1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the role of deontic modality in creating evaluative meanings in hard news reporting. It also explores the concept of objectivity in news reporting and the government's requirements for objective reporting. The arguments presented by Tutwane and Rooney highlight the differences of opinion about what objectivity entails.

2 Objectivity

This chapter discusses the concept of objectivity in news reporting, and the ongoing debate surrounding its definition. Objectivity is seen from the angle of the news media, with principles such as neutrality, balance, and reliability being key components. The use of quotations as a characteristic mark of objectivity is problematic, as it involves subjective selection, interpretation, and exploitation of external voices for evaluative purposes. The appearance of evaluations or subjective opinions within 'objective' news reports renders objectivity a vague, obscure, and ideologically determined concept. Additionally, objectivity is viewed as intertwined with factuality, which highlights the complex and controversial nature of objectivity, with overlapping or even contradictory facets. The principle of balance, for example, requires the presentation of 'both sides of the story', but news reporters can embed their subjective comments and intrude into the text while quoting external news sources, leading to highly evaluative reporting. Instead of focusing on a specific definition of objectivity and neutrality, the research analyzes the different means by which evaluative or subjective language is mitigated and relates the findings to the range of perspectives on objectivity and neutrality.

3 Mitigation strategies in hard news reporting

This chapter discusses the concept of mitigation strategies in hard news reporting, focusing on the use of deontic modality to lessen or obscure the degree of direct subjectivity in implied evaluations. Rantsudu developed a system network of mitigating strategies, while Martin and White's approach is centered on "the construction of shared feelings and values". The chapter then delves into the role of deontic modality as a mitigation strategy in hard news reporting, providing examples and an extensive discussion of its role in the discourse. Furthermore, it highlights that deontic modality has been relatively overlooked compared to epistemic modality within the SFL tradition and in the literature on Appraisal. Finally, it mentions relevant literature on voices in journalism that emphasizes the interaction between 'reporter voice' and subjectivity in news texts classified as 'objective'.

4 Methodology

The methodological perspective for the analysis of deontic modality involves three different aspects of description: lexicogrammatical features, features that cooccur with deontic features, and an open system for the system of values. The data set consists of sixteen hard news stories from two Botswana English language newspapers, providing a rich resource for attitudinal meanings typically associated with hard news stories. The systems network developed on this data set is presented in Figure 2, comprising five main dimensions of systems: Domain type, Interactants, Source type, Primary modal target, and Secondary modal target. Domain type represents an open system of underlying social or cultural, and ideological or political values activated in the news stories. Interactants represents five interrelated subsystems of Source type, Primary modal target, Secondary modal target, Tertiary modal target, and modal Beneficiary. These subsystems represent interrelations between participants as they take different roles projected within the news stories. Within the subsystem of Source Type, participants are grouped according to the types of exchange environments in which they appear and how the text represents their roles. In summary, the study uses a data set of hard news stories to develop a systems network for deontic modality in hard news reporting, analyzing various dimensions of deontic modality and their interactions in news stories.

5 Analysis

This chapter analyzes the use of deontic modality in hard news reporting and its effectiveness in mitigating evaluative language. The focus is on a text that discusses a press conference held by opposition party leaders regarding a workers' strike. The author found that the repeated use of high force subjective modality is notable, as this feature is typically seen in editorials rather than hard news stories. The journalist seems to be giving their own advice to the government, in addition to reporting Mr. Saleshando’s speech, and the overall tone of the text primarily emphasizes good governance, with workers’ rights as subsidiary. This suggests a blurring of the distinction between authorial and reported voice, with the journalist, as author, using quoted sources to express their own thoughts and criticize the government.

6 Conclusion

This chapter discusses the range of variation in the strategic uses of deontic modality in hard news reporting and the interconnecting systems of meaning. It emphasizes the relevance of paradigmatic options and the choices that are not taken in discourse analysis. It also highlights deontic modality within a system of mitigation strategies and offers new angles of analysis.