Comparing Social and Print Media News Headlines: A Critical Discourse Analysis

The clickbait content creation strategy on social media differs from the techniques used to construct headlines in traditional print media. Social media content creators generate their income through those links, whereas newspapers are purchased in bulk. In this context, this study presents an analysis that compares the use of linguistic choices in social and print media news headlines to engage readers. The study employed a qualitative approach, and a sample of six news headlines, comprising three from Daily Jang and three from social media pages, was analysed at two levels in the light of a framework developed by Carvalho (2008). The first level explores structural organisation and layout, objects, actors, language, grammar, rhetorical devices, and other discursive strategies. The second level explores the contextual level, which deals with the understanding of the historical or political background behind a news event and its linkages with the cognition of the audience, i.e., how a specific event may impact the audience. Additionally, we have presented a semiotic analysis to enrich our results. The comparative analysis reveals that both news media editors employed linguistic choices and other discursive strategies with distinct agendas, namely, generating more social media links and establishing an ideological stance in print media. Moreover, the semiotic analysis examines how sign language aids news creators in achieving their goal of creating hype in news headlines. This study may be helpful for researchers who intend to explore media discourse. 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