In an article the lead paragraph is designed to have a large impact on the reader which sums up the story in a short space. This is useful for people who haven’t got time to read the full article. It is also designed to interest the reader so they read on. In The Mirror the lead paragraph is simple and bold, full of emotion and sensational language such as ‘sparked outrage’ to over exaggerate the story. The lead paragraph is designed to be short and ‘straight to the point’ but it fails to mention any positive side to the Princes comment, which is revealed later on in the article. This again shows signs of The Mirror being bias. The Times is more informative and is not bias in any way. It explains how he said that ‘members of shooting clubs were no more dangerous than members of golf or squash clubs’. The paragraph also contains more honest language and less sensational language and it over exaggerates less.
The final effective presentational features in the newspapers are the pictures. In The Mirror the picture makes the Prince look stupid and foolish, in this way it ties in with the headline. The picture has been taken at a particular moment and catches the Prince with a stupid look on his face. Inside the paper there are also two very effective pictures aside the inside headline. On one side of the headline there is a cricket bat whereas on the other side there is a picture of him with a gun. These two pictures are designed to create a comparison between cricket bats and guns, in this sense they make him seem even more stupid. The picture of him holding a gun is also designed to make him seem more biased as well as violent. The caption calls him a ‘marksman’ which makes people think of him as a sniper of hit man and it also states how he ‘loves to go out shooting game’ – this makes him seem dangerous and obviously shows how he is very biased in what he said. The Times uses only one, very small picture, which is neutral and doesn’t make the Prince seem bias on foolish at all.
The presentational features in both papers are very different and contrast in many ways. It is very interesting how the same story can be told in completely different ways just by how it is displayed. But also, a very significant difference between the two articles is the use of sensational and informative language and the effect of bias.
Sensational language is language that makes the story sound incredibly interesting and exciting as although usually over exaggerates the point. For example, something ‘bad’ becomes ‘tragic’ or ‘horrifying’. Sensational language is most often found in tabloids such as The Mirror. On the front page alone there are many examples of sensational language such as ‘Gun Storm’ in the headline. A mere stupid statement regarding guns has suddenly hit the headlines and is made to sound atrocious and extremely serious. In the lead paragraph there is another example: ‘sparked outrage’ where a line like ‘has caused anger’ or such could have been used – sensational, over the top language has been used to make the article sound far more interesting than it actually is. It is quite important for this technique to be used in the headline and lead paragraph as they’re the first places the reader looks and decides whether the article is worth reading or not. There are also other examples of sensational language in the main text of the article such as; ‘condemnation, amazing comparison, outrageous, fury exploded, savaged’ and many more, which completely over exaggerate and make the article seem far more interesting.
Informative language on the other hand is factual and useful. It is far more serious, honest and informs the reader correctly. The Times does this far more than The Mirror. As well as more informative, honest language, The Times generally uses more challenging language such as ‘legislation’ (a law being passed), ‘ineffective’ (not effective) or ‘bereaved’ (mourning over the death of someone).
A concept used in much more than just newspapers, is bias – when something may be affected by the writer’s opinion. For example, with a review of a football match – if the writer prefers one team they may favour that team more in the article, maybe dishonestly. The Mirror is far more biased than The Times and there are plenty obvious examples to show this. In the headline alone the Prince is claimed to have foolish and the picture makes him look stupid. In the article on the front page there is no good point made about the Prince, yet in a very small part in the corner of the 5th page it explains his full comment which, when read, balances and explains the full content of what he actually said. Yet there are still many examples of bias on this page as well. In the main headline – ‘You’re a sick joke duke’ slags him off and the picture next to the headline shows him brandishing a gun – this makes him seem violent. 2 other important examples are the phone poll at the bottom of the page, which asks ‘Is he a fool’. The clever idea behind this is that people will only phone in if they agree with the statement. There is also the ’30 years of right royal gaffes’ article, which is incredibly bias as it basically lists in detail many of the offensive comments he has made throughout the years.
The reason The Mirror is so bias is because it makes him sound worse than he actually is, combined with the great use of emotive language it makes the article far more interesting to the reader and so sells more papers, as that is the real aim of the paper. A paper may also be bias if it is against a particular person or group of people, in the case of The Mirror – the royal family in particular.
The ‘readership’ of a paper is the type of people that generally read that particular paper and so are the type of people the paper is aimed at and designed for. The readership of a tabloid such as The Mirror, are traditionally ‘blue collar’ workers who have less time to read and generally have a lower reading stamina (reading stamina is the average length of reading someone can do before loosing attention). Thus these papers are easier to read as they have less text, more pictures and simpler language. The readership of a broadsheet such as The Times tends to be those with a high reading stamina who demand in-depth reporting. An example of these people include those with more time, for example when travelling such as businessmen, lawyers and teachers. These papers have far more text and less pictures and are often linked to education.
The Mirror and The Times both tell the same story in very different ways as I have explained in this essay. It is a fact that The Mirror uses more sensational language and bias than The Times, which uses more informative and factual language and is far more neutral.