The Information Industry: Selling America to Americans

1
The Information IndustrySelling America to
Americans

• Lippi-Green, Chapter 7

2
The Information Industry

• Language is one area in which the news media
  representatives vigorously advance the notion of
  homogeneity, directly and indirectly. The
  process of linguistic assimilation to an
  abstracted standard is cast as a natural one,
  necessary and positive for the greater social
  good. (p. 135)

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The Information Industry(p. 146)

• Mainstream US English
• Good communication
• Clear English, talking with distinction
• Uniformity a business asset
• Goal standard American English
• national aesthetic equals national media,
  where no one who is anyone betrays where he or
  she came from when they speak
• Non-mainstream US English
• Accents impede communication
• Strong, heavy accents voice twisted by regional
  or ethnic influences a telltale tongue
• Goal control an accent
• Goal combat foreign accents
• Goal eliminate American regional accents, Asian,
  Indian, and Middle Eastern accents and Spanish
  accents

4
The Information Industry Selling America to
AmericansSummary (p. 151)

• The individuals who provide us with information
  and news on a daily basis in print and broadcast
  forums have an unusual amount of power and
  control in the lives of the public. They are
  given free admittance to our homes, to bring to
  us their factual knowledge about the workings of
  the world.

5
The Information Industry Selling America to
AmericansSummary (cont.)

• This process involves choosing among those pieces
  of information to share, and presenting them in a
  form which is accessible and understandable. The
  translation process from raw material to finished
  news report involves news filters of all kinds,
  many of which we are not immediately aware of
  when we take in the information over our dinners.
  

6
The Information Industry Selling America to
AmericansSummary (cont.)

• The politics and cultural preconceptions which
  shape the news and the presentation of the news
  include ideas about language, and the importance
  of language. The process of language
  standardization is one which is implicitly and
  explicitly supported by the information industry,
  for practical reasons. In practical terms, it is
  useful for them to have authority in issues of
  language, which is their primary tool. This
  authority was assumed long ago, but it is
  necessary in this social contract as in others
  to remind all parties of the terms.

7
The Information Industry Selling America to
AmericansSummary (cont.)

• We concede to the information industry,
  particularly to the broadcast news industry,
  authority in the spoken language. We identify
  journalists and broadcasters as our role models
  we allow them to chide us when our language
  differs from those varieties of English they
  speak, or think they speak. They have convinced
  us that they have the right to do this, and we do
  not challenge that right.