TY - JOUR
T1 - Dialogic positioning on pro-whaling stance
T2 - A case study of reported speech in Japanese whaling news
AU - Shibata, Masaki
N1 - Funding Information:
I would like to indicate my deep appreciation to Dr Peter White for introducing me to his highly insightful analytical framework of Appraisal and to the notion of dialogic (dialogistic) positioning. I would also like to thank my Australian friends, Dr Wayne Sherson, Dr Julian Bray, Mr Michael Polkinghorne, and Mr Colin Standen for their willingness to discuss these issues with me and their encouragement of me to complete this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Japanese Studies Association of Australia.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Hard news is often assumed to be ‘objective’ and ‘factual’, with little or no trace of a ‘subjective’ authorial point of view. However, what is often forgotten is that journalists still choose what information to divulge, and how to communicate that information. This article explores how whaling news is presented in Japanese hard news reports, examining the types of ‘voices’ quoted and how these voices are presented. Analysing 176 quotations from 33 news articles published between 2014 and 2018 on news relating to controversies over Japan’s whaling policy in relation to the International Whaling Commission’s 2014 ban on whaling, this article found that in most cases, pro-whaling voices (43%) are quoted far more frequently than anti-whaling voices (24%). However, in news reports on Japan’s resumption of whaling in 2015, pro-whaling voices became completely absent, because the Japanese journalists chose to quote foreign external voices that reject a pro-whaling point of view. Japanese journalists also incorporated emotional statements from local residents and fishermen in order to dramatise the issue and seek sympathy for those whose livelihood was threatened by the whaling ban.
AB - Hard news is often assumed to be ‘objective’ and ‘factual’, with little or no trace of a ‘subjective’ authorial point of view. However, what is often forgotten is that journalists still choose what information to divulge, and how to communicate that information. This article explores how whaling news is presented in Japanese hard news reports, examining the types of ‘voices’ quoted and how these voices are presented. Analysing 176 quotations from 33 news articles published between 2014 and 2018 on news relating to controversies over Japan’s whaling policy in relation to the International Whaling Commission’s 2014 ban on whaling, this article found that in most cases, pro-whaling voices (43%) are quoted far more frequently than anti-whaling voices (24%). However, in news reports on Japan’s resumption of whaling in 2015, pro-whaling voices became completely absent, because the Japanese journalists chose to quote foreign external voices that reject a pro-whaling point of view. Japanese journalists also incorporated emotional statements from local residents and fishermen in order to dramatise the issue and seek sympathy for those whose livelihood was threatened by the whaling ban.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85150928767
U2 - 10.1080/10371397.2023.2191839
DO - 10.1080/10371397.2023.2191839
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85150928767
SN - 1037-1397
VL - 43
SP - 71
EP - 90
JO - Japanese Studies
JF - Japanese Studies
IS - 1
ER -