TALK IN MEDIA: IMPLICATIONS OF LANGUAGE USE

Abstract

This paper is about how language is used in the workplace. The first part of this paper discusses the institutional environment in which the language is produced, the resources and conventions that affect, restrict and mould the linguistic output. Using television broadcasts as a basis of analysis, this paper explores agenda setting in media narratives. This paper analyses how agendas are set and realised in 2 different milieus of broadcast; one from a talk show perspective, and another from a video – a citizen journalism that was uploaded into You Tube. The second part of this paper looks at the agendas in terms of how both language and visuals enhanced the socio-cultural implications in the construction of national identity. It also looks at the principles of language use and the kind of cultural values that can be constructed and embedded into media talk. This has implications from the perspective of personnel training in media industry.

Keywords: media language; agenda setting; cultural competence: higher education pedagogy; language use