The heading “War in Europe” is more of a statement of fact, rather than a creative (suggestion, balanced, false or true) heading. This is cleverly done by the writer to make the reader think about the fact that it’s true, and therefore it will make him or her realise how close the bombing is to their home.
Another clever technique used by the writer/photographer is that as well as putting in an important heading, he/she also add a picture which proves and emphasises their point more clearly, and gets the message across in a more powerful way.
The photographs also have a strong visual meaning that comes across powerfully to the reader/viewer. Both photographs have powerful visual imagery, used by the photographers.
In the “bombs” and “blame” photograph the photographer wants the readers/viewers to feel compassion and consideration for the boy. And when we see it, (photograph), we do exactly that. Instantly we feel great sympathy for the little boy. He looks completely innocent and lonely, and possibly might have lost a friend or relative. The photographer carefully and purposely also pictured the two (possibly one-man) women in the background showing that the boy may have lost his family or friends. (The photographer wants us to think that many parents are dying due to the war but what will the consequences of this be, like the boy in the photograph, where/who will children turn to). This again is a technique not only used in this article/newspaper, but it is famous in other articles as well.
This photograph has been chosen from many others, for a particular reason, and we suggest that this reason is that it’s the only photograph that relates to the heading and emphasises the point more than any other photograph.
In the “War in Europe” photograph(s); it shows a badly injured woman lying amidst the bomb wreckage. This brings home the reality of people getting bombed. The skill used here by the photographer is that as well as picturing the injured woman; the photographer also includes the background, which can be seen in the photograph. The reason or suggestion for why he/she does this is so that when the viewer looks at the picture and sees’ the background (as well as the lady) they immediately recognise that the Landscape is in the U.K., and therefore the picture was obviously taken in the U.K., just as the heading suggests, and they will then realise that the bombing, is in fact, close to their homes.
This is a skill used by many photographers, in many different articles/newspapers.
The second photograph shows two men helping out injured civilians. In this photograph the photographer gets his/her message across very powerfully. The photographer wants to tell us that, maybe, during the bombing, people who, before the War, hated each other, are now in fact helping each other out, to try and stay alive. And to get this message across to the reader, the photographer takes/uses a powerful photograph that shows exactly that – instead of just giving somebody’s account of it.
As well as the headings, the writer also uses very careful and clever skills/techniques in the article itself. The main message that the writer wants to get across, is that ‘there is a war going on, and innocent civilians are getting killed in between. Who is responsible for these killings?’ If the writer had just given one account of the story then we, as readers, would easily be able to detect the responsible culprits (NATO, or Serbs - one of them is responsible). Instead he/she gives a very incredibly balanced account of both sides. This is, again, is a very clever technique used by the writer to get his/her message across, because their aim is to get the message to us powerfully, and then to allow us to be the judge and figure out who is responsible, using the information they provide us with.
This skill used by the writer, also, makes us as readers become actively involved, because we have to use the information, to make a verdict (shows how balanced it is) as to who is responsible - guilty, (based upon our knowledge of the two sides).
The extract below shows how the writer gives an incredibly balanced report of the two sides,
“Struck by military forces or aircraft’s.”
Rather than telling us who struck ‘it’ the writer says that it could be either one.
This also tells us that the writer wants to get a message across, telling us that nobody accepts the blame, innocent always suffer, and to get this across to us powerfully, the writer mentions that they (NATO) are blaming the weather for their actions.
“NATO commanders have been frustrated by persistent bad weather over Kosovo...”
This is a fine example of NATO using the weather as an excuse for their bad targets, which have killed innocent people.
Another skill that the writer uses to get a powerful message across to the reader, is that, he/she uses words such as,
“Horrific”, “…bloodied bodies”, “…terrifying…”, “Atrocity…”, “Strewn across the road.”
This is done intentionally by the writer, because words like these indicate to the reader that someone has to be blamed, which is the exact message the writer wants to get across to the reader.
By using technical words (the author), we as readers realise that the Author is trying to cover up for someone, because technical words such as,
“Collateral damage”, “developed techniques to refine the accuracy”, and “persistent”
…for some readers (maybe uneducated), are hard to understand therefore it can mislead the readers to believe something else.
The overall conclusion to the assignment is based on the different methods that the writers and photographers use to get certain messages across to the reader, powerfully. (To begin with) The photographers use and have a lot of skill when actually taking a photograph, because as the photographs show, the photographer intentionally included the background scene, which shows that the background is just as effective as the main image (front) of the photo. Also we learn that from thousands of photographs ‘they’ chose the one(s) which relates most to the title, (which can be seen in each photograph).
The writers however design effective headings and articles, such as,
“After the bombs, the blame”
Which, in fact, have certain messages in them that are revealed by the reader. For example the heading above, has a repetition of a B sound reflecting the actual sound a bomb might make, i.e. ‘bang’, and it works for the reader (and the writer), therefore
their techniques and skills work very effectively to get certain messages across to the reader.