Editorial Writers Research Articles

MODALITY AS A TOOL OF AUTHORIAL PRESENCE IN PAKISTANI ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS

This study explores how modality is used in editorials related to Covid-19 from two Pakistani newspapers, to establish the author's presence in the text. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 editorials, and a concordance tool was employed to categorize the data. Modal verbs and other linguistic elements with modal meanings were analyzed using the interpersonal metafunction, as per Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics. The findings indicate that editorial writers predominantly employed modal verbs of prediction such as 'will' and 'would' when discussing the pandemic, and generic phrases were frequently used to express an objective, explicit orientation of modality. The fact that predictive modals are utilized in editorials implies that the main aim of the writers is to forecast upcoming occurrences. Additionally, the study found that the editors from both newspapers showed an equal interest in finding solutions to the pandemic by using obligatory modals such as 'should' and 'must'. It was found that the editors employed various linguistic techniques, including modality, in their editorials with the aim of impacting and molding the way readers view the pandemic. Keywords: modality, authorial presence, modal expressions, modal verbs.

Exploring the Lexicon of Philippine Daily Inquirer Editorials

This study aimed to explore the lexicon of the editorials in the Philippine daily inquirer as it only replicates the research done by Bautista on Philippine English. It aimed to come up with a list of new and old words found in the editorials that are published from January to April 2018. The study employed discourse analysis design to determine the Philippine English words from the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorials. The Advil- Macquarie Philippine English Dictionary published by De La Salle University was the basis of the data analysis. From the data that was analyzed, there are new and old words in the lexicon used by editorial writers in their editorial as it would be concluded that the editorial writers who are an acrolect use Philippine English in writing. From the new words that were discovered, it could be deduced that Philippine English, just like any language is also evolving as it adapts new words in its set of vocabularies. It is proven that there is really Philippine English in the country as was found out by the pioneering research of Llamzon (1969).

Women as a Growing Force in Critical Care Medicine-the Journal, Profession, and Society.

Women as a Growing Force in Critical Care Medicine-the Journal, Profession, and Society.

Discourse Analysis of the Editorials of Local Newspapers in Bacolod City

This study aimed to describe syntactically and semantically the editorials of local newspapers in Bacolod City. The corpora included nine editorials from the three local newspaper publications published from August to November 2016. The extracts of each editorial were analyzed using Swales’ (1990) CARS model to find out the organizational moves used. It was found that the most prevalent move was Move 2, which was optional since obligatory and optional moves are based on the cut-off frequency of 60 percent occurrence as a measure of move stability (Muangsamai, 2018). Moreover, the most prevalent among Flowerdew’s (2002) Signalling Nouns [Halliday and Hassan’s (1976) General Nouns] was change with six occurrences. Among Halliday and Hassan’s (1976) four Conjunctive Relations, the additive type prevailed with 138 occurrences; and, with 125. As for the Modal Verbs of Roberts and fellow authors (2010), can transpired the most with twenty-two counts. In terms of Flowerdew’s (1993) Concordances, people was the most prevalent, with eight concordances on the left, namely where, their, a, but if, and the, as well as six concordances on the right, look, care, cam, cooperate, Power, and – Negrenses. This study adopted the protocol by Pilar (2014), which states that the independent coders are at least a master’s in English or have researched Discourse Analysis and Contrastive Rhetoric to achieve a high-reliability level. The results were thoroughly analyzed, described, and discussed individually. Hence, it can be concluded that editorial writers in Bacolod City express their argument by stating the problems of the target issue since they focus on a better change for the citizens by proposing possible solutions. Therefore, students should be taught significant lexical items and the organization of arguments. The results of this study may serve as the basis for an intervention program that would develop the editorial writing skill of students.

Editor's Choice Articles for March.

Welcome to March 2023 at Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM). There are three Editor’s Choices articles that each question established opinions and make us delve deeper into the relevant issues and potential implications for practice. The PCCM Connections for Readers focuses on biological mechanism–as a plea to our investigators and research authors, we do need to see more of this type of work at PCCM. WHAT ABOUT CORTICOSTEROIDS IN SEPSIS AND SEPTIC SHOCK? Klowak JA, Bijelic V, Barrowman N, et al; Genomics of Pediatric Septic Shock Investigators: The Association of Corticosteroids and Pediatric Sepsis Biomarker Risk Model (PERSEVERE)-II Biomarker Risk (1). Are we any closer to solving the question of using corticosteroid therapy in children presenting with septic shock? In this retrospective study of almost 500 children separated into two categories using the PERSEVERE-II biomarker score, the authors tested whether there was an interaction between grouping, corticosteroid use, and outcome. Our editorial sets this information in a historical context, from 2009 to 2021 (2), and makes us think about precision medicine, endotypes, and the contemporary randomized controlled trial (RCT). This new article and editorial follow a theme in PCCM discussed in the September 2022 issue (3), and readers should review the authors’ other relevant work about the difficulty of RCTs in the septic shock population (4,5). WHAT ABOUT THE COMPLEXITY OF FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO OUTCOMES AFTER CARDIAC SURGERY? Brown KL, Moinuddin M, Jones A, et al: The Relationship Between Postoperative Complications and Children’s Quality of Life: A Mediation Analysis to Explore the Role of Family Factors (6). In this multicenter research from the United Kingdom, the authors identified a cardiac postoperative group with multiple morbidities and sought to identify a causal mediation analysis of parental health-related quality of life at 6 weeks after cardiac surgery, and their child’s quality of life at 6 months. Over 400 children contributed to the primary outcome and these new data add insight into the complexity of outcomes and the potential scope of psychological interventions to support parents of children who experience perioperative morbidities. Add this reading to the authors’ recent report on postoperative morbidities and neurodevelopment (7), and we are now building a more complete picture of how best to study late outcomes after critical illness (8,9). WHAT ABOUT THE MEASUREMENT OF CEREBRAL NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY IN PEDIATRIC CARDIAC PATIENTS? Iliopoulis I, Cooper DS, Reagor JA, et al: Absolute Versus Relative Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Pediatric Cardiac Patients (10). My third highlighted article is an analysis of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data: the devices and the validity of the measurements that we use during clinical care (10). Please read the report and even though it’s not what we thought or taught, our editorial writers argue that NIRS monitoring in patients with complex congenital heart disease is here to stay (11). Also, go back to a little-known Letter to the Editor in the January 2006 issue of PCCM with its powerful insights. In the letter, Britton Chance (1913–2010), the American founder of biomedical photonics and National Medal of Science winner in 1974, wrote to PCCM on the topic of quantification of brain oxygenation in humans in vivo (12). “PCCM CONNECTIONS” FOR READERS This month there are two other areas of research that pick up on our previous themes. They are of particular interest because they address mechanism, and we need to understand clinical biology if we are to make progress in our field. The first topic is the endothelial glycocalyx. We have previously published a definitive review about the endothelial glycocalyx as a fundamental determinant of vascular permeability in sepsis (13), and a clinical research observation of glycocalyx degradation products contributing to metabolic acidosis following cardiopulmonary bypass (14). In a single-center research study from Colombia, the authors (same ones that wrote the previous PCCM definitive review) look at the time course of glycocalyx degradation in children with sepsis following a bolus of intravenous fluids (15). The article comes with an editorial (16). The second topic is the morbidity of hyperoxia. In early 2022 we learned that there are 16 pediatric critical care studies with over 27 thousand patients that, collectively, suggests an association between hyperoxia and greater odds of mortality (17). We now have a mechanistic substudy nested within the pilot feasibility RCT of liberal versus conservative oxygenation targeting (i.e., pulse oximetry > 94% versus 88%−92%, respectively) (18). The authors report redox responses and gene expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1a in the two oxygenation groups. Hopefully, their hypothesis will be tested in the now completed RCT of oxygen targeting and outcome in pediatrics (19). Finally, another highlight for me is a narrative essay entitled “The Trip of a Lifetime” (20).

Verb-Noun Collocations In Newspaper Editorials In Ghana: A Corpus-Based Analysis

This paper is a corpus-based study which aims at profiling the most frequent verb-noun collocations and their communicative functions in newspaper editorials in Ghana. In all, a total of 92,927 running words were culled from 220 newspaper editorials from The Ghanaian Times and The Daily Graphic, which were published in the 2016 and 2017 news years, for compilation of a specialised corpus for the study. From the collocation tab of the AntConc corpus software, sixty-seven Verb-Noun Collocations were found to constitute the most frequently occurring collocations in the newspaper editorials under study. The corpus revealed that both predictive and open Verb-Noun Collocations which alternate at the left and right sides on the collocation window span are mostly used by newspaper editorial writers in Ghana. Again, it was observed that phrasal patterns of a noun collocate differed according to its position on either the left or right side of a verb node. The semantic prosodies of the profiled verb-noun collocations revealed five major discourses which constituted the most discussed issues in the newspaper editorials published in 2016 and 2017 news years.These issues were governance, politics and elections, peace and security, law and order, and corruption.

Senator Elbert Thomas and the Hope for Industrial Equity

Senator Elbert Thomas and the Hope for Industrial Equity

“Some Mother's Child Has Gone Astray”: Neuroscientific Approaches to a Therapeutic Jurisprudence Model of Juvenile Sentencing1

There is a robust body of evidence that tells us that the juvenile brain is not fully developed by age 18, and this evidence should and does raise important questions about the sentencing of juveniles in criminal cases. This evidence, though, must be considered in the context of public opinion (about certain juvenile crimes that have been subject to saturation publicity) in the context of judges' decisionmaking (where such judges do not want to be perceived as “soft on crime”). The conflict between what we now know and what (false) “ordinary common sense” demands (in the way of enhanced punishments) flies squarely in the face of therapeutic jurisprudence precepts. If the legal process is to seek to maximize psychological well‐being and if it is to coincide with an “ethic of care,” then, it is necessary for those involved in the criminal justice system to speak publicly about this topic, and to “call out” those – be they elected politicians, editorial writers and commentators in the conservative media, or judges – who urge retributive and punitive sentences for adolescents and children. In this paper, we will first give a brief overview about the current neuroscientific findings about juvenile brain development in the context of criminal behavior, and then discuss the current sentencing standards and regulations that are in place. Then, we will discuss the impact of therapeutic jurisprudence as a framework for advocating for juvenile clients, in order to maximize and preserve their psychological well‐being and to mitigate trauma. Finally, we will offer recommendations for how experts can work with attorneys who are presenting sentencing arguments, in order to make the most comprehensive, scientifically persuasive case for leniency in juvenile sentencing.

Use of persuasion and newspapers’ representations of conflicts

Persuasion in media discourses produces certain meanings and mobilizes public attitudes in a set direction. Logical appeals, for instance, are created to gather public support for a particular viewpoint, which propagates a specific cause. This paper critically investigates the newspaper’s use of persuasion strategies employed by editorial writers to represent the 2011 Arab Spring conflict. The data consist of 20 newspaper editorials published in the Arab News (AN) belonging the Arab region yet presumed as a newspaper’s voice from a non-Arab spring country. The purpose is to probe journalistic roles and discursive positions taken in representing the conflict. Content analysis technique is used to examine the selected editorials. Findings reveal that the newspaper (AN) constructed the events persuasively and portrayed different aspects of the uprising. This study points out that editorial writers relied on several logical appeals to, almost, set a pro-Arab Spring stage. In addition, it has been noticed that the AN adopted a more compassionate attitude towards protesters’ losses, and their ambitions for bringing a ‘change’ were justified, generally, than the ruling authorities. Overall, the findings reaffirm media’s contribution to represent conflicts in different societies under social, cultural, political, and national parameters by using certain tools of persuasion.This study recommends that future research should draw a comparison between news reports and editorial opinions, and investigate post-Arab Spring situations.

Modality in Pakistani and British Media Discourse: A Corpus-Assisted Study of Editorials in Dawn and the Guardian

Modal verbs are used to construe an important grammatical expression called modality, which has its various shades in almost every newspaper. Modality is considered of extreme importance in media discourse. This paper presents the comparative study of modal verbs in Dawn, an English Pakistani newspaper, and Guardian, a British English newspaper. For this investigation, a corpus was designed using an equal number of editorials from both the newspapers and the analysis was carried out using Antconc, a corpus tool. The analysis revealed that Guardian editorial writers use a greater number of predictive modal verbs like will and would. On the other hand, Dawn editorial writers use a greater number of obligatory modal verbs like must and should. Also, the editorial writers of Dawn use a higher number of modal verbs like may and might to express possibility and ability.

Hedges and Boosters as Modality Markers: An Analysis of Nigerian and American Editorials

Many studies have been carried out on the use of hedges and boosters as persuasive strategies, but little is known about their employment when texts such as editorials are compared cross culturally. This study comparatively examined the employment of modality markers to express doubt and conviction in Nigerian and American editorials. Farrokhi and Emami’s (2008) classification of hedges and boosters was employed to analyze twenty editorials selected from two Nigerian newspapers and two American newspapers. Findings reveal that both sets of editorial writers made use of hedges and boosters a lot in their writings. However, lexical verbs were not employed as boosters in the analyzed editorials. The fact that the Nigerian editorial writers as ESL writers equally made great use of hedges and boosters implies that in texts such as editorials, writers from different cultures equally employ the same linguistic devices to express doubt and conviction.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Language in Ghanaian Newspaper Editorials

The study explores the linguistic devices, approaches and styles in media discourse that are used to stake claims to knowledge, to influence attitudes and to promote critical thinking, among other functional roles of language. The study was equally interested in knowing the outcomes of the choice of these linguistic devices as far as communication is concerned. Linguistic devices such as modality, evaluative adjectives, adverbs, generic phrases, rhetoric and idioms among others, are used to state opinions, make predictions and influence attitudes. The study hypothesises that the study of language can be used in particular ways, so intended by the user, to achieve specific purposes. Eight different newspapers: The Daily Graphic, The Ghanaian Times, The Mirror, The Crusading Guide, The Insight, The Independent, The Catholic Standard and The Daily Guide, editorial excerpts were culled and used for the study of language use in newspaper editorials. The styles used and the reasons behind the choice of those devices and styles are closely looked at in the analysis. With Systemic Functional Linguistics, complemented with Van-Dijk’s theory of Media Discourse as models of analysis, the study is theoretically anchored. The study concludes that editorial writers use linguistic devices to express different shades of attitude and opinion, to influence, shape or re-shape their readers’ attitudes and to promote critical thinking of readers. Keywords: Linguistic Devices, Media Discourse, Communication, Language, Styles.

'Some Mother's Child Has Gone Astray': Neuroscientific Approaches to a Therapeutic Jurisprudence Model of Juvenile Sentencing

There is a robust body of evidence that tells us that the juvenile brain is not fully developed by age 18, and this evidence should and does raise important questions about the sentencing of juveniles in criminal cases. This evidence, though, must be considered in the context of public opinion (about certain juvenile crimes that have been subject to saturation publicity) in the context of judges’ decisionmaking (where such judges do not want to be perceived as “soft on crime”). The conflict between what we now know and what (false) “ordinary common sense” demands (in the way of enhanced punishments) flies squarely in the face of therapeutic jurisprudence precepts. If the legal process is to seek to maximize psychological well-being and if it is to coincide with an “ethic of care,” then, it is necessary for those involved in the criminal justice system to speak publicly about this topic, and to “call out” those – be they elected politicians, editorial writers and commentators in the conservative media, or judges – who urge retributive and punitive sentences for adolescents and children. In this paper, we will first give a brief overview about the current neuroscientific findings about juvenile brain development in the context of criminal behavior, and then discuss the current sentencing standards and regulations that are in place.Then, we will discuss the impact of therapeutic jurisprudence as a framework for advocating for juvenile clients, in order to maximize and preserve their psychological well-being and to mitigate trauma. Finally, we will offer recommendations for how experts can work with attorneys who are presenting sentencing arguments, in order to make the most comprehensive, scientifically persuasive case for leniency in juvenile sentencing.

Konsistensi Struktur Argument by Commitment dalam Editorial Harian Bisnis Indonesia: Perspektif Douglas Walton

Consistency is very essential in writing editorial rubrics because it shows commitments of the author and his institution. Author and media institution who have high commitments in writing editorial argumentation can increase the level of readers' confidence toward the content of editorials. This research is intended to optimize the consistency of the construction of argument by commitment in Bisnis Indonesia editorials. Data collection methods used were documentation and interview methods. The research data were in the form of editorial texts containing arguments. The data analysis method used was the qualitative data analysis. Besides, the content analysis method was also applied. The research result showed that there were inconsistencies of arguments by commitment used in the editorials. The inconsistencies occured because a deep understanding of the concept of argument by commitment in writing editorials has not been understood well by editorial writers. Therefore, the steps of optimizing the consistency of argument by commitment must be done as follows: (1) understanding the concept of argument by commitment, (2) designing an argument by commitment scheme, and (3) asking critical questions.

Thematic Analysis of the Editorials of Pakistani Print Media during the General Election, 2018

Print media has been a major source of information for people across the globe. It has played a vital role in every field of life by highlighting issues and promoting positive images. Likewise, its role in the elections cannot be ignored. The current study investigates the topic of discussion in the editorials. Public issues were discussed, the frequency of supported political parties and the differences in the editorials among the newspapers during the general election 2018. The data analysis revealed marginalized importance of public issues for the editorial writers. The analysis also indicated a strong heedlessness towards public issues and welfare. Thus, it is concluded that both priming and framing of international issues are overemphasizes the financial situation. Theeditorials have been found focused on Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League (N) while, public issues such as poverty, childlabour, education, and others remained highly underrepresented

Impeaching a Federal Judge: Some Lessons from History

In August 2014, Federal District Judge Mark Fuller was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor battery after his wife called 911 from an Atlanta hotel room and told the operator, “He’s beating on me.” Judge Fuller has agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion program; if he completes the program, the criminal case against him will be dismissed. But Judge Fuller may face other consequences. The Acting Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit has initiated proceedings under the federal judicial misconduct statute. And some members of Congress and editorial writers have said that if Judge Fuller does not resign from the bench, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings. Federal judges serve during “good behavior,” and they can be impeached and removed from office only for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” If the domestic-violence charges are substantiated, would that constitute an impeachable offense? In this statement, submitted at a hearing of the Task Force on Judicial Impeachment of the House Judiciary Committee, the author addresses some of the questions raised by a proposal to impeach a federal judge. What is the meaning of the constitutional language? No one argues that Judge Fuller has committed treason or bribery, so the question is whether his conduct falls within the category of “other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The author discusses the evidence from the founding generation and from the commentators, and he briefly surveys the impeachment precedents. These historical materials suggest two broad (and overlapping) categories of conduct that may justify impeachment. The first is serious abuse of power. The second is conduct that demonstrates that an official is “unworthy to fill” the office that he holds. Another question is the relevance of the pending criminal charges. Can the House rely on a criminal conviction as the basis for impeachment? Can the House proceed with impeachment if the criminal charges are dropped? The author concludes that the House must exercise an independent judgment; it is not bound by determinations of other actors in other proceedings. The statement was submitted to the Task Force on Judicial Impeachment at a hearing on the possible impeachment of Judge Samuel B. Kent of the Southern District of Texas. The written statement is followed by supplementary material that includes the author’s oral testimony and the colloquies that followed. Based on the testimony at the hearing and other evidence, the House approved four articles of impeachment. Judge Kent resigned from the bench before his Senate trial.

Use of Modals as Stance Markers: A Corpus-Based Study on Pakistani English Newspaper Editorials

This study analyses the use of modals as stance markers in newspaper editorials. Corpora of the study comprised of 500 editorials published in Pakistani English newspapers, that is, The Daily Dawn and The Daily News (250 editorials from each newspaper) which were analysed with the help of AntConc 3.4.4.0. Results show Pakistani editorial writers use all types of modals (i.e., prediction, possibility, necessity, modal adverbs, reporting verbs, knowledge verbs and generic phrases). The editorial writers use these modals to mark personal stance while commenting, reporting or informing about the state of affairs. Among these modals the use of prediction markers is the most frequent which indicates that prediction is a characteristic feature as well as function in the said newspaper editorials. Results also reveal that there is a difference in the use of modal adverbs in the editorials of both newspapers. In addition, the results reveal that the editorial writers of The Daily Dawn make less use of prediction markers as compared to the editorial writers of The Daily News. The study creates awareness of the stance of editorial writers’ and how it might affect readers’ opinions.

News Framing of the Arab Spring Conflict from the Lens of Newspaper Editorials

News framing of events often restricts us to either ‘oppose’ or ‘favour’ a particular side/party involved in a conflict. This paper examines the print media framing of the Arab Spring in the editorials of The News International (NI) of Pakistan and Arab News (AN) of Saudi Arabia. The coverage sample consists of newspaper editorials published from January 2011 to December 2012 when the uprising received phenomenal attention from the media worldwide. Qualitative content analysis of 48 newspaper editorials (24 NI/24 AN), demonstrates how senior media workers constructed the Arab Spring as an international conflict. Specifically, the lexical choices of editorial writers reveal that mainstream newspapers in both the countries positively framed the pro-Arab Spring protesters (public), who reportedly desired to bring the ‘change’. On the contrary, the media framing of the uprising also reflects that the newspapers negatively framed the anti-Arab Spring authorities (ruling elite), who reportedly resisted the ‘change’. A future research is recommended to investigate readers’ perspectives, as well, on the media portrayals of the Arab Spring or other similar conflicts which can give insights into how language use can impact and is impacted by ideology, cultural nuances and identity of diverse individuals.

News Framing of the Arab Spring Conflict from the Lens of Newspaper Editorials

News framing of events often restricts us to either ‘oppose’ or ‘favour’ a particular side/party involved in a conflict. This paper examines the print media framing of the Arab Spring in the editorials of The News International (NI) of Pakistan and Arab News (AN) of Saudi Arabia. The coverage sample consists of newspaper editorials published from January 2011 to December 2012 when the uprising received phenomenal attention from the media worldwide. Qualitative content analysis of 48 newspaper editorials (24 NI/24 AN), demonstrates how senior media workers constructed the Arab Spring as an international conflict. Specifically, the lexical choices of editorial writers reveal that mainstream newspapers in both the countries positively framed the pro-Arab Spring protesters (public), who reportedly desired to bring the ‘change’. On the contrary, the media framing of the uprising also reflects that the newspapers negatively framed the anti-Arab Spring authorities (ruling elite), who reportedly resisted the ‘change’. A future research is recommended to investigate readers’ perspectives, as well, on the media portrayals of the Arab Spring or other similar conflicts which can give insights into how language use can impact and is impacted by ideology, cultural nuances and identity of diverse individuals.

The ‘rise and fall’ of a genre: The generic and rhetorical renditions of a Runyankore-Rukiga editorial

This article explores the discursive practice of editorial writing in Runyankore-Rukiga print media. It also explicates the generic structure of Runyankore-Rukiga editorial text and the rhetorical devices that the editorial writers have invoked to comment on issues that affect society across different times of history. Using genre analysis, the article analyses a diachronic corpus of editorial texts across Ugandan local newspapers from 1955 to 2010. The article demonstrates that while the construction of a Runyankore-Rukiga editorial appears to conform to the architectural structure of an English editorial (Ansary and Babaii 2005), it does not adhere to its rhetorical moves and the attendant argumentation principles that govern the construction of an editorial text. During the early years (1960s) and throughout the 1970s of Runyankore newspaper writing, the editorial text was a significant genre often appearing on the front page and largely characterized by rhetorical moves consisting in religious and biblical propositions. The editorialists have occasionally employed proverbs to premise or reinforce their arguments, but also to bring humour to the text. The contemporary editorial text also exemplifies use of conversational language, a discursive style that appears to identify with and endear it to putative readers. While the genre has been in constant flux, Runyankore-Rukiga print media outlets have discontinued editorial writing because of commercial reasons and apprehension concerning the consequences of articulating issues that disfavour policies and undertakings of a coercive government. The article reiterates the significance of editorial writing in newspaper discourse and advocates continued articulation of other non-political issues that do not necessarily endanger print media praxis.