ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concepts of mediatization, media effects, and media impact against the background of a growing convergence of broadcast and digital media. It explores these concepts to journalistic interpretations of digital media metrics such as clicks, shares and likes, and provides how language is enlisted as a resource in digital journalism to aggressively increase impact, relating the shift to previous historical developments in news writing. The chapter examines the influence of metrification on the stylistic choices of journalists in relation to so-called 'clickbait' by picking headlines that tempt users to select particularly scandalous or entertaining content. It focuses on influential concepts from media and communication research and linguistics, and identifies key research interests at the intersection of media impact and language. The chapter explores an interdisciplinary survey of literature on the linguistics of media discourse and on journalistic interpretations of media relevance and newsworthiness. It shows that the internet has considerably advanced the possibility of tracking media impact.
