M2: Linguistic conventions

M2:

Sensationalism:

Sometimes bias language in mass media which is used to increase readership and gain interest and excitement of the audience

The headline of this article catches the audience’s attention as it begins with the name of the celebrity. This will attract an increased audience as a result of the popular TV show ‘The only way is Essex’ which has a large interest within the public. https://heatworld.com/celebrity/news/lauren-goodger-working-parents-twitter-rant/

Sensationalist language- language used to excite a reader, they’re often not afraid to offend and can sometimes forfeit accuracy.               

 https://heatworld.com/celebrity/news/lauren-goodger-working-parents-twitter-rant/            

Here are some examples of sensationalist language used in news articles with a before and after comparison of the article:

Before:

1.       ‘Lauren Goodger slams working parents in Twitter rant’

2.        ‘Lauren Goodger has taken to Twitter to slam working parents in a rant against using nannies to look after children’

3.       Lauren wrote: No amount of money or career Is worth leaving my baby with a stranger! NEVER it’s heart-breaking to think mums would still do this even after seeing this! Like I say if u no the nanny well or adult your leaving them with n u trust them that’s different story! It’s not always the case”.

After:

1.       ‘Lauren Goodger Tweets her arguments about parents’ – removes the dramatic word ‘slams’ and my new article headline doesn’t specify that the parents she is talking about are ‘working parents’.

2.       ‘Lauren Goodger has tweeted about parents, arguing about how they use nannies if they’re busy.’

3.       Lauren wrote: No amount of money or career is worth leaving my baby with a stranger! NEVER it’s heart-breaking to think mums would still do this even after seeing this! Like I say if u no the nanny well or adult your leaving them with n u trust them that’s different story! It’s not always the case”.

Justification:

I altered the headline of the article because the words “slams” and “rant” are both quite aggressive words. In this context the words are directed at “working parents” which suggests that the article is aggressively targeted at working parents, which isn’t really the case as it is just one celebrities opinion which in the bigger picture, doesn’t really matter. The first paragraph also used the words “slam” and “rant”, therefore I also simplified it so it had no dramatic effect.

Sentencing
Simple sentence: "Lauren Goodger has taken to Twitter to slam working parents in a rant against using nannies to look after children.." - Direct and informative to give a clear indication of the story

Complex sentence: "It all started when she retweeted an article a few days ago about a nanny who was abusing a child left in their care, and she argued that no parents should ever go to work and leave a child with hired help" - Greater detail to inform the audience more about the subject


Within the initial paragraphs simple sentences are common as they quickly and easily inform the reader of the key information. However, as the article progresses, more complex sentences are used throughout. 

Imagery:
The use imagery and direct links to the relevant tweets all engage with theaudience and create an effective and interesting way to publicise the article story.

P3 & M2 - Describe the structure and purpose for different news article

Key language terms:

Colloquial – Colloquial language is more conversational which is frequently used in ordinary conversations

Expletive- This language is often considered as offensive

First person speak- This language is when a person is referring to themselves from their point of view

Second person speak- This is the second-person point of view to address the reader

All my articles were found online as it is much easier to find specific and recent articles online rather than in a newspaper as online technologies allow users to search whatever they want by using web browsers. This article is a football based article which is located in the Sport section of The Mirror website. This article was at the top of the most popular latest stories due to the good recent form of Roberto Firmino, therefore he has been the talking point of a lot of football fans. By putting it at the top of the most popular stories, The Mirror will gain a lot more readers as the story is relevant to recent football news and also website users are more likely to find this article in the first place.

The headline starts off with the team the player plays for which suggests that the article is predominantly aimed at Liverpool fans even though it may still interest football fans in general. As the headline doesn’t reveal too much it entices the audience to click the article to find out this ‘secret’ about footballer Roberto Firmino. As the article is online, modern technology allows The Mirror to upload videos relating to the subject which in this case is a short entertaining clip of the footballer’s best goal celebrations. This montage of him celebrating and some of the text in the article suggests that Roberto Firmino should be praised for scoring so many goals, especially as it includes his impressive statistics for this football season and comparisons to Liverpool’s all-time greatest footballers.

Sensationalist language is language used to excite the reader, however this article is mainly filled with statistics and quotes. Sensationalist language is usually used by news writers for controversial subjects, which this story isn’t.

Links to other Mirror articles are included throughout the article to entice people to read further on about Liverpool and Firmino related stories. For example, they mention one of his recent goals against Huddersfield and have made it into a hyperlink to a match review of that game. This is beneficial to readers who may have missed or needed reminding of Firmino’s goal against Huddersfield as they can just click the link to read all about that game.

This articles paragraphing is very basic and each paragraph is kept to a maximum of 3 lines each so the reader is only getting short bursts on information at a time. This is because it is a very statistical based article as it is talking about Firmino’s goal records. It is important for the article to be set out this way so the statistics can be read by the audience more efficiently which provides them with comfortable and familiar reading. Within the initial paragraphs, simple sentences are frequently used as they quickly and easily inform the reader of the key information.

Press Regulations - Rules the press agency's have to follow.

For an example i researched a recent news scandal which is a phone hacking scandal

 Newspapers involved - News of the world

Who was involved - Editors, reporters, journalist, Piers Morgan

What started the scandal? - regarding the Milly Dowler murder as someone hacked a phone to find information nobody knew

When did phone hacking start? - 1990's

Who's targeted - Large variety - Celebrities, politicians and the news company itself for hacking into phones

Regulation

Sometimes newspapers are bias and report the opinions of journalists and editors instead of the actual facts. This can cause some public disagreement which is why newspapers are subject to regulation.The IPSO are a company who now investigate complaints about breaches of the Editor's Code of Practice.

Citizen journalism is where citizens collect news and distribute it online whether that be onto social media or websites specifically for citizen journalists. Many news consumers may prefer citizen journalists as they often give a point of view of a story, including their photos if they took any at the time. citizen journalists arent typically regulated as they arent publishing as an official news source

P3 - Newspaper Comparison

 Elaborate coding – This language is more complex with its sentence structure, words and language. This is particularly used in broadsheet newspapers.

Restricted coding – This is simple text which usually contains jargon and colloquial language making it easier to understand. This text consists of puns and conversational language which is usually included lots in tabloid newspapers.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43225248

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bloodbath-high-street-bloodbath-high-12102203

The Mirror has used sensationalist language to make the headline seem a lot more dramatic. The word ‘bloodbath’ is far too dramatic to use to desrcibe an administration which suggests their aim to use sensationalism to attract people to click on the article. This exaggeration makes the matter sound a lot worse that it actually is to the readers which may attract them to read more about it. The headline of this article aims to catch the audiences attention as a result of the current popular news story in this moment in time which has had a large interest within the public. The Mirror’s headline goes into detail about the consequences of the administraion whereas BBC News just get straight to the point stating what has happened to Toys R Us. Within the first few paragraphs, simple sentences are used as they easily and quickly inform the reader of the key information about the subject. Further on in the article, more complex language is used as the article tells the readers more detailed information.

The Mirror’s headline is also of restricted coding as it doesn’t include the company names whereas the BBC start their headline with the company that has gone into administration. However, the BBC also included used restricted coding as it doesn’t say why Toys R Us has gone into administration and it doesn’t say what Toys R Us actually is. Therefore only those who know what the company is will know what the article is about.

The BBC article appears to be of a more sophisticated demographic due to more elaborate coding being used through more complex sentences, words and language. In this article, sub-title with the question ‘what does this mean for shoppers?’ is included to target information to those who shop at Toys R Us. This makes the article a lot more helpful for shoppers in particular.

Altogether the articles are fairly similar as they both include similarities such as facts, images and quotations. These are all used in both articiles to inform readers, even those who may not be aware about the administration which makes the majority of the articles elaboritive. Both of the articles often feature direct quotes from officials which creates a sense of reliability to the article resulting in the audience trusting it. Altogether this article uses a lot of formal language throughout which results in the news story being perceived to be trustworthy and reliable to maintain the purpose to inform and educate the reader. This article features the use of direct quotes from officials from Toys R Us which creates a sense of reliability to the article resulting in the audience trusting it.

P3 & M2 - Newspaper analysis

LO2: Analysing newspaper stories – who, what, why, where, when, how

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43191281

Who: Unnamed man

What: Man dies by falling off a cliff whilst skiing on the Alps.

Where: The French Alps

When: February 2018

Why: The part of the mountain was too steep and icy

How: he strayed off-piste for an unknown reason

The paragraphs are short and organised with simple facts and statements of what happened. This layout makes the article easier to read for visitors. Within the first sentences, the circumstances of the fall are portrayed and it also includes some details of who else was involved as multiple people have been known to fall on the Alps recently. The article also refers to a similar story as a 12-year-old boy also died whilst skiing recently and this is underlined as a hyperlink for people to click on to navigate to that article. As the article refers to a similar skiing tragedy, it suggests to the readers how dangerous skiing can be when you aren’t careful. This is reinforced by the quote stating the consequences of his actions as it says the man who fell ‘was injured in the "steep and icy" conditions’.

Right at the start of the article the man is introduced anonymously and it gets straight to the point of the story about what happened. Straight after this the location of the death is set. The article throughout is basic and straight forward pointing out key facts and doesn’t go too much into detail. It includes a brief overview of the main aspects of the story such as previous skiing accidents in the same location and the place his fall took place. Due to the short length of the article, it is likely that some aspects of the story have not been identified yet to include. For example, the identity of the man and his friends who were injured have been kept anonymous. Throughout the article, imagery is used to set the scene and how scared they must have been in the situation as it describes the location as ‘steep and icy’. These concise sentences will appeal to those who only wish to read short articles and gain the key information.

Talking about someone’s recent death is a difficult story for a news company to publish as they have to be more careful with what they say. Half way through the article it includes quotes from official voices and statements to give readers more details of the circumstances. Later on in the article it says how the man got into a bad situation as it says he ‘strayed off-piste for an unknown reason’. This suggests to the reader that doing this is a bad idea and could even suggest that he shouldn’t have done it, almost blaming his bad decision to go off-piste for his own death. 

M1 - Analysing different media platforms

TV shows such as Good Morning Britain have a huge advantage as they have the ability to provide and report news a lot faster than traditional methods like newspapers as they are restricted because of the daily schedule of printing and publishing. These news TV programmes and stations can report news almost instantly and can easily be distributed to audiences at home, for some stations this could be global. However, often these news providers on TV are reasonably informal as the presenters often have their say on matters even though some audience may disagree, whereas official news stations will provide the news without giving their own views. As this form of news distribution is more informal and conversational, it is most likely to attract passive consumers who don’t take a strong interest to news. The conversational mode of address also suggests that the program open for discussions on matters and isn’t bias towards certain things. This program is on every morning targeted at people getting ready to go to work which provides all the latest news and entertaining stories so that it isn’t all boring or negative. They often interview actors, famous figures or just general public guests on the show daily. These guests that appear on the show often tell the news presenters a story that they experienced or it could be to have a small debate about something. This effectively leads to some reactions and relations from the audience who may want to get involved with what is being said on the show. To make the most of this, news programmes and talk shows such as Good Morning Britain can use modern technologies to enable their audience to get involved and participate with the show. For example, the hashtag ‘#GMB’ is used for audience members to tweet their views on Twitter about matters discussed on the show. These tweets are often shown on screen or read out which may even attract more users to participate, resulting in a more engaged audience and potentially increasing viewing figures. The presentation of the news set is also shown to be informal compared to official news channels such as BBC News. On Good Morning Britain, they often sit on cosy looking couches with surroundings that almost have a homely look. Whereas on BBC News their set is a lot more like an office suggesting how formal and official their channel is as they show people working on computers behind the presenters. This ensures the audience know that the programme is up to date as the news employees are shown working hard behind the scenes.

As the Huffington Post is an online only news distributor, they use online technology and features to their advantage. Throughout their article they have included more visual features such as poll results and screenshots of ‘Google trends’. The online article doesn’t include too much information compared to written newspaper articles, instead it includes more interactive features such as videos, links to social media and comment sections. This creates a greater appeal to new audiences of the digital age as they are familiar with these new online features. This suggests that they target their audience at active consumers who want to participate with their news articles and website. Twice on this page they have included hyperlinks to their social media pages. Their Snapchat name has surprisingly been advertised too which isn’t a typical social media site that news sites tend to have. Due to the fast rise in popularity of Snapchat by younger audiences, it suggests that the Huffington Post is targeting their site at a younger and technologically advanced audience. It is highly beneficial for news companies to use features on mobile apps such as snapchat to feature their articles and stories to gain more brand awareness, especially because of how popular these sites are with a variety of consumers.

The first part of the article is a video about ‘Brexit’ with the title ‘What does Europe think about Brexit?’ This title suggests that the article and video is to inform audiences that aren’t aware as much about the EU referendum. Their aim appears to inform those who don’t follow the news as often, typically a younger audience. Their frequent inclusion of social media also allows their audience to discuss their opinions on the article or to share the link to it. Both enables the site to reach a larger target audience as website users can share their links onto social media sites for their friends and family to also see. This raises the sites brand awareness and could result in new website members, increasing their income.  

The Daily Mail appears to be an unprofressional and bias newspaper when looking at this headline and front page in general. The image is shown the politician Nigel Farage celebrating the result for Britain to leave the European Union suggesting that this paper is on his side and agrees with leaving the EU. The title is in really large letters with the simple words ‘we’re out!’ which suggests that this paper is right-wing based and aims to share their views and opinions with their audience in hope that they agree. The subheadings including are aiming to manipulate the readers thoughts on the EU referendum matter, suggesting that leaving the EU is a good idea and it will lead to better things for the country. The subheading ‘after 43 years UK freed from shackles of EU’ really suggests their right-wing bias as the word ‘freed’ is used to present leaving the EU in a positive way.

P2 – Citizen Journalism and media platforms used for distribution

Citizen journalism is a way for civilians to publish their news stories online, which has increased over the years due to the rise of technological convergence. This has allowed millions of people to access the media on a larger range of media platforms including social networking websites such as Twitter.  Citizen journalism is where citizens collect news and distribute it online whether that be onto social media or websites specifically for citizen journalists. Many news consumers may prefer citizen journalists as they often give a point of view of a story, including their photos if they took any at the time.

The news audience are now able to interact with the news by giving their opinions on matters through platforms such as social media. This can be done through hashtags that are shown on news TV programmes so that their audience can tweet their opinions with the hashtag included. This allows the news to be able to see what their audience believe and may even read some of their tweets out on air to encourage more users to contribute. Due to the technological convergence and increase of social media use, online news sites now have the ability to include links to sites such as Facebook and Twitter at the bottom of each news article. This allows readers to share the article with their friends via email or social media which effectively lets more people see it, increasing the websites audience. Many news consumers may now prefer online news distribution methods as they are very convenient due to news apps being available on smartphones no matter where the consumer is located as long as they have a WiFi or 3G connection. This is often free of charge and a lot quicker news unlike print newspapers. As soon as news happens it can instantly be reported on social media or news apps whereas traditional methods can take up to a day to distribute the news to the public. 

Example: Sky News’ Twitter post with the public commenting

Twitter/Facebook are both effective ways of distributing news as they have millions of daily users. It is easy for them to get cost-effective recognition on social media as its easy for their tweets to reach members who may not even follow their page through features such as ‘retweeting’ or sharing. Posting these stories on social media allows the audience to contribute by commenting their opinions which can open up discussions between other social media members. Additionally, modern technology on websites allow features such as hyperlinks to be used which can show relating articles. These can be embedded into the website to give the user an option to gain more knowledge if they are intrigued by the original article they had visited.

One in twenty (6%) use all four main platforms for news – i.e. TV, radio, newspapers and the internet. One in five (19%) uses only TV for news. - source: ofcom.com 

TV and radio broadcasts only really show key information relevant to the story whereas online platforms can make the most of advances in technology to go into greater depth on all aspects of the story. for example, they can include several hyperlinks to relating articles to allow the reader to gain greater knowledge on the subject if they wish to learn more.

There are several news companies that are very reliable across the world that are regulated by Ofcom such as BBC and Sky News. as these news companies are regulated they are to be deemed as very reliable by the general public whereas news from tabloids or social media accounts arent seen to be reliable as they arent regulated and can often publish false news.

P1 - Providers of news mindmap

sources: 

https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_news_websites/

http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/nrs-daily-mail-most-popular-uk-newspaper-print-and-online-23m-readers-month/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/269867/reach-of-selected-tv-news-channels-in-the-uk/