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A Genre Analytical Comparison of Real and Fake News

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A Genre Analytical Comparison of Real and Fake News UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI A Genre Analytical Comparison of Real and Fake News Jaakko Salo Master’s Thesis English Philology Faculty of Arts University of Helsinki May 2019 Tiedekunta/Osasto – Fakultet/Sektion – Faculty Laitos – Institution – Department Humanistinen tiedekunta Nykykielten laitos Tekijä – Författare – Author Jaakko Salo Työn nimi – Arbetets titel – Title A Genre Analytical Comparison of Real and Fake News Oppiaine – Läroämne – Subject Englantilainen filologia Työn laji – Arbetets art – Level Aika – Datum – Month and year Sivumäärä– Sidoantal – Number of pages Pro gradu -tutkielma Toukokuu 2019 54 Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Tutkielmassa vertaillaan uutisten ja valeuutisten rakenteita menetelmällä nimeltään move-analyysi, joka kuuluu genreanalyysiin. Genreanalyysi pyrkii tulkitsemaan, kuvailemaan ja selittämään genrejen ominaispiirteitä, ja move-analyysiä käytetään tunnistamaan yhteyksiä tekstin rakenteen ja sisällön välillä. Tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, kuinka valeuutiset eroavat rakenteellisesti oikeista uutisista, mitkä rakenteelliset elementit voisivat auttaa valeuutisten tunnistamisessa, ja mikä on valeuutisten suhde oikeisiin uutisiin genren kannalta. Tutkielman aineisto koostuu 15 uutisesta ja 15 valeuutisesta, jotka ovat valittu Hornen ja Adalin vuonna 2017 kokoamasta ja julkisesti jakamasta yhdysvaltalaisten poliittisten uutisten aineistosta. Uutiset jaettiin tutkielmassa “move” -nimisiin osiin, jotka vastaavat yleistyksiä tekstin osien viestinnällisistä pyrkimyksistä. “Movet” puolestaan jaettiin osiin niiden erilaisten ilmentymistapojen mukaan. Jakaminen tapahtui määrittelemällä tekstin osien eli “movien” ja niiden ilmentymien rajat ja funktiot lingvistisen analyysin ja uutisarvojen mukaan, käyttämällä myös apuna tutkimusta uutisten rakenteesta. Tutkielma löysi pääasiallisia rakenteellisia osia eli “moveja” neljä kappaletta uutisille ja viisi valeuutisille: “otsikko”, “ingressi”, “leipäteksti” ja “lisätieto” kummallekin genrelle ja “paatos” valeuutisille. Ilmenemistapoja löytyi kuusi: tapahtuman-, yksityiskohdan-, taustan-, lähteen-, ja seurauksen raportti ja lisäksi kommentti. Tutkielman tulosten mukaan genret eroavat toisistaan siten, että artikkeleiden alussa ja lopussa valeuutisten sisältö painottuu mielipiteen ilmaisuun vahvemmin kuin oikeissa uutisissa. Oikeat uutiset seuraavat rakennetta, jossa tärkein esitetään ensin, mutta valeuutisissa on uutisia, jotka antavat yhtä suuren painoarvon myös artikkelin lopulle. Uutisaiheen kommentointi valeuutisissa on myös henkilökohtaisempaa kuin oikeissa uutisissa, ja sitä on enemmän, huolimatta siitä, että valeuutiset ovat keskimäärin aineistossa lyhyempiä. Valeuutisissa otsikon, leipätekstin ja ingressin suhteessa saattaa myös olla sisällöllisiä epäselvyyksiä ja lähteiden raportointi voi olla epäselvää, tai yksinkertaista ja toistavaa. Nämä erot voivat auttaa valeuutisten tunnistamisessa. Erot genrejen välillä voivat johtua siitä, mikä niissä nähdään keskeisenä uutisarvona: lukijan informoiminen, tai uutistapahtuman tai siihen liittyvien henkilöiden paheksuminen. Paheksunta näyttää tutkielman valossa olevan pääasiallinen valeuutisten jakama motiivi ja merkittävin ero uutisiin genrenä. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords Genre, genreanalyysi, move, move-analyysi, uutiset, valeuutiset, rakenne, uutisarvot Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringställe – Where deposited Helsingin yliopiston kirjasto/Keskustakampuksen kirjasto Muita tietoja – Övriga uppgifter – Additional information ii Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Background ........................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. What is genre analysis? ...................................................................................................................... 3 2.2. Relationship between move analysis and genre analysis ................................................................... 5 2.3. Previous studies on fake news ............................................................................................................ 7 3. Data ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 4. Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 9 4.1. Identification of moves and strategies .............................................................................................. 10 4.2. Analytical issues ............................................................................................................................... 13 5. Analytical Results................................................................................................................................ 14 5.1. Moves ............................................................................................................................................... 14 5.1.1. Headline..................................................................................................................................... 15 5.1.2. Lead ........................................................................................................................................... 16 5.1.3. Story Proper ............................................................................................................................... 17 5.1.4. Additional Information .............................................................................................................. 18 5.1.5. Other potential moves ............................................................................................................... 19 5.2. Strategies .......................................................................................................................................... 20 5.2.1. Reporting an event ..................................................................................................................... 20 5.2.2. Providing commentary .............................................................................................................. 22 5.2.3. Providing details ........................................................................................................................ 23 5.2.4. Providing background ............................................................................................................... 24 5.2.5. Attributing the source ................................................................................................................ 25 5.2.6. Providing a follow-up ................................................................................................................ 27 5.3. Comparison of moves ....................................................................................................................... 29 5.4. Comparison of strategies .................................................................................................................. 34 5.4.1. Differences in distribution ......................................................................................................... 34 5.4.2. Differences in use per strategy .................................................................................................. 37 5.4.3. Differences in use in relation to specific moves ........................................................................ 42 iii 6. Discussion ........................................................................................................................................... 45 6.1. Aims and results ............................................................................................................................... 45 6.2. How this study compares to previous ones ...................................................................................... 48 6.3. Possible applications ........................................................................................................................ 50 6.4. Reliability of results ......................................................................................................................... 51 6.5. Methodological issues ...................................................................................................................... 52 6.6. Suggestions for further study ........................................................................................................... 53 7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 54 1 1. Introduction Fake news come in various forms, ranging from stories or statements yet without confirmation to deliberate fabrications intended to mislead the public. The proliferation of fake news (especially the malicious kind) around the world is a problem as they continue to polarize public opinion, divide people and political groups even further from each other, and influence elections and policy making. Fact-checking and debunking claims is a slow and labor-intensive process (Zhao, 2018: 2), so researchers have been working on ways to quickly and conveniently identify fake news. Recent research has (mostly) focused on “theoretical modelling of propagation, or identification methods based on black-box machine
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