Analyzing the language and rhetoric of headline news: a comprehensive study on communication strategies and public perception

This study examines the techniques employed in news headline writing on the BBC and CNN websites. A sample of 100 headlines published between 2022 and 2024 was analyzed using Zhou's (2017) framework, which identifies ten techniques: metonymy, hyperbole, alliteration, oxymoron, personification, quotation, irony, rhetorical question, pun, and metaphor.The findings indicate that nine out of ten techniques were observed in BBC news headlines, while CNN headlines utilized seven out of ten techniques. The analysis reveals that quotation is the most frequently employed rhetorical device in both BBC and CNN headlines, followed by rhetorical questions in second place. Thus, quotation emerges as the predominant rhetorical device utilized in news headline writing across both BBC and CNN platforms.