Political Bias on BBC, CNN, and Fox News - Doria

Following in line with existing literature, in WH-interrogatives the WH-element (e.g.
who, what, how) is the Theme (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 75). Example (6) is a
soft news headline for lack of a hard news example.
(6) Why repealing 'don't ask, don't tell' isn't enough
With yes/no interrogatives, the Theme is longer than simply the first element because
the Finite marker (e.g. is) does not have an experiential function (ibid.: 76). Example
(7) demonstrates this.
(7) Is Consumer Spending on the Rise?
Here the Theme extends to include the participant.
In the matter of clause complexes, two options are presented. On the one hand,
Theme can be analyzed separately for both clauses because, as Halliday and
Matthiessen explain, "[t]here is thematic structure...in all major clause types" (2004:
98). On the other hand, either the Theme from the independent clause carries over to
the dependent clause or, when the dependent clause precedes the independent clause,
the dependent clause functions as Theme for the whole headline (see the examples in
ibid.: 101-103, also Thompson 2004: 155-156). The former option is selected:
(8) As 'Occupy' protests spread, some politicians rebuke
(9) 'Occupy Wall Street' protests spread as Obama weighs in
Much like headlines with both a dependent and independent clause, headlines with
reported speech involve two clauses, and a similar analysis ensues with both the
projected and projecting clause analyzed for Theme (Thompson 2004: 161).
(10) Third of US veterans do not back wars, says Pew study
(11) Student Says School Held Him Back Because Of Religion
Reported speech is also known as indirect speech.
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