I am going to be, analysing an article written by Ben Taylor about Steven Parr who was involved in a fight, with what he called a thug. I will be looking at why he uses a picture with Stevenss injuries, the headline and what types of things Ben T

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Caroline Deriawish        10MORE1

I am going to be, analysing an article written by Ben Taylor about Steven Parr who was involved in a fight, with what he called a “thug.” I will be looking at why he uses a picture with Stevens’s injuries, the headline and what types of things Ben Taylor uses to shape the article. The article has been written for the Daily Mail Wednesday 29th December 1999 edition, the Daily Mail is a tabloid which tends to exaggerate the story. Tabloids have a bolder layout; they print more ‘human’ interest stories. Tabloids have “downmarket” approach at social groups C2, D and E. A high proportion of shorter articles, covered in less depth. Whereas with broadsheets more covering more detail political news, a higher proportion of longer articles, broadsheet newspapers have a more ‘up market’  social flavour aimed at social groups A, B and C1. They print more ’serious’ articles, with a greater focus on financial matters and international news. So what we are told in this article may not be exactly what happened.

The headline is used to catch the reader’s attention. The headline in this article is quite long for a tabloid, but it uses simple language, I think what catches the reader’s eye with this headline is that that Ben Taylor used ellipses “Instead he intervened…at a terrible price” the “at a terrible price” tends to capture the reader’s attention more because, we want to find out what it was that happened. The headline mainly tells the reader what the article is about. The use of descriptive words means that Steven Parr had a choice to walk away or not this leaves the reader in suspense.

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The picture is VERY effective, especially the fact that it shows Steven Parr’s injuries which makes the readers feel sympathy for him. Basically pictures are worth a thousand words which in this case it is true: if someone didn’t find the headline interesting seeing the picture would change their mind as it shows the terrible suffering he has endured and it would make the reader want to know how it happened. The picture shows Steven Parr with his arm in a sling and his black eye, the picture of Steven’s arm disrupts the writing as his arm sticks out ...

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