The clear, white title is placed upon a vibrant red background immediately at the top of the paper, to the left of an eye catching plug, showing the promotional offer of the paper today. This is a very typical layout for a tabloid, and is very startling. The font of the title is very simple and bold, in san serif. It’s clear its object is to catch attention and not to look attractive or classy. The following headline, which is ‘I did it for the Queen’, is very dramatic and emotive, typical of tabloid newspapers language. Headlines usually contain a pun, or alliteration, and can be quite biased. It also suggests patriotism, which is a main theme in the paper.
The next feature that hits you on the page is the enormous photograph of Lewis Lawson which almost covers the whole page. The Headline is positioned immediately to the right of his head, showing you that this is his quote, and the position he has been caught on in film is very persuasive as it looks like he has made a genuine and intellectual statement. The small, gory, scandalous picture underneath this headline is one of Mike Tyson, bloodied with his back down on the floor, obviously showing his defeat. The two pictures work well together, the overpowering, large picture of the champion Lawson overshadowing the smaller background picture of the loser Tyson.
The beginning lines of the story read ‘BOXING giant Lennox Lewis celebrates his demolition of Mike Tyson – then dedicates his stunning victory to the Queen’. The sentence is clearly biased, using sensational words such as ‘giant’, for Lewis and ‘demolition’ for the defeat of Tyson. It implies that Lewis is a saint, dedicating this fight (that meant so much to him) to one of the most pious, highly respected icons of Britain. It then demonises Tyson and gives him a low, weak image, which suggests the phase ‘so last Tuesday’. ‘The hero Brit retained his heavy-weight crown by stopping brutal Tyson in the eight round.’ The paper has even managed to give the impression that Lewis is for Britain and Tyson is an enemy of the whole Country, using icons of England to quote against the boxer. ‘England soccer stars watched the fight on TV in Japan. A team source said: “Seeing Lennox beat the hell out of Tyson gave everyone a lift.’
The Broadsheet ‘The Independence’ immediately looks very different to the SUN, even in it’s name. The font used is clearly serif, which gives the paper a classy, intellectual look. Below the title sits a vibrant advertisement, telling the reader about the sports pages in this week’s newspaper. This sports section however is convenient as it is the time of the World Cup, when most people would like to keep updated on the main sports events.
The slogan below the title of the independent reads ‘A Broader view,’ and this is true as The Independent contains unbiased, practical language and usually stories related with politics. The newspaper has a formal feel, and would easily target audiences from socio economic classes A, B and C1. The newspaper contains much more information and variation of different stories.
The broadsheet is always split up into 5 columns, and the pages are large and contain many stories at one time. Below the title, is a regular sized photo of Tyson on the floor, like The SUN’s and the headline reads ‘Floored: the Baddest Man on the Planet.’ The use of capital letters obviously emphasizes certain words and catches the reader’s attention. There’s no play on words (puns) in the headline, and it’s not biased, as it gives two views, 1 Tyson was defeated, but 2 it takes a lot to beat him as he’s the best. The word ‘baddest’ could also be taken differently because of the mans past convictions.
The story is fair, and gives two views throughout ‘..and it might not be to her majesty’s most refined taste’, ‘the convicted rapist who once claimed to be the baddest man on the planet’, ‘Even Tyson was gracious…”Lennox was masterful’. Tyson isn’t portrayed as a sore loser or faded out novelty, and Lennox isn’t portrayed as a Martyr.
The second headline underneath this story reads ‘France turns against the far-right’, a very politically related, sophisticated title without a pun. Listed along the left are small stories of a familiar nature, i.e.; ‘Blair’s decision to stay’, all text in each story is formal and very politically written. Along the bottom of the paper there is an advertisement for channel 4, targeting the same audience as this newspaper.
Out of both titles I believe the SUN’s stands from a distance more effectively, but it looks like the Independent doesn’t want an imposing title at any rate. Its main goal is portray a sophisticated, classy look for the magazine, while the SUN’s is to stand out and grab your attention, with bold, white san serif lettering on a vivacious red background. There are no plugs next to the title of the independent, whereas on the SUN the cheap price shouts at you from a plug with an eye catching appearance, stating the newspaper costs a low price of 20p.
Below the title, there is large advertisement for a sports section in the Independent, while there is none on The SUN. This is unusual for a broadsheet, as tabloids usually earn their money from advertising, while broadsheets earn their profit from the charge of the newspaper, as they are usually more expensive then tabloids. Tabloids can afford to charge very little for their newspapers because of the thousands more people that read them everyday compared as to the amount of people that read broadsheet newspapers.
The huge photograph and headline on the front page of the SUN is instantly eye catching and almost take up the whole of the front page, whereas the title and photograph for the same story on the front page of The Independent takes up quarter of the space. The two photographs of Tyson are almost the same in both newspapers but they used in different ways to suggest dissimilar meanings. On the Sun, the small photograph of Tyson next to the large photo of Lewis is used to connotate how much larger Lewis is, and how much more respected. Whereas on the sun, this photograph of Tyson is simply used as a visual aid, with no pictures suggesting comparisons next to it. The front page of the SUN is a lot more colourful and eye catching then The Independent, whose only part of colour exists within the sports advertisement beneath the title. The Independent has more text, and fits loads more on to one page; it is bigger and has more columns.
The headlines have different approaches. One (SUN) is sensational and dramatic, contains a well-known British icon that everyone can relate to and is clearly trying to portray a saintly image for one of the fighters. The other headline (Independent) is intriguing but not biased, and doesn’t stand out from the paper at all; in fact you have to look to notice it. The picture of Lewis on the front of the SUN is very effective when placed beside his quote. He is photographed with a finger pointing upwards and his mouth open obviously making a point, in a somewhat genuine pose (a pose suggesting someone is telling the truth or making a truthful statement). This is a piece of text from the only quote on the page; from Lewis. There is no quote or any action written down from Tyson, apart from the fact he was ‘floored’. In the Independent, there are two quotes from Tyson, and a statement telling us Lewis dedicated his win to the Queen.
The language used in the SUN is sensational, dramatic and unfair, for example the caption under the photograph of the flat out Mike Tyson reads: ‘Down an out…loser Tyson is left flattened, battered and bloodied.’ When you watch the match Tyson could actually get up again, but this statement almost implies Tyson was fully knocked out for the count. It doesn’t hesitate mentioning and emphasising ‘loser’ Tyson, although the audience know. The caption under the Independent’s photograph of Tyson reads ‘Mike Tyson is knocked out by Lennox Lewis in the eight round of the world heavyweight title fight in Memphis.’ The language is practical and factual, and there are no examples of dramatic or biased language. The SUN describes the win as ‘stunning victory’, whereas the Independent uses ‘knockout victory’. The SUN also uses the adjective ‘demolition’.
The Independent even tries to create sympathy for Tyson, while the SUN completely portrays him as a loser, past his time. The Independent shows that Tyson does have respect for the victory and states his quotes as proof ‘Lennox was masterful…Don’t worry about me, I’m a street man and I’m probably heading for oblivion.’ At the same time portraying a good image of Lennox, giving some background information of his culture and appreciating the well done job he has done ‘It was a brutal business….spends much of his time in his mother’s native Jamaica’.
