Tabloid papers tend to focus on national news stories, only covering foreign stories if they are of major significance, or could affect Britain. They also like to report on celebrities, especially ones that are in the public eye. This is appealing to the target audience, young men and women who want to copy their idols and cant be bothered to have there own political opinion and are usually not bothered with international or political news as they are usually not people from the professional working class.
Tabloid papers tend to be more opinionated than broadsheets, The Sun has a whole page dedicated to its political opinions, and they usually follow a political party, which is usually the Labour party. They also have a habit of sensationalising stories. Broadsheets tend to be more informative and have a wider range of articles that associate with the reader they aim to attract.
The two newspapers I have decided to compare are The Independent (broadsheet) and the Daily Mail (Tabloid). Both newspapers were brought on the same day, which was Monday the 15th December and was the day that Saddam Hussein was captured. As this was a very big story both newspapers have dedicated their front pages on this with a large image or photograph of Saddam Hussein. Images are used in newspapers to add a visual image for the reader and also to catch the reader’s eye. Especially on this day if the reader did not know that Saddam Hussein had been captured they would know by looking at the front pages of newspapers as all of them had a large photograph of Saddam Hussein.
The Daily Mail have dedicated there whole front page for the news of Saddam Hussein, however they have used very little text but do have a large bold title which is the same size font as the actual heading of the newspaper (Daily Mail). They have also underlined the text and made it bold. Also they have placed the heading to the left of the page so the reader would first see the headline as the readers eye is trained to read left to right. Then beside it on the right hand side of the page there is a large photograph displaying Saddam Hussein after he has been captured. The photograph relates to the headline and shows Saddam Hussein with a beard and two small scabs in the top corner of his right eye. This image is quite a powerful one as it is visual proof of Saddam Hussein’s capture. The headline justifies this by reading, “Saddam, mighty dictator caught like a rat in a hole”. This is all in bold and underlined. They use a metaphor,“Like a rat in a hole”, to make the title more catching. This whole area is outlined in red to give it a clear outline and to attract attention. Even though it is a very important heading and have used nearly their entire page to it, they still have dedicated the top part of the paper to promote the newspaper by offering a special offer when brought. This is another way to dispatch this newspaper from the others so the reader would buy it. Beneath the large bold, underlined headline, the Daily Mail has given a short article on the main headline, which is in much smaller font as the headline. In this paragraph they have used many techniques to grab the readers attention. Such methods as statistics, “Yet when 600 American troops converged on his hideaway”. The daily mail has tried and probably did succeed to catch the reader’s attention by its front page and also was probably able to persuade the reader to buy it.
The Independent, being a broadsheet has a much larger area to cover for their front pages. This is why they have been successfully been able to dedicate their top area to a very large headline which reads, ‘The tyrant is now a prisoner’ this is in bold and in large font and is the first thing along with the large image that catches the readers attention. Then headline is a quotation and therefore gives third dimension to the headline. Also the association of Saddam Hussein with a “Tyrant” has been used very well as “Tyrants” where of the roman empire age and of war. Below the main heading on the left side of the page is the article itself, it is quite long compared to the Daily mails one. Beside it to its right is a very large Image of Saddam Hussein to provide a visual image to the reader. The image is a bit paler than the Daily mails one and does not show redness in his face as much. This whole area of the front page is done on a black background and white text has been used to make that particular section to stand out. This is good use of colours and a very good way to divert attention to that particular area. Below this area is a contents of the pages and also some summaries of article inside and the weather and a look at the stock exchange. Despite having such a major headline, the Independent is still able to find space for its regular information, which is found on most broadsheets. Below this is an advertisement like the Daily Mail but this one does not promote the newspaper itself but a store. Due to its large area because the newspaper is a broadsheet it does not affect the main headline or the front page if they do place the normal regulars of broadsheets on the front page. The article written on the front page is also quite long compared to the Daily mail and is overviewed by a photograph of the writer.
Out of the two In my opinion the tabloid provides solid facts on its front page with a very short paragraph to attract the reader and a large image, however because it does not have as much area as the broadsheet is not able to give as much information, but it does meet the requirements for its target audience and its is use of red outline and a large image which has not been colour changed would attract the reader of whom it is appealing to. The broadsheet on the other hand has used excellent colour contrasts with a black background and white text but its image has been edited, as it does not show the red pigmentation of Saddam Hussein’s skin, but the front page still does create awareness of the main headline amongst the reader. Also the broadsheets front page still is able to give its general items as it does on regular days. Also it is able to provide information that tabloids do not such as weather, stock exchange and a few other summarised or links to articles within the page for readers who may not be interested in the main news report. The use of colour adverts on both of the newspapers is also able to promote the newspapers quite well as it can appeal to certain target audiences and also is able to attract the readers to certain special offers. The only big difference would be that the Independent is able to provide more information on its front page compared to the Daily Mail being a broadsheet.
On the whole I think the layout of The Independent and the techniques used to catch the readers are much better than the Daily Mail as the colours used for the background and the text catch the readers eye. However the photograph in broadsheet does lack in realism compared to the tabloid. But at the end of the day both newspapers are able to attract the reader in their own way and its own target audience, but broadsheets being more informative compared to tabloids will always have my attention as they are able to provide a wide range of articles because of the large format of the paper.
