Meaning Construction of Business News Headlines from the Perspective of Appraisal Theory

-- A Case Study of China Daily’s Corporate Economic News Headlines in 2024

Abstract

Against the backdrop of globalization and informatization, business news headlines can shape international public opinion and market perception through implicit evaluative strategies. However, existing studies often focus on a single subsystem of appraisal theory, lacking comprehensive analyses of the interrelations among the three subsystems. As a result, there remains a gap in the systematic explanation of the synergistic mechanisms of evaluative meaning and their communicative effectiveness. This study takes 1,523 English corporate economic news headlines from China Daily in 2024 as the research corpus and, based on the framework of appraisal theory, aims to reveal how headlines construct evaluative meanings and reflect Chinese media’s attitudes toward corporate development. The study finds that the judgment and appreciation subsystems within the attitude system dominate, with a focus on corporate “technological breakthroughs” and “value and benefits”. These headlines mitigate subjective emotional coloring to demonstrate an objective stance while enhancing discourse credibility through authoritative statements. To some extent, this research provides practical support for appraisal theory and offers interdisciplinary theoretical insights and optimization strategies for international communication.