In this paper I attempt to tackle the problem of allocating the strategy
of directness and indirectness of discourse in newswriting. In news
writing the reporter represents her/his own views through a number of
strategic devices many of which have to do with grammatical structures
such as projection of speech and thought. (Halliday 1985; Martin
1992). Several issues are involved here like factual and non factual
utterances, as well as direct quotation and indirect report. I provide
several examples of news writing about the Chechnya war published in
a very short span of time. The news writers are committed not only to
the truth of the events but also to the correct interpretation of the meanings
reported and the words quoted.
