The Daily Mirror’s and The Daily Telegraph’s reports both contain similar information that can be said to be factual but they also have difference. For example the two reports both confirm the school disturbance happened in Bideford, Devon and they also say it happened on the same day. Another similarity is that both reports claim that the police were called to the school; they also confirm schoolchildren caused damage and that the disturbance started because of a teachers pay dispute.
On the other hand the papers include different information about the disturbance and its events. The Daily Mirror claimed that there was a gang of 300 pupils causing damage whereas The Daily Telegraph estimates there was about 60 pupils involved in the disturbance. The Daily Mirror being a tabloid wants to make the story sound more dramatic and this is why it exaggerates the number of pupils. The Daily Telegraph is probably right in saying there was 60 pupils as it sounds more believable and broadsheets are normally more truthful. Another difference between the reports is the way they describe how the police dealt with the situation. According to The Daily Mirror it took eight policemen to restore order, this makes the report shocking. The Daily Telegraph claims the police restored order after thirty five minutes which again sounds more believable than The Daily Mirror.
Finally the two reports contain different information when describing the violence caused by the schoolchildren. In the Daily Mirror the pupils were described as “storming through the school smashing windows”. This sounds much more dramatic compared to The Daily Telegraph that said “children were throwing bottles and stones”. Using the word “children” makes the violence sound less damaging and less shocking. The Daily Telegraph also contains the fact that a report was called for the disturbance. The Daily Mirror doesn’t include that as the report would probably be different to the story from The Daily Mirror and could make the reader think the paper is lying.
In the two reports direct speech is used very little but is used effectively. The Daily Mirror doesn’t include direct speech until the last sentence; it quotes “dealt with severely”. This is referring to the pupils that caused the disturbance. The direct speech gives justice to the story and satisfies the reader as they know the pupils will be punished. The Daily Telegraph uses direct speech twice to good effect. The two quotes are “developing riot” and “a disturbance rather than a riot”. The Daily Telegraph uses these two quotes as they make the report more factual but they also help the report move on. “Developing riot” makes the reader think that the situation is quite serious but in the next sentence it is changed to “a disturbance rather than a riot”. The second piece of direct speech makes the reader feel relieved and also tones the report down giving the reader a flavour of what’s to come.
Both newspapers use language to affect the reader’s response and also to indicate the approach that will be taken. For example, in The Daily Mirror the pupils are described as a “gang”, this creates an impression of angry youths storming around the school causing disturbance and damage. However in The Daily Telegraph the pupils are simply called “pupils” which gives an image of school children abiding by the rules. The Daily Mirror clearly makes the pupils sound more dangerous and wants the reader to be shocked whereas The Daily Telegraph is telling the story less dramatically.
When describing the disturbance The Daily Mirror says “trouble flared”. This gives an image of chaos and vast numbers of people joining in with the violence. On the other hand The Daily Telegraph says that children were “causing damage”. This definitely gives the reader an image of pupils causing a small disturbance but it doesn’t give the same effect that “trouble flared” gives. Once again it seems that The Daily Telegraph is merely telling the story as it happened whereas The Daily Mirror wants to make the story more interesting for the reader.
The two reports both state that police were called to the school but the way they describe these events is different. The Daily Mirror describes the police as “eight men strong” and the violence was only stopped when the eight men were there to help the headmaster. Whenever the word “police” is used it immediately grabs the reader’s attention but it sounds more emotive saying there were eight policemen. The Daily Telegraph, however, uses much less emotive language when describing the police force. “Police stored order” is how The Daily Telegraph explains the police’s input on the situation. “Stored order” gives the impression that when he police arrived at the school the disturbance was immediately stopped. When compared, “eight men strong” makes the story sound very serious, on the other hand “police stored order” is less shocking and sounds more like what you would expect if police were called to a school.
After analysing both reports it is quite obvious that The Daily Mirror has set out to shock the reader and make them read the report in interest. Being a tabloid newspaper this is what you would expect but it is astonishing how much The Daily Mirrors report is different to The Daily Telegraphs. The Daily Telegraph is a broadsheet newspaper and their aim is to simply tell things how they happened. This has clearly happened in The Daily Telegraphs report about the disturbance as the information and language used is much less emotive than The Daily Mirrors. When reading The Daily Telegraphs report it feels like you are reading a professional report designed to give information. The Daily Mirrors report has a much more shocking and emotive feel to it much like a fictional story.