Towards a pragma-linguistic framework for the study of sensationalism in news headlines

This article sets out a framework for a language-oriented analysis of sensationalism in news media. Sensationalism is understood here as a discourse strategy of ‘packaging’ information in news headlines in such a way that news items are presented as more interesting, extraordinary and relevant than...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Discourse & communication 2013-05, Vol.7 (2), p.173-197
Main Author: Molek-Kozakowska, Katarzyna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention
Journalism
Linguistics
Media
Quantitative analysis
Sensation
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Summary:This article sets out a framework for a language-oriented analysis of sensationalism in news media. Sensationalism is understood here as a discourse strategy of ‘packaging’ information in news headlines in such a way that news items are presented as more interesting, extraordinary and relevant than might be the case. Unlike previous content analyses of sensational coverage, this study demonstrates how sensationalism is instantiated through specific illocutions, semantic macrostructures, narrative formulas, evaluation parameters, and interpersonal and textual devices. Examples are drawn from a corpus of headlines of the ‘most read’ articles in the online outlet of the British mid-market tabloid Daily Mail compiled in early 2012. Sensationalized instances are identified through surveys and focus group discussions and subsequently analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The study is located within the context of media scholarship on news values and current trends in journalism.
ISSN:1750-4813
1750-4821
DOI:10.1177/1750481312471668