One of the main aspects of Tabloids is their use of Headlines and Sub-titles. Tabloids are shrewd in the art of Headlines, they are artful manipulators of language and this is one of the main “weapons” in their “armoury”. The Headline is one of the first things a prospective customer sees when browsing through the racks of papers, if the headline sounds appealing then hopefully the paper will be just as good, a lot of Tabloid sales depends on their headlines. Tabloids use such techniques as puns, rhetorical questions, alliteration, assonance and more. These techniques make a headline appealing to the reader and therefore make the paper more appealing, for example, “Runaway Roadent Rescued” this is a pun regarding the story of a hamster finding its way onto a road and being rescued by a passer by. This play on words is typical among Tabloids but that particular quote was from the 25 September 2005 Sun newspaper. This is directly linked to the use of language in newspapers and also the type of information in newspapers as the headline dictates what the article will be and vice versa.
By far the most relevant part of the Tabloid is the news or information which is represented by its use of language. Language plays a critical role in the composition of a Tabloid. As with headlines, techniques such as puns and alliteration are common place within the articles of such Tabloid papers as The Sun and The News of The World. The type of language used in Tabloids can be most easily defined as Sensationalist. This is when the journalist or newspaper use lurid and often exaggerated material in this case, as its general style to gain public attention or sales. This comprises all writing techniques exploited to gain readership. Being sensationalist might also include focusing on one side of the article as is the case with the article from The Daily Express 6 September, in which the article was focused mainly on the action of the police and on the aggression posed to George W. Bush by The Louisiana Senator; “ yesterday threatened to punch President Bush if he repeated his accusation that the local sheriffs had failed in their duty…”, this type of focus is another common characteristic of many tabloids who cannot seem to give an unbiased judgement on any situation. In most Tabloids you would find such words and phrases as; “living hell”, “boozy” etc. It is not uncommon for Tabloids to coin their own phrases for events, these phrases sometimes get adopted by the mainstream media and sometimes even broadsheets, for example: the very recent events about Roy Keane and his propose move from Manchester United has hailed a new nickname for him thought up by tabloids, The Sun “Don't leave Keano” as its headline. While in October 2, 2005 The Observer its opening statement on the story was “Whatever the future for Keano, Manchester United…” There is a great difference between the average article lengths of Broadsheets and Tabloids. Generally Broadsheets would have the longer more analytical articles whilst Tabloids would stick to their more bias based short articles unless the subject matter is about a scandalous celebrity in which case you would be lucky to see such an article in a Broadsheet unless it really was big news, whilst Tabloids would devote a two page spread no doubt with a big compromising picture of the celebrity in question. The language used is casual, colloquial and often slang. This is how we would talk when addressing friends and so in using colloquial language the Tabloids are only reinforcing their friendly, cheerful image. Opening paragraphs are common place and another main convention in all papers. Their purpose is to give the reader a quick summary of the article topic whilst simultaneously introducing the article. Opening paragraphs do not differ very much between Broadsheets and Tabloids apart from the type of language used in them. Tabloids generally have more action orientated opening paragraphs, a good example of this would be in The Daily Espress September 6; “BATTLE-hardened Iraq war veterans were among 40,000 troops patrolling America’s stricken Deep South last night as the rule of law at last began to be reimposed.” This as an opening paragraph was very action orientated, in the quotation itself please note the “BATTLE”, the first word being in block capital letters, this was the newspaper itself wishing to obviously highlight this feature. This is not uncommon in Tabloids whose readers skim through the article at best and rely more heavily on the opening paragraph as an insight into the article itself, this action orientated opening was fully intended by the Tabloid and was there to catch the reader’s eye with its Capital letters and its manipulative placing. Broadsheets generally keep their opening paragraphs brief but use more narrative techniques. In The Daily Telegraph, September 6 the article starts of with a quote and goes on to describe the scene following Hurricane Katrina; “ as the familiar battered blue Buick station-wagon of her neighbours lumbered into their water-logged street for the first time in over a week.” This type of writing is familiar in Broadsheets who introduce the article in a more composed way so as to avoid both bias and proceed to the analytical approach that many Broadsheets take in their articles.
Vocabulary in both Broadsheets and Tabloids vary depending on the paper. Generally Tabloids arguably have a more primitive use of vocabulary while Broadsheets have a more developed use of vocabulary. Quite simply Broadsheets use longer and more complicated words than Tabloids but Tabloids have an excuse. The average reader of a Tabloid is arguably Middle to Lower class, people who want a light read with not too much analysis and intense storytelling which is what papers are, storytellers. So the Tabloids mitigate their vocabulary so as not to offend any lower class readers who did not get the same standard of education as the average reader of The Times for example who is probably from a Middle or Upper class family and might have gone to a good Grammer or Public school therefore receiving a higher quality of education than his Sun reading counterpart. This is all a generalisation and therefore not a totally accurate view on society and who reads what paper, it is a mere illustration of the typical reader of certain Newspapers. Broadsheets on the other hand have an extended use of vocabulary and therefore one can conclude that the average Broadsheet reader is probably not poorly educated and therefore of at least a high lower class background. But the one aspect of all this that is an anomaly is that Tabloids use their language in a more manipulative and therefore intellectual way. The ability to use such techniques as puns and alliteration in an article is a very advanced use of language. This shows that even though on surface Tabloids use less sophisticated language they are really very shrewd manipulators of language.
Such as the Tabloid the ever closer to extinction Broadsheet is a newspaper, and as the name suggests its main purpose is to inform the reader of yesterday’s events. This is a big problem for Broadsheets, the fact that we now have twenty four hour news stations working tirelessly round the clock to give the news to the public the minute it happens is posing a threat to Broadsheets. Tabloids on the other hand rely on their light read and fun loving image to sell papers, but Broadsheets have an ever growing task ahead of them.
As with most papers the masthead is the first factor that gives off information. With The Daily Telegraph for instance, the paper gives off the connotations of being honest, conservative, traditional and important news not to mention being daily. All of these features make up the image of the paper and obviously that is the image that most people get when thinking of The Daily Telegraph with its traditional but automatically recognisable font. This is correlated with the use of language in a paper as the masthead is an indicator of the general readership of a paper which determines the type of language used in the paper.
Comparable to Tabloids the Broadsheet sells on its Headlines and subtitles. Instead of using puns and word play to attract customers it uses comparatively normal headlines and rarely utilizes puns but on occasion does use alliteration. Broadsheet Headlines are a lot more narrative than those of Tabloids, the story rather than relies on opinion and sensationalism, e.g. “New Orleans was living hell” and “Families go home to pick over the remnants of ruined lives”. The former of the two quotations is from The Daily Express while the latter is a headline from The Daily Telegraph, both of whom were some might say surprisingly reporting on the same story, The New Orleans disaster. As the quotations illustrated, Tabloids make use of a variety of techniques when composing their Headlines while Broadsheets generally simply tell the reader the subject matter of the article in more sophisticated methods than as was described. This is directly linked with the language used in Broadsheets as the Headline is an indicator of the complexity of the language in the article.
The language used in the Articles of a Broadsheet like The Headlines differ to those in a Tabloid. Whilst in Tabloids you would expect to find colloquial and rather simple use of language, Broadsheets are very different in this way. They are analytical in their approach to the subject and without any bias unlike Tabloids. Broadsheets use more complex language with a more narrative style of writing rather than the sensationalist style you would find in a Tabloid. There is also a great contrast in the coverage of a story. In the Tabloid the article was firmly set around the law enforcement in New Orleans centring mainly about issues of action, as well as being very brief partly because there is only so much coverage you can give to the security forces when there is a noticeable lack of them. In the broadsheet article covering exactly the same story, The New Orleans disaster, the article is focused more on the victims and their loss post hurricane period rather than the security situation. The article is analytical offering a post hurricane analysis of all the key individuals to do with the matter. This is complemented by the more sophisticated use of language. The length of the Article is also a lot longer than that of the articles in Tabloids. Tabloids generally report directly on the story while Broadsheets analyse the story. A good example of this would be the recent hijacking of a British tank in Iraq. The Tabloids reported on the story itself and on how the soldier involved was a hero, while The Broadsheets analysed the whole episode, reporting on the story, analysing on why it happened, how it happened giving a step by step account on the days proceedings and the consequences of those events. Tabloids usually hone in on a single story while Broadsheets try to give an analysis on the “bigger picture”.
The differences between Tabloids and Broadsheets are wide and varied. Tabloids are a modern creation, created to contend with magazines rather than the traditional news, they are popular newspapers simply because to find the news the average person can simply turn on the television and any relevant stories will be on. This is how Tabloids can be so successful in today’s markets, they do not bother competing with giving the news instead they give opinion and stories the public want, another reason why Tabloids spend so very much money on exclusive scoops such as the recent wedding of Katie Price (Jordan, Glamour model) and Peter Andre (pop-singer).
Broadsheets on the other hand are a victim of circumstance. The world has been changing in the last century and they have been slow to pick up on this, this is a simple answer to their dwindling sales, but they are good at what they do. They give out opinion as well but for the reader’s benefit, it is often thought provoking and welcome by the reader, not subliminal and unknown like the case is with Tabloids. Broadsheets are sophisticated newspapers who give the news in its best possible way, refined and with a touch of sophistication.
In conclusion the way information is presented in Tabloids and Broadsheets are varied and quite unique to their respective formats. Tabloids are cunning and develop their stories through their many techniques. Broadsheets are equally if not cleverer than tabloids and still retain their dignity and self worth, but they are fighting a losing battle against todays on the spot news broadcasting. They still have a devoted readership and hopefully a growing one but in the media world it truly is survival of the fittest and Broadsheets are only now realising that evolution is the answer even if it does mean the alienation of a small percentage of their readership.
