Discourse Analysis of TV News Headlines

Abstract

This study investigates features of TV news headlines. Discourse analysis is used as a method for studying news headlines in question. The model adopted is an eclectic one. The approaches of Olowe (1993), Van Dijk (2000), Van Dijk (2013) on text analysis were utilized to examine the data. The analysis involves three levels of analysis: Grammatical, linguistic and ideological. The study aims to explore whether the linguistic features of TV headlines among different news channels vary according to the channel orientation or not. It also seeks to highlight the grammatical structure of news headlines and examine the various TV headlines' differences with their respective ideologies. It is hypothesized that through the sample channels have different orientations, they use the same structures and techniques in their headlines. Moreover, due to this difference, it is hypothesized that there is a difference in the ideologies. Consequently, the headlines will have sometimes hidden meanings to be conveyed indirectly to their readers. In addition, the study sheds light on discourse markers used in news headlines. Data analysis shows that most headlines carry the same linguistic and grammatical features with little focus. Diversity in orientation has its obvious effect in some channels. A small number of discourse markers is used in news headlines. The researcher has come up with findings that validate the set hypotheses.