Symbolic significance of newspaper titles: analysis of patterns in print newspaper titles in the digital age

Abstract

The titles of print newspapers around the world are culturally and politically diverse but have some
common themes and patterns of logic. While the words Post, Times, Evening, Daily, News, Truth, and
Independent are among the most popular, creative variations of elements in titles reflect each newspaper’s
recognizable identity on the global news map. Some titles refer to a unique historical legacy, some
represent cultural values, others highlight specific geographic cities, states or areas, some titles signify
the concept of “freshness” of the news. This exploratory study aims to investigate the range of print
newspaper titles of seven representative countries – the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia,
Kazakhstan, India, and South Africa. Using grounded theory and textual and visual discourse analysis as
methods of newspaper titles, this study deliberately excluded all digitally born news outlets and focused
only on titles that have originated from legacy news brands. By compiling and analyzing the online and
print slogans of approximately the top 50 newspapers from each country, this paper identifies certain
trends and distinctions among title and slogan choices.
Key words: newspaper titles, google slogans, patterns of newspaper titles, Kazakhstan, USA, France,
Russia, Great Britain, cultural meaning, symbolic significance.