Journalistic Authority: Textual Strategies of Legitimation

Abstract

To the extent that news texts participate in social and political discourse, they also participate in constructing social and political life. This paper examines one textual strategy of news, the journalist's use of stance adverbs. The analysis illustrates how stance adverbs operate as a strategy of legitimation that can augment or diminish the legitimacy of knowledge claims, masquerade as evidence, and steer readers toward a preferred interpretation of the news. As with other aspects of news work, textual strategies such as stance adverbs can serve to enhance and conceal both journalistic and social authority.