There are many photographs on the 'Daily Mirror'. Strangely, the largest photo is not relating to the main article, however, it is relating to a freebie, 'free ghosts and ghouls'. Personally, I think this is there because more buyers get interested in the freebie so they end up buying the newspaper. By putting all the photographs together, two-thirds of the front page is covered with colourful images. The 'Daily Mirror' allures you to buy the paper by displaying freebies. This may perhaps be because it is the most successful way of enticing readers to acquire the paper. It also attracts you to buy the paper by displaying high-classed authorities and celebrities: such as, Keira Knightly and Gordon Brown.
According to research on Google, a third of newspaper readers will buy the newspaper if it has a high-classed celebrity or a leading figure on the cover. This is because when the 'Daily Mirror' displayed Nicole Kidman on the cover, a month ago, and the circulation had risen to 495,679 than the average 466,000 sold per day. Additionally, no content guide is shown to help the readers through the paper.
To balance this, there are no contents guide on 'The Guardian's front page either. But in contrast to the 'Daily Mirror' the news is split up into different categories, which makes it easier to read, 'international news. P6. Sport, P1 G2'. As for 'The Guardian's images, the largest image is to do with the main article. This is clearly shown as it is in the centre, with the article evolving round it. You cannot confuse this picture with any other picture, as the layout of 'The Guardian' is very acute and clear. In addition, all of the pictures on 'The Guardian' have a caption showing what is happening in the picture. There are captions on the images of the 'Daily Mirror' however they do not go into depth, like the broadsheet does.
Subsequently, in 'The Guardian' they are inducing you to buy the paper by displaying a range of topics that are covered in the interior therefore, if you are not interested in one article you could be in another. This is a very brief and formal way of persuading readers to buy the paper, as it uses facts and not opinions, like the 'Daily Mirror'; a quote is displayed on the front cover: 'it's important to honour the brave'; not everybody might agree with this point of view, so overall, this isn't a successful way of enticing readers to buy the paper.
Following on, articles take up a lot of space in 'The Guardian' when compared to the 'Daily Mirror'. 'The Guardian' prints six columns on the front page, whereas the tabloid has wider-ranged columns. The broadsheet also has longer paragraphs and detailed captions on contrary to the tabloid. 'Whitehall departments have suffered cyber attacks'. This shows that the readers of the broadsheet are more demanding in terms of the depth of the news. Conversely, the 'Daily Mirror's articles take up a lot less space as they only give you a bit of the editorial, as it gets you engrossed, so you want to know more. This leads you to opening up the newspaper, revealing other articles. Besides, only a little of information is exposed so you do not get bored. Hence, it makes you read on.
The headline on the tabloid takes up to a third of the page in comparison to 'The Guardian's eighth. The reason the headline is so big on the 'Daily Mirror' is so more people get captivated to buy the paper. The headline on the 'Daily Mirror' is an emotive headline as well as an ambiguity. 'She inspired us all'. This is because it doesn't tell the reader how 'she inspired us all'. As for 'The Guardian's headline, it is informative as well as being an omission, as it does not present you all the information. 'How Chinese hackers targeted Whitehall'. This makes you curious so you are more likely to read on. Beneath the headline on 'The Guardian', there are some summary points that total up the main article. Personally, I find this really useful and informative at a quick glance as they give you detailed pictures. Unsurprisingly, the 'Daily Mirror' does not have any splash with the picture.
Overall, on both newspapers there are a lot of tasters. On the 'Daily Mirror' there are three on the whole page, but most of them are linked to celebrity gossip and human interest stories.' She inspired us all'. This is because it is targeted to attract different readers than the broadsheet. Most of these readers are in lower social groupings.
'The Guardian' has nine tasters, but this is mostly because they are used to inveigle the readers by the factual articles than the celebrity gossip and bold colours. In my point of view, I think tasters are shown because they encourage readers to read on and unmask other pieces of writing.
The two newspapers unequally deal with contrasting front pages. The leading article on the 'Daily Mirror' is concerning a woman who 'won an army of admirers'. There are only three paragraphs shown on the front page, nevertheless, the rest is continued on pages12 &13. It has a sensational, emotive headline that plays with the reader’s feelings: 'she inspired us all'. As you can see, it includes us, the readers, in the headline. This may possibly be because it will make us fell more aware so we are more likely to read on. It is in bold and white capital letters alongside a black background, therefore it is extremely eye-catching. In addition, her name and year of birth are displayed in red, bold writing to put the spotlight on how long she lived, even though she had cancer. Both of these titles are big so the article sounds important and authoritative. The first paragraph is in bold too and it summarises what the article is about, 'she was an inspiration to millions'. However, it is very short and snappy making you want to read on.
Progressing further on, the main article itself is very sympathetic and emotional. In the first paragraph it includes that she raise' £1.75 million'. This makes the reader want to know how, so this is also a tool for drawing attention from readers. When you continue to read more into the article, it introduces Jane Tomlinson's battle against cancer, seven years ago, when the doctors told her she only had 'six months to live'. This causes amazement for the readers seeing that she lived six years and a half longer than she was expected. But how? We now see that some information is missing, like an omission headline. Most tabloids use this feature; they do not present you with all the information at once, they cut it down making you want to read on. Also, in the first three paragraphs, there are a lot of quotes from the Queen saying that she was 'saddened' and Gordon Brown citing that 'she was here to help others'. We can see that high authorities are used to make us think that we are reading about someone important, 'a national hero'.
On pages twelve and thirteen, the content included is an article written by Carol Vorderman. There is a quote at the top of the article reading 'quiet, modest and a supreme athlete'. This gives us an insight into what the article's point of view is. The article written shows the experience the writer went through when she met Jane Tomlinson. She brings Jane into a very sensitive and emotional light making the readers feel sorry for her. It has a lot of quotes to applaud Jane from her very own family, to Kelly Holmes and Gordon Ramsey.
Furthermore, the main article is continued on these two pages. In addition to this, there is also a 'Diary of a heroine'. This 'diary' follows Jane since she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990, till the day of her death. It is really easy to follow and simple to understand.
Turning to the chief article, it only takes about an eighth of the two pages and the rest is covered in images of her collecting her MBE award and many other achievements in black and white. It is titled as 'Wonder Woman'. It is in bold, black writing to get the point across. As you can see, it also uses alliteration and it combines the thoughts together to form the headline. This article is quite similar to the other article by Carol Vorderman, as it also expresses her significance in people's hearts.
On the other hand, 'The Guardian' is telling a completely converse article. Firstly, the article is called 'Titan Rain-How Chinese hackers' targeted Whitehall'. By catching a glimpse of this, you can tell that this is a political issue. This particular issue is on the first page due to its readership class as most of them are professionals and businessmen. This headline also sounds very serious and informative in contrast to the 'Daily Mirror'. It stands out from the text, however it does not exaggerate the issue even if it is a critical situation and more important, in my point of view. The title has no word play and is very informative, but it makes you want to read on by the word 'How'. This particular word makes you very curious, as you would feel like missing out on vital, front page information.
What is more, the article is concerning the number of Chinese attacks on the computer system of the US and UK government departments. Notably this article is an international and political article unlike the tabloid, which is a national piece of writing. The article starts off hitting straight into the issue in an acute way. 'Chinese hackers…' This influences the readers that this information is important and compulsory to know. This editorial includes a lot of people's views from Angela Merkal, Germany's chancellor to Alex Neill, 'a China expert' it is based on facts and not opinions as nearly every paragraph ends in 'officials said', which makes the article sound more sophisticated and reliable. The article shows that there have been many, many attacks linked to Chinese hackers. It includes the US government departments, as well as the UK government departments, like the 'House of Commons'. At the end of the article there is a link to pages 12 and 13. Similarly, these two pages also are about US attacks, however, they are not continuing the front page article but they are other articles altogether. They, too also include summary points at the top of the editorials. Moreover, there is personification used in one of the headlines: 'China flexes its muscles'. This is trying to bring the article to reality as well as make the reader curious.
Moving on, on 'The Guardian' there is a by-line; however it does not specify the genre that the reporter is reporting for, as an example, 'Political reporter'. To balance this, on the 'Daily Mirror' it also does not specify the genre that the reporter is reporting from. To compensate for this, inside 'The Guardian' it does state on some by-lines the criteria of the reporter. For instance, 'scientific correspondent'. This evidently shows that 'The Guardian' is more organised and has specified reporters for each controversial topic that the 'Daily Mirror', which is simple and unelaborated.
In 'The Guardian' there are no articles with satires as it is a very serious and profound paper. As for the 'Daily Mirror', there is a satire on the second page of the newspaper informing the public about the positions the 49 fathers of the students of 'Wuhan University, China' sleep in.
The content of 'The Guardian' is very formal and upper-class as it includes separate papers for sport and international matters. 'Sport page 1 G2'. Evidently, this shows that 'The Guardian's readers are very organised and used to the paper with a significant amount of information. 'The Guardian's articles are structured in a very sensible and systematic assemble. This is because 'The Guardian' firstly, introduces the topic in a distinct and crisp way. 'Chinese hackers some believed to be…' (Noting that on the tone of 'some', the newspaper does not generalise, which shows it brings out accurate news to the public. The article also uses facts to make the reader think that it is reliable and authentic. 'The attackers have hit the network at the foreign office…' In this article facts are displayed first, then opinions are displayed but equally the citations are factual and genuine.
In juxtaposition with 'The Guardian', the 'Daily Mirror' is more simplified and open; this is because the structure of the article is simply linked in, comparatively to 'The Guardian'. 'Jane Tomlinson finally lost her fight// 'Husband Mike…' Similarly, this article also uses facts to start off with, however after the second paragraph it begins off with a lot of opinions of what people thought of Jane. 'Jane was an inspiration'. This signifies to the reader that this is 'The paper of the people' as it includes quotes from people in the community and not high-status citations, which the public might consider as the paper being fair to the public by displaying high-classed citations 'The Queen' to lower classed citations, 'Husband Mike'.
Additionally, paragraphs in the 'Daily Mirror's article seem to be more justified and only contain about six to nine lines, in contrast to –'The Guardian's seven to sixteen lines. Also the use of paragraphs in the 'Daily Mirror' is always to open up a new opinion, such as ' we will remember her amazing ...' This again shows that articles in the 'Daily Mirror' are mostly based on opinions than facts, so the editorials are not reliable as not all the public might agree on that point of view. Concerning the sentences in the 'Daily Mirror', as you might have already worked out, that they are short, therefore they result in short paragraphs, in comparison to 'The Guardian's longer paragraphs. Also, the language used in the content is simply constructed and ambiguous. 'For seven incredible years'. Simple language is used because the newspaper is ensuring that all readers will be able to understand its articles that are displayed. This also shows that the paper is taking note of the readership classes. In addition, not many semi-colons are used to join sentences, only brief punctuation, like commas and colons are used. Take for example: '…told us yesterday: Jane…' As you can see, punctuation like the colons is only used instead of semi-colons and brackets, like 'The Guardian' does. This shows that 'The Guardian' is more structured than the 'Daily Mirror'.
By a way of contrast, 'The Guardian' uses more complex and refine terminology, this results in longer paragraphs. For instance '…activities around the world; because of…' 'The Guardian' uses extensive vocabulary as it is aimed at professional and business classes, that are more educated, so if they are looking to acquire the paper, this paper might attract their attention as it might meet their requests, in terms of language and content. Paragraphs in 'The Guardian' mostly begin by informing the reader, 'disclosure by the financial times…' Evidently, this shows that this paper is entertaining its readers by factual information in contrast to the 'Daily Mirror'.
Furthermore, the quotes used in 'The Guardian' are mostly factual quotes, than opinion based quotes, 'detected penetration of elements'. This shows that 'The Guardian' is sophisticated and reliable. In terms of points of view, the quotes that are displayed in 'The Guardian' are very factual. They are also stated by a high classed person, for example 'Alex Neill, a China expert', ' most flagrant and brazen to date'. Personally, I think 'The Guardian' uses these quotes to make the article sound reliable so the readers sway to its point of view. By using extensive language like 'flagrant', 'The Guardian' narrows down its readership classes comparatively to the 'Daily Mirror', which has an open audience.
As for the 'Daily Mirror', the example of quotes chosen are to highlight the fact that Jane was a very 'invincible woman'. Authorities used to cite these words are her close family. An example of this is her husband, Mike, 'We are heartbroken'. Also other people who have met her. This makes the reader think that the people that are quoting know her more so they actually know Jane deep inside. Additionally, the readers will be persuaded to believe this point of view as many people have commented good thoughts, so the positive light Jane is under will influence them.
Undoubtedly, the point of view of the 'Daily Mirror' is very straight forward and clear as it shows Jane Tomlinson is 'inspirational woman'. This is not controvertible as there are no quotes in the article displayed to be against her in anyway way. 'She's someone that people can never forget.' This is very persuasive to influence the reader's opinion.
However, 'The Guardian's article is factual so there is no kind of view except for the view that we need to 'prevent these attacks'. The way the article is designed makes the reader think that it is consistent and certain as not many opinions are expressed. Nonetheless, there are a few opinions expressed saying that the number of cyber attacks in the UK 'have increased in the past nine years'. You can plainly tell that this is opposing the labour party because the labour party has been in charge for the past ten years. So therefore, therefore newspaper is trying to make out that the crime rate has increased in the past nine years. They are consequently criticising the Labour party for not handling the issue of crime. This makes the reader think that they should vote the conservative party as they take note of the 'down-hills' of Gordon brown and Tony Blair (the labour party) so they could repair them. They make the readers sway to the point of view as they use a lot of facts and high-authority people in the article to make the editorial more sophisticated. 'The Guardian' emphasizes most of its points of view. By putting a cross head in the centre of the article, for example. 'Cyber attacks have doubled in ten years'. These highlights can make the reader see what the article is talking about briefly.
The tone of the 'Daily Mirror' sounds really emotional and emotive: 'such a wonderful person'. This results in the reader feeling the same way, as naturally this emotive language is appealing to the emotions of the readers.
Nevertheless, the tone and register in 'The Guardian' is very serious and informative, 'the attackers have hit the network at the…' This language makes the reader take the article seriously too. In addition, a lot of quotes are displayed to prove that particular point, which the newspaper is siding with. Evidently, this shows that 'The Guardian' is biased, as it is only taking in one side by saying that the numbers of cyber attacks have 'increased in the past nine years'.
Naturally, the language of 'The Guardian' is very formal and extensive. 'The latest attack had…'A case in point, is the word 'congruent'; many 'Daily Mirror' readers would not be able to understand it as they are not educated, as with 'The Guardian' the majority of the readers would understand the meanings behind the words as most of them are educated and have a wider ranged vocabulary. Moreover, the article is not humorous, as it is a critical situation, and if there was humour or jokes involved, the readers of the newspaper might start thinking that the paper is not sticking to its point of view seriously. This would also wipe out any other significant facts enclosed in the article.
By a way of contrast, the 'Daily Mirror' persuades its readers to turn to the reporter's point of view by displaying a lot of pictures. They show pictures of Jane collecting her MBE award at the Queen's palace to emphasize that she is important as well as an optimistic person. This is very persuasive to the readers as most of them are uneducated. Whereas, in my point of view, I think facts are more persuasive as they have a greater chance of being correct. Turning to the note and register of the paper, it is very casual, but poignant, 'some one that people would never forget'. This is also another technique used to sway the readers to the point of view of the reporters; it makes them feel sorry for her.
Unquestionably, the language used in the article of the 'Daily Mirror' is spontaneous and very unsophisticated and direct. 'Jane went to achieve remarkable…' You can see from this that the vocabulary used is colloquial. The article is biased as it only displayed one point of view, which only brings out Jane's positive side. This makes the reader too focus on her positive side. 'We will remember her amazing spirit and strength.' Additionally, no humour or jokes are displayed, as it would have been disrespectful to do so. However, naturally many jokes are displayed in the following articles.
Both papers are successful in terms of language, content and layout, as they both fulfil their aims. Firstly, the 'Daily Mirror' in the language department as it uses emotive language, which plays a large part with shaping the readers opinions. This plainly matched with the article to create a public sensation. In terms of content and layout, it is also successful as it allows the reader to follow the article easily without any obstacles. This is expressed when the newspaper makes the link to pages '12 &13', as it highlights it in a bold black font to tell its readers that the article has not yet been finished.
What makes this paper less successful is the amount of pictures. There are too many pictures displayed than text, which makes the editorial a bad article. In order for the article to be outstanding, it needs to have an equal amount of pictures and text. What makes it successful, in my opinion, are the colours used, red for the labour party and black and white, which are contrasting colours to engage the audience.
Following on, it did hold my interest, as it did not bore me out; it kept missing out information, making the article ambiguous, which led me to read on until the article ended.
On the whole, the article seemed to be perfect. However as an improvement, I would suggest that if an information box on breast cancer were included in the article it would have been more successful, as the public would know more about the illness she survived through and how to avoid it. This would have also brought credence to the article; it would have made it more reliable. However, the overall improvement for the editorial is to include more text.
In comparison, I think that 'The Guardian' is more successful than the 'Daily Mirror' in all of its concepts. The layout is very clear and formal and the language is serious and sharp. This matches the article's tone: the tone of the article is very acute and critical. The content is also appealing as only a few pictures are displayed. What makes the article more successful is the factual information that it gives out to the public. Traditionally, this is what all broadsheet papers tend to be like; more informative. The only unsuccessful feature about it is that there is too many extensive words used in the text and some readers might find this hard to digest. However, I do think that it fulfils its aim by getting the news across to the public.
Following on, it did hold my interest as it displayed a lot of factual information as well as opinions. This balances the article, so it is more effective on the reader. Also it has a lot of tasters, which, I suppose, held interest in the public that got captivated by the snippets of articles displayed on the front page. Likewise, the only improvement that I would make to 'The Guardian' is to enlarge the headline so it looks more eye-catching with the public than the other newspapers on sale.
In conclusion, I have learnt from this exercise that the gap between tabloids and broadsheets is a wide one. They look different, they contain different news, they have a different style of writing and they aim to attract different readers. However, the competition for readers is intense, and tabloids and broadsheets may steal tricks off each other in order to win the circulation war e.g. who can sell the most papers. Clearly, the 'Daily Mirror' is more successful at this; in average sells 110,250 copies more than 'The Guardian' per day, according to the Google encyclopaedia.
Furthermore, when comparing newspapers to other forms of writing, such as magazines and the news media, you can clearly tell that they cover more stories. Take for example, magazines, they include celebrity gossip, however, they do not display current affairs nor do they come out on a daily basis, like newspapers. Moreover, when compared to radio and television, newspapers can report stories in more depth. Also, newspapers permit readers to absorb the news at their own pace and on their own schedule. Readers can skip items that do not interest them. Newspapers, therefore, can print certain material that appeals only to a small percentage of readers. Such material includes, death notices, stock market listings and classified advertisements. However, newspapers cannot compete with television or radio to be the first to report the news. Radio and television stations can interrupt their programs at any time to bring in a news bulletin. A paper must be printed and distributed before it can bring a story to the public. I have also noticed during my study that large daily provide a great variety of information. News articles cover the latest developments in such fields as: government, politics, sports, science, business and the arts. Other tabloid papers' articles report crimes, disasters and special events of human interest. Many other things appear in newspapers too, these range from comic strips, health and fashion articles. Personally, when looking at all forms of writing and the media, I would rather buy a newspaper as they include a wide-range of information and are more tangible.
