The main story being discussed in The Times is, “Archbishops confront Blair over Iraq war”. At first glance of the article the headlines is much smaller and this article has no picture, rather the emphasis is on the written content. This story has ten paragraphs each consisting of on average 8-15 lines. The length of the paragraphs and lines differ considerably from the tabloid, which in comparison has smaller number of paragraphs and less number of lines. Therefore, the articles on the front page of the broadsheet are discussed in great depth. From a business man or women perspective this would be more useful because it gives them more depth in the stories about the affairs affecting the country and the world
Moreover, the writer in the broadsheet newspaper uses complex grammar and vocabulary. This can be illustrated by the following sentence, “The heads of the Anglican and Catholic churches have issued and unusual joint statement highlighting doubts over the “moral legitimacy” of conflict of the “unpredictable humanitarian consequences.” This shows that the language used in the broadsheet is much more complex and more difficult to understand. The article gives a commentary of the Archbishops attempts to persuade Mr Blair not to go to war with Iraq. The subject is being explored in a more objective manner compared to the stories in the tabloid. This can be demonstrated by the following quote, “The events of recent days show that doubts still persist about the moral legitimacy, as well as the unpredictable humanitarian consequences of a war with Iraq”. The words are said in a controlled manner and echo a certain degree of formalness.
In comparison, the tabloid reports events in a more informal manner. The words of the 999 call are reported as, “I have killed the kids and I’m going to kill myself now, I stabbed my son in the neck with a screwdriver and I have done myself in he neck” The language here is informal, simple and provokes an emotional response from the reader. This newspaper would consequently be more likely to be read by teenagers because the articles are more likely to be understood by this group compared to the stories in the broadsheet.
One of the similarities between the two newspapers is both newspapers place captions by their articles. This is important because it allows people to know what the stories are about. The caption are written in different sizes depending on what the writer wants the buyer to see first and more significantly what would interest the reader more.
The second similarities between the newspapers are that both writers use pictures to attract the reader attention. The broadsheet, in the second article discusses how Mrs Mugabe goes shopping in France while her country Zimbabwe is starving. There is a big picture of Mrs Mugabe wearing elegant clothes and loads of jewellery. This picture is very effective in conveying and reinforcing the written content of the story.
In the second article in the tabloid, there is also a very interesting picture. The story is about a girl who was kidnapped for nine months and is found alive. There is no written content other than the caption and a line indicating that the story will be covered on page six. There is a big picture of the girl and by the side of her picture is a photo of the kidnap suspect. The man has very long hair and beard and is looking straight ahead, almost into the eyes of the reader. The picture builds up a sinister atmosphere. The reader is given no further detailed about the story and this creates suspense and an eagerness in the reader to read the full story on page six. Both pictures in the tabloid and the The Times newspaper are colourful, fairly large and are very successful in grabbing the readers’ attention at the visual level. This is very important if we take into account that competition among the newspapers is nationwide, an everyday process with a consumer market in the millions. So, the pictures are a very effective way to appeal to people across all races and ages.
Furthermore, both articles discuss sport. The Times reports the circumstances of David Beckham a well known football player who was injured in one of his eyes by Sir Alex Ferguson’s action who is his manager. Both of them are trying to put what happen aside and concentrate on future games, “David Beckham and Alex Ferguson put aside whatever differences they may have had in the past few days and got on with doing what they do best together- winning.”
The tabloid also explores an issue in the field of sports too. It deals with the story of Colin Jackson’s final appearance in the World Indoor Athletics Championships. There is a very big picture of Colin Jackson smiling and holding up his trainers. The caption beside the picture says, “ FINAL HURDLE” and a few sentences discuss his final appearance.
The issue of sports seems to attract both the interest of the readers of the broadsheet newspaper and the tabloid. However, this was the only issue being discussed by both newspapers. This can be further emphasized by another article in the broadsheets newspaper, which is concerned with biology. The article uses biological terminology, “Darwin” “evolution” “natural hybrid” “genetic mutant” “DNA”. The reader must have some biological knowledge otherwise the article would be very difficult to understand. This reinforces the point that the broadsheet newspaper is aimed at the more educated readers.
The cost of the newspaper also varies considerable. The cost of the broadsheet newspaper is 45p and the tabloid cost 32p. The broadsheet is probably more expensive because it is much bigger in size and contains more pages. This means printing the newspaper is more expensive and therefore is at a higher price. The front cover of The Evening Mail is advertising their job section, “1,000 JOBS INSIDE”. The Evening Mail is very popular for this section and has jobs advertised regularly. The Times also has dedicated the bottom of its front cover for advertisement but this is done for the purpose of prompting a product rather than offering a service to the public like The Evening Mail.
In conclusion, there are many similarities and differences between the newspapers. The similarities include pictures and caption used to aid the articles being discussed. The differences include size, language, price and issues being discussed; with the exception of sport which seems to be popular between both the readers of the broadsheet and the tabloid.
The articles in the tabloid are less complex and easier to understand but do not go in to great depth as the broadsheet. The information given in the tabloid is quite basic compared to the broadsheet. I feel consequently the tabloid is suited to be read by people who enjoy reading newspaper as a leisure or pass time activity. This can be also supported by the idea that the writers of the tabloid newspaper put great emphasis in their pictures and caption and try to present the information in the more exciting and interesting manner.
In comparison the broadsheet newspaper deals with issues such as politics, biology and economy. I think this is because the broadsheet has important information about the world affairs and is aimed at those people who are well educated or have business. On the whole, I would think that the tabloid newspaper gets sold more, simply because it uses easy to understand language and this would appeal to bigger audiences across all ages.
