Vocabulary for talking about the news at Level B1. Let’s look at some of the vocabulary we use to talk about the news.
Types of news:
- current affairs (also called ‘current events’)
- politics
- weather
- traffic
- entertainment
- local/national/international news
People involved in the news:
- journalists (the person who researches and writes for the newspapers or other news outlets)
- reporters (the people who tell the public the news)
- anchors (also anchorman/anchorwoman – the person with the lead role on the television news)
- columnist (someone who writes a regular section)
- political correspondent (someone who reports on political news)
- presenter (the person in front of the camera in a studio)
Style of news writing:
- Sensationalist (making a story overly exciting or shocking – and generally less factual/accurate)
- Opinion piece (presenting an opinion on a news item)
- Impartial/objective (avoid opinion or bias – simply focusing on the facts)
Verbs relating to the news:
- to publish a story (to put a story into print or an a website for the public to see)
- to retract (or ‘a retraction’ – when something that was publish is now publicly withdrawn for being wrong, often with an apology)
- to cover a story (to investigate and report on a story)
- to leak a story (when information that was supposed to be secret is reported on publicly)
- go on the record (saying something publicly and officially – the opposite of ‘off the record‘, where the speaker will deny it if it is made public)
Types of news media:
- broadcast journalism (this is news that is broadcast on the TV or radio)
- online news
- magazines , journals and periodicals
- print journalism (newspapers and magazines)
- broadsheets (bigger newspapers – less common these days, but ones that fold out to A3 size)
- tabloid newspapers (‘the tabloids’) – a newspaper that is smaller than a broadsheet, often with stories that are design to shock or excite people but may not necessarily be factual.
Here are some more useful phrases you need to know:
Breaking news: Breaking news refers to a news story that contains information about an event that has just happened and is still developing. Updates about the situation are often added in real time. For example, a breaking news story might arise if a crisis situation occurs such as a war breaking out or another type of conflict situation starting, or in relation to a political situation or other important piece of news.
Top story: The ‘top story’ is the most important /first presented piece of news presented on the broadcast news. Often the television news will start with ‘Our top story tonight…’
A fluff piece: A news article that is not important and is often very light (not serious). The television news often ends with a fluff piece – some piece of local news about what a local cat has been doing, for example.
Now you have some more vocabulary for talking about the news at Level B1, look out for these news words!