Discourses of Violence: A Cross-Temporal Study of Emotional Tone and Language Use in UK and USA Newspaper Articles.

This study examines emotional tone and linguistic framing in newspaper reports of violent crime, specifically in their evolution across two distinct periods (1995-2000 and 2020-2025) in the UK and USA. Using a mixed-methods design, 560 articles were analysed with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool, followed by critical discursive psychology (CDP) on a stratified subset of the data (N = 12). An exploratory factor analysis identified three linguistic factors: Social Moral Framing (SM), Evaluative Structure (ES), and Personal Expressiveness (PE) which were used to predict emotional tone through cross-temporal hierarchical regression. Quantitative results showed ES and PE to consistently predict emotional tone in both timeframes, whereas SM to be the strongest predictor only in the contemporary/later time frame. The qualitative analysis highlighted that recent reporting prioritises moralised and emotionally-charged narratives, with the origin country and political leaning influencing both the style and framing of information. The findings show a shift towards personalised and empathetic coverage from the earlier to the later time periods, providing implications for support regarding rehabilitation, public perceptions of crime, and punitive attitudes. Thus, the dual role of media is prevalent, as an informer and influencer, emphasising the need for ethically responsible reporting that considers psychological and societal impacts of violent crime narratives.