Representing Meaning in the Headlines of News Reports

A Critical Linguistic Analysis

Abstract

This study identifies the linguistic structures used for propagating specific ideologies by examining the headlines of a select political issue in South Korea in two English newspapers, one published in South Korea, and the other in the US. Critical linguistic analysis is used to examine the New York Times and the Korea Herald coverage of `the North Korean nuclear threat'. The analysis contributes to the understanding of the ideological role of language within news discourse in constructing representations of a society. Such research has important implications for teaching awareness of the constructive and functional nature of language in general, and news discourse in particular, in and out of school setting.