If you look at the front page of the mirror, you can easily see that 90% of it is simply pictures, advertisements and two huge, bold headlines. The masthead ‘The Mirror’ is bold and colour is reversed out, this is so the reader’s attention will first be drawn to the masthead and the words ‘newspaper of the year’ below it. In the times, 30% of the front page is advertisements, headlines and pictures. ‘The Mirror’ has only 3 miniature columns, the rest of the front page is advertising what is actually in the newspaper, for example, ‘Shane Richie, exclusive: the day I wanted to kill myself’ this is a huge headline accompanied by a large picture of Shane Richie and his girlfriend. By having a celebrity rule the front page of ‘the Mirror’, this tabloid is attracting a larger audience than usual because many fans of Shane Richie will buy the paper for the sake of Richie in the paper. The headline also includes the word ‘exclusive’ which assists this theory by saying only this newspaper has it and this is your only chance to grab it! In the times even the advertisements are expensive, one advertisement is for the best jewellers in New York! The advertisements in the mirror are far from glamorous, there is only a big, ‘FREE’ sign in the top right hand corner, it promises a miniature £2 free bet if you buy more than £2 on sport clothing, not exactly free! But this advertisement really shows you the kind of people tabloids are aiming for, people who are interested in sports and betting.
In the times, the front page is dominated by one extreme close-up picture, a face made up of the features of David Beckham and Johnny Wilkinson. This is unusual for a broadsheet, but understandable as it’s ‘one of the most vivid week-ends of sport in history.’ Plus, the article on the two sports isn’t very long, and the other articles are all about politics and education, these being very typical subjects of a broadsheet.
The pictures on the mirror are very simple and are all of celebrities, this is to capture the reader’s attention and any fans of that particular star will be inclined to buy the newspaper if only for the reason of the celebrity. The photographs are all in very flattering light and pleasing positions, creating a better-looking celebrity than they really are, this also adds to the newspaper opinion. For example, one story on the front page is about Kieron Dyer and the charge of rape against him. It is clear from the picture alone that the mirror’s opinion of the case is that Dyer is innocent. The image is a close up of his perplexed and sad looking face, the lighting is complimentary and his expression is one of a worried but innocent man. The mirror could easily of inserted a picture of Dyer looking angry and malicious, but the picture they chose suits the opinion of the story and the emotive language in the head line ‘My rape case hell’. In ‘the Times’ there is only one picture, an extreme close up of David Beckham and Johnny Wilkinson, their faces split in half and carefully joined with the other. This is a very intellectual picture as you can barely tell it is actually two different people, it makes the reader look twice and it shows that even though the story is about sport, it reminds the reader that the newspaper is still a broadsheet and every story possesses an intelligent angle which causes the reader to think.
In ‘the Mirror’, emotive language is used a great deal to convey their opinion strongly across to their readers, for example ‘My rape Case Hell’, this is about Kieron Dyer’s rape case against him. In the story it gives lots of opinions for Kieron Dyer, it also has a quote from Dyer himself, explaining how his reputation has been destroyed and how he had no involvement in the matter. It uses intense emotive language and only has the opinions of those for Kieron Dyer in the story. It mentions nothing of the girl who was raped nor any views for her case, this just goes to show how strong the opinions of newspapers can be and I wouldn’t be surprised if many readers of ‘the mirror’ believe these types of stories. Another problem with tabloid newspapers is often they exaggerate or completely focus of one side of the story so the other side looks completely non-existent. It is illegal for journalists to write something that’s completely untrue, but they can easily get away with a lot in these ways. However broadsheets generally name both sides of the argument, but sometimes they give their opinions as all good journalists do. Alliteration is often used in newspapers as headlines; this creates rhythm and will often remain stuck in the reader’s head for the rest of the day. Newspaper’s use alliteration because phrases that have a sequence tend to stick in people’s minds and get passed through people, so soon pretty much everyone has at least heard the alliteration. An example of alliteration from a separate issue of ‘The Mirror’ would be ‘Diana’s daring disguise’. This alliteration would be sure to capture the reader’s attention and may even cause a little humour. Puns are used frequently in newspapers, especially tabloids.
After writing this essay, and thinking thoroughly through each point I have made, I’ve come to the conclusion that you are more likely to find pictures, advertisements and biased stories in a tabloid, it uses lots of different techniques to make it easy to read. The stories are easily found and the reader and recognise the main stories, whereas you can expect high quality stories and all the same techniques in broadsheet newspapers. However, the techniques used in a broadsheet are used in an indistinct way, so the readers have a choice as to what story they wish to read.
