Tabloid and broadsheet

Introduction

In this essay I will be comparing two newspaper articles based on the same story. One is from a tabloid, 'The Daily Mirror', and the other from a broadsheet, 'The Daily Telegraph'. I will be comparing and contrasting the use of language, structure, technique and opinions within the articles. Tabloids and broadsheets are very different in their approach to these points I will be comparing, as the main objective of each newspaper is to appeal to specific target groups.

Specific target groups

The target groups of tabloids and broadsheets differ therefore the qualities of each newspaper differ to suit the interests of specific people.

The notion of a target group will be a recurring theme throughout this essay as all aspects of a newspaper article relate back to this issue. There are three sections within a target group: age, gender and social grouping. Social groupings are generally sub-lined into categories A, B, C1, C2, D and E.

• Category A is usually made up of people with jobs such as lawyers, doctors and accountants,
• B: people with jobs such as teachers, nurses and policemen,
• C1: includes clerical workers and people in other skilled jobs,
• C2: includes plumbers and mechanics,
• D: includes lorry drivers and postal workers and
• E: includes unemployed people and casual workers.
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The situation and the visual appearance is often the most significant part of a newspaper article as it is the part that entices the specific target group to read the article to begin with.

Visuals are used to firstly, attract attention to the article but also to break up the text and to give an insight to what the article is about.

One would think that the larger the visuals are within an article the less formal it would be because there would be less detail contained in the article, therefore being a tabloid newspaper. But 'The Daily Mirror', tabloid article has a very small visual of Tony Blair with a caption underneath that says "Warning: Mr.Blair yesterday".

This is quite an informal way of telling the reader about the visual as it is an opinion, not a general fact. In the 'The Daily Telegraph' article there is a very large visual. The contrast in visual size could be showing us how important the newspapers class this story as being. As well as the size of visuals representing how important an article is, the placing of the article within a newspaper is also a measure of this.

'The Daily Mirror' article is on page 17 of the newspaper, presenting to us that the newspaper obviously do not perceive this story as being of great significance to its target group, where as 'The Daily Telegraph' article is on the front page of the newspaper, illustrating to us that the story is classified as being extremely significant to its target group as this type of story would interest them most, being between the age of 36-55 and of social grouping A-C1. The presentation of an article on a page also gives the reader an idea of how significant the newspaper perceives the story as being to its designed target group.

The size of an article

The size of an article is very important as obviously the larger something may be, the more attention it draws. "The Daily Telegraph' article occupies half of the entire front page of the newspaper, drawing more attention to itself as it would appeal to the target group of the newspaper. The article also has no advertisements, puffs or blurbs around it to distract the reader, where as in the article from 'The Daily Mirror' there is an advertisement beside the story that is almost as big as the actual article.

This shows us that the newspaper knows that this article may not appeal to its target group as much as it would to the target group of 'The Daily Telegraph' as the advertisement is likely to distract the reader from reading the article. All newspapers structure articles for the purpose of capturing the attention of the target group and holding their attention for as long as possible. Articles are generally structured with pyramid writing.

The pyramid writing

This is where the most dramatic and most important fact is put first: the introduction, and then follow it with the second most dramatic, then the third, and so on. When 100% of readers may read the headline, only 70% might read to the end of the first paragraph and only 50% to the end of the third. This is why the headline or the introduction is usually the most difficult part of an article to write. Both articles, from 'The Daily Mirror' and the other from 'The Daily Telegraph' are structured with pyramid writing.

This does not really back up the point that 'The Daily Telegraph' is a broadsheet and 'The Daily Mirror' is a tabloid because generally all articles, whether broadsheet or tabloid in style, are written in pyramid writing. However, the size of a paragraph or the number of syllables within a paragraph can determine what style an article is written in. the article from 'The Daily Telegraph' has quite long paragraphs, even though they are usually only one or two sentences long. The number of words per paragraph is around 35, showing that the article goes into more depth and detail.

The age groups

This reflects on the target group the newspaper is aimed at, age group: 36-55 because older people would want more information given about the story, social group: A-C1 because they would possibly want more information because of the types of jobs they have, also people within this social grouping may not be as distracted, therefore paragraphs can be longer as their attention can be held for longer with larger sections of writing. In contrast with 'The Daily Telegraph' article, the tabloid style 'Daily Mirror' has less complex paragraphing.

On average there are around 25, or less, words per paragraph, showing that the article does not go into as much depth as 'The Daily Telegraph', again relating back to the target group the article is aimed at. The age group would be 25-35 because ever though they may be interested in a subject such as political conflict, they may not need or want as much information about it. The social grouping would be C2-E because people that are included within this grouping may be distracted easily, so their attention needs to be kept by keeping the paragraphs short and precise.

The language used in tabloids

The use of language within an article gives a very good idea of whether an article or the newspaper it came from is in the style of a tabloid or a broadsheet. Generally, the language used in tabloids can be very informal and 'chatty' at times using colloquial terminology, not giving much detail or actual facts and involving the opinions of the journalist. Headlines, whether in broadsheet or tabloid newspapers, give a short insight to what the article is about. Journalese shorthand is used to make the headlines short and snappy, to capture attention.

In the article from 'The Daily Mirror', a tabloid, the headline is "UN'S 15-0 For war". The format of the text is 'Arial black', commonly used in tabloids as it is bold and looks quite informal. Within the headline there is a pun, "15-0" is implying a result from a sporting event such as football or tennis. This is reflecting the conflict that is involved in this, but some could feel that is used quite tastelessly as war is such a serious subject to use a play on words.

This is used to attract the attention of the specific target group because they are taking the subject matter and relating it something completely different, that the target group may be interested in, therefore making it appeal to them. In the article from 'The Daily Telegraph' the headline is "Defy us now and we go to war". It is written in 'Time New Roman' font style, this is commonly used in broadsheets because it looks formal, appealing to its target group. There is not a pun within the headline; it just uses journalese shorthand to convey what the story is about: an 'ultimatum', as it says in the sub-head, which expands on the headline.

The opening sentences of both tabloid and broadsheet news articles generally begin stating the subject and the main clause of the story to set the scene straight away so the target audience can know exactly who and what the story is about in more detail than just the headline and the sub-head. In the article from 'The Daily Telegraph' the first sentence as well as involving the subject and main clause, is a complex syntax. It uses the conjunctions "at", "after" and "with" to join three clauses together, giving a detailed and formal feeling to the article.

The fact that his formal title is given to him, backs up that it is written in a broadsheet style. Generally, in tabloid style newspapers, the use of language can be quite informal and often 'chatty'. However, in the article from 'The Daily Mirror' the use of language is surprisingly formal. Although this particular newspapers approach to this story could be seen as 'tasteless' due to puns used, the actual content of the writing is almost, if not, broadsheet style the language use in 'The Daily Telegraph' is very formal, which targets its audience very effectively.

Emotive language is often used to capture attention by purposely creating a certain image or feeling and to influence how the reader perceives something. In both the article from 'The Daily Telegraph' and from 'The Daily Mirror' the word "War" is used in the headline. This is firstly tell the reader what the story is about but also is used because it is a very powerful word, literally and metaphorically.