Styles of News Narrator in Narrating News

Abstract

Background and Objectives : News plays a crucial role in society by providing factual information that influences public perception and everyday life. To ensure credibility, news reporting is expected to present information accurately, objectively, and impartially through a rigorous verification process prior to publication. However, traditional news reporting often relies on formal language, which may limit audience engagement and accessibility. As a result, contemporary news presentation has increasingly adopted a storytelling approach that enhances audience comprehension and interest. This research aims to study the news narration styles of Sorayuth Suthassanachinda, Theema Kanchanaprairin, and Phutta-aphivan Ongphrabarami.
Methods : The data were collected from online media sources, including 12 video clips from Ruang Lao Chao Nee (Morning News Stories), broadcast on Channel 3 HD every Monday to Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.; 12 video clips from the special segment “Jud Sud Thuk Khwam Jing” in One News Evening, broadcast every Monday to Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.; and 12 video clips from Thub Toh Kao, broadcast on Amarin TV every Monday to Friday from 7:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The selected clips were obtained from the programs’ archived broadcasts on YouTube. A random sampling method was employed by selecting one clip per month from each program, resulting in 12 clips from each program. This approach ensured diversity in the news content. The data were collected from January to December 2022, yielding a total of 36 video clips.
Results : The study found that all three news narrators shared a common characteristic: the use of a variety of speech styles, particularly language with implied meanings. This indirect style helps reduce the risk of unduly influencing audience interpretation. In addition, the news narrators frequently employed emotionally expressive language and onomatopoeia. They also incorporated colloquial expressions, loanwords, and abbreviations. Figurative language was used as well, including similes for comparison and references to well-known events to help audiences form clearer mental images of the reported situations. Repetition was employed to emphasize key points and clarify meaning, while rhetorical questions were used to encourage audiences to reflect on issues independently. In terms of their overall communicative style, all three news narrators adopted a discussion-based, friendly, and intimate manner of presentation. This approach created an informal and approachable atmosphere that enabled direct, brief, and concise communication. Formal language was intentionally avoided in order to maintain a conversational style of news delivery.
Conclusions : Although all three news narrators shared the common objective of delivering accurate, clear, and easily understandable information to audiences, each demonstrated a distinctive verbal style that reflected an individual professional identity. Sorayuth Suthassanachinda emphasized a conversational approach to news presentation rather than formal news reading, creating the impression that audiences were listening to stories told by a familiar person. In contrast, Theema Kanchanapairin focused on concise and clear news narration, often employing seemingly simple expressions embedded with subtle irony and sarcasm, which helped mitigate the severity of news content. Meanwhile, Phutthaphiwan Ongphra Barami adopted a direct and straightforward style, highlighting social issues and encouraging audience engagement and participation in public discourse.