News actor labelling in British newspapers

Newspapers constantly refer to people, and they employ a large variety of linguistic means to do so, such as the first names, surnames, titles, or public roles of the people concerned, and various combinations of these elements. They also use descriptive labels and pronouns. Expressions which refer to news actors can be traced along two dimensions. The first dimension concerns the development from the headline through the introductory paragraphs to the later paragraphs of an article. At its first occurrence, such an expression must necessarily be exophoric, that is, it must refer to the intended real-world referent directly. When mentioned again, the expression has both exophoric and endophoric reference, a factor which influences the journalist's choice of linguistic means. The journalist's choice is also governed by stylistic considerations. This becomes clear if different newspapers are compared. Writers for downmarket papers such as The Sun employ strategies that are different to those found in mid-market papers such as The Daily Mail and even more different to those in up-market papers such as The Independent