This picture takes up seventy-five percent of the page. It is in the top-right corner and the text is written around it, in columns. The headline is eye-catching because the black background and the white headline contrast, almost forcing your eyes to read it. The text is also in capital letters, which makes it stand out. Headlines using capital letters are usual in tabloids. The headline is put in the form ‘two or three words on each line’ to make it sound interesting, like a robot:
“THE MONSTER
WHO WANTS TO
BE A MARTYR”
In contrast to the layout of ‘The Daily Mail’, ‘The Guardian’ put this story on its front page because it believes it is important for its style of readers. ‘The Guardian’ also uses an image like ‘The Daily Mail’, it is a rare image of the 9/11 attacks taken from a New Jersey rooftop. The headline of the broadsheet is:
“Eight years on Al-Qaida has withered, say experts”
Not all the letters are in capital letters. Having the headline like this is usual for broadsheet headlines. In this headline there is a colour difference in the title. This emphasizes the message it is trying to send out, which is reminding the reader how long has gone past, since the incident of 9/11. It also makes the headline more catchy and snappy. Therefore, ‘The Daily Mail’ sees the anniversary of 9/11 more newsworthy for its readers presents it in a more simple way, regarding the layout.
The tabloid is targeted at the white, middle class. They focus on issues the readers can relate to. The targeted audience for the picture is everybody because ‘The Daily Mail wants everybody to see it and relate their story to the image. It is easily noticed that ‘The Daily Mail’ is meant for readers that do not have to knowledgeable. Hence, the language used is simple:
“The passenger, a Japanese engineer called Haruki Ikegami, was blown to pieces and the pilot wrestled to land the badly damaged plane with 292 people on board.”
This sentence isn’t very complicated and is very easy to understand. The informal word ‘wrestled’ adds evidence that ‘The Daily Mail’ targets a simple audience; an audience which do not have to be knowledgeable. This shows the article is aimed at a simple audience.
The broadsheet is targeted at the age group thirty plus and readers interested in international matters. It is easily noticed that ‘The Guardian’ is meant for readers that are knowledgeable; therefore, the language used is complex:
“Its activity is increasingly dispersed to “affiliates” or “franchises” in Yemen and North Africa, but the links of regional jihadi groups to the centre are tenuous; they enjoy little popular support and successes have been limited.”
The sentence is long and complicated; this shows that the article is aimed at a more capable reader than a tabloid’s reader. There is also a lack of simple language. The word “tenuous” is not used a lot and many people who are not knowledgeable will not understand this. Language is used to make a newspaper as interesting as possible; both newspapers use different types of language to keep both readers interested.
“What should be done with this fanatical, self-glorifying monster is just one of the many problems faced by President Obama.”
Emotional language is often used in tabloids through words such as ‘monster’, ‘self-glorifying’, and other similar words create emotional feelings. If a tabloid wants to cause emotional feeling upon its readers, it needs to be biased. Because of the need to produce feelings, the majority of tabloids will be biased especially ‘The Daily Mail’. In the article being analyzed ‘The Daily Mail’ is biased because it displays hate for the operational mastermind of 9/11.
It also has a long history of taking a headline on immigration, homosexuals, ethnicity, teenagers and bad parents. ‘The Daily Mail’ wants a reaction from the public and will feed on it, many stories enforce this, such as the article on the death of Stephen Gately. The article generated over 25,000 complaints, as many people thought the article was homophobic, insensitive and false. It also had highest number of complaints for a newspaper article in the history of the Press Complaints Commission.
Due to the informative nature of a broadsheet it is less biased and lets the reader draw their own opinions and conclusions. A broadsheet shows no emotion for someone or something. Since there are no biased feelings, a mixing of fact and opinion is not needed as shown in ‘The Guardian’. ‘The Guardian’ displays fact, no personal opinions have been included and it is not biased, which leads me to believe that a broadsheet is a better source of information than a tabloid.
The article from ‘The Daily Mail’ is an angry and sad one. This is created by using emotional language and views. Broadsheets have a more informative tone because they only inform using facts:
“Last week one Islamist website promised a “Ramadan gift” from the al-Qaida leader but removed the posting without explanation.”
This is a fact because it can be proved; only facts like these can inform the reader without inputting an opinion. Another reason which leads us to believe it is a fact is due to the usage of numbers or dates.
‘The Daily Mail’ gives off a specific message, which is ordinary for tabloids.
No particular message is delivered to the reader by ‘The Guardian’. The article has been written only to inform the reader about it.
I can come to a conclusion, from analyzing both articles, the first from a tabloid and the other from a broadsheet. I can conclude that the audience, language, layout, if the article is biased and if it sends out a message depends on if the newspaper is a tabloid or a broadsheet. Tabloids aim to create emotion amongst readers, whereas the broadsheet aims to inform its readers and let them make up their own mind about the current affair. Readers of a tabloid are normally less knowledgeable and are uninterested in issues that do not affect them. On the other hand, a broadsheet reader is expected to be more knowledgeable and be interested in business and politics. The language used and the layout of the article changes depending on the target audience. The layout is similar in both papers in the sense they both use images and columns. However tabloids choose to present it on a larger scale, such as using white text on a black background with a heading in capital letters.
The language is also more complicated in the broadsheet and has only been used to inform. ‘The Daily Mail’ is biased towards Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and uses a less informing tone unlike broadsheets. A message is obvious in ‘The Daily Mail’. In my opinion, both types of newspapers have successfully reached their targets.