Periodicity
media reportage. Where a potential news item
can be personalized it has a greater chance of
being included than if it is diffi cult to translate
into personality terms. Th e preference is for elite
personalities (see news values).
John Lloyd in an article entitled ‘Th e death
of privacy: J’accuse!’ (New Statesman, 5 March
1999) argues that this emphasis on the personal
has been at the expense of an exploration of
policy and issues. He acknowledges that within
TV news and current affairs it is ‘a received
wisdom that only by personalizing a story can
it be given meaning for a mass audience. Th us a
story about public spending must fi nd someone
in pain on a hospital waiting list’. Lloyd warns,
‘the hazard of such stories is that the feeling
swamps the understanding’. See journalism:
phone-hacking.
Personalization, involvement, contiguity,
‘kick-outs’ See yaros’ ‘pick’ model for
multmedia news, 2009.
PEST This is a well-used device for analysing
aspects of a company’s operating environment
which could have a potential impact on its activi-
ties: Political, Economic, Social and Technologi-
cal. Political aspects of the environment could
include government attitudes towards private
enterprise, whilst economic aspects might
include the rate of infl ation. Social aspects of the
environment could include, for example, a trend
towards an ageing population, and the wide-
spread use of facebook would be an example of
a technological aspect.
pest analysis can be used to scan factors
within the current situation and also to consider
possible future developments, to anticipate
the following: changes in the market; emerg-
ing environmental issues that might aff ect an
organization’s reputation; the need for the repo-
sitioning of a product; and consequent changes
in promotional strategies. See epistle.
Phatic (language) Derives from the Greek,
‘phasis’, meaning utterance. The term finds
its modern connotation in the phrase ‘phatic
communion’ coined by anthropologist Bronislaw
Malinowski (1884–1942), meaning that part of
communication which is used for establishing
an atmosphere or maintaining social contact
rather than for exchanging information or ideas.
Phatic words and phrases have been called ‘idiot
salutations’ and, when they comprise dialogue,
‘two-stroke conversations’. Comments about the
weather, enquiries about health, and everyday
exchanges including nods, smiles and waves are
part of the phatic communion essential for ‘oiling’
or maintaining channels of communication.nature of action through talk: announce, insist,
declare or denounce. In the reporting of speech
in news, performatives often embody evaluative
connotations, indicating approval or disapproval
on the part of the encoder. ‘Th e Prime Minister
declined to comment’ carries with it marginally
less disapproval than the statement ‘Th e Prime
Minister refused to comment’. Th e word say may
be classifi ed as a neutral performative unless it is
contrasted with a performative used disapprov-
ingly; thus ‘Th e Management say their pay-off er
is fi nal, while the unions claim their actions will
bring about further concessions’.
Periodicity Describes the timescale of the sched-
ules of news organizations; thus a daily news-
paper has a 24-hour periodicity. Th e more the
timescale of a potential item of news coincides
with the periodicity of the news organization,
the more likely it is that the story will ‘make the
headlines’. Information that can be gathered,
processed and dramatized within a 24-hour
cycle (such as bombings, assassinations, clashes
with the police, the speeches of politicians)
stands a better chance of breaking through the
news threshold than news which is gradual and
undramatic. See news values.
Persistence of vision Th e realization that the
eye retains an image for a split second after the
object has passed gave birth to the cinema. Th e
principle was fi rst illustrated, and proved market-
able, with toys of the nineteenth century such as
the thaumatrope, a disc with images on each
side; when the disc was spun round, the images
merged into a single action. Th e zoetrope was
a drum with illustrations of fi gures inside which,
when spun round, conveyed the impression of
movement. See cinematography, origins.
Persona See parasocial interaction; self-
presentation.
Personal idiom Or idiosyncratic language;
occurring in interpersonal relationships; serves
the function of building relationship cohesive-
ness. Results of research into the use of personal
idiom were published in an article, ‘Couples’
personal idioms: exploring intimate talk’ in the
Journal of Communication (Winter, 1981) by
Robert Hopper, Mark L. Knapp and Lorel Scott.
Such idioms, they found, take the form of a range
of idiomatic exchanges: partner nicknames;
expressions of aff ection; labels for others outside
the relationship; for use in confrontations; to
deal with requests and routines; sexual refer-
ences and euphemisms; sexual invitations and
teasing insults (or ‘kidding’).
Personal space See spatial behaviour.
Personalization One of the chief conventions of