LINGUAL MEANS AND TACTICS OF EXPRESSING SENSATIONALISM IN THE HEADLINES OF NEWS ARTICLES ON ECONOMIC SUBJECTS

Abstract

The article investigates lingual means and tactics used in economic news headlines. This research highlights the relevance of studying the role of sensationalism in media discourse, as sensationalism is utilized not only to pique the interest of the media readership but also to manipulate public awareness, promote fake news and spread propaganda. Therefore, examining sensationalism as a pragmalinguistic tool contributes to its implementation and enables media specialists and readers to recognize manipulative techniques used in news articles, as well as to protect themselves from misinformation in the media. The material of the study was news articles on economic topics from Internet publications: City A.M., The Telegraph, and The Guardian. The methodological base of the research includes: methods of analysis and synthesis; method of sampling empirical material; descriptive method; linguistic analysis, in particular discursive, lexical-semantic and functional-stylistic; classification of pragmalingual means; the method of interpretive and textual analysis; as well as the method of generalization aimed at generalizing the obtained results. The following sensationalistic tactics employed in economic news headlines were singled out and analyzed: the tactic of influencing the reader’s emotional state, forward referencing, personalization, the listicle structure, and the “halo of mystery” tactic. The findings of the research demonstrate that lingual means are effective tools for capturing attention and enlarging readership. The research contributes to the fields of pragmatics and media linguistics. The findings enhance our comprehension of how sensationalism shapes the public perception of economic events. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of headlines as key elements of news articles that influence readers’ interpretation of economic news content and shape their worldview.