Bloomsbury Academic Stylistic Deceptions in Online News

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Demonstrating the central role played by the stylistic features of online news in shaping cultural representations of people and places, this book highlights how these features share in constructing meaning. Taking the 2016 terror attack in Nice, France as a case study, Ashley Riggs analyses online news coverage of the attack from the UK, Spain and Switzerland, three distinct linguistic and cultural spaces. An innovative mixed-methods approach, including content analysis and elements of translation criticism and comparative stylistics, is used to analyse this corpus to reveal the frequency and influence of stylistic devices found in online news and explore how they help to shape reader interpretations. Drawing conclusions about linguistic and journalistic practices by place and interrogating the notions of 'European identity' and 'European journalism', Stylistic Deceptions in Online Newsreveals how stylistic features vary according to both political leanings and national and regional contexts, and the influence these have upon readers. Review "This book delves into media representations of Islamic terrorism in three Western societies (Britain, Spain and Switzerland) and analyses journalistic translation from a novel perspective. Combining cultural, linguistic and political approaches, the author demonstrates the important role played by the stylistic features of modality, alliteration and metaphor in the reproduction of stereotyped images of Muslims via news production and translation. A must-read for all those interested in journalistic translation, news media, and image studies." --Roberto A. Valdeón, Professor of English, University of Oviedo, Spain"This book analyses news reports on terrorist attacks in France in media from different countries, focussing on their stylistic features and the role of translation in re-presenting events and cultures. It reveals the significance of the journalists' stylistic choices in shaping the messages. This focus on style makes an original contribution to news translation research." --Christina Schäffner, Emeritus Professor of Translation Studies, Aston University, UK"Focusing on details of language use in the online media coverage of violence, Ashley Riggs convincingly shows how stylistic choice reverberates - and can foster - intercultural (mis-)understanding. In a nutshell: style matters, and so does this book." --Daniel Perrin, Professor of Applied Linguistics, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland"Weaving a rich tapestry of data and examples and adopting a broad definition of translation, Ashley Riggs's book challenges many of our core assumptions about stylistic choices and their influential role in shaping the messages conveyed by news articles and the readers' representations." --María José Hernández Guerrero, Professor of Translation and Interpreting, University of Malaga, Spain About the Author Ashley Riggsis a Research and Teaching Fellow at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, University of Geneva, Switzerland.