The journalistic communication contract

This article discusses journalistic discourse from the concept of communication contract conceived by Charaudeau (2006). It presents the five elements of the contract – what it is said for, what it is said, who says it and to whom, under what conditions it is said and how it is said – and defines its characteristics. It argues that these characteristics allow us to understand journalism as a particular discursive genre that gives centrality to the notions of truth, public interest, novelty, actuality, event, news value, clarity, relationship with sources and relationship with readers.