Newspaper Headlines Research Articles

Pragmatic Perception of Sensationalism: A Comparison of British and Malaysian Online Newspapers Headline Constructions

This study examines the pragmatic features of sensationalist headlines in online newspapers, comparing The Times (UK) and The Star (Malaysia) in 2024. Using discourse analysis on 60 headlines, we investigate how sensationalism shapes public opinion in the digital age. The research addresses a gap in cross-cultural analysis of media influence and aims to enhance media literacy. Results indicate that headline writers employ various pragmatic elements, with speech acts being the most prevalent, to convey intended messages and engage readers. Both overt and implicit use of pragmatic features effectively express themes of victory and liberation across both publications. While the study provides insights into pragma-linguistic strategies in sensational headline construction, its limited sample size suggests the need for broader future research. The findings offer valuable insights for media practitioners, researchers, and consumers, highlighting the importance of critical media consumption in an era of increasing sensationalism.

Social Actors’ Representations in Newspaper Headlines on Domestic Violence against Men and Women in Sub-Saharan, Africa

Domestic violence is a pervasive issue in Sub-Saharan Africa, shaped by socio-cultural norms, economic disparities, and systemic inequalities. Media representations of domestic violence, particularly through newspaper headlines, play a significant role in shaping public perceptions and responses to this pressing societal issue. This study conducts a comparative analysis of social actors’ representation in newspaper headlines of domestic violence against men and women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through a discursive analysis, the paper explores the representation of the victims, perpetrators, and authorities, across various newspapers within the regions. The findings from the analysis of headlines in three African regions show a pronounced media focus on victims rather than perpetrators in the headlines. Additionally, the inclusion of OTHERS enriches the narrative, with Western Africa showing the highest. Furthermore, the analysis reveals distinct patterns in role allocation, with perpetrators often depicted as active agents and conversely, sometimes represented as passive agents, shifting the narrative to victims' experiences and suffering. The study also highlights regional differences, with Eastern Africa less frequently activating perpetrators in headlines. Finally, the use of nomination, categorization, and collectivization in headlines adds depth, emphasizes collective efforts, and highlights the prevalence of domestic violence, although sometimes at the expense of individual experiences. Keywords: media representations, social actors, domestic violence, men and women

Framing of the Covid-19 Infodemic on Topics and Tones of News Headlines in Indonesian and Malaysian Online Newspapers

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mass media was critical in conveying information about public health concerns and initiatives by the government aimed at mitigating the pandemic. This study used content analysis to determine how the COVID-19 news was framed in Indonesian and Malaysian media published between January and March 2021. This study examined the Republika and The Star newspapers. According to the findings of the data analysis, the results of this research found five general topics in both newspapers: public health, government policy, economics, politics, and culture and religion. The Republika newspaper publishes the most articles on public health, whereas The Star newspaper publishes the most articles on government policy, economy, politics, culture, and religion. However, public health and government policy are more popular topics in both countries. Meanwhile, based on the two newspapers, there are five types of news tones: solutions, fears, impacts, suggestions, and conflicts. A fearful tone is prevalent in Republika news, while the other four news tones may be found in The Star. The high prevalence of news with a fearful tone in the Republika newspaper is due to the high death rate caused by COVID-19, as well as the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, even though news in Malaysia is widely broadcast using a solution tone and positive messages to readers.

Advanced Sarcasm Detection in Newspaper Headlines: A Comparative Study of Machine Learning Approaches

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of sarcasm detection in newspaper headlines using various machine learning techniques. We explore the effectiveness of logistic regression, Naïve Bayes (multinomial and Gaussian), random forest, and support vector machine (SVM) models in identifying sarcastic content within the concise format of news titles. Our research addresses the unique challenges posed by the brevity and impactful language characteristic of headlines. The study utilizes a curated dataset of sarcastic and non-sarcastic headlines, employing natural language processing techniques for preprocessing and feature extraction. Performance evaluation metrics include accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. Results indicate that the random forest model outperforms other approaches, achieving 94% accuracy in sarcasm detection. This research contributes to the growing field of sentiment analysis and offers insights into the nuanced task of decoding sarcasm in condensed textual formats. KEYWORDS: Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), TF-IDF, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Subtle Sarcasm

Review Based Study of Monkeypox Disease: A Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Monkeypox, a zoonotic disease, has become the hot topic spreading across the newspaper headlines like a forest fire. The disease is transmitted from one individual to another by close, intimate contact such as cuddling, kissing, or contact with fluids in the dermal lesions. Though it is a self-limiting disease with symptoms akin to Smallpox (but a milder version), some severe cases have been reported as well. WHO has reported the case fatality rate of Monkeypox infection to be around 3–6%, which is slightly higher than that of COVID-19. Incubation period of the disease is 6–13 days on an average (range of 5–21 days). The monkeypox virus, which was previously exclusive to West and Central African nations and caused endemic diseases in monkeys and people, has recently been linked to human infections in non-endemic areas including the United States of America (USA) and more than 30 additional countries. The monkeypox outbreak continues to be a worldwide health emergency, the highest degree of alert recognised by the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises vaccination for those who have been exposed to the disease as well as those who may be at higher risk of contracting it, such as those who have been identified by public health officials as a contact of someone who has the disease.

Precedent texts as linguistic mechanisms for creating an attractive newspaper headline in the Internet media discourse

The article examines newspaper headlines produced using precedent phenomena, and thereby they act as effective linguistic mechanisms for creating media text attractiveness. The research material is comprised of newspaper headlines obtained from the online versions of "Rossiiskaya Gazeta" texts for 2023 and 2024. We used cognitive discourse analysis in conjunction with a comprehensive methodology for examining active processes in language. We assume that headlines convey certain information about the text content and can perform text-forming and evaluative functions. The study analysed the sources of headlines based on precedent phenomena, types of precedent text transformation, functions of using precedent texts to create newspaper headlines in the modern Internet media language. The research shows that precedent text sources in the headings are well-known works of literature and art, phraseological units and proverbs, the so-called catchphrases, other set expressions and clich  es. Structural-semantic, semantic proper, and pragma-semantic models for transforming original precedent texts were identified. The paper also characterises such functions of using precedent text in headlines as the informative, text-forming, persuasive, expressive, evaluative, and attraction functions. We conclude that the considerable persuasive, attractive, and evaluative potential of precedent phenomena in headlines is most often realised in transformed precedent texts. This is associated with the foregrounding of cultural information known to readers due to its link to a specific precedent phenomenon. New information relevant to a particular author in a particular text is superimposed on the familiar cultural information in a figurative, playful form.

Themes Used to Discursively Construct the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya’s Newspaper Headlines

This study investigates the themes that discursively construct the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya’s newspaper headlines, specifically focusing on their role in structuring communication related to the COVID-19 pandemic. While prior research has examined news discourse in various contexts, thematic analysis in Kenya’s news reporting has received limited attention. The study examines 59 COVID-19-related headlines drawn from The Standard and the Daily Nation newspapers. The methodology draws from the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model, and specifically employs the Top-Down Approach of sampling texts as espoused by Mautner. Van Dijk argues that those who control discourse indirectly manipulate people’s thoughts and actions. This observation is corroborated by the study’s findings which reveal that Kenya’s print media shaped the COVID-19 discourse through the choice and framing of themes such as bondage, death, economy, education and COVID-19 research and search for vaccines. The analysis shows that Kenya’s print media largely constructed the themes in a negative way and this created a sense of crisis and fear among the populace. These feelings of fear and crisis were exacerbated because the themes encompassed aspects that are crucial to Kenyans, all of which were threatened by COVID-19. Proactive measures such as online learning during the pandemic were almost wholly excluded from the COVID-19 discourse. The media created unequal power relation with the readership by constructing itself as the reservoir of knowledge about COVID-19. The reader was positioned as subordinate and in dire need of guidance. This was an important discursive strategy for legitimizing the authority of the media about the pandemic. It is hoped that this study will make significant contribution to the fields of discourse, communication and media, as it reveals how media discourse plays a key role in shaping our understanding of pandemics.

ALLUSIVE HEADLINES IN THE MEDIA: AXIOLOGICAL ASPECT

The article is devoted to the analysis of newspaper headlines based on allusion. Using the material of texts published in 2023 in the newspapers Zavtra and Kommersant, which are diff erent in terms of ideological ori-entation and stylistics, the authors examine the axiological signifi cance of such factors as the choice of the source of allusion, the absence or presence of transformation, and the leading principle of playing with the original text. Both similarities and diff erences in the creation of allusive headlines are revealed. Both publications actively seek source material from phraseology, Russian classical literature and Soviet cinema, which is explained by the priority of marketing considerations: a headline that refers to an easily recognisable text is the most attractive. In the Zavtra newspaper, the sources of allusive headlines can be modern rude and ironic statements typical of colloquial speech and works of Russian classical literature that are well known to the mass addressee. In this case, the original form of the source text is either unchanged or minimally transformed, while retaining the original evaluative connota-tions. Recognition and comprehension of such allusive titles does not require additional cognitive eff orts from the addressee, which allows us to speak about the setting to attract the attention of the widest possible addressee. The specifi cs of Kommersant’s headlines lie in the more active use of precedent statements. The sources of allusions are not only phraseological phrases and works of Russian classical literature, but also precedent texts associated with Soviet realities and texts of fi ction that are not widely known. The precedent texts, regardless of their nature, are subjected to a “reducing” transformation through language play. The attractiveness of such titles is determined by the level of background knowledge of the addressee, who needs not only to identify the source text and understand the allusion in the title text, but also to correlate the axiological characteristics of the precedent and allusive texts. The authors of the article note that titling with the use of evaluative allusion is one of the regularly used methods of adjusting the media text to the target audience.

A Critical Discourse Analysis Study of Reduplication in Some Selected English Newspapers Headlines

A Critical Discourse Analysis Study of Reduplication in Some Selected English Newspapers Headlines

Decoding sarcasm: unveiling nuances in newspaper headlines

This study navigates the intricate landscape of sarcasm detection within the condensed confines of newspaper titles, addressing the nuanced challenge of decoding layered meanings. Leveraging natural language processing (NLP) techniques, we explore the efficacy of various machine learning models—linear regression, support vector machines (SVM), random forest, na¨ıve Bayes multinomial, and gaussian na¨ıve Bayes—tailored for sarcasm detection. Our investigation aims to provide insights into sarcasm within the succinct framework of newspaper titles, offering a comparative analysis of the selected models. We highlight the varied strengths and weaknesses of these models. Random forest exhibits superior performance, achieving a remarkable 94% accuracy in accurately identifying sarcasm in text. It is closely trailed by SVM with 90% accuracy and logistic regression with 83% accuracy.

Exploring the Relationship Between Stylistic Features and Reactions on Facebook: A Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Headlines and Status Messages

ABSTRACT Social media platforms have become omnipresent over the last fifteen years and have forced news outlets to repackage the distribution of their content, custom-tailoring their news in accordance with the platform-specific social media logic. How news consumers engage with news outlets' content has also become more complex and more granular, as they can now express emotions that go beyond the “like-button” by “loving” or “caring” about specific (news) content. In this study, we link these Facebook Reactions to the specific features of headlines by conducting a content analysis of 3,163 news articles published by five Flemish news brands on Facebook. Results have revealed that status messages contain more emotional stylistic features as compared to Facebook headlines. Secondly, headlines and status messages comprising these emotional features were more likely to generate affective responses (as expressed in the emoji they use, “love”, “haha”, “wow”, “angry” and “sad”). In doing so, this study has examined Facebook Reactions’ functionality as a potential proxy of emotional engagement with specific headlines in the online news environment.

The semantic extension of Korean ideophones in newspapers headlines

The semantic extension of Korean ideophones in newspapers headlines

Decolonisation: meaning, sentiments and implications for heritage

ABSTRACT Within the printed and online newspaper media in the UK, notions of ‘decolonisation’ referring to various contexts, such as historical, relating to museums and institutions, cultural decolonisation and in relation to modern independence discussions, can be traced. In this article, we have applied topic modelling and natural language processing methods to carry out a classification of, and sentiment analysis on, newspaper headlines and texts from leading British newspapers covering decolonisation over the past decade. The results show an abrupt change in the meaning of decolonisation starting in the middle of the 2010s with an increased focus on cultural and institutional matters, particularly in right-leaning media. Surprisingly, the editorial slant of broadsheets seemingly only had at best moderate effects on tone, while headlines in right-wing tabloids were significantly more negative. Articles covering cultural aspects of decolonisation were substantially more negative than those applying a more traditional, territorial definition of decolonisation. Given the influence of newspaper media on public and private opinions, we discuss the heritage implications of these findings and suggest avenues for further investigation.

Discourse of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Newspaper Editorials on Insecurity in Nigeria

The spate of security threats in Nigeria has recently become quite alarming, dominating newspaper headlines and editorials. This article examines the discourse strategies deployed in the representation of ‘self’ and ‘other’ by editorials in two Nigerian newspapers on the security challenges in Nigeria. Drawing insights from Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis, the sampled editorials on insecurity in Nigeria from two e-versions of newspapers from the northern ( Leadership Nigeria) and southern ( Punch) parts of Nigeria, published from 2017 to 2020 are subjected to discourse analysis. The paper identified the deployment of eight discourse strategies, motivated by nationalist and humanist ideologies. The newspapers polarise between self and other through positive in-group and negative out-group ideologies on the security challenges bedevilling Nigeria with attendant implications for Africa and the world at large.

Rhetorical Features of National Newspaper Headlines

Headlines wield immense influence in newspapers, being the primary conveyors of key messages while concurrently piquing reader interest and visually conveying innovative concepts. Therefore, our study analyzes the stylistic intricacies within National Newspaper Headlines, with specific emphasis on Rhetorical Features. To realize this objective, we adopted a Stylistic Analysis research framework, employing a lottery method and an observational checklist as our data collection tools. Employing a simple random sampling method, we carefully selected headlines from diverse national media company websites. To ensure validity, we determined the necessary sample size using the reliable Slovin formula. Upon analysis of our gathered data, a distinct pattern emerged. The use of metonymy emerged as the predominant stylistic element within national newspaper headlines. Remarkably, journalists from these media entities used this feature to deliver clarity and enhance overall readability, effectively underscoring its role in facilitating communication. In conclusion, our study delves into the detailed patterns of style found in national newspaper headlines. Our research highlights how journalists skillfully use these style elements not only to share information but also to grab readers’ attention and affect how people interpret news headlines.

Academic Misconduct Among Undergraduates Across Aotearoa: Insights and Implications for Policy and Practice

As elsewhere in the world, academic misconduct is a serious problem in Aotearoa. Yet, beyond the occasional newspaper headline, we know relatively little about the extent of the problem here or the factors associated with it. Consequently, our educational leaders and practitioners are left under-informed as they seek to address the problem and promote academic integrity. To help provide the knowledge and insights needed to craft good policy and best practice, the Research on Academic Integrity in New Zealand (RAINZ) Project—a research collaboration involving eight tertiary institutions—was founded in 2021. In the second semester of 2022, the RAINZ Project launched the first-ever nationwide survey of undergraduate students’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours related to academic integrity. Results from this survey, which was completed by undergraduates (N = 4493), indicate that most students (approximately two-thirds) reported engaging in at least one form of academic misconduct in the past year. As hypothesised, students’ perceptions (of the institutional climate and peer norms) and moral attitudes (related to cheating) were significantly associated with their engagement in academic misconduct. Details of these results as well as their implications for policy and practice are discussed.

A Rhetorical Stylistic Analysis of English Political Headlines in Selected Newspapers

This study explores the language used in reporting political headlines conducting a rhetorical stylistic analysis. It is based on showing the effect of the rhetorical stylistic relations in news reporting. The aim is to investigate the structure adopted in reporting political news. It argues that the rhetorical stylistic devices are necessary and applicable to non-literary texts, i.e. political headlines to evaluate language use in the representation of non-literary texts. The analysis was carried out on data selected from the British broadsheet The Guardian and the American New York Times newspaper headlines. The data were examined and subjected to a contrastive analysis incorporating rhetorical and stylistic tools to discern how they are united to achieve the main purpose of language use, i.e. to persuade and grasp the reader's attention. It was found that the two newspapers tend to employ sentence structures differently in terms of nucleus and satellite relations demonstrating the significant part in a sentence. Examples of the deviation strategy of foregrounding were primarily established in the New York Times to maintain the reader's attention about the content underlying the different strategy of the two newspapers to report war circumstances. The analysis shows that rhetorical devices and stylistic features are found and closely related in newspaper articles.

Newspaper Headlines and Intimate Partner Femicide in Portugal

The media’s representation of intimate partner femicides has been contributing to addressing gender-based violence as a structural phenomenon. Aiming to understand which crime elements are valued and how they might contribute to victim blaming, the present study explores the portrayal of intimate partner femicides in Portugal through the analysis of newspaper headlines. The core of the analysis comprises 853 newspaper headlines published between 2000 and 2017, which were subjected to a categorical content analysis. The results suggest two major trends that are aligned with the scope of the two newspapers analyzed. While some headlines offer informative perspectives on crime and its characteristics, the majority tend to sensationalize the narratives, potentially legitimizing violence against women. The results of this study enrich the social and academic debate on the media’s potential influence in preventing and combating gender-based violence. Moreover, by shedding light on the media’s representation of intimate partner femicides, the study reinforces the importance of a broader discussion on the role of journalism in fostering social change.

Linguistic Features and Structures in Newspaper Headlines of the ‘The Standard’ and ‘Daily Nation’ on Banditry, Kenya, 2023

This article aims to look into the linguistic features and structures used in The Standard and Daily Nation Newspaper Headlines on the subject, banditry and the possible implication that it has to the shaping of public perception, informing government responses and raising awareness about the challenges posed by banditry. The study adopted systemic functional linguistics framework, introduced by Michael Halliday in the 1960s. It also adopted analytical research design. Data collection involved the development of a coding sheet. A coding sheet was developed to guide the systematic categorization and analysis of linguistic features and structures present in the newspaper headlines. Content analysis was employed to examine the functions, themes and the rhetorical devices used in the headlines to portray banditry incidents. The data analysis procedure entailed a systematic analysis of the newspaper headlines, aiming to examine the ways they reflect the realities on reporting of banditry in the study regions. The findings revealed that there is a nuanced interplay of linguistic features that significantly shape the construction of public perception. The headlines employed vivid verbs, descriptive adjectives, and metaphors to convey the actions, attributes, and causes associated with banditry. Rhetorical questions, emotive language, personalization, and attributions to sources engaged readers emotionally and conveyed the stance of news sources. The recommendations from this study suggests that newspapers should use varied linguistic elements to offer readers with a more comprehensive knowledge of banditry, editors and journalists should also be creative and precise in their terminologies, use language appropriately when reporting difficult themes and the media should employ rhetorical questions and emotive language with caution. There should be a balance to ensure that emotions do not overpower accurate reporting.

Viral Fear or Panic Myth? Emotions in Ebola News and Social Media Responses

The COVID‐19 pandemic has catalyzed debates about how the public and leaders respond to health threats and the role that the media and emotions play in these responses. Predating COVID‐19, the 2014 Ebola outbreak can serve as a case to examine the constructions and pervasiveness of fear discourse and other emotions in news and social media. In this mixed‐method study, we examine fear discourse in web‐based and traditional newspaper headlines and emergent emotions in social media data (Twitter) during the peak of Ebola coverage. Users discuss fear on Twitter in a variety of ways and there was an increase in Tweets following the first Ebola case in the United States. However, it is humor, not fear, that is the most dominant theme in Twitter responses. Claims by health leaders and media scholars, that information technology and social media spread fear, receive limited support. Prevalence of different emotions vary across format (headlines and social media) and have important implications for understanding the myths and realities of public responses to health threats.