Compare the front covers of a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper.

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GCSE Media Studies                                            Sacha Eley Yr 11
Newspaper Unit

Task: To compare the front covers of a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper

        The aims of the essay are to look at a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper and to compare the language and layout of each paper. The tabloid we are going to look at is ‘The Daily Express’, and the broadsheet we are looking at is ‘The Independent’. While comparing these two papers I am going to observe the style, content, and design of each paper.

        The tabloid I am analysing is the ‘Daily Express’, dated Tuesday 23rd September 2003. The main stories covered are home news, celebrity scandal and entertainment. Most tabloids including this one mainly focus on having celebrity news as their main stories. By knowing what a tabloid actually contains, we get the impression that the audience who is going to read this will be reading it to get gossip.

        Tabloids have typical news on the front cover and we usually know what it’s going to be about, most of the time, there will be a celebrity on the front page; in this case they have Frank Bruno the boxer. They also have a picture of Price Harry and Prince William. Having celebrities on the front page wants us to read inside because people like to find out what celebrities are doing and knowing all the gossip about them is interesting to read.

        The ‘Daily Express’ layout uses big pictures, big text, colours and used (mostly reds), NIB (news in brief), storm boards, Its eye- catching, Bullet points, lists which make it easier to look at and pick out the bits you want to read, photo stories also help this. Tabloids use a lot more visual techniques to make you want to read it. It also uses a few strap lines which show us either adverts or more information about what other stories are inside the paper. It uses big, bold headlines, and sometimes they are in capital letters, which will make them stand out more.

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        The Daily Express’ audience is more for adults or teenagers. I don’t think any newspaper will appeal to a younger child, but this one would be easier to read as the language would be easier to understand and there is more to look at as the tabloid has more visual things on it. It is also easier because tabloids tend to have lists rather than block paragraphs which make it easier to read the bits you want rather than having to read the whole story. Tabloids are more ‘casual’ in the way that the language is informal and everything is ...

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