Commentary in the media: Katie Holloway

                                                Commentary in the media

People tend to have a negative approach when it comes to commentary in the media due to the fact that they just want to get down and focus on the game, so what is commentary and what does it involve?

Commentary is mainly used in the media, ranging from horse racing in sports to broadcasting on the radio. Unscripted commentaries are the most popular choice as they can be used at any event such as a sport event or a radio station, as they can describe and comment on the events as they happen which mean commentators must speak clearly.

 

The function of a commentary is to entertain and give the viewer or listener background information about the live event that is taking place whether it be on the racing field or in a car. The audience of a commentary can verify due to the interest of the viewer or listener and the inside subject-specific language that they have linking to the event.

 

Commentaries need to be spontaneous and clearly voiced due to the fact that it is a mirror of the process that is happening at the event, however it does not always mean that the structure of the commentary is in a random manor, as commentators can uses notes to add to the structure depending on the event because in sport events you cannot predict what is going to happen and when but in events such as a red carpet event you can predict who is going to be there and what is going to happen throughout the night.

 

Commentators play an important role in keeping viewers or listeners entertained, as they are always trying to create an atmosphere for the viewers, if event follow a recognisable pattern they might use a formulaic utterance or if an outcome of an event is exciting they will choose emotive language, however it all depends on the commentator and their choice of style.

 

The basic language of a unscripted commentary is to name people and things at the event for example at a football game the specific lexis would be for example "goal, red flag, foul, sent off" or at a red carpet event they are naming celebrities, the lexis is very field specific because all the attention of the commentators is the event they are commentating on. There is a high amount proportion of proper nouns used because the commentators need to describe a sequence of actions happening in the event.

 

Radio commentary is a lot more complete than television commentary due to the fact that the listener is far more reliant on the commentators as they may not be seeing the event live, so radio commentary needs to be more precise and clear as hesitations are very rare, and they need to keep up with the sequence of events so they can keep the audience updated and commentators need to create a bigger atmosphere on the radio to keep the audience tuned in.

To conclude it seems that commentators play an important role in the media as the provide entertainment and information to a target audience about an event that is either being watched on television or being listened to in the car.

 

Katie Holloway