A critical discourse analysis of headlines in online news portals

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the discursive devices used in the news headlines, unravel the ideologies of the media practitioners, and reveal the insights that can be generated from the indings. Thirty headlines were gathered from ive major online news portals in the Philippines namely: ABS-CBN, CNN Philippines, GMA, Interaksyon, and Rappler. This is a qualitative study that is seen through the standpoint of Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in 1995. Results showed ten discursive devices used in the headlines by media practitioners to attract attention from readers that may direct them to not just read the headline but read the entire article. These are evaluative language, vocabulary, intensi ication and quanti ication, immediacy, reference to emotion, reference to elite people, role labels, institutional agency, country, and events. It was also found out that these devices brought out media practitioners' ideologies. It was further found out that writers or editors were objective or neutral, subjective or biased, and misleading. They were shown through the use of direct and indirect quotation, numbers and igures, and choice of words in writing the headlines. The selection of the words used in the headlines showed the political dispositions of the news practitioners who intentionally choose only those speeches or news that may create sensational feelings among the readers. To put it simply, the writer or editor's angle of judgment re lected how he or she wanted the readers to perceive the issue. Furthermore, the results of this study may provide ideas to news consumers to not just read the headlines but read the entire article so that they may know if the headline matches its content and that they may be able to identify if the issue is true or not, if it is slanted or sensationalized.

Predicting Sensationalism in Suicide Story Headlines

“…The reduced influence of disclosure of suicide method, method and location, and contents of a note after controlling for the sensationalism within an article is a noteworthy finding. As the headline could be a primary factor in determining whether someone reads an article (Hawton et al, 2021; Montejo & Adriano, 2018), it is important to understand how the content corresponds to the headline. Our findings show sensationalism of an article’s content is most strongly associated with the headline, as readers who are drawn to sensational headlines risk greater exposure to nonadherent materials in newspapers.…”

Dalumat sa karanasan at pag-unawa sa pagbasa ng mga mag-aaral sa mga balitang politikal ng mga samahang pangkabataan

“…Gaya ng karamihan sa mga balita, simple lamang ang mga salitang ginamit sa pamagat. Hindi ginawang isang buong pangungusap ang pamagat upang mas madali itong mapansin at hindi maging masyadong mahaba (Montejo & Adriano, 2018;Agu, 2015). Nakalagay rin sa unahan ang pangalan ng sumulat ng balita.…”

“…Mahalagang suriin din ang mga nilalaman ng mga balitang Filipino na may kinalaman sa politika dahil bukod sa nagbibigay ang mga ito ng impormasyon tungkol sa estado ng bansa, nakaaapekto ito sa mga pananaw ng tao pagdating sa mga isyung politikal. Batay sa pag-aaral nina Montejo at Adriano (2018), karamihan sa mga headlines ng mga balita ay gumagamit ng pandiwa na nasa aspektong imperpektibo o pangkasalukuyan upang magmukhang mas bago ang mga balita. May mga headlines din na mapanlinlang at nagpapakita na may kinikilingang panig.…”

Casting shadows of doubt: Perspectives of reputable journalists on fake news

“…Fake news has already proven that it is not new. Until recently, there was only news, now there is "fake news" that Donald Trump used in his favor during his successful 2016 presidential bid (Montejo & Adriano, 2018;Simmons, 2017). The term has been used countless times ever since (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017).…”