Sahana Narayan: Week 12 - The Power of a Headline
Sahana Narayan - Week 12: The Power of a Headline – 3/2 [6:55 PM]
There has always been a certain power in which the news has influenced the way people think about an event. And that power lies in the specific words and phrases that the author chooses to put in their article. While a journalist is usually not supposed to show bias, especially on an informational article, they can still include phrases and keywords that point to one side of thinking. These keywords are not just limited to the text of the article, but are often prominent in the headline itself.
In the context of the Ukraine-Russia conflict currently, I have gathered three headlines each from three different newspapers to try to observe the narrative that each group of titles form. And as you will see, that narrative is going to tell me a lot about the newspaper’s opinions on the war and what content I could probably see from them in the future.
The New York Times
Opinion | War Between Ukraine and Russia Would be a Tragedy
‘A Time of Worries’: New York City’s Ukrainians Are Anxious and Afraid
Ukraine Presents a Moral Crisis, Not Just a Military One
These headlines, all articles published by The New York Times in the last three weeks, point to a decision to take a more sympathetic, morally-focused angle on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The New York Times, a largely liberal newspaper, really focuses on how the Ukranians have been affected, rather than the larger politics of the war. It is not to say that The New York Times has not posted any informational articles about the war itself, but these three headlines highlight a different side of the war that the newspaper is trying to show. They are really trying to get their readers to understand the moral implications of war, and use words like “anxious” and “afraid” to draw in sympathy for the Ukranians affected by the war. It definitely tells me that I can expect more content that relates to this narrative in the future from this news publication.
The Washington Times
Biden takes wait-and-see approach as Russia says some troops pulling back
Biden’s America looks befuddled and fearful on the international stage
These headlines show the “Biden” angle taken by The Washington Times. The Washington Times, a largely conservative newspaper, has framed the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the lens of the American president, Joseph Biden. While not all headlines are critical of Biden’s performance, some of the headlines use words like “fearful” and “lauds” that imply a criticism of Biden’s decisions during the conflict. The newspaper’s decision to focus on Biden shows that they place a larger emphasis on America’s role in the conflict. I do want to emphasize that this news publication has also published articles outside of America’s role; my goal is to show that there is simply another narrative that is taking prominence in The Washington Times. If one wanted to learn about America’s decisions during the conflict, then maybe this newspaper is right for them.
TASS
Ukrainian Armed Forces attempt to attack positions of LPR — People's Militia
Russian investigators identify 85 Ukrainian servicemen complicit in Donbass shelling
Kiev nationalists attack school in Ukraine’s Mariupol with BM-21 Grad - Russian ministry
These headlines all paint Ukraine in a negative light, portraying its people as “attackers” and “complicit in…shelling” and “nationalists.” These word choices are harsh and clearly disapproving. TASS is Russia’s leading news agency and is owned by the nation itself, so these characterizations line up with the government’s agenda of justifying Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. By villainizing Ukraine and its people, Russia appears less like an aggressor in comparison.
Hi Sahana! The format of your blog this week was very unique and I enjoyed reading it quite a bit. I never considered how The New York Times is more liberal or The Washington Times is more conservative and that their content would be more skewed towards one side. It was also really cool of you to find news headlines from Russia and just to find similar headlines from all these news organizations and put them together to show a comparison. I never would have thought to write a blog in this way, and you executed it really well, so thank you for your very insightful blog post!
ReplyDeleteHi Sahana! The organization and structure of your blog by highlighting various articles and ending it with a clear summary on what the content embodies. The informational articles that are written within the liberal newspaper can definitely bring off a biased and opinionated paper that might have a few phrases like “anxious” and “afraid,” which could change the viewpoint at which this information is viewed. By placing a closer emphasis on certain decisions made in conflict within decisions that are declared in newspapers, various papers take different degrees of prominence depending on the point of view they are presenting. The manner in which words are phrased could make a difference in the meaning the author is trying to portray to the audience. Thank you for your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Sahana! The information provided about the narratives that some newspapers are attempting to push was really enlightening. Whenever I'm required to find a news article or journal for an English assignment or research project, I've never actually taken the time to stop and think about the biases behind the publishers of my sources. It was interesting to see some of the trends about the perception of the events in Ukraine in the headlines that you pointed out. I think that while these titles can be used to express a certain opinion on a topic, they may also be written to attract a bigger audience. This blog was really well formatted, and it was honestly kind of refreshing to read a blog that was organized in such a unique way.
ReplyDeleteHello Sahana, this blog post is actually really cool. This really shows how news publications have their own opinions and how they manage to use their platform to boost their position on a topic. This makes me question which news publicists should be trusted and which should not be. It is becoming increasingly harder to read the news because the inform ation we read is probably super biased. There are so many publicist companies that everytime I come across a news article I can't tell if it is accurate; there is not a simple list of publicist companies to avoid. I appreciate the effort you put into your blog post where you curated headlines from different companies.
ReplyDeleteHey Sahana, your blog post this week does a really good job of presenting and discussing the varied stances and agendas that different news agencies may take when providing updates or news stories. The vast difference in presentation and tone reflects their agenda clearly, as you so indicate in your analysis of these titles. This identification is crucial, as in this age a lot of people take the information they read at face value, not bothering to take more extensive efforts to gather the whole objective and unfiltered story for themselves. Agencies are often biased and will present the news based on their stance, with some ranging from mildly different word choice to entirely different presentation of the events, as can be seen with the comparison of the three sources you chose. I think this definitely is a good argument for doing diligent research when learning about current events and news, in order to gather an objective and comprehensive understanding of modern happenings.
ReplyDeleteHi Sahana, your blog post was really interesting, as the juxtaposition of different news articles from different sources really highlighted the biases that all of these news sources have. All of these newspaper’s have a different political agenda that they are trying to fulfill, which leads to the manipulation of information by focusing on certain things while emitting others. In today’s world, even articles that seem purely informational almost always have an underlying argument or opinion. It was especially interesting to see how Russian newspapers were making Ukraine seem like the evil aggressors, considering that Russia was the one who started the war, while Ukraine was urging peace. It is clear that many Russian citizens are misinformed about the war and this false information and propaganda is crucial to Russia’s war efforts. Overall, I completely agree with you that a headline has a lot of power, as after just reading the headline, readers decide whether or not to click on the article.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really refreshing blog to read: the various topics and different news agencies placed on top of each other is really cool. By juxtaposing them so close to each other and in such plain sight, the attitude of the individual news agencies really is as clear as you made them out to be. I had no clue such biases would be revealed so readily by these supposedly neutral organizations, but your positioning makes this idea crystal clear. The inclusion of the state-backed Russian newspaper was particularly ingenious: to contain a newspaper that we know would have extreme bias next to papers that claim to be neutral was eye-opening. I truly did not know about the massive biases mentioned in the headlines, and will make sure to read them closer next time.
ReplyDeleteHi Sahana! I found this blog very interesting, especially the formatting of it. I liked how you embedded news headlines from external sources to demonstrate your point. It's something I haven't really seen in previous blogs. Headlines can certainly enforce or hide a narrative that the author wants to push. It reminds me of Shreeya's blog post on connotations to an extent. The way headlines are phrased can really make or break the viewership and more of an article. It's kind of like the cover of a book in a way. Thank you for sharing!
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