interactive perspective, which takes into account the approaches of language awareness and the communicative or discursive competences well established in linguistics. The second perspective is the communicological one, which allows for description of the views and opinions of journalists on the genres. The study assumes that journalistic texts are the source of elements allowing for mapping skills related to the selection of the genre by its sender. It should be emphasized that my analyses concern a study of authors’ self-awareness, reconstructed from their own utterances. The attempts of theoretical conceptualization have been combined with wide-ranging studies of journalistic texts. The proposed analysis of the genre awareness does not concern the competence level of the whole professional group. It is a study relating to a certain part of a journalistic community.The media linguistic instruments selected for the studies introduce a broader communicative context into the analyses. I would like to include the category of genre awareness in the conceptual framework of genology. It is understood not only as knowledge incorporating the knowledge of the genre pattern and its determinants, but also as the ability to discursively implement them. Therefore, the genre competence has been recognized as an abstract structure that can be explored through specific implementations and communicative practices. At the same time, competence indicates intention, subjectivity and self-awareness. The genre recognized in relation to competence is understood not only as a standard, but also as material allowing for building social interactions. The considerations of genre awareness have adopted several perspectives which elucidate and complement one another. These are the following perspectives: normative, communicative-discursive, strategic, interpretive, and individual.The research material in the work includes utterances of journalists in the form of interviews, the author’s workshop texts, texts commenting on own journalistic writings. At the same time the purpose is to emphasize that a special type of journalists has been selected – professionals, masters of journalism.This monograph consists of seven chapters. The first three chapters constitute its theoretical basis. The first chapter outlines the communicative situation in interactive terms. It has been determined by the comparison of two theories: the theatrical metaphor of Erving Goffman and the discursive perspective of the genre from the scenographic point of view of Dominique Maingueneau. Referring to the concepts of Goffman and Maingueneau, the stage framework of communication has been adopted for the purpose of deliberations. Chapter Two describes a model of genre awareness. It is presented in the light of linguistic awareness, communication competence, pragmatic competence, textual competence and discursive competence. The individual competences are merely a context to describe the ability to construct utterances in the genre. They form a background, because in the concepts presented locations common with the findings of genology have been sought – the genre has been described in relation to such categories as the norm, communication, text and discourse. Chapter Three is a description of the journalist category in the context of its professional identity and an attempt to define it. It is emphasized that modern journalism is a conglomerate of various professions. At this point the work refers to research results and the studies of media scholars, but at the same time it refers to the understanding of the profession by the journalists themselves. Also, a closer view on ethics, professionalism and workshop competences in journalism have been studied. The work focuses primarily on the subjective – author’s perspective.The following chapters, from chapter four to chapter six, are an analysis of journalistic statements in the area of creating an interview, a causerie and reportage. The genre awareness has been considered as the art of creating texts. Art is understood here as the ability that requires knowledge, qualification and talent. In the case of media texts, it is the ability of choosing the right language means, selection of the theme, the appropriate composition of utterance and the selection of the medium itself. All this covers the choice of the suitable genre. The author’s workshop approach to individual genres has been included in the triad of interview, the art of interaction, causerie – the art of form, and reportage – the art of fact. The final, seventh chapter of the study presents journalists’ utterances in the context of the research on metatexts. The analyses have been conducted on two levels: intratextual and intertextual. The analysis of the genre awareness has been completed with the description of the meta-genre category . It includes such implementations as a causerie about the causerie, an interview about the interview or a reportage about the reportage. Concurrently, these have been considered as genre-related metamorphoses. Another research trail to describe such exceptional forms is the definition of a genre-based picture of the world modelled on the linguistic picture of the world.The presented studies have been illustrated as the art of media. The analysis of journalistic texts has showed, above all, the high genre competences of their creators. It has also allowed to depict rules of the genre from the perspective of journalists themselves who have revealed the secrets of their skills and the inner details of their work. Thus, the proposed perspective of the description can be treated, in imitation of the formulated poetics, as formulated genology, i.e. not described by genologists, but by journalists themselves. The book may provide researchers with tools to describe and interpret the competence in terms of genre, while at the same time it may serve as a teaching tool, since it can be used by choosing a genre or a favourite journalist.It should be noted that studies of the modern journalism stigmatized by crisis are a very difficult issue. A small sample of this social group analysed in the study helps to restore faith in high and professional journalism, even if it forms just a minor part of the whole genre. At the same time, the adopted communicological and scenographic perspective for the discursive practices presents the media in which the participation pact is a picture of creation of a communicative community, although in many cases this community is apparent. The behind-the-scenes stories about the creation of texts show how fluid are today’s media categories of the stage, the scene and the audience. The picture of those journalistic textual practices reflects the contemporary media and culture. I hold a belief that genological studies, which take into account the achievements of literature, media and cultural sciences, present a picture of contemporary media texts. The present monograph also indicates that the medialinguistics instruments allow the researcher to analyse a media text, extend beyond that text, and allow for a deeper reflection on the contemporary culture.

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