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Is the press release a genre? A study of form and content Inger Lassen Discourse Studies 2006; 8; 503 DOI: 10.1177/1461445606061875 The online version of this article can be found at: http://dis.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/4/503

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A RT I C L E

503

Is the press release a genre? A study of form and content

INGER LASSEN

Discourse Studies Copyright © 2006 SAGE Publications. (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com Vol 8(4): 503–530. 10.1177/1461445606061875

A A L B O RG U N I V E R S I T Y

A B S T R A C T Although using different labels, genre theorists from different traditions have generally given privilege to the communicative purpose, in this article referred to as rhetorical objective, as genre determinant (see e.g. Swales, 1990; Bhatia, 1993; see also Hasan, 1989; Halliday and Martin, 1993; Eggins, 1994). Genre analysts who have studied press releases in particular (e.g. Frandsen et al., 1997; Jacobs, 1999) tend to share this view, but nevertheless categorize communicative events conveyed through the press release as belonging to one genre despite variation in rhetorical objectives. This article argues that although the press release may be seen as a genre on the basis of textual form, it does not qualify for the genre label if analysed in terms of content and rhetorical objective. To substantiate my claim, I shall discuss a small corpus of press releases, all focusing on a specific biotechnological issue. In my analyses I shall discuss staging in terms of content as well as logicosemantic relations between stages, patterns of stage combinations and their linguistic realizations with the aim of identifying variation in rhetorical objective. KEY WORDS:

biotechnology discourse, communicative purposes, context, intertextuality, news releases, press releases

1. Introduction and theoretical aspects Over the last 20 years, the analysis of non-literary genres has been mainly conducted via three different and yet overlapping orientations, which seem to differ primarily in the way they have balanced text and context in their categorization work. These are the North American school working within the rhetorical tradition, the Sydney School based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and the English for Specific Purposes approach (ESP) that shares with SFL certain viewpoints as to the conceptualization of communicative purpose. Traditionally, linguists have been preoccupied with formal textual features more


504 Discourse Studies 8(4)

than with construing contextual (social, cultural) patterns. However, as noted by Devitt (1993: 581) it is hardly possible to speak of context apart from text because ‘contexts are always textualized’ although this may be in very implicit terms. On this basis she argues in favour of a genre theory that sees genre as the interface between text and context, seeing that genres invariably reflect the social practice of the communities which own these genres. Studying them means studying the choices writers make in each individual and recurrent situation, described by Halliday (1994) as a function of the register dimensions Field, Tenor and Mode, and referred to by Butt and O’Toole (2003: 11) as a parametric approach to construing situational contexts. In spite of differences in approach and underlying philosophy, the three schools have come to agree on the nature of genre as ‘abstract, socially recognized ways of using language’ (Hyland, 2002: 114; for an excellent overview of the three theories, see Hyland, 2002). More recently, however, genre analysis has been challenged by discussions that have focused primarily on the key notions of discourse community and communicative purpose. Swales (1998: 1), in what he referred to as ‘a textography of a small university building’, described and analysed three different university units at the University of Michigan and made a successful rescue of the concept of discourse community by showing how different academic communities approach their everyday routines with remarkable variation. Along similar lines, the concept of communicative purpose emphasized by the ESP approach, notably Swales (1990), Bhatia (1993) and Bloor (1998), has given rise to some scepticism, which has been mainly due to operationalization difficulties caused by the status often ascribed to the concept as genre determinant (see e.g. Askehave, 1999). While the concept of communicative purpose remains central and valid to many analysts, its range of meaning and its use in genre categorization seems to be under constant influence and negotiation. Askehave and Swales (2001) have pointed to some of the problem areas in privileging communicative purpose as genre determinant, suggesting that ‘the purposes, goals, or public outcomes are more evasive, multiple layered, and complex than originally envisaged’ (p. 197). One of the problems seems to result directly from Swales’s much referenced definition of genre (1990): A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style. (p. 58)

According to this definition, the purposes, which constitute the rationale for the genre, are to be recognizable by the expert members of the discourse community. However, as noted by genre theorists (see e.g. Bhatia, 1999; see also Askehave and Swales, 2001), genres very often serve a number of more or less subtle and individual purposes in addition to the standardized purposes recognized by the professional community. In a book published in 2004, Swales revisits the genre


Lassen: Is the press release a genre? 505

notion and widens the content of his earlier definition, suggesting that rather than viewing genre as social action and something static, we would gain by viewing genre metaphorically as a frame in which social action can unfold. He extends the genre notion by suggesting that we look at genre chains and how they perform intertextually. A problem with Swales’s earlier definition seems to be that expert members do not always agree on what the communicative purposes are. Therefore, a great deal of analysis is needed before analysts as well as experts are able to identify the communicative purposes of a genre, not least because there seems to be no one-to-one relationship between linguistic form and communicative function. By implication, analysis based on text only will not allow the analyst to see the relations between surface linguistic features and the socially determined combination of stages and communicative purposes, which are consequently ‘largely unavailable’ in the early genre categorization stages, a point demonstrated by Askehave and Swales (2001). To solve some of these problems and to rescue the notion of communicative purpose as a valid concept, they suggest that communicative purpose be abandoned as a starting point for the analysis. The concept should instead be seen as a ‘long-term outcome’ of a more wide-ranging analysis. The authors suggest that in this way communicative purpose may retain its status as a ‘privileged’ criterion, but in a different sense of the word. Against this background I shall follow the argument by Askehave and Swales (2001: 210) that, although communicative purpose is not ‘privileged by centrality, prominence or self-evident clarity’, it is still a valid concept in genre categorization, especially if due respect is paid to the complexity of the concept. Because of the lack of ‘self-evident clarity’ admittedly residing in the concept of communicative purpose, I shall – in the rest of this article – be referring to the socially determined and at times ideologically loaded work inscribed or evoked in texts, as the case may be, as rhetorical objectives – a notion borrowed from White (1997). Rhetorical objectives are then to be understood as goals that may be construed from a given text, here the press release, and its contextual setting. It is important to note that in this article my perspective is that of the reader/analyst. One of the questions I am asking is thus: which resources are available to the reader or analyst for construing the rhetorical objectives of a text? To answer this question I am going to suggest that a distinction be drawn between context-derived and text-derived rhetorical objectives. By contextderived rhetorical objectives, I mean objectives that are socially motivated but cannot be read off the text immediately available to the reader or analyst; they are, however, somehow textualized as implicit traces of other texts or social activities that, in Lemke’s words form ‘relevant contexts for each other’s interpretation’ (1985: 276). I will revert to the notion of intertextuality later in this article. Text-derived rhetorical objectives are then objectives that are realized in the text; if we did not have access to knowledge about the contextual setting in which a given text is embedded, linguistic form and communicative function



might be confused, and as readers or analysts of such decontextualized texts, we might construe social realities on a misguided basis, which in fact we sometimes do. The position I am taking here is that knowledge is a function of textualized contexts, to stay with Devitt’s claim (1993), and as such based on what we have heard or read earlier. Knowledge may be said to be a residue of what White (1997) and others before him have referred to as narrative and the narrative impulse, which is thought to be a key resource in human beings for constructing social reality. Thus I would claim that texts form an interface between discourse and society and that knowledge mirrors this interface in a dynamic, not a static way. The notion of knowledge is discussed extensively by van Dijk (1999) as part of what he refers to as context models. To van Dijk, who argues the need of a cognitive interface between text and context, context models are mental maps incorporating various types of knowledge such as personal and socio-cultural knowledge, and these different knowledge systems are thought to be crucial elements when readers try to make sense of a text. In SFL, context was originally associated with register in terms of the dimensions of Field, Tenor and Mode, which together describe the context of situation in that texts that share the same linguistic features by making the same selections from a semantic system are said to belong to the same register. However, Lemke (1985) although recognizing register as a strong analytical tool in some of its dimensions, argues that the notion of register is unable to capture many of the relationships between texts that reflect social activity. By situating register as a semiotic between language and genre, Martin (1992) makes an effort to solve this problem, acknowledging that social action plays as important a role in the construction of text as language. In Martin’s view, genre thus acts as the interface between register and social action through language, and thus becomes a contextualization resource. After this brief introduction to key notions, let us proceed now to a discussion of the focus of this article, viz. press releases. 1.1.

PRESS RELEASES

The texts selected for exploration in this study are commonly known as press releases. However, as will appear from the following theoretical introduction, the press release label is by no means an unambiguous genre designation, and I shall argue that the press release is not a genre, but rather a media-channel (in SFL terms an element in the Mode system), used as a vehicle to carry a variety of rhetorical objectives, and hence a variety of genres. However, taking notice of the criticism made by Devitt (2004: 5) of theories treating genre as ‘a container’ – an approach that tends to separate textual form and communicative content – one can hardly begin to dethrone the press release from genre status without at the same time asking whether we are happier with a capacity for recognizing any recurrence of formal features than with a capacity for carrying out in-depth analysis of texts to arrive at conclusions at more delicate levels. I believe that the answer to this question may be found in our application needs and whether we



are readers or writers, members of a specific discourse community, involved in pedagogical work, or analysts with the sole purpose of explaining why changes occur. In other words, one approach is not categorically better than the other, but serves different purposes. Before I go on with a presentation of the empirical study, an overview of press release research may be helpful. Much research into the nature of press releases has explored how they were used as a news pre-formulating device. According to Jacobs (1999: xi) ‘the only raison d’être of the Press Release is to be retold [. . .] as accurately as possible, preferably even verbatim, in news reporting’. As demonstrated by Jacobs, before the Internet emerged, the press release did not exist in its own right. Instead, its fate was determined through the goodwill of journalists, and only if they could accept the style and contents selected for publication by the company press release writer, would the press release be published. Obviously, such a procedure severely constrains the freedom of the author, which would to a certain extent account for the relatively stable structure and form that we see in many printed releases. (See Jacobs, 1999, for an extensive study; see also Morton, 1988; Johnson and Haythornthwaite, 1989; Walters et al., 1994; Sleurs et al., 2003.) Such studies focus on how press release writers would most effectively achieve the goal of having their release taken up by the media. Thus Morton (1988) looked at the effectiveness of camera-ready copy in press releases and found that camera-ready materials had a better chance of getting published. Johnson and Haythornthwaite (1989) looked at the functions fulfilled by press releases as a medium of communication between the government and the public. In their 1989 study, in which they interviewed press officers of two ministries and two quangos in London, they found that no specific categories of information were automatically labeled press release by the ministries. However, the same methods that were used for releasing press releases were used for documents released under a variety of headings such as, for example, ‘news bulletins’, ‘publication notices’ or ‘food facts’ (Johnson and Haythornthwaite, 1989). But regardless of label, house styles preferred by different government departments had to be compromised in order to satisfy the constraints on format placed by newspaper editors, who very much performed a gatekeeper role. These findings are corroborated by Walters et al. (1994), who studied 60 press releases in order to demonstrate that, more often than not, press releases are written in a style that makes it necessary for journalists to edit the material to match editorial and stylistic requirements. This was mostly done by reducing the length of the press release and by simplifying syntax, which was felt to be necessary in most press material. However, it is important to note that Walters et al. understand press releases in a wide sense to include editorials, staff announcements and book reviews and thus extend the meaning of the press release category outside the range normally included in ‘folk categorizations’. A recent noticeable development is that press releases are increasingly being placed on websites by individual companies, which necessarily will threaten the bond that traditionally existed between journalists working for the media and



company press release writers. With the Internet, companies have gained unprecedented freedom as to what they write in their press releases because they no longer depend on the opinion of a journalist to the same extent, but have the possibility to publish directly on their websites. However, in a case study on the construction of pseudo-quotations in press releases (Sleurs et al., 2003), the pre-formulating role demonstrated by Jacobs (1999) continues to be an underlying assumption as may be seen from the following quotation: As the nature of journalists’ professional routines is rapidly changing, press releases continue to play a major role in the production of today’s news, either on paper or online. (Jacobs, 1999: 193)

But the quotation also shows that online press releases begin to gain ground. That the assumption may be a valid one is substantiated by newer research of Internet-based press releases. An example of such research is Callison’s study of all Fortune 500 company websites accessible in 2001. The purpose was to determine to what extent companies use the Internet to meet journalists’ informational needs (Callison, 2003). Callison (2003) referred to The Seventh Annual Middleburg/Ross Survey of Media in the Wired World, which had demonstrated a significant increase of journalists’ use of the Internet for article research between 1995 and 2001 – from 60 percent to 92 percent – to get ideas for stories (O’Keefe, 1997, cited in Callison, 2003). This partly confirms Sleurs et al.’s assumption that press releases serve the purpose of pre-formulating the news and partly lines up a new situation in which the Internet plays an increasingly significant role to two constituencies: the journalists who write media stories and the press release writers, who are no longer constrained by strict gatekeeper rules and conventions. Callison (2003) found that although much effort is being done to assist the journalists by making press releases available on the Internet, many companies could do more to facilitate media relations by establishing press rooms. However, although many different press room labels were used, the two most frequent labels were News Room or Press Room, which makes navigation relatively simple for journalists. Interestingly, press releases were categorized under the combined label ‘press/news releases’, which would indicate there to be no clear demarcation line between the two. Overall, this makes for a rather complex picture of the way in which press releases are seen by text producers and consumers. It would seem that the label press release might in some interpretations include a number of documents with the only criterion that their function is one of informing the public of a news item. On the other hand, the notion of press release defined as a text with the label press release written on top, may be subsumed under broader higher-level categories that would also include documents such as company fact sheets, annual reports, corporate profile and company mission statements – documents that the press release very often draws on intertextually to form what Fairclough (1995) has referred to as a hybrid genre.


Lassen: Is the press release a genre? 509 1.2.

RHETORICAL OBJECTIVES

An aspect of importance to a discussion of rhetorical objectives may be found in the contextual setting in which a press release is issued. One may, for example, assume that there is a difference between the communication needs of humanitarian organizations and companies, due to their different circumstances. Thus, Johnson and Haythornthwaite (1989) found that the rhetorical objectives of press releases vary according to the context in which they are issued. Interviews with press release writers suggested that rhetorical objectives (in what Johnson and Haythornthwaite referred to as functions) were written ‘to inform the public of decisions made’ or as ‘an exercise in the communication of politics’ (Johnson and Haythornthwaite, 1989: 105), but the public role was found to be important in both situations. The disparity becomes evident if looking at the Equal Opportunities Commission, which issued press releases that promoted opportunities for women, thus stating an objective different from that of informing the public about a decision made. A further point made by Johnson and Haythornthwaite on the basis of their interviews with press officers was that ‘Press Releases could be used to sway public opinion on sensitive issues’ (Johnson and Haythornthwaite, 1989: 105). The contrast with corporate press releases becomes clear if we look at McLaren and Gurau’s study of 50 press releases issued by 20 UK-based biotechnology companies (2005). The study was designed to identify characteristics of what was referred to as ‘press releases as a genre’ and to relate the characteristics to context and ‘the goals they are designed to serve’ (p. 10) (goals corresponding to rhetorical objectives). It was found that the press releases studied in the corpus showed great regularity in terms of format and structure and the conclusion was made that the format is characteristic of UK biotechnology sector press releases and that the same format would probably apply to other corporate press releases, too. An additional conclusion was that the press releases included both an information-oriented move and a more evaluative move, based on variation of linguistic features from one move to the next. The moves were seen as a result of the combined purposes of creating a positive corporate image and the need to provide information about technical details in a reliable and matter-of-fact manner, which were seen as strategies for achieving the ultimate goals of reassuring and attracting investors. The scant variation between the press releases studied made the authors suggest that the press release is ‘a highly conventionalized and indeed static genre’ (p. 26). Against this background there would seem to be crucial variation in terms of rhetorical objectives if we compare corporate press releases with press releases issued by, for example, aid organizations or government institutions, which might ipso facto indicate genre variation too. This assumption is corroborated by White (1997) who studied ‘hard news’ reporting and found there to be major difference between the generic staging of a press release issued by an aid organization with the rhetorical objective of portraying the organization as ethical with commendable humanistic values, and a news report based on the same press release, but issued by an Australian radio news department. The



latter used what White referred to as a satellite structure, reorganizing and thereby highlighting newsworthy aspects of a news event. Iedema (1997) offering an overview of accident news writing over 150 years, confirms White’s description of ‘hard news’ writing, which would indicate important variation between some press releases and the news reports they are assumed to preformulate. This position is contradictory to that of theorists, who refer to the press release as a genre, among them Frandsen et al. (1997), who suggest that the press release has the primary purpose of informing the media and the general public about a noteworthy news item. They also identify a number of secondary purposes such as ‘maintaining a good relationship with the press’ and on this basis claim that press releases may be divided into sub-genres. To Frandsen and colleagues, therefore, the press release is a super-ordinate genre with a number of sub-genres. In spite of the value of this approach in pedagogical applications, it seems to be a problem that genre categorization is based on textual form rather than on communicative function and content, which will appear from their suggestion of the following move-structure for press releases: ● ● ● ●

Genre label Summary of central information Elaboration of central information Contact person/address

It would seem to me that these four moves are not sufficiently distinctive to elevate the press release to genre level, and I believe a categorization approach that emphasizes the importance of rhetorical objectives on the basis of communicative function rather than on textual form is needed. As discussed earlier, the genre label may occasionally be too vague as is the situation with the label ‘business letter’, which is a cover term for a variety of letters with different rhetorical objectives. Moreover, a summary and elaboration of central information cannot be said to be characteristic of the press release only, but might be found in many other genres, such as newsletters, sales letters, etc. In a discussion of genre labels as classification and form, Devitt (2004) accepts that readers identify genres on the basis of repeated textual patterns, which amounts to form, and suggests that ‘to deny generic labels to genres identified as such by their users [. . .] would seem presumptuous, especially in a rhetorical theory of genre that emphasizes the users and uses of genres’ (pp. 10–11). But she goes on to argue that in spite of readers associating genres with textual form because of specific textual traces, this does not mean that these traces constitute the genre. Devitt’s point of view is exemplified with reference to emails, a genre label readers have given to this particular method of correspondence regardless that emails may have many different communicative functions, contents and rhetorical objectives, and she suggests that over time emails will probably be given different labels reflecting the different genres contained in the email form. I would suggest that an analogy may be drawn



between emails and press releases as regards a distinction of textual form and communicative function in that both genre labels are based on textual form more than on communicative function, content and rhetorical objectives. Having said this, however, I still believe it is necessary to base a preliminary analysis on formal traits as suggested by Barton (2002), who advocates discourse analysis where the analyst looks at texts to identify what she refers to as ‘rich features’. To Barton rich features are ‘those features that are meaningful across the texts and their contexts’ (p. 24) and they consequently reflect and at the same time shape context. They are features that might suggest differences in argumentative structures leading to an understanding of how a predominance of specific textual features (rich features) may indirectly give substance to the rhetorical objectives that may be construed from texts and contexts.

2. Test case The empirical analyses substantiating the theoretical introduction above were based on 18 Internet press releases, which had been made available on websites all showing an interest in biotechnology and all with a link named either press releases or news releases. This made for an average of approximately 833 words per text. To keep the focus constant, I selected texts offering information about the recently debated issue of vitamin A-enriched rice, a genetically engineered crop promoted by for-profit organizations in agribusiness as the solution to malnutrition in the Third World. This point of view has been widely contested by the other party to the debate represented by non-profit organizations who claim that malnutrition is a result of an uneven distribution of wealth and that political, not biotechnological, solutions are needed. In an ongoing discussion that began in 1999 and gradually subsided during 2002, the contestants have voiced their opinions, and one of their Modes has been the press release. To further elucidate the nature of this battleground, I made an even selection of press releases written by opponents and proponents of genetically engineered rice. The opponents included Greenpeace, TWN (Third World Network), Common Dreams Progressive Newswire and Organic Consumers Association while the proponents consisted of Monsanto, Seedquest and Ag BioTech InfoNet. By selecting press releases originating from different sources I relied on a previous study, which pointed to significant variation in the rhetorical strategies used in a press release written by Monsanto compared to one written by the InterPress Third World News Agency. Through an analysis of the interplay of Theme/Rheme and Grammatical Metaphor (GM) (Lassen, 2004) it was found that the device of GM was used much more frequently in the Monsanto press release with the effect that the Monsanto text appeared to be vaguer and more abstract in the sense that events were realized through verb-derived nouns rather than through verbal processes (Halliday and Martin, 1993). The study indicated different communicative purposes in the two press releases, which led me to assume that communicative purposes somehow intersect with rhetorical strategies.



3. Analysis Inspired by Swales (1990), Martin (1992), Bhatia (1993), Eggins (1994), Halliday (1994), Rothery and Stenglin (1997), Askehave and Swales (2001) and Barton (2002), I analysed selected dimensions of three text levels: ● ● ●

Rhetorical objective(s) Staging Linguistic features (stylistic, grammatical)

Using a text-driven procedure as suggested by Askehave and Swales (2001), a preliminary analysis was made on the basis of what Barton (2002) referred to as ‘rich features’, which indicated that some of the texts stood in stark contrast to others as it was possible to discern differences in linguistic features, staging and consequently in rhetorical objectives. Now, it is commonly accepted among genre analysts that boundaries between stages are fuzzy, a statement that is borne out by Paltridge (1994). However, in an attempt to capture precisely the elements in the text that give rise to the emergence of a new stage, and following Veel (1997), I focused attention on cohesive elements, and more specifically on conjunction – a device that helps create semantic relations between clauses and sentences. There is no guarantee that by exploring conjunction, we will find a clear stagestructure (Paltridge, 1994; Fairclough, 2003), but because an analysis of these meaning relations pointed to differences of some significance between individual texts as well as texts written by proponents compared to those written by opponents, I used this approach in an analysis of the ‘rich feature’ of conjunction (temporal, consequential, comparative). Further, to capture the dimension of intertextuality as contextually significant, I looked at polarity in terms of negation, another seemingly ‘rich feature’ that might give some indication of what White (2003), inspired by Bakhtin (1981, 1986), has referred to as ‘dialogistic positioning’. The purpose was to use these linguistic features as an entry point into the texts. Having analysed linguistic features in terms of conjunction and negation, I explored whether it was possible to establish a combination of stages common to the 18 texts. It should be noted here that by stage combination I mean patterns of variation of obligatory and non-obligatory stages, not to be confused with the order in which stages occur in a communicative event. To be able to categorize a communicative event as belonging to a specific genre, it is necessary to pay attention to the objectives of each individual stage and how these objectives are resemiotized (Iedema, 2003) as rhetorical features at text level. This does not mean that linguistic features constitute an adequate tool for navigation, but if they cluster in specific syndromes as suggested by Halliday (1993), they may point in certain directions towards different genre labels. By implication, therefore, differences in stage combinations may be more important than similarities if we are looking for evidence that may substantiate the assumption


Lassen: Is the press release a genre? 513 TA B L E

1 . Classification of logico-semantic relations

Main type

Subtypes

Examples

Additive1

Addition Alternation Similarity Contrast Simultaneous Successive Purpose Condition Consequence Concession Manner

and or likewise but while, as then, after so that if, unless because, since although thereby

Comparative/adversative Temporal Consequential

Note: 1Martin’s classification builds on Halliday and Hasan (1976) and Halliday (1994). ‘Additive’ falls under Halliday’s category of extension, ‘comparative’ (similar to Halliday’s ‘adversative’ category) corresponds to Halliday’s category of elaboration while ‘temporal’ and ‘consequential’ are subsumed under the categories of enhancement. Martin’s use of the term ‘consequential’ may be compared to Halliday’s ‘causal’. These differences in terminology are mainly due to differences in delicacy in the system network.

that press releases might not constitute a genre. However, before we begin the analysis of stage combinations, let us look more closely at elements of conjunction at text level. 3.1.

CONJUNCTION

In Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1994), conjunction is described under the main categories of elaboration, extension and enhancement. Martin (1992) re-classified this typology into the categories shown in Table 1. In this article I have considered temporal, consequential and comparative conjunction to be rich features, partly because of their relatively high frequency in some of the texts, partly because these three types of conjunction have a semantic potential that points to different ways of structuring a text and arguing a point, which might then help explain differences in stage-structure that in the final analysis reflect differences in social practice and objective. The analysis of conjunction should thus be seen as a heuristic entry point facilitating further analysis of other genre-related dimensions. Temporal conjunction organizes a text in time, as a sequence of events. A high frequency of temporal conjunction in a text may therefore indicate a narrative structure rather than an argumentative. Consequential conjunction helps explain the rationale behind a text, why certain propositions are included and why the text was written in the first place. Consequential conjunction may be seen as a marker of an argument structure where an issue is seen from different perspectives. The third type of conjunction, viz. comparative conjunction, indicates the writer’s ideological stance, no matter whether the contrasting propositions are uttered by the writer or attributed to some external source.



3.1.1. Temporal conjunction The texts analysed showed differences in average incidences of temporal conjunctions such as e.g. when, once, while, as, then, before. Moreover, text organizing time adverbials like in the short term, in the long term, already, still, today, next year, etc. were also strongly represented in some of the texts. However, while there were marked differences between the individual texts ranging from 0.3 occurrences per 100 words to 1.5 occurrences per 100 words, the general pattern did not vary much in the press releases written by opponents and proponents respectively. In other words, temporal conjunction was used in all 18 press releases and the variation in frequency did not seem to correlate with sender profiles. 3.1.2. Consequential conjunction By contrast, a study of consequential conjunction, shows that this feature was more salient in the opponents ‘texts than in the proponents’ texts. Of nine texts written by opponents, as many as seven texts had examples of consequential conjunctions (e.g. if, so, although, while, because, still, despite, as a result, therefore), while the same feature was observable in only four out of nine texts written by proponents. 3.1.3. Comparative adversative conjunction A third rich feature turned out to be comparative conjunction (but, however), a feature that Halliday (1994) has labelled adversative conjunction. It was found that the opponents had a predilection for the use of adversatives since eight of the nine opponents’ texts contained adversative conjunctions. By contrast, adversative conjunctions were only present in four of the texts written by proponents and only in two of those to any significant extent. This difference suggests that many of the texts written by the opponents were designed to argue a point rather than to retell an event, which was the situation for many of the texts written by proponents. 3.1.4. Negation A similar pattern was observed in the proponents’ and opponents’ approaches to negation. Interestingly, the proponents seemed to negate propositions in only four of the texts and the average incidence per 100 words was rather low. The opponents, on the other hand, showed a tendency to use negation to a much larger extent. All of the nine texts had examples of negation, and in six of the nine texts the average incidence per 100 words exceeded 0.5. Negation is used to contradict an implicit or explicit assertion, as the case may be, and in that sense its function in many ways resembles that of the comparative adversative conjunction but. Similarly, consequential conjunctions may be used to convince a reader of the logical relationship between different propositions. The three features were therefore used when a writer wished to argue a point, either through logic or through a representation of ‘fact’.



3.1.4.1. Intertextuality Closely related to negation is the idea of dialogic positioning – a concept originally introduced by Bakhtin (1986). The central idea is here that texts usually incorporate or go into dialogue with other texts or text parts through different voices. Intertextuality plays a significant role on today’s research agenda, and many theorists have taken the concept to heart, including, for example, Fairclough (1995, 1999, 2003) who relates intertextuality to assumptions, which he uses as a cover terms for presuppositions, entailments and implicatures. Texts, he says (2003: 40) ‘inevitably make assumptions. What is said in a text is said against a background of what is unsaid, but taken as given’. An example of a background of something unsaid but taken for given in a text is found in denials, whose primary function is to negate assertions made in earlier texts or text parts. The principle behind Fairclough’s approach to intertextuality and assumption formed the basis of an analysis of intertextual chains of claims and counterclaims in press release headlines (Lassen, 2003) where the existence of a genetically modified product ‘Golden Rice’ was assumed and its alleged beneficial characteristics denied by difference voices. The same principle may be observed in example 1, an extract from a Monsanto press release issued on 1 August 2001: Example 1 One year after Monsanto Company made its draft rice genome sequence data available to the worldwide research community, the data has significantly expanded scientific knowledge and accelerated research projects. These projects can lead to more nutritious and higher yielding rice, a staple crop that contributes to food security in developing countries. [. . .] ‘By sharing fundamental data about the rice genome, we hope to encourage additional research collaborations that will lead to a wide variety of discoveries to enhance food security and nutrition throughout the developing world’, said Robb Fraley, Chief Technology Officer of Monsanto.

In example 1 the assertion is made that public access to Monsanto’s draft rice genome sequence data will lead to 1) more nutritious rice and 2) enhanced food security in the developing world. This assertion is denied in a press release written by the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) and issued on 27 August 2001 as shown in example 2: Example 2 Genetically engineered crops cost more and produce less, are environmentally risky, and may eclipse more affordable and practical alternatives, claims a new scientific report released by the food policy think tank, Food First. [. . .] ‘Biotechnology companies and associated scientific bodies are making false promises that genetic engineering will move agriculture away from a dependence on chemical inputs, reduce environmental problems, and solve world hunger’, writes University of California biologist and author of the report, Dr Miguel Altieri. ‘Such promises are founded on philosophical and scientific premises that are fundamentally flawed [. . .]’ [. . .] Golden Rice is not a viable solution to Vitamin A deficiency. (emphasis added)



Although the denials are mostly expressed in indirect terms, through lexical words that contain semantic values that oppose those presented in example 1 – produce less, environmentally risky – or by discrediting promises made by biotechnology companies as false and founded on flawed premises, I would argue that although they are not formally negations, their role is to negate assertions made in the public debate by actors who are favourably disposed towards genetically engineered crops. To sum up, negation, consequential and adversative conjunction turned out to occur frequently in the opponents’ texts, while temporal conjunction seemed to be used to the same extent in both text categories. In the 18 texts analysed, however, usually when temporal conjunction was a rich feature, the other three features were less salient, which might indicate different approaches to text organization and argumentative strategies. 3.2.

STAGING 1

By analysing conjunction at the rhetorical level, we begin to discern the contours of differences in rhetorical objectives, although, as we shall see, it is not sufficient to look at differences between temporal and other types of conjunction. This observation is corroborated by other research, which has shown that the boundaries between different parts of a text can hardly be determined with reference to conjunction alone. To illustrate this point, I shall therefore take the analysis one step further into the following analysis of text-internal and textexternal features in two texts with different stage combinations. The texts analysed are shown in Box 1, pp. 518–9 (for a breakdown of texts, see Table 2). 3.2.1. Text-internal features Text 2 falls into a category that Bhatia (1993) has labelled promotional writing while Text 18 might be classified as rebuttal. The rationale behind these labels will be explained in what follows. Text 2 opens with an initial stage that introduces a new initiative, which is seen from the very first sentence where a verbal Process in the present tense announce and a Goal, agreement that will accelerate completion, indicate that a new initiative with some future impact has been taken. The initial stage in Text 18, on the other hand, opens with a proposition: Rice seeds fortified with Vitamin A are the new genetically engineered food item. The proposition is contested with a new proposition within the same sentence: but critics say it is a public relations move to fix the image problem. It is the combination of these two propositions that constructs the topic as a controversial issue. The second stage of Text 2, in which it is explained why the initiative was taken, may be established on the basis of the mental process is expected to, which shows that a suppressed and unnamed agent sees the rationale for Syngenta cooperating with NIAS. In Text 18 no such stage can be identified. However, both texts offer background information (stage 3 in Text 2 and stage 2 in Text 18). On the basis of a generic analysis of all 18 press releases, this stage seems to be obligatory, unordered and recursive in both text types. The most salient surface



feature of this stage is a past tense, was developed and was published in Text 2 and acquired and had engineered in Text 18. However, also the generalizing simple present tense may indicate a background stage like in Text 18: this gives the rice a golden hue. A further difference between the two texts is that Text 18 has a stage that I have labelled Stating claims and counterclaims. I would argue that this stage is unordered, obligatory and, most importantly, discriminatory because it is through this stage that the text obtains its contesting quality. A salient linguistic feature is here the use of the adversative conjunction but, which is often but not necessarily combined with negation. Both texts share the obligatory and unordered stage that I have referred to here as substantiation. By substantiation I mean any proposition that aims at justifying the overall idea of the text, whether the writer expresses a high degree of affinity with an idea or s/he attributes a given proposition to external sources through quotations. The difference in the way in which substantiation is used in Texts 2 and 18 is that the writer selects external sources of different observations in Text 18 where two different stances are constructed while in Text 2 where no issue is being contested, the writer relies on external sources who side with the idea expressed in the text. The last two stages in both texts are coded as optional. The recording events stage is characterized by the frequent use of temporal conjunctions and conjuncts. This stage is present in Text 18 where it performs the cohesive function of organizing the text. The stage is found more often in texts whose primary objective is to recount a series of events than in argumentative texts such as rebuttals and viewpoints. The reorientation stage is found in both Text 2 and 18 and its function probably is to wind up the text, which may again be seen from the verb tenses used. In Text 2 the stage begins with a generalizing statement in the present tense: Syngenta is the most important cereal crop and continues with statements leading into the future: will be able to identify. Similarly, in Text 18 the reorientation stage begins with a generalizing, but also concluding statement: Thai farmers are edgy over the introduction of Golden Rice. The stage then continues by explaining that the farmers are edgy because they are still not convinced. This implies that after many attempts at convincing farmers, described earlier in the Press Releases, the conclusion is that it has been all in vain as they remain unconvinced. A final observation to be made for the two texts under review is that Text 2 ends with a mission statement, a fixed-order stage that was found to be optional. Elements that might indicate that this move has much in common with a mission statement are found in lexis, and more precisely in the sentence: The company is committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology. Other signals include the very positive comments about the size and importance of Syngenta. By contrast, Text 18 does not have a mission statement stage, which is an additional differentiating feature. A statement such as ‘the company is committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and



Text 2: SeedQuest News Releases, Tokyo, 23 May 2002 (recursive stages not repeated) Stage 1: Introducing a new initiative International Rice Genome Sequencing Project and Syngenta Announce agreement that will accelerate completion of a finished rice genome sequence The National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) and Syngenta (SYT) announced today that they have signed an agreement to share the Syngenta rice genome draft sequence data with the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP). Stage 2: ^Stating purposes of the initiative The Syngenta contribution is expected to accelerate completion of a finished sequence and reduce overall project costs. Stage 3: *↓Offering background information The Syngenta draft rice genome sequence, developed by The Torrey Mesa Research Institute (TMRI), the genomics research center of Syngenta, was developed using the whole genome shotgun sequencing method. TMRI estimates the sequence covers more than 99 percent of the genome and is 99.8 percent accurate. A description of the draft sequence was published in the April 5, 2002 edition of Science. Stage 4: *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes “We applaud Syngenta for making this contribution”, said Dr. Takuji Sasaki, Director of the NIAS. “Rice is the most important cereal crop for half of the world’s population. When the sequence is complete, we will be able to pinpoint the crucial genes and expedite transfer of beneficial traits to local varieties of rice. This will result in enormous benefits for people in developing countries.” Stage 5: ^(Reorientation) Rice is the most important cereal crop for half of the world’s population. Increasing population pressure, coupled with losses in arable land, water, energy-dependent fertilizer, and other resources for sustaining agriculture, make it especially important to maximize rice productivity. Using a finished rice genome map, plant breeders will be able to identify traits for yield, disease resistance, and tolerance to environmental stress. Stage 6: ^(Mission Statement) Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness. The company ranks first in crop protection, and third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in 2001 were approximately US$6.3 billion. Syngenta employs more than 20,000 people in over 50 countries. The company is committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology. Syngenta is listed on the Swiss stock exchange and in London, New York and Stockholm.

Text 18: TWN Third World Network Press Release, Bangkok, 22 June 2000, Kelvin Ng (recursive stages not repeated) Stage 1: Raising an issue ‘GOLDEN RICE’ HAS NO SHINE, SAY CRITICS Rice seeds fortified with Vitamin A are the new genetically engineered food item, but critics say it is a public relations move to fix the image problem of genetically altered products and should be kept away from rice-dependent Asia.



Stage 2: *↓Offering background information Under a May 16 agreement, the UK-based agro-technology giant Zeneca Agrochemicals and Germany-based Greenovation acquired exclusive rights to a new strain of genetically engineered Vitamin A rice. Swiss and German scientists had engineered the rice to produce beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A. This gives the rice a golden hue. Stage 3: *↓Stating claims and counterclaims Zeneca will license and distribute the seed free to poor farmers – but agriculture activists do not want the product used in South-east Asia. [….] The U.S. global seed giant Monsanto was researching a self-sterilising seed that will force farmers to buy its seeds for replanting, but vehement protests last year halted research. Stage 4: *↓Substantiation “The motive of these TNCs is not really to help humanity”, Withoon Lianchamroon, coordinator for BIOTHAI, a biodiversity and farmers’ rights group, said in an interview. “Their goal is profit. We can’t hand over the future of our farmers to them like that.” Stage 5 *↓ (Recording events) [Under a May 16 agreement, … Zeneca acquired …..] [In a May 16 Statement, Zeneca quoted…] [In a statement issued earlier in June…] [….in a Jun 2 statement …] [In recent years…] Stage 6 ^(Reorientation) Witoon adds that Thai farmers are edgy over the introduction of Golden Rice because they are still not convinced that the consumption and cultivation of genetically modified seed is risk-free. B OX

1 . Texts

technology’ is an example of modern marketing discourse used by some companies to ‘project their corporate philosophy’ as suggested by Swales and Rogers (1995: 221). Focusing on contextual and intertextual aspects, Swales and Rogers did a comprehensive corpus-based study of mission statements from two American companies and found that beyond the linguistic and rhetorical features, which have a lot in common from one mission statement to the next, there are different communicative purposes to be identified, if taking a closer look at context. One cannot help noting, in passing, that there seems to be some similarity in the roles played by context in construing rhetorical objectives in mission statements and in press releases. In both cases linguistic and rhetorical elements seem to be insufficient signals, and the study of context should be given more weight than is often the case. Ideally, this should happen where social practice unfolds, to strike a balance between a practice-based approach and a text-based approach. However, before taking up a more ethnographic approach to studying context, it may be rewarding to contemplate some of the possible contextual scenarios that the texts may construe and this is what I shall do in the rest of this article. To sum up the two texts have different stage-combinations, but



most importantly they do not share the obligatory stage of stating claims and counterclaims, which is a crucial argument for defining the two texts as achieving different communicative purposes and hence belonging to two different genres. 3.2.2. Text-external features When we establish criteria and find clues that may guide us in our efforts to find text boundaries, we intuitively use all the indicators we can think of. These include not only grammatical and syntactic properties, but also semantic properties of the text. But in addition to the properties we find in the text, we also need to consider a number of text-external factors by looking at the text in context. Much of what we find in the text does not make sense until we relate it to some social practice that may hold the potential for explaining why a text has been written, or in other words – what social and communicative purposes it serves or in slightly different terms, what rhetorical objectives it construes. The two texts analysed originate from different sources. Text 2 is written by Syngenta, a company describing itself as a world-leading agribusiness. The text was presented as a news release on a website managed by SeedQuest, an information service for seed professionals. SeedQuest presents itself as privately owned, fully independent and entirely financed through the sale of advertising space on its site. The service was established by an anonymous seed industry veteran in 1992. Text 18 was written by a journalist affiliated with InterPress Service, and published in 2000 as a press release on a website run by TWN Third World Network. TWN has a link labelled ‘about us’ where they write: The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the third world and North/South issues. Its objectives are to conduct research on economic, social and environmental issues pertaining to the South, to publish books and magazines, to organize and participate in seminars, and to provide a platform representing broadly Southern interests and perspectives at international fora such as the UN conferences and processes. Seedquest is, in other words, a forprofit organization, while TWN is a non-profit organization, and this already predicts that the motives of the two organizations must be different. TWN’s primary objective is to provide information with the purpose of redistributing wealth on a global scale, while Seedquest’s existence seems to be founded on a concentration of wealth. The two organizations therefore seem to have conflicting interests, which may explain why they circulate press releases with what seems to be entirely different rhetorical objectives. It now seems safe to say that the underlying rationale for the differences observable in the 18 press releases is a result of different socially determined rhetorical objectives. 3.3.

A FURTHER NOTE ON STAGING

The problem of providing objective criteria for segmentation of texts into stages has not gone unnoticed, a point that may be illustrated with reference to Hasan



(1989: 68), who made the observation that ‘an element’s realization criteria might be stated most clearly in terms of some semantic property, and for quite some time genre theorists have been trying to find a solution’. Building on a list of surface linguistic indicators of generic boundary suggested by Hoey (1983), Vestergaard (2000) extends the list to embrace in addition to subordinators, conjuncts, lexical signals, repetition, verb tense and grammatical focusing, also illocution type and shifts in discourse topics. In a study of leading articles, Vestergaard points out that one complicating factor in textual discourse analysis is the absence of a one-to-one relationship between surface features and the stages constituting a text. By exploring the distribution of illocution types and their interplay with other surface linguistic signals within the argumentative structure of leading articles, Vestergaard demonstrates that although various signalling devices are often absent from the text and recursion and embedding are disturbing factors, it is possible to identify a degree of consistency in the way specific linguistic features cluster within an individual stage. Along the same line of thought Halliday (1993, quoted in Veel, 1997: 188) suggests that we recognize distinct uses of language through patterns of co-occurrence among features, referred to as ‘syndromes of features’, which operate in regions with fuzzy boundaries. Now, although an exploration of conjunctions in the press releases studied does not on its own give us sufficiently precise information as to how we may identify the boundaries between stages, it does point to important variation in generic structure as shown in Table 2. At this point it should be noted that the texts were not segmented on the basis of conjunctions alone, but on a syndrome of features along the lines suggested by Hoey and Vestergaard. Moreover, following Paltridge (1994), not only textual but also contextual features were included in an attempt at moving ‘away from the physical aspects of language and how they reflect reality to how the text, as a whole, is conditioned by external considerations’ (Paltridge, 1994: 296). Before we turn to contextual matters, however, let us take a closer look at some salient features in Table 2. If we can accept that what we assume to be the socially determined rhetorical objectives of a text influence and are influenced by the way in which various stages combine, and that these in turn reflect a combination of Field, Tenor and Mode dimensions, it would appear that some of the press releases in Table 2 have the same rhetorical objectives since some of these texts were found to have – if not identical, then to some extent similar stage combinations. A second observation from Table 2 is that six different move combinations were found, which would indicate that among the 18 texts it ought to be possible to identify at least six different rhetorical objectives. Third, in as many as six out of nine texts written by for-profit organizations, the combination of stages seemed to coincide. Surprisingly, the same combination of stages was not found in any of the press releases from non-profit organizations where certain stages were entirely different from those found in the for-profit organization texts. A fourth point of interest is that the six texts with identical stage combinations


522 Discourse Studies 8(4) TA B L E

2 . Staging

Proponents 1

Monsanto

2

Seedquest

3

Monsanto

4

Ag Biotech Info

5

Seedquest

6

Ag Biotech Info

7

Seedquest

8

Ag Biotech Info

9

Ag Biotech Info

Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement) Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement) Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement) Orientation ^Highlighting a main issue *↓Substantiation of claims *↓Relating contents of report/article ^(Promoting the authors) Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement) Raising an issue ^Background *↓Arguing a point *↓(substantiation) ^(Reorientation) Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement) Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement) Raising an issue ^Background *↓Arguing a point *↓(substantiation) ^(Reorientation)

Opponents 10 Food First 11 Common Dreams 12 Organic Consumers 13 Organic Consumers 14 Common Dreams 15 Greenpeace 16 Organic Consumers 17 Common Dreams 18 ThirdWorld Network

Orientation ^Highlighting a main issue *↓Substantiation of claims *↓Relating contents of report/article ^(Promoting the authors) Orientation ^Highlighting a main issue *↓Substantiation of claims *↓Relating contents of report/article ^(Promoting the authors) Raising an issue ^Background *↓Arguing a point *↓ Substantiation ^(Reorientation) Orientation ^Highlighting a main issue *↓Substantiation *↓Evaluating a report *↓Recording events *↓Arguing a point ^Concluding Orientation Întroducing a news item *↓Background *↓Recording events *↓(Initiating action) *↓Substantiation ^Reorientation Orientation Întroducing a news item *↓Background *↓Recording events *↓(Initiating action) *↓Substantiation ^Reorientation Raising an issue ^(Orientation) *↓Background *↓Stating claims and counterclaims *↓Substantiation *↓(Recording events) ^(Reorientation) Raising an issue ^(Orientation) *↓Background *↓Stating claims and counterclaims *↓Substantiation *↓(Recording events) ^(Reorientation) Raising an issue ^(Orientation) *↓Background *↓Stating claims and counterclaims *↓Substantiation *↓(Recording events) ^(Reorientation)



contained very few examples of negation or consequential and adversative conjunctions, if any at all, while the use of temporal conjunctions was a common text-organizing feature in many of the for-profit texts. Let us therefore widen the scope and take a closer look at possible rhetorical objectives in the full text range. 3.4.

RHETORICAL OBJECTIVES

According to Bhatia (1999) professional genres rarely serve a single socially recognized communicative purpose, but very often combine a number of standardized purposes with ‘an immediate single purpose’ (p. 25). My data seems to corroborate this observation in that on the basis of a number of text-internal and text-external criteria it is possible to identify various socially motivated rhetorical objectives. These partly overlap as specific stages are repeated in some of the texts, partly serve as indication that the press release should not be defined as a genre, if the definition is based on criteria other than those generated by surface linguistic features. Table 3 shows six different stage combinations and suggestions of corresponding rhetorical objectives and preliminary genre labels. A closer exploration of the rhetorical objectives suggested in Table 3 shows that some of these are text-internal as they may be read off the text directly, while others are text-external and can only be identified by activating our knowledge of various contextual variables that influence the text and are construed by the text. 3.4.1. Text-internal rhetorical objectives An analysis of the texts listed under the generic label promotional writing in Table 3 showed that one of the text-internal rhetorical objectives was to make an announcement. This may be seen from quotation 1 from one of the texts written by genetic engineering proponents: ‘IRGSP [. . .] today announced in Japan that the rice genome has been successfully decoded [. . .]’. The objective of making an announcement seems to be present in all press releases, although it is not always stated in explicit terms. A second text-internal rhetorical objective was to expand scientific knowledge, which is reflected in quotation 2: ‘We are extremely pleased that [. . .] our data has helped enhance and speed scientific research on rice [. . .]’. A third rhetorical objective made explicit in the text was that of sharing knowledge as shown in quotation 3: ‘Monsanto’s sharing of the rice genome sequence data reflects the New Monsanto Pledge and its commitment to sharing of knowledge and technology with public institutions to advance science and understanding, improve agriculture and the environment [. . .]’. The quotation also mentions a Monsanto Pledge, which is a statement of Monsanto’s officially declared mission. A subtler, but still text-internal rhetorical objective, is that of creating a positive attitude. This may be verified through an analysis of the Appraisal resources of the text (see Martin, 1997, 2000; see also White, 2003), which is beyond the scope and purpose of the present article.


524 Discourse Studies 8(4) TA B L E

Texts

3 . Six different stage combinations – six different genres

Stage combinations

1, 2, 3, Introducing a new initiative ^Stating purposes 5, 7, 8 *↓Substantiating and justifying purposes *↓Offering background information *↓(Relating events) ^(Reorientation) ^(Mission statement)

Possible rhetorical objectives ■

■

■ ■

■

■

6, 9, 12

Raising an issue ^Background *↓Arguing a point *↓(substantiation) ^(Reorientation)

■

■ ■

4, 10, 11

Orientation ^Highlighting a main issue *↓Substantiation of claims *↓Relating contents of report/article ^(Promoting the authors)

■

■

■

13

Orientation ^Highlighting a main issue *↓Substantiation *↓Evaluating a report *↓Recording events *↓Arguing a point ^Concluding

■

14, 15 Orientation Întroducing a news item *↓Background *↓Recording events *↓(Initiating action) *↓Substantiation ^Reorientation

■

■ ■

■

■

16, 17, Raising an issue ^(Orientation) *↓Background 18 *↓Stating claims and counterclaims *↓Substantiation *↓(Recording events) ^(Reorientation)

■

■ ■

Preliminary genre labels

To make an Promotional announcement writing To build a positive image To attract investors To expand scientific knowledge To create a positive attitude towards GMO To attract public funds for research To make an announcement To raise an issue To promote a political stance

Viewpoint

To make an Review announcement To relate contents of a report/article To encourage the public to read the report To raise an issue Evaluation To evaluate a report To encourage a political stance To make an Recount announcement To offer a temporal succession of events To express a stance To make an announcement To contest claims To promote a political stance


Rebuttal


If, on the other hand, we look at text-internal rhetorical objectives identifiable in texts written by the opponents, we find that although not explicitly stated, the rhetorical objective, making an announcement, surfaces as the result of the announcement nature of the press release. To offer an example, one of the texts introduces the topic in the first paragraph through quotation 4: ‘Rice seeds fortified with Vitamin A are the new genetically engineered food item, but critics say it is a public relations move to fix the image problem of genetically altered products and should be kept away from rice-dependent Asia’. The news item indirectly announced here is that genetic engineering opponents and proponents disagree. A second rhetorical objective that may be read off one of the texts is that of promoting a political stance, which is reflected in quotation 5: ‘However, critics fear the control of food sources by monopolistic profit-oriented firms’, which is a proposition whose content is shared by a writer who presupposes that certain firms control food sources and that these firms are often monopolistic and profit-oriented. A third rhetorical objective in rebuttals is that of contesting a claim, which seemingly pervades the rebuttals analysed. This may be seen from quotation 6: ‘They say these seeds, called “Golden Rice”, will not help reduce malnutrition and the lack of Vitamin A found in developing countries, or be a sustainable solution to food security’. In the example, a proposition previously made by proponents is being negated by opponents, who refute the idea that golden rice may be a solution to problems of malnutrition and food security. The example evokes the notion of intertextuality without which the proposition would not make sense, and thus testifies to the idea that textual boundaries do not necessarily coincide with texts, but transcend these. As implied earlier, the use of negation in this case works to create an interface between text and context in that without having at least some background knowledge of the propositions forwarded in previous texts, the negations in the text in front of us will not produce the same effect. 3.4.2. Text-external rhetorical objectives Seeing that we use text-internal features to establish a context, the discussion of text-internal rhetorical objectives thus has a direct link to construal of context. For the press releases written by proponents, the examples offered were all textinternal. However, if text-external features are included in the analysis we might want to suggest some additional objectives such as: 1) to attract investors; 2) to create a positive attitude towards genetic engineering; 3) to repair a tarnished image; or 4) to stay abreast in Research and Development, etc. If we expose some of the text-internal objectives to a second reading in the light of contextual as well as intertextual clues, we might want to ask whether for-profit organizations are sincere in their alleged rhetorical objectives of wanting to help humanity with particular emphasis on smallholder farmers in developing countries. However, as the epistemological problems raised by this question more than exhaust the truth-finding capacity of the methods so far available for scientific scrutiny, I shall leave the question unanswered for now. A problem here is that



even if we would go out in the field and ask various text producers about the rhetorical objectives they might have considered when writing the press releases studied, how would we know that there was not some secret agenda that we would not be able to uncover? In the analyses presented above, the rebuttals written by opponents were found to contain primarily text-internal rhetorical objectives. These were, however, all relatively subtle and never stated in explicit terms in the texts even if they were traced through linguistic surface features. To interpret the examples, we relied on knowledge of contextual settings in a combination with textual features to construe what might be the rhetorical objectives. This would imply that in texts where the rhetorical objectives are stated in explicit terms, we nevertheless intuitively invoke context to try to assess whether we can accept the declared objectives at face value. And in texts where the rhetorical objectives are only implied or evoked, we combine all clues available in terms of text linguistic features as well as contextual indices in order to establish what we think may be the purpose of engaging in a specific type of communication. These findings corroborate Devitt’s observation (1993: 581) that ‘contexts are always textualized’. I would add that texts are always contextualized because it is hardly possible to read a text without invoking context, and this seems to be exactly what we do when we engage in genre analysis. If we study both, however, we will be able to table a list of rhetorical objectives that is not exhaustive, but produced on a more open-ended basis.

4. Conclusion In this article I have argued in favour of retaining the notion of communicative purpose, relabelled here as rhetorical objective, as a key criterion in genre analysis. By analysing a corpus of press releases I have tried to demonstrate that rhetorical objective is a complex notion that may be seen as text-internal as well as text-external, invoking context, and that combining these perspectives makes a stronger case for identifying a range of socially determined rhetorical objectives. I found that, as noted by Askehave and Swales (2001), a great deal of analysis is necessary before the rhetorical objectives of a given text may be established. In this study such analyses included a preliminary identification of rich features leading into a closer analysis of temporal, consequential and comparative conjunctions, which together with the intertextual resource, negation, assisted – but only partly so – in determining various combinations of stages in the texts studied. In the absence, however, of a one-to-one relationship between linguistic features and genre labels, a variety of stage combinations were identified on the basis of the intersection of linguistic features and rhetorical objectives. The observations, although not enabling me to make claims about typicality, nevertheless pointed to generic differences, which subsequently led me to conclude that the press release is not a genre if functional criteria are invoked,



but in its many uses resembles what is sometimes referred to as a media channel, corresponding to an element of Mode in systemic terms. A study of socially motivated rhetorical objectives has shown that the press release is used as a vehicle for a number of different genres with different objectives. To save the day for those who have so far referred to the press release as a genre, however, I suggest that the press release may be seen as a genre at a very broad level when viewed as form, but once we move to more specific levels and look at contents and rhetorical objectives, press releases are characterized by difference rather than by similarity, which leads me to conclude with Miller (1984: 162) that ‘genre may be defined at different levels in different cultures and at different times, depending on our sense of recurrence of rhetorical situations’. This position is corroborated by Fairclough (2003: 68) who has suggested that ‘one of the difficulties with the concept of genre is that genres can be defined on different levels of abstraction’. The examples he offers are Narrative, Argument, Description, and Conversation, which may be seen as highly abstract genres while categories such as Interview or Report are seen as less abstract, but still transcending different ‘networks of social practices’. Genres such as Interview and Report may then be taken to a lower level of abstraction in job interviews, political interviews, etc. The labels suggested by Fairclough (2003) are pre-genre for the most abstract genre level, disembedded genre for the second level and situated genre for the third level of abstraction. Against this background I would categorize the press release as a disembedded genre because of its potential as carrier of a variety of at times conflicting rhetorical objectives. AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T

I am grateful to Professor John Swales, Professor Teun van Dijk, Professor Torben Vestergaard and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. NOTE

1.

I have followed Hasan’s Coding conventions (1989, 1996): ^ = ordered stage; ↓ = unordered stage; _ = recursive stage; (brackets) = optional stage.

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I N G E R L A S S E N is an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages, Culture and Aesthetics, Aalborg University, Denmark. Her disciplinary approaches include Applied Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, and genre analysis and her fields of interest include translation studies, discourses of science and technology, discourse and genre analysis (e.g. press releases, laboratory protocols, scientific research articles). She wrote her PhD on accessibility and acceptability in technical manuals – a survey with the emphasis on grammatical metaphor, and in 2004 received the Hedorf Foundation award for research in professional genres. A D D R E S S : Department of Languages, Culture and Aesthetics, Aalborg University, Kroghstraede 3, 9220 Aalborg East, Denmark. [email: [email protected]]
