A comparison of two media articles Essay

The Daily Express and The Independent write about the same event, England’s 2-0 victory over Greece in one of England’s world cup qualifier matches. It is obvious from looking at the articles that they are set out and written differently, this is because of their target audiences. The Independent is a more formal newspaper in A2 size, aimed at the more educated person. It is generally read by people in the social groups of A, B and C1, this includes people such as doctors, policemen and other such skilled workers. The Daily Express however is a much less formal newspaper, in A3 size, its target audience are people who are generally less educated and belong in the social groups of C1 and C2, people like builders, receptionists and other unskilled workers. The Daily Express’ article dominates the entire back page with very little else but a small sub article and some small adverts, the Daily Express sets it out in this way to attract its readers to the paper and article, it is bold and stands out. The Independent is different in this as the article takes up roughly half of the page, with enough room to have another article on the same page this is because of its much larger page. The Independent does not use big bold headlines or make it to try and attract the reader into the story; instead they set the article out in a more professional form making it look elegant and neat. This is done as The Independents readers do not want to be enticed into reading an article just because it looks attractive and stands out, they will read what is of interest to them and for content of the story. The Daily Express however uses the bold headlines and dominating layout to attract it’s readers into the article and paper. The Daily Express includes two pictures in its article, one for the main article of the match and the other one shows the gossip of the match. The Daily Star does this as their readers like pictures to attract them to the story and also like to read about the gossip as well, in this case the bottles being thrown at David Beckham’s head. The picture for the main article that the Daily Star chooses to show is that of David Beckham celebrating his goal, however they have blocked everything else out of the picture and just have David shown with a bold black outline. The picture is laid out across the page in an untidy fashion making it bolder and more attracting to its reader. This is done as the readers of the paper recognise David as a big celebrity and so want to read what is said about him. The Independent however is very different it has only one picture; it dominates the article but is set out in a square as a neat part of the article. The picture is the same as Daily stars however it is much broader as it shows more than just David Beckham; it is left showing us the stadium and the crowd’s celebrations. The chooses to do this as its readers prefer a much more in depth view as to what has happened when reading their articles, with this they can see the sort of atmosphere there would have been in the Stadium. The Daily Express uses a type of language typical of most tabloid newspapers, but not usually seen in broadsheet newspapers; puns, a play on words. The Daily Express uses pun in the headline of its article which focuses solely on David Beckham. The headline is â€Å"Haircules†, deriving from the ancient Greek God of Hercules, a mighty, strong warrior. The Daily Express has done this as it shows David Beckham as the mighty warrior of the football match. The beginning part â€Å"Her†, has been altered to â€Å"Hair† to apply more to David Beckham and his famous, forever changing hair cut. The Daily Express uses war imagery; the writer uses words, phrases and sentences which compare the football match to a bloody battle or war. The sub header is a great example of this war imagery language with the phrase â€Å"cool under fire†. We would more often than not associate this sort of term with a soldier who had kept his cool whilst being shot at, however in this case it has been changed to describe an aspect of the football match. Also, â€Å"missiles†, â€Å"victory† and â€Å"stoop to conquer† are more war imagery terms which the writer has used to elevate the match and make it seem more exciting. The Independent has not used war imagery as this is a very convincing language, the paper would much rather its readers made up their own minds rather than have them made for them. Sentence Length, sentence structure and sentence variety are another three things which sets these two articles apart. Whereas the Daily Express uses very simple, basic, short sentence structures The Independent uses longer more complex sentence structures which appeal more to its readers. The Daily express does not break down its sentences with punctuation, punctuation is very basic in this article for example, take the opening sentence of each, â€Å"Skipper David Beckham provided the perfect answer to the Greek thugs who targeted him last night with missiles as he curled in the free kick which put the seal on victory in Athens and kept England’s world cup hopes alive†, not a single comma is used to break down that very large sentence. ‘†Bring on the Germans† was the cry from the sunburned, shaven-headed masses in the northern arc of the Spiro Louis Stadium last night and there would not have been a single man in the England dressing room who would disagree’, in this the Independents the sentence is broken down by a quote and comma. Both of the articles input interviews from David Beckham; they are very similar but The Independents comments contain better vocabulary as to appeal more to its readers. The Independent inputs phrases such as â€Å"the importance of maintaining our discipline†, so that the comments appear more intellectual and appeal more to its readers. The Daily Express however writes this comment as â€Å"It was important we kept our discipline†, keeping the phrase more simple, so that it’s less sophisticated readers are not put off by complex language. The independent also contains much more dialogue than the Daily Express, this is because the Independent would like to get across as many view points as possible on the match, so that it’s readers can think for themselves and come to their own decision on the what kind of match the game was. In conclusion both of the articles are effective for their different readers. The Daily Express writes more basically and writes more about gossip and facts to appeal to its lesser educated readers. With bold headlines and the picture of David Beckham the paper is going to sell as it attracts its readers. The Independent is very different, it is much more factual, it’s more educated readers are less interested in the gossip and would rather read the facts. The article contains a lot of dialogue and refrains from using war imagery, presenting different view points enabling the reader to make their own decision on the match.