johnny depp vs amber heard coverage

1. C
M1: Compare and contrast
the benefits of using
different media platforms

2. HOW IT’S BEEN
PRESENTED
• https://youtu.be/mP-FGTMCa-0
• The Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard case has been reported on
a range of different media platforms as seen here.
• The words used within the video above are strictly direct
quotes from the courtroom trial. Whereas the online and
newspaper articles add additional context and paraphrased
quotes for greater effect.
• The headlines are used to follow a theme of shocking worded
quotes or paraphrasing in order to capture the attention of
audiences.
• Images and videos are used on digital platforms to add
context and help audiences visualize the story.

3. • The differing articles still tell the same basic story to not confuse
audiences, but each news provider will have contrary biases or
approaches to the story based on the information source they obtain.
For instance, The Sun reported on the story with major biases toward
Amber Heard reportedly feeling empathy toward the actress and hatred
toward the opposing Johnny Depp as they believe he wasn’t taking the
matter seriously. According to journalists here, he continued to make
jokes and laugh his way through the trial while his ex-wife suffered
online abuse for speaking out.
On the other hand, ‘The Guardian’ reported on the story in a purely
factual way without leaning support to either side of the dispute.
On the opposing side, individuals on social media shared their biases
with the world and most of these individuals sided with Johnny as long-
lived fans of the infamous actor.

4. COMPARING
TRADITIONAL DIGITAL
Informative, longer article Shorter article
Focuses on more serious aspects of the story Focuses on more gossip/ celebrity themes of
the story (for this article)
Older target audience Younger target audience
Informs and states Audiences can share their opinions on the
story- citizen journalism. More interactive
Still images Moving images to better allow audience to
visualise the story

5. The Guardian
• https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/19/amber-
heard-johnny-depp-legal-settlement
• The Guardian is a broadsheet newspaper that focuses
more on the facts of the story and strays away from bias
or personal opinions, they aim to report factually accurate
information. The article in this newspaper written about
the Johnny Depp trial continued to follow the common
theme of articles by reporting the facts without trying to
sway audiences one way. “Depp and Heard were married
for two years from 2015 to 2017.” This is a basic fact
stated within the article, it does not use any linguistic
devices such as the rule of three or emotive language to
convince readers of the newspaper to support a particular
side. The purpose is to report an accurate story. A benefit
of using this platform was the convenience for readers to
obtain a factual story on a variety of devices. Not using
bias within the story improves the readers opinion of the
news provider as a whole.

6. The Sun
• https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18513186/johnny-depp-v-
amber-heard-victim-blaming/
• This article has strong biases in favour of Amber Heard, it
aims to inform but also influence the audience into
supporting her in the trial. Interestingly, The Sun uses
emotive language devices such as “red-faced, bare-
cheeked and sobbing, Amber Heard’s testimony has been
utterly harrowing to watch”. These descriptive words pull
at readers’ emotions and tempt them to sympathise with
the actress as she goes through this trial. The Sun is a
tabloid newspaper and therefore often appeals to the
reader, giving them what they want, but in this instance,
the world was supporting Johnny Depp and they felt they
needed to step in to defend Amber Heard. The benefit of
this style of newspaper is the ease in which audiences are
able to read and understand the story, the language used
is much less advanced and therefore allows a younger
audience to enjoy the article.

7. The Sunday Times
• https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/amber-heard-v-johnny-depp-the-verdict-was-as-it-always-
has-been-that-women-should-be-afraid-to-speak-up-tx7n3lbft
• The Sunday Times is owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp, just as The Sun is. The two
newspapers did very similar stories on reports of the trial, and this is likely to do with bias within
the company. Within this article, the writer has sided with Amber Heard and doesn’t believe
Johnny Depp is in any way a ‘hero’ as fans believe him to be. Stating “Depp’s public” refers to his
fans and implies that this group controlled the trial through social media sharing, making it an
unjust trial. This of course is not true and other newspapers have disproven this claim by saying
many of the jurors did not own social media accounts, but it clearly shows the position of the
newspaper. The news provider has kept a consistent bias message throughout the variation of
different newspapers it currently controls. This might be due to political influences which have
swayed the writer to side with Amber Heard, overall the news provider appears biased and
should be recognised by the readers.

8. SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS
• Social media is a great way to gain mass attention from audiences. News providers like The Sun
will use social media to drive traffic to their news website, they do this by posting on Twitter or
Instagram a short sentence about the article alongside the link. This will gain the attention of
interested individuals and grow the popularity of the news provider’s website.
User-generated content might further create awareness for the story as they repost or retweet
the news article to their personal page and therefore encourage their followers to also read the
article.
Furthermore, user-generated content can come in the form of comments on related posts or
individual posts about the subject matter- sharing their opinions/ views. This plays an important
role in growing the story by promoting the attention surrounding the subject.

9. TWITTER
• For the Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard trial, the social media platform Twitter became an
exceptionally popular place to find out more information and discuss individual opinions
regarding the story. On Twitter, citizen journalism was able to take place as users would share
their personal thoughts on the matter by tweeting their opinions. This platform would advocate
for Johnny Depp and show tremendous support for the actor using hashtags such as
#JohnnyDeppKeepsWinning. This platform wasn’t technically biased as the users on the
platform were sharing opinions, not facts but they were in favour of Johnny Depp, and this was
clear to everyone.
• The digital media platform used here showcases a strong sense of citizen journalism and shows
the impacts it can have on not only the outcome of the trial but also the power of the people,
we can impact change.

10. AUDIENCE REACTIONS
• The trial quickly went viral, and audiences reacted via social media as well as in the form of
protests outside the courthouse. The media had reported on the story for several weeks and
therefore the story was everywhere, everyone knew about this famous trial and wanted to be
involved in some capacity. Audiences are easily influenced by the media and therefore were
largely supporting Depp in the trial due to the influx of support seen for him on TikTok and
Instagram.