21. Audience/Headline
• BBC - catches the audience’s attention as it is short and to-the-
point. The BBC’s target audience are also interested in news
effecting students and university.
• The Guardian - catches the audience’s attention by using the
words “cyclist” and “death” in the headline as it is an unusual
event.
• The Sun - catches the audience’s attention by using celebrities’
names in the headline as their target audience are interested in
celebrities and gossip.
• Mirror - catches the audience’s attention by using a question
and by putting the word “ditches” in capital letters.
22. Audience/Headline
• BBC - the headline uses keywords that a mass target audience will be
interested in. For example, young people will be interested in the word
“students”, adults will be interested in the word “loans”, and people who
live in or near Wales will be interested in the word “Wales”. The journalist
has chosen these words specifically to try and interest as many people as
possible, as the BBC must appeal to a target audience as they are a PSB.
• The Guardian - the journalist has chosen to use straightforward language
to describe the event. This is important with crime articles as people often
read just the headline rather than the full article and The Guardian need to
make sure their headline doesn’t create moral panic. The headline tells
you the who, what, why and how long of the story in just 11 words.
However the headline uses some sensationalism because it includes the
words “cyclist” and “death”, and this makes the audience want to read the
article as deaths caused by cyclists are unheard of.
23. Audience/Headline
• The Sun - uses a cliche “mum’s the word” to entertain The Sun’s C2DE target
audience, uses colloquial language like “reps” and “star”. The headline creates
consonance with the audience as they only use Kylie Jenner’s first name
because they know the audience like to keep up with celebrity gossip and
know who she is. They use some sensationalist language like “confirms”,
“rumours” and “first time” because making the information seem exclusive
makes the audience want to read the article more so they can feel like they
know things others don’t.
• Mirror - uses a rhetorical question to make their target audience (who love to
keep up on celebrity gossip) think the marriage might be over so they want to
read the article and find out if it is or not. The headline uses some
sensationalist language like “yet”, “finished” and “ditches” to make the article
seem much more dramatic. This is because in their audience’s lives, the
relationships of celebrities are very important to them as the C2DE audience
aspire to be like those celebrities and can often relate to their unstable
relationships.
24. Sensationalist Language
• BBC - doesn’t use sensationalist language, instead uses phrases like “it has been claimed”, and the
word “abstract” instead of “shocking”. This is because the BBC must not be biased in any way, so by
using natural language they ensure this.
• The Guardian - also doesn’t use much sensationalist language: “collided”, “victim”, “suffered from”,
“apparent”, and “handling”. These words are fairly violent, but they are appropriate for a crime article
and don’t over-dramatise the story as much as other newspapers would. They don’t use much
sensationalism because the ABC1 target audience are well educated and can see through the over-
exaggerated language. For a C2DE audience the sensationalism would make a “boring” article more
exciting, but for The Guardian’s audience, they want the article to be sophisticated and realistic.
• The Sun - uses lots of sensationalisation, e.g. “exclusively”, “confirmed”, “revealed”. These particular
words are used because they make the reader feel special, they make them feel as if they are better
than others because they have or know something others don’t. This is fitting for The Sun’s C2DE target
audience as they are probably less educated than the people they work for, so this gives them a
chance to feel like they know more than their bosses.
• Mirror - uses a lot more sensationalist language than The Sun, e.g. “hints”, “ditching”, “officially”,
“caught”, “desperate”, “fed up”, “burden”, “scandal”, etc. This sensationalist language is used in both
the Mirror and The Sun because they care about celebrity drama and gossip. By always knowing the
latest news about their favourite celebrities, the C2DE target audience feel like they are friends with the
celebs as they know them so well. By making the story sensationalistic and dramatic, the journalists can
make the target audience feel like they are talking to their friend - as we often make bad things that
happen to us more dramatic when we tell our friends about them. So by doing all those things, it makes
the audience want to read the article so they don’t miss out.
25. Imagery
• BBC - uses a map of the plans, a graph, and pictures of the apartments that are being planned to
build. The pictures used are purely informative and there are only 4 as the BBC’s target audience
don’t mind reading big blocks of text with few pictures to break it up. These images are used to
inform the audience further, and to provide statistics and the key information in an easy-to-interpret
form. The pictures are used because the target audience will want to have as much relevant
information as possible from the article.
• The Guardian - uses only a picture of the cyclist, as the target audience don’t need images to
hold their attention span, they are fine with reading big blocks of text. This image is used because
the audience may recognise him from other newspapers or from TV, and also because the
criminal’s appearance is relevant and important to the article.
• The Sun - uses 6 images and 2 videos. Most are of Kylie and/or Caitlyn, but there is one of Kylie’s
boyfriend too. These are used to break up the article as the target audience have a much shorter
attention span than with the BBC and The Guardian so they don’t want to read big blocks of text.
This is because they are a C2DE audience and are less educated than readers of The Guardian.
These images are also used because the audience will be curious about whether they can see
Kylie’s baby bump yet in the photos, and some of the audience might need to see what all the
people who are mentioned in the article look like so they can remember to look out for them.
• Mirror - also uses lots of images, uses 12 photos and 2 videos. Most are of Coleen and Wayne
and are used for the same reason as The Sun. These images are also used because they are the
evidence that Wayne Rooney went to court and Coleen has removed her wedding ring. The videos
also offer more information related to the content of the article and give more detail about the state
of the Rooneys’ marriage.
26. Core Content
• BBC - the article focuses on how students in Wales can’t afford
proper accommodation, and a lot more apartments are planning to
be built to meet demands.
• The Guardian - the story talks about a cyclist who knocked over a
woman and killed her. It gives detail about the court case and
interviews with the family of the victim and of the cyclist.
• The Sun - the article talks about how Kylie Jenner told Caitlyn a
long time ago about her pregnancy and how Caitlyn isn’t happy
about her being pregnant so early in her relationship.
• Mirror - article focuses on how Wayne Rooney’s wife has taken off
her wedding ring as their marriage is unstable. It also discusses
rumours of Wayne cheating and gives detail about their family and
relationship.
27. Links to other media
• BBC - no links to other media.
• The Guardian - mentions Sir Chris Hoy and Laura Trott
when talking about the type of bike used.
• The Sun - talks about Caitlyn Jenner, Travis Scott,
People magazine and Hollywood Life magazine.
• Mirror - talks about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, VW
Beetle, Austin Powers, Gary Lineker, The Sun, Everton,
BAMMA, ITV's This Morning, Phillip Schofield and Holly
Willoughby.
28. Paragraphing
• BBC - uses 2-5 line paragraphs. Mostly 3 lines. This is because the typically
older audience don’t mind reading large blocks of text or long sentences. But
the paragraphs vary in length as the BBC must appeal to a mass audience so
the paragraphs cannot be too long as this would put off a lower reading age.
• The Guardian - uses 2-6 line paragraphs. Mostly 3 & 4 lines. This is because
The Guardian have an older target audience with an older reading age so they
will read longer paragraphs.
• The Sun - 1-3 line paragraphs. Mostly 2 lines. This is because The Sun’s target
audience have a lower reading age so they will be put off by long blocks of text
and they would rather look at the pictures that break up the text.
• Mirror - 1-3 paragraphs. Mostly 2 lines. This is because the pictures that are
used to break up the paragraphs can get the same information over much
faster and easier than reading the text. The paragraphs are so short they are
used to act more as caption for the pictures.
29. Use of speech
• BBC - uses speech in the paragraphs to quote spokespeople the BBC interviewed about the
story. The article tends to have a whole paragraph of just speech ending with “he said”. This is
because the audience care about getting the full detailed information directly from the
interviewee even if some of the things they say aren’t 100% relevant. The target audience will
want to read more around the topic.
• The Guardian - mostly quotes from the judge, used to give the reader an accurate description of
their verdict. The article uses a similar way of using speech as the BBC, except this article
embeds small quotes within the sentences a lot and uses a lot of reported speech. This is
because it breaks up the numerous quotes so it’s more interesting to read. Also because the
entire court case cannot be quoted in just one article, it needs to be condensed into small
phrases.
• The Sun - mostly quotes from “a source close to Caitlyn”. Speech is mostly used embedded in
sentences because the target audience just want to know the quotes that are directly relevant to
the story, not read a big long interview.
• Mirror - quotes from Wayne 2 years ago, quotes from “a source” and “a source close to the
couple”. There are mostly whole paragraphs of speech with a bit of embedded quotes too. This is
because the target audience want to know all about the gossip in detail, and they many not
know/remember things that they said in interviews years ago so those quotes need to be
included.
30. Sentence Structure
• BBC - uses simple, compound and complex sentences. Uses mostly complex
sentences. The BBC uses a wide range of sentence structures because they are a PSB
and must appeal to a mass audience, so the sentences must be sophisticated but not
too complicated in the use of language in order to appeal to the widest range of
audiences. This also makes the article more formal.
• The Guardian - uses simple, compound and complex sentences. Uses mostly
compound sentences. This is because The Guardian have a high reading age and
intelligent target audience so using these complicated sentence structures appeals to
them. This also makes the article more formal.
• The Sun - uses a mix of simple and compound sentences. These are used because The
Sun’s target audience have a low reading age so they wouldn’t want to read long and
complicated sentences with lots of clauses. This also makes the article more informal.
• Mirror - uses a mix of simple and compound sentences. Mostly simple. This is because
the Mirror’s target audience have a low reading age and a fairly short attention span so
they don’t want to read long and complicated sentences. This also makes the article
more informal.
