Comparing two Newspaper Articles

The Sunday People appears to contain much more text, but this is not necessarily true as the font is larger. There is a medium sized black and white photograph with caption "GERR WE GO: Steven Gerrard celebrates with Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole after putting England 2-1 ahead" Beneath this is a large headline in block capitals, "Herr cut? This was a scalping!" This attracts the readers attention as it is large and bold. Below this headline is "Germany 1 England 5" with pictures of the England and German team logos. The main body of text goes from the top left hand side and in columns below the headline. This article is much more visually interesting and captivating than the article in The Observer.

The layout is not the only difference in these two articles, the content is completely different. The different audiences at which the papers are aimed are apparent much more in the content and language of the two articles than any other factor affecting them. The Observer's language is much more formal and factual, with only hints of emotive language, "Not even the most brazen English optimist expected five goals" The language in The People's article is much more emotive and patriotic, "And when this generation talks about THAT hat-trick...the one that rocked the German game to its foundations... sent shockwaves around the globe" This emotive language has a xenophobic tone and the article on the whole contains much hyperbole, "supported by a cast sprinkled with stardust and a skipper who had the cross of St George stitched on to his boots. David Beckham played like it was tattooed across his heart." This sentence in particular is extremely patriotic.

The sentences in The Observer are more complex, with paragraphs consisting of just one sentence, "Despite Beckham's best effort the home side still managed to mount the first couple of attacks, and England were grateful Steven Gerrard had also passed his fitness test when the Liverpool player's quick reactions foiled a threatening run into the area from Sebastien Deisler" This means the reader must read a lot to find out a small piece of information, and although this appeals to a broadsheet audience, readers of tabloid papers prefer to not have to read a lot to find the information they require.

It is difficult to assess which of these two articles is the most successful as a piece of writing and as a match report. The article in The Sunday People is complete hyperbole, extremely patriotic and in a sense xenophobic, which can be said to be an influence on football hooligans, it is a fact that papers influence people. The article in The Observer is much more formal and factual, without being xenophobic and hyperbolic, and so for each case I would say that this article was the most successful.