Titles in the English language press as a factor of manipulative linguocultural influence in information wars

The article examines the notion of “information war” and the possibilities of the manipulative effect of titles in the English language press on readers’ perceptions. Information war is a combination of communicative practices meant to influence people’s consciousness by specific use of linguistic units in order to acquire information supremacy for strategic purposes. Titles in the press produce an initial impact on readers thanks to visual perception and eye-catching features. Manipulative linguocultural influence is often realized in titles through using linguistic units with negative connotations, particular phraseological units and their transformations, as well as by employing various stylistic practices and rhetorical figures. The most widely used means are metaphors, hyperboles, puns and rhetorical questions. The pragmatic effects include: a shift in the processing of reality; shaping and developing recipients’ emotional, illogical attitude toward facts and events; transformation of their linguocultural picture of the world in an ideologically targeted direction; and constructing a new social reality and changing public opinion on the basis of distorted information.