ABSTRACT
Non-fictional forms are analysed as crafted works of communicative performance with the aim of evaluating generic developments as in recent years news media institutions have sought to capture audiences, cultivating genre as the means to secure them. News and documentary forms have evolved, utilizing more sophisticated patterns of imagery, sound and language with various aspects of drama manufactured into these significatory systems. This drama is significant for the ways in which certain kinds of knowledge are framed for audience. At a general level, news studio sets look visually panoramic with large screens and larger graphics enabling dramatic impact in referencing story topics. Introductory music is more striking in its seriousness by way of electronic enrichment. More specifically performance culture, employed in conjunction with spoken language in news story-telling, has moved from the formal to a more personalized direct/ indirect speech address and voice-over.
