Aldo Moro mystery: Italian prosecutors

revisit former PM’s 1978 murder

The article I chose to analyze, is titled Aldo Moro mystery: "Italian prosecutors revisit former PM's 1978
murder" and I took it from the British newspaper The Guardian.
The subject of the article is one of the darkest crime pages in Italian history, not least because almost 50
years later the truth is still unknown. The author of the article succinctly reconstructs the tortuous events
of the Moro case: from the famous 'historic compromise' between the DC and Italian Communist Party to
the discovery of Moro's tortured body after 55 days of captivity.
After numerous trials, the Rome prosecutor's office tries to reopen the case in the hope of reaching a
definitive breakthrough.
I chose this article because the Moro case-historically-has always interested me.

Before analyzing the article, I would like to focus on the guardian. As of 2018, it became a compact or
tabloid. Indeed, tabloid format is 380mm by 300mm: the smaller size gives better navigation and readability
then a broadsheet. In the compact (tabloid) is given more importance to the visual aspect: Images
contribute to emphasize the drama of the facts and sensibilize readers.
In the print format there is also the nameplate, which is the title and the logo of the newspaper. In the web
version, title is written in large type and is an informative headline with keywords. Also, the use of coloured
words can increase the visual impact and attract readers attention.

Instead, I will now analyse the structure of the article.

The structure of the article is hourglass: It is a story form that combines elements of both Inverted Pyramid
and traditional storytelling:
• the main facts are told, in decreasing order of importance, in the first paragraphs, as in the Inverted
Pyramid
• in the second part of the story events are told in chronological order, as in the tradition storytelling
(Unlike the classical pyramid structure characterized by the lack of chronological order)
This type of structure is used for articles on crime events, murders, and trials.

Advantages of the Hourglass:

• main facts are told quickly in the first paragraphs

• it has a real ending that makes the story more balances, motivates readers to get to the end of the story
and discourages editors from cutting from the bottom Disadvantage of the Hourglass:

• some information appearing at the top of the story may be repeated in the chronological portion, making
the story longer than the Inverted Pyramid

Disadvantage of the Hourglass:

• some information appearing at the top of the story may be repeated in the chronological portion, making
the story longer than the Inverted Pyramid

The first element is the headline:

• it is written by the sub-editor, who decides on the page layout

• it is often extracted from the lead, since it is often written after the story
• it is generally one-two lines long, printed in large type

• it is considered one of the most creative aspects of journalism

• its main functions are to attract the reader’s attention and to provide a guide to the main topics of the
article

• its other functions are to indicate the writer’s angle in the story and to indicate the register of the text

From a linguistic point of view, the language used for the headline is, generally, concise, and incisive. In this
case there is not intertextuality or puns.

Next, we have the byline that provides the reader with information about the author and date of the
article.

The lead

• it is the first paragraph of the article

• it introduces the story and summarizes the most important information, so it helps the reader decide
whether the story is worth reading.

• headlines are extracted from the lead

This is a direct lead. In fact, provides a summary of the story and answers the who, what, where, when,
how of the story. Conveys a concise message and it’s composed by a simple subject-predicate-object
syntax.

The paragraph after the lead (the body copy)

• it’s built upon the points made in the lead

• it’s presenting the facts and includes details

• the second and third paragraphs expand upon the lead telling why the reported event is significant and
who is the person discussed

• the other paragraphs add background information and further details

• final paragraphs add non-crucial information, so they can be easily cut from the bottom without altering
the story.

This article follows the kiss and tell principle “Keep it short and simple and tell the story” The principle of
the good journalism that consists of the use of concise language, the preference of English terms over
Latinisms or Frenchisms, and the tendency to avoid subordinate clauses. For online magazines, concise
news is more appealing to the Internet reader who is often simply skimming web pages.

The linguistical register is professional and quite neutral, so it’s accessible to all. This article is more
informal than formal, and we can see it from several traits. For example, we can notice the presence of
phrasal verbs, such as ‘’was carried out’’, ‘’singled out’’ and so on. The preferred verbal form is the active,
but there are also some passive forms such as: ‘’were mishandled’’, ‘’are reported’’. There are also many
intransitive verbs. The modal verb will is used a lot to express a prediction that the action it is likely to
happen. Compound words with the addition of prefixes are also present for example ‘’reopen’’.

Direct speech is given in quotation marks. It reports source’s exact words. It is used to give objectivity to
the quote, to add vividness to the story, by making it more personal and to enhance (aumentare) the
story’s newsworthiness by making it more involving. It is also used to give authoritativeness to a story, as a
form of validation of information.