Lead News Coverage of Buddhist Monks in The Nation Online Newspaper: A Syntactic Analysis

Abstract

This research conducts Lead News Coverage of Buddhist Monks in The Nation Online Newspaper: A Syntactic Analysis. It delves into syntactic sentence types, phrase-level structures in subjects and predicates, and word-level structures within the same context. The qualitative study utilizes data collected from The Nation's website over a decade (2013–2023) to analyze sentence types categorized into simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex, revealing a preference for simple (51.79%) and complex sentences (39.29%), indicating a journalistic inclination towards clarity and in-depth information presentation. Phrase-level analysis highlights a dominance of Noun Phrases (43.26%) and Prepositional Phrases (32.01%), underscoring their role in establishing relational context and subjects in sentences. Word-level analysis uncovers a significant use of determiners (44.07%) and nouns (38.45%), emphasizing their essential roles in conveying meaning and specifying noun phrases. The study's findings suggest a strategic balance in The Nation's syntactic choices, reflecting a nuanced approach to ensuring readability while providing comprehensive information, aligning with broader trends in digital journalism. This research contributes to understanding the syntactic strategies in journalism, particularly in the context of online media and its representation of religious figures.