This article derives from research carried out whilst producing a television programme for
a new Open University course about the English Language. The programme accompanies
the part of the course dealing with English and the media, and the subject we chose was
the use of English in television news. We wanted to look at not only the characteristics of
verbal language in this context, but to explore the interaction of the visual and the verbal
modes of communication: how television news derives its explanatory power from the
interaction of words and pictures and, in particular, why it can be so utterly convincing.
This paper therefore deals primarily with authenticity in television news, and aims to
highlight some of its main features.