Lexical density in English newspapers – a cross-analysis of the New York Times and Arab News

Purpose This study examines the lexical density of articles from The New York Times (TNYT) and Arab News (AN) , analyzing its impact on the readability and accessibility of content for general audiences, particularly non-native English speakers. It also considers other features affecting readability in these newspapers. Design/methodology/approach The chosen method for lexical density is Ure’s content-to-total word ratio, while readability is calculated with the help of the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level. The analysis involves the use of descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between lexical density and readability. A qualitative content analysis is used for in-depth analysis of contextual factors affecting text comprehensibility. The dataset comprises 100 articles: 50 articles from TNYT and 50 articles from AN , between 2022 and 2024 and covered topics related to climate change and the environment. Findings The findings revealed that AN has an average lexical density of 56.54% while TNYT has 57.96%. Nevertheless, the above difference is not statistically significant. In addition, lexical density has a positive correlation (0.6332) with Flesch–Kincaid Grade-Level scores. Therefore, this implies that reading comprehension decreases as lexical density increases. Qualitative findings indicate that AN emphasizes regional adaptation and increased contextual explanations, which can increase comprehensibility for non-native English speakers. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this research involves the exploration of two English-language newspapers from Western and Middle-Eastern world regions. This means that the findings cannot accurately reflect the audiences in these two regions. Additionally, this study did not involve the comparison of tolerance thresholds for lexical density among different groups, such as native and non-native English language speakers. In the future, researchers should examine the same topic by considering other Western and Middle-Eastern newspapers that were not covered in this study. In addition, interviews with experts and tests should be administered to compare the impacts of lexical density on comprehensibility between native and non-native English language speakers. Originality/value This research contributes to the knowledge of how lexical density affects readability in Western and non-Western English newspapers. It provides insights for media outlets aiming to enhance content accessibility for diverse, global audiences.