Genre Classification

In the East-European Tradition

There are three groups of newspaper genres that are differentiated in this tradition and these are: informative, analytical and publicistic. The first group includes such genres as

1) a piece of information (‘zametka’),

2) interview,

3) reportage (also report),

4) report (‘otchot’),

5) sketch (‘zarisovka’),

6) annotation.

Some of them, as for example a piece of information and sketch, can be treated as representatives of a small genre. In particular, a piece of information represents just a single fact (event) and may be differentiated into fact or event-based or extended. Further differentiation can be also found within the genre of the interview. There can be found an interview-monologue, an interview-dialogue, an interview-chat, and, besides, an interview covering a problem, an informative interview, an interview profile, an interview as a part of a report. The East-European tradition presupposes that the interviewer can assess the interviewee if s\he wishes (which can hardly be met in the West-European tradition).

The Belarusian school of the theory of journalism (B. V. Streltsov) considers that genre classification should be based on the method of our reality vision (reflection). Thus news is a kind of stating reality. Analytical and art pieces (features) employ the method of reality interpretation. If we treat newspaper genres from this point of view we can state that:

– the report (reportage) relates on whatever the writer has seen (reporting the event as a witness); in case it includes opinions we would call it a synthetic reportage;

– the report (otchet) states the content of some particular activity (directly or either topic- or focus-bias);

– sketch (zarisovka) employs the writer’s imagination and position ;

– caption is a description of a photo or its comment.

Analytical material (which employs the method of interpretation) includes:

1. article (directed thought, argument usage);

2. correspondentsiya, which may be current and topical;

3. comment (expression of attitudes and points of view);

4. review (retsenziya) – revision of particular films, books, performances etc.

Among the publicistic genres there are feature (ocherk), pamphlet, essay, and felyeton.

Genre as a Speech Behavior

Other approaches to genre classification can be regarded within the division of genres into open and closed, active and passive groups. Let us consider one of them presented in Методология исследований политического дискурса. Выпуск 1. Мн.: БГУ. 1998б стр. 180–181). It includes 22 genres viewed as the markers of speech behavior, which are grouped into 6 sets. They are the following:

A) reproduction of topical events (the picture of the contemporary world) as reporting on the events of home and foreign affairs coming together with cause-effect link. It enrolls such genres as (1) информация, (2) информационно-аналитический материал, (3) информация-полемика, (4) аналитика, (5) интервью, (6) фотофакт, (7) законодательные акты;

B) public opinion polling as the open forum of politicians and public figures, representatives of different social and professional strata. It enrolls such genres as: (8) письма читателей, (9) письма с редакционным комментарием, (10) полемические статьи, (11) мнения политиков, (12) письма о газете;

C) active genres (pragmatics as the expression of ideological and political credo of particular mass medium). This group involves: (13) цитата; могут входить также публицистика, памфлет, очерк, фельетон, каpикатура, коллаж;

D) satellite genres. Among them there are: (14) фотография, дружеский шарж;

E) culturology genres, enrolling: (15) страницы истории (исторический очерк), (16) художественная литература, (17) интеллектуальные игры, (18) развлекательная информация;

F) adverts: (9) объявления, (20) заказные статьи, (21) самореклама (реклама газеты), (22) реклама.