International Journal of Language and Linguistics

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Bias in Headlines: Evidence from Newspaper Coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition

Received: 05 October 2015    Accepted: 23 October 2015    Published: 03 December 2015
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Abstract

A nagging concern that has emerged from media bias is its over-riding and manipulative power to influence public opinion and perception. When this bias is unleashed on consumers of news, it can have a devastating consequence on news production and consumption. Since most casual readers take their news from the headlines without reading the accompanying stories, it is more disturbing when newspapers, with their eyes on profit, tantalize the reading public with biased headlines. Against this background, a corpus of 80 headlines culled from four Ghanaian private newspapers was analysed to explore the infusion of bias in headlines in the coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition. The results showed that a high percentage (81.5%) of the headlines was biased. It was also found out that influenced by which side of the petition the newspapers supported, they employed word choice as the main type of bias, using linguistic choices such as negative words, invectives and loaded words. The findings have implications for media objectivity and fair reportage devoid of ideological slant and judgmental opinions.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25
Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 3, Issue 6, November 2015)
Page(s) 416-426
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Media Bias, Headline, Petitioners, Respondents, Cross Examination, Counsel

References
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[17] Egbeyemi, A. (2014) “Bias by Word Choice and Tone”, Retrieved from (https//prezi.com/wplzzajmkcb7/bias-by-word-choice-and-tone) 21/10/14.
[18] Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse Retrieved from www.goodreads.com/book/show/12333346.Media-Discourse.
[19] Farhi, P. (2012). “How Biased are the media, really?” The Washington Post, Retrieved from www.washigntonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-biased-is-the-media really/2012/041 10/10/14.
[20] Fyfe, K. (2007). “Bias in the Headlines” Retrieved from www.mrc.org/articles/bias- headlines: 11/09/14.
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Author Information
  • Department of Liberal Studies, Kumasi Polytechnic, Kumasi, Ghana

  • Department of Liberal Studies, Kumasi Polytechnic, Kumasi, Ghana

  • Department of Liberal Studies, Kumasi Polytechnic, Kumasi, Ghana

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    Sarfo-Adu Kwasi, Amponsah Partey Faustina, Addo-Danquah Rosemary Gifty. (2015). Bias in Headlines: Evidence from Newspaper Coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 3(6), 416-426. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25

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    ACS Style

    Sarfo-Adu Kwasi; Amponsah Partey Faustina; Addo-Danquah Rosemary Gifty. Bias in Headlines: Evidence from Newspaper Coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2015, 3(6), 416-426. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25

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    AMA Style

    Sarfo-Adu Kwasi, Amponsah Partey Faustina, Addo-Danquah Rosemary Gifty. Bias in Headlines: Evidence from Newspaper Coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition. Int J Lang Linguist. 2015;3(6):416-426. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25,
      author = {Sarfo-Adu Kwasi and Amponsah Partey Faustina and Addo-Danquah Rosemary Gifty},
      title = {Bias in Headlines: Evidence from Newspaper Coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {416-426},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.25},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20150306.25},
      abstract = {A nagging concern that has emerged from media bias is its over-riding and manipulative power to influence public opinion and perception. When this bias is unleashed on consumers of news, it can have a devastating consequence on news production and consumption. Since most casual readers take their news from the headlines without reading the accompanying stories, it is more disturbing when newspapers, with their eyes on profit, tantalize the reading public with biased headlines. Against this background, a corpus of 80 headlines culled from four Ghanaian private newspapers was analysed to explore the infusion of bias in headlines in the coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition. The results showed that a high percentage (81.5%) of the headlines was biased. It was also found out that influenced by which side of the petition the newspapers supported, they employed word choice as the main type of bias, using linguistic choices such as negative words, invectives and loaded words. The findings have implications for media objectivity and fair reportage devoid of ideological slant and judgmental opinions.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    T1  - Bias in Headlines: Evidence from Newspaper Coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition
    AU  - Sarfo-Adu Kwasi
    AU  - Amponsah Partey Faustina
    AU  - Addo-Danquah Rosemary Gifty
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    T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
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    AB  - A nagging concern that has emerged from media bias is its over-riding and manipulative power to influence public opinion and perception. When this bias is unleashed on consumers of news, it can have a devastating consequence on news production and consumption. Since most casual readers take their news from the headlines without reading the accompanying stories, it is more disturbing when newspapers, with their eyes on profit, tantalize the reading public with biased headlines. Against this background, a corpus of 80 headlines culled from four Ghanaian private newspapers was analysed to explore the infusion of bias in headlines in the coverage of the 2012 Ghana Presidential Election Petition. The results showed that a high percentage (81.5%) of the headlines was biased. It was also found out that influenced by which side of the petition the newspapers supported, they employed word choice as the main type of bias, using linguistic choices such as negative words, invectives and loaded words. The findings have implications for media objectivity and fair reportage devoid of ideological slant and judgmental opinions.
    VL  - 3
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