Compare the way a current affairs issue is reported in a tabloid and a broadsheet Essay Example

to the broadsheet because the broadsheet appeals more to people who like to go more in depth into their newspaper and they like to absorb more of the knowledge, the typical reader likes gossip and they don't like to listen to the full story whereas it seems higher class people like to read broadsheets which give the full story although it isn't just higher class people who read broadsheets. The tabloid article has more astonishing images than the broadsheet. The images in the tabloid show Shakilus Townsend holding a gun and a knife.Evidently this is because the News of The World is trying to put the point across that Shakilus Townsend was part of a gang.

The photos in the article are horrifying because the News of The World wants to change its readers into believing that knife crime is high in this country. The Independent, however only has one shocking image, showing Fredrick Moody with a glass bottle as though suggesting that Fredrick Moody was a drunk. This is because the Independent is focusing more on the factual information than the images, although it is still shocking because somebody died in the ordeal.The tabloid article has more emotive language and is more melodramatic than the broadsheet with "chilling gang secret" "horrific death" and "pleading". Language like this makes the reader go deeper into the article and think about how fragile the situation is; it also evokes sympathy for the victim. The sensational language in the tabloid is very powerful and streetwise for example, "you set up Shak bitch".

This brutal language would have a strong impact on readers because the words are more sensational.The

different styles of language have different effects on the reader depending on how shocking the language is. If the language is more complex it will have a greater, more powerful effect on the reader because it is more interesting. This use of street slang suggests again that Townsend was a member of a gang.

Most of the time I prefer to read tabloid newspapers because don't like to go in to the full story. When I read tabloid newspapers I can keep interest in the article whereas if I was to read a broadsheet article I find it more difficult to concentrate and keep interest.The reason for this is because I cannot keep interest as I think that the stories in the broadsheets go on for to long. This graph in The News of The World also enhances the story as it shows how knife crime has risen and dropped over the years, most of the crime associated with London is knife crime. Source The broadsheet concentrates on expert information such as precise expert interviews. This contrasts with The News of the World which speaks to friends, family and the people who were interviewed mostly lived locally for example, a neighbour said "he was always winding up other kids around here"The tabloid article therefore has more anecdotes than the broadsheet.

The reason there are not as many in the broadsheet is because there is always a chance that some anecdotes in articles aren't true. Broadsheet readers generally want the full story and the truth without anecdotal information. In newspapers human interest is always different because a variety of people read different newspapers. I like the

layout of the tabloid article more because I think that it is more attention grabbing, also some of the text in the broadsheet is in italics whereas in the tabloid it isn't.The ways the tabloid article and the broadsheet article are displayed are also very different. The tabloid has more subheadings than the tabloid which I think grabs readers' attention more than a broadsheet ever would.

When the layout of the article is simple to understand I think it makes the story easier to relate to and follow. Although, the media is very powerful and the reason for this is because they use bias to manipulate the audience and this bias can change what people think. Its photographs can also change people's views and fulfil what people already believe.Because if people see a picture that relates to the article which most of the time it doesn't, then they are more likely to believe it plus some people only pay attention to the pictures.

To conclude, I have come to a final decision that the tabloid article shows the full horror of the tragedy because the information in the tabloid gets right to the point about what's happened. The information about the tragedy is a lot clearer in the tabloid because it is much more graphic and is also easier to understand. The powerful headings, subheadings and words make the articles very effective.The most powerful parts of the tabloid is where it talks about how brutal the murder of Shakilus Townsend was, also in the tabloid it tells you about facts and figures which tell you about what's happening with knife and how bad the situation

is getting in London, this makes the article more powerful.

Whereas the in-depth information in the broadsheet article will make people lose interest quickly because most typical British readers don't want to go deep into the story. So on balance I think that the tabloid article is the best and most powerful article because I think it is much easier to read and much easier to keep interest in.