Date of Award

1-1-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Skripnikov, Andrey

Area of Concentration

Statistics, Data Science Secondary Field

Abstract

This paper examines linguistic changes in mainstream written news media in the United States. We compare subjectivity, formality, lexical diversity, and reading complexity from 1996- 97 to 2023-24 across five local and national news publications; the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Hartford Courant, and Chicago Tribune, to determine if there has been a shift towards simpler, more subjective, and less formal language in accordance with the familiarization and potential preference of the audience to shorter, more casual forms of news media prevailing online. We use comparative tests, linear models, and linear mixed models to examine changes in the average of each linguistic metric across years as well as changes in individual publications. No consistent change was found in subjectivity, formality, or lexical diversity across the time periods, but reading complexity saw a significant increase over time. This is consistent with a shift towards in-depth analysis or narrative style rather than the straight reporting of events common in the later 20th century.

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