The Newspaper Makeover: A Study of Changing Trends in the Language and Typography of Feature Stories in the Newspaper

Abstract

Newspaper, that was once a dull and drab grey sheet of paper carrying cut and dry, matter of fact news in a mundane format has transformed into a colourful spread of news and features with innovations in content and design. As the content evolved, it was accompanied by the change in presentation. This study focuses on the changes that have occurred in the language and typography of the feature stories that appear in the newspapers. While the change in language has been studied in terms of readability ease and writing style, change in typography has been studied vis-à-vis use of text breaker devices, typographical arrangement, and fonts of feature story headlines. The content analysis spanning eighty years has been conducted on The Tribune, an English language, Indian daily. The major findings of the study are- significant increase in readability ease, increase in descriptive style of writing, increase in number and variety of text breaker devices used and innovation in typographical arrangement and the fonts used in headlines.

Keywords: Newspaper, Language, Typography

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