British newspapers Essay Example for Free

British newspapers Essay On Friday 25th October 2002, all British newspapers reported on the outcome of the trial of Alastair Irvine, the son of the Lord Chancellor, Derry Irvine. Alastair Irvine, 25 was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to six stalking, vandalism and gun charges arsing from his pursuit of a 19-year-old woman. By comparing the coverage of this story in four national newspapers, we can reach conclusions about their general approach, their choice of content, range of presentation and many aspects of life. It is important to choose a wide spread of newspapers so that all different viewpoints on the story are represented. The newspapers I have chosen are: The Daily Mail, The Daily Star, The Independent, The Guardian and The Times. Both The Daily Mail and The Daily Star are tabloids whilst the rest are all broadsheets. The newspaper that donates the most coverage to the story was The Daily Mail. The first thing you notice with the Mail article is the amount of space devoted to it. The single article takes up a whole page, save a small rather ironic advert entitled ‘Autumn Delights’. The actual column space is a huge fifty-five and a half centimetres, three times more than most of the other papers. Another main feature of the article is the very large picture of Alastair Irvine, which takes up much of the central part of the page. It is a very selectively taken photo, which portrays Alastair Irvine as being mentally insane. The other picture on the page is one of Lord Irvine, Alastair’s father. This is again a photograph chosen specifically to influence the reader. The picture is slanted so that Lord Irvine’s eyes are staring directly into his son’s. In addition, Lord Irvine has a very amused expression set on his face, giving the reader the impression that he is pleased to see his son go to prison. Also, Lord Irvine is dressed in his judge’s gown and some irony that a judge’s son be put in prison. One important thing to note is the Mail’s own view on politics. It is commonly known that The Daily Mail is opposed to New Labour and Mail’s own relationship with the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor, being a member of the Labour cabinet is likely to be given bad press. However, he has also had a dispute with the Daily Mail’s sister paper, The Mail on Sunday. Lord Irvine criticised The Mail on Sunday after it printed a story about his son’s drug addiction, amongst other things criticizing Lord Irvine’s views on the legalization of cannabis; Lord Irvine took the matter to the press complaints commission. It is obvious that the paper and the Lord Chancellor do not have a very good relationship and why the Daily Mail is taking such a strong opinion on this one particular article. Another thing to note is the power with which the Daily Mail uses the headline. The headline draws immediately to the fact that the writers and most probably the readers are more interested in Lord Irvine rather than Alastair. The headline also uses very emotive words, used to influence the readers’ views. Amongst many other words used in the article, ‘terrorising’ and ‘young lovers’ are used in the headline. The idea that he has terrorised young lovers is a very strong and horrific thought and very strong language. This is used to make us feel that he Alastair Irvine is evil, reinforced by the striking photograph of Alastair Irvine. The strap-line also contains emotive words. Alastair Irvine is described as a ‘drug addict’ and his actions ‘shamed his family’. The idea of Alastair shaming his family is supported by the smile of his father, Lord Irvine. It is also important to concentrate on the actual text used in the article. Usually in a newspaper the first paragraph should briefly summarize the story, however, the Daily Mail article concentrates on the fact that Alastair Irvine is Lord Irvine’s son and that he terrorised ‘young lovers’. The use of more words that are emotive and the focusing on the fact that he is the Chancellor’s son shows quite clearly how the Mail feel about this particular article. The second paragraph also shows the Mail’s own views on the story: ‘Alastair Irvine, 25, pleaded guilty in return for a lenient sentence. ‘ The idea that the sentence given was lenient implies that the paper thought he deserved more and that the crime he committed was very serious compared to the punishment given. There are many examples throughout the Mail article of emotive words and personal feeling. The whole of the next paragraph is used as an example of the writer influencing the readers by the quality of language. All emotive words in this paragraph have been specifically placed here for this reason. The stating of the fact that ‘he could have faced up to 18 years in jail. ‘ Shows again that the Mail think Alastair deserved more than his ‘lenient’ sentence. The Mail also states that Alastair ‘showed no emotion as he was led away’. This again influences us into believing that Alastair was not repentant at all. However, many of us would believe that someone who has just pleaded guilty to a crime may feel repentant and somebody who is likely to face six months in jail would feel emotional. The Daily Mail article continues with words such as ‘obsessed’ and ‘hassle being used throughout the rest of the article. It is clear that the purpose of this article is not, as it should be, to provide news, but to deter from the facts and promote Alastair Irvine and therefore Lord Irvine as a bad person. It is important to study other aspects of the article. The page number this article is on does not reflect the true amount of importance that the Mail intended to place upon it, it being on a mere page seven. Granted other newspapers have had the article on earlier pages but the sheer size and effort put into the article reflect how much the Mail cares about this specific article. The language used in the article is not as simple as it could be however, it is not very complicated and this probably appeals to the readers of the Daily Mail. Overall, it is clear to see how this article has been written in a certain way to influence the reader and to not report the news but to change to news to serve its own purpose needed. This is a classic example of the media affecting the news in a specific way for a specific purpose. The next paper to be studied is The Daily Star. The Daily Star is too a tabloid newspaper. The Daily star article although not as large as the Mail version is still as biased and emotive. The first thing to notice is the Daily Star is the only newspaper present that does not include the words ‘Lord Irvine’ or anything referring to the Lord in the headline. However, the Daily Star headline is much more vague and strong: ‘Stalker son is jailed’ At first glance, this may give us the impression that a son of a stalker has been imprisoned rather than a stalking son has been jailed. The picture shows Alastair looking remarkably depressed with the situation unlike the Daily Mail article. However, the caption under picture bares a likeness to the Mail’s. The word ‘caged’ is used whilst in the Mail article the word ‘Manacled’ was used, both of these words are strong and give the impression that Alastair Irvine is some sort of trapped animal. The first paragraph, now, does describe who Alastair Irvine is. The words Lord Chancellor naturally arrive. The emotive word used in this paragraph is the use of the word ‘love rival’. This gives us the impression of some sort of battle occurring between Alastair and his ‘love rival’. This again is quite an unnecessary word which is used to bring sympathy to the ‘stalked’ ‘love rival’. The language used in the Star article is a lot simpler, than the language used in the Daily Mail, this again appeals to the readers of The Daily Star, who are not expected to have a vast vocabulary. The only cross heading used in the article is a very striking one, ‘Threats’ this gives the reader an impression of the article before they have actually read it and prepares the reader for the severity of the article. However, the content of the article is generally quite good, most of the information quite relevant, save ‘Lord Irvine, a senior member of Government and a close friend of Toney Blair. The article is dotted with the odd emotive word however, nowhere as near as many as the Mail. The column length of the article in the Star is a mere fifteen centimetres, which is far below the average of all the other articles. Overall, apart from the misleading headline, the occasional unnecessary paragraph and the simple use of language The Daily Star provides an informative yet easily understood version of the story. The next paper is not a tabloid but a broadsheet, meant to report the news rather that influence the readers. The Independent does just that. The simple headline gives all the relevant knowledge needed. It tells us why the story is important, mentioning Lord Irvine, how long Alastair has been imprisoned for, and for what reason. The actual font size of the headline is very small compared to the previously discussed articles. The first paragraph is very informative. It tells us of the nature of his plea and of his crime. The giving of his age, followed by the ‘nine-teen year old girl’ may be regarded as a ploy to influence the reader, however, I do not regard it as so. The Independent’s article is the most informative and goes into more detail that reported by any other newspaper. There are very few emotive words included however; the occasional one does turn up. The Independent also reports that the sentence received by Irvine was much lower than he deserved however it does not say it as bluntly as both the Mail and the Star. The Independent talks about his drug problem in detail. It mentions the fact that he actually travelled to California to undergo rehabilitation for his crack-cocaine addiction. It also goes into more detail than the other articles about the nature of his attacks and his threats. The independent talks about the psychological state that Alastair was in and also talks about the importance of this story politically, all with great measures taken to be unbiased and fact providing. The page number of the article shows the relative importance of the article, I personally feel it is a bit too high also the column length of the article at twenty-nine centimetres seams reasonable. The language used in the article is frivolous in places but overall, not too much more complicated that the Star article. This article has one sole purpose alone and that is to report the news and to provide as much information that is possible and relevant. Overall, out of the all the articles The Independent has the most informative article. It is impartial and provides a good insight into the news story. The final newspaper to be discussed is the Guardian. The first thing noticed of the article is the sheer size. It is only a little smaller than the Daily Mail. Noticeable too, however, is the very large picture of a handcuffed Alastair Irvine looking very depressed. The huge headline is simple and similar to the other broadsheets, referring to Lord Irvine and the crime committed. The strap-line however, is less impartial and divulges more into the thoughts of Lord Irvine who wished not to comment. We also note the photograph of Lord Irvine who is looking rather gleeful and again dressed in his judge’s gown. The caption also tells us that the Chancellor is happy that the case has been resolved, implying somewhat that he is happy to see his son go to prison. The actual content of The Guardian’s article is quite impressive also, it divulges into past confrontations between Lord Irvine and The Sunday Mail, and also in Alastair’s drug problem. It mentions the charges and also a speech from the lawyer of Alastair Irvine who states the gratefulness of Alastair on getting off so lightly and the fact that he could not be guaranteed a win by his own lawyer. The article also mentions some politics and shows the gratefulness of the deputy district attorney at the lack of interference by Lord Irvine. This article again has no purpose but to inform the reader of the story with as much impartiality as possible. The story is only on page eight which is quite far back but the grand size of it makes up for its importance. The article is well structured with points interlinking from one to the other and the material covered is excellent with a wide range of points included that were not in other articles. The language is of a reasonable complexity and this also reflects the audience, which it is targeted at. Overall, the article is excellent apart from the few emotive words present, the strap-line’s severity and the unnecessary size of the picture. In this essay, the void between tabloids and broadsheets has clearly been identified. From the extreme tabloid, which provides little useful information but much opinion of The Daily Mail to the extremes of broadsheet with a huge picture and lots of valuable information of The Guardian the progressive change of the articles has been highlighted. By personal favourite article is the Independent’s, being not only informative but also not excessive. Its size is enough for a quick but in-depth guide to the article and does not detract from it with the suggestion of being a difficult read. However, each article has its own niche market, and I, cannot speak for the variety of people who belong to the readers of any of the newspapers. That is someway creates a sense of impartiality, however, being me alone it is all I can offer. In summate, if a variety of people from different cultures were to write this essay the result may be different, not in quality but in content. British newspapers. (2017, Aug 02).