Newspaper Readability : a Broadsheet vs. a Tabloid

Sammanfattning: Is it possible to trace differences in the syntax used in various newspapers and how these differences influence the readability? Earlier studies confirm this and show that it is possible to make a wider distinction between the languages used in for example a broadsheet compared to the language used in a tabloid. In this study, both sentence length and sentence complexity of a broadsheet and a tabloid with a similar political stance were examined in order to find out if it is possible to show differences in readability between the two newspapers. The articles used in this study are on-line articles and have thus been taken from a search on the internet. In order to obtain adequate research material, ten articles from each newspaper have been used. Five articles from each newspaper website are news articles whereas the remaining five were taken from the culture pages. Regarding sentence length, the average of each article has been calculated. When it comes to sentence complexity, ratios of simple, complex, and compound sentences have been investigated. The analysis revealed that it is possible to show that there are not any substantial differences in sentence length and sentence complexity between the examined newspapers. However, in contrast to the hypothesis of this study, the examined articles in the tabloid consisted of longer sentences and more complex sentence constructions which, according to earlier research, would be an indication of a more formal language which probably has an effect on readability. Since both examined newspapers are supposed to support the Conservative party, it is, with the result of this study, possible to claim that both newspapers have the same targeted audience.