The voice of appraisal in English hard news reports on-line

In this paper the evaluative language of hard news reporting in English and Italian is studied in order to highlight the differences and objectives of this text type within the realm of functional linguistics and appraisal theory. The comparison of the electronic versions of the English "The Sun" and the Italian "Tirreno" and "La Nazione" shows that the authorial voice is present even in factual reports in the process of building the social identity of ideal readers. While English journalists define their ideal readers as belonging to a well defined social class sharing the same feelings and values, the Italian journalists are apparently less interested in delimiting their audience. They are instead more concerned in stressing aspects of public utility