When newspapers were known as broadsheets the language was just plain old Standard English not even a word of slang they were aimed at only the high class type and the reason for that was because no poor person could afford an education. Now I think that the papers have a lot more competition because the internet is a primary source of information and data. I also think that people would rather listen to it on the radio or watch it on the television probably because the television only publicises big stories and things that happen in the country.
Tabloid papers like the Sun and the mirror have some types of gimmicks here are most of the gimmicks in a paper and why they are there.
Cartoons are here to attract some children and young people.
Page 3 girls are here to attract mainly male readers not like they would be doing much reading though.
Sport is used to attract all sorts of people men or women who want to check where the team they support is on the league table or to check on other types of sports like boxing.
TV guide used by people who want to see what is on television they are also using the television because they make you buy a newspaper to see what’s on the television.
Crossword is used as a competition for the reader to get something for free when really the reader has to pay for the phone call which is about 60p a minute.
Problem pages are used as a way of helping the readers also that other people can relate to their problems or just to be nosey.
Free Magazine is used as another way that the paper uses to get people to buy a paper for the free magazine.
Scratch cards are used as a quick competition for the readers who think they have won something decent when really they have won a free T-shirt or pair of sunglasses which probably cost the same amount as the phone call.
Tokens are used to give something to the reader for what they think is free when if you think about it they pay for the paper.
Horoscopes are used to get all those people who believe in their star signs and other things like that.
Bingo cards are given away as a type of competition for the men and women who like a it and buy a paper every day just for the next set of numbers.
Newspaper Language
When papers were Broadsheets they only consisted of Standard English without a single word of slang. Where as in the tabloid paper there are all sorts of things in the paper to make us read the articles like alliteration, puns and a load of other stuff. The main things that you can see from just picking up a paper like huge headlines and full page pictures.
Biased
All papers are supposed to have an open mind to all readers but when you look at most articles they all have a one sided story. Most of the biased is in adverts because they tell you that it is the best product because they are getting paid for having that advert in their paper. Other times the paper could be biased say the football for example say there was a match against Germany and England because that the paper is an English firm, they know what the reader wants to hear they would say it was a one sided match to England if it was an equal match.
Exaggeration
The other types of thing that papers use is exaggeration sometimes the paper would say ‘the keeper saved the shot from the line with extraordinary speed’ when really the goal keeper just scraped the shot of the line.
Puns
They also use some type of play on words in they’re headings like when Frankie Dettorie went to the beach while abroad and went swimming in the sea the used ‘Frankie Wettorie’ as a pun.
The main reasons for the papers getting most of the readers attention is by using short catchy or dramatic headings sometimes they even use funny headlines because more people would want to read something that is quite catchy.