The articles I will be comparing are about a successful soap star from Coronation Street – John Savident, who was stabbed in the neck at his home in Manchester. They gave their opinions about the incident. The article printed in The Daily Star is dated the second December 2000 and the Daily Telegraph is also dated second December 2000. Readership figures for the Daily Star, a C1 below category tabloid are 1,451,000 daily between January and June 2001. The Daily Telegraph is a C1 above category broadsheet and had a readership of 2,280,000 daily between January and June 2001.
The papers enlarge on the incident, especially The Daily Star, which gives us suggestions of homosexuality, by linking the actor’s appearance at a gay bar fund raising event earlier in the evening.
The actor stumbled out of his flat, naked and blood stained at 3:40 am and was heard shouting, “why did you do that?” Later a 28-year-old man was arrested over the incident.
Layout is an important clue to the bias and audience at which the article is aimed at. The Daily Star front cover, at first glance is made up of half the page as headline in bold, huge font. The remaining half has a picture of John Savident, twice as large as the text. The headline is ambiguous and draws attention to it. It is written in very bold and uncomplicated text. It reads “STABBED FRED WAS HALF INCH FROM DEATH” It is quite obviously trying to grip the reader to read on. This tabloid interpretation of events uses simple English language because it has to be understood by a lower class person. You don't need to have a large attention span to read it. The first page gives a broad outline of the article. Then the reader has to turn to page 4 where events are dramatised and enlarged. However there are more paragraphs, shorter in length so as not to put off the reader. The subheading e.g. “gruelling”, “blanket” and “dicey” could aid the readers understanding.
The Daily Star has interviewed different people, from one of the neighbours, to his family and fellow actors whereas The Daily Telegraph has interviewed nobody. This is probably because readers of The Daily Telegraph are less likely to watch Coronation Street. The article in the Daily Telegraph is nearly three quarters picture with John Savident assisted by a nurse leaving the hospital. The headlines make it up to three quarters, very small in comparison to the Daily Star and very matter of fact. It reads “Coronation Street actor stabbed.” The written section takes up the remaining quarter page amounting to approx three columns of eight paragraphs.
The Daily Telegraph reports the incident precisely, clearly and to the point. It uses verbs, which have a calming influence whereas the Daily Star uses verbs, which attack. The Daily Star dramatises events using quotes from friends and family. It really rambles on too much and the story becomes irrelevant to the events towards the end of the article and superfluous to requirements. The fourth page of the newspaper portrays the actor sat in his Morgan sports car and a picture of his flat, guarded by a police officer. The large story in the Daily Star is three times longer than in the Daily Telegraph. It is broken up with pictures and uses simple text, which means you don't have to have a large attention span to read it. The headline in the Daily Telegraph is smaller. My eye is immediately drawn to the picture filling nearly three quarters of the page. The article is aimed at a higher class of people than the Daily Star. The language and word structure is much more intellectually based in the Daily Telegraph. The sentences tend to be longer and the whole tone of the article is serious and informative.
In my opinion the photograph used by the Daly Telegraph has much more of an impact on the reader than those used by the Daily Star. This isn’t just because of its size but the content conveys the visual message of the actor leaving hospital, aided by a nurse and showing his dressing on his neck. The smaller picture on the front page of the Daily Star shows John Savident from the chest up baring his dressing. It just does not have the same impact as it is swallowed up by the text. The picture of him on page 4 in his Morgan sports car is completely irrelevant to the incident. The other picture of the police officer stood guard outside his flat is just boring.
I much prefer the Daily Telegraph précis of events because it is more to the point. The expansion and irrelevance of the article written in the Daily Star doesn’t encapsulate the reader in the same way.
Rafe Butterworth 11KLB
