Media Studies Essay Essay Research Paper The

Media Studies Essay Essay, Research Paper

The Sunday Times is a highly regarded newspaper, tending to be very conservative and highly informative. It is aimed at those who are interested in all the details about current affairs. The Sunday Express is a tabloid newspaper. These are papers that appeal to people who may just want to scan the news quickly, in order to have a good idea about events happening around the world, without giving up great amounts of time to read lengthy articles. They are contrasting in the way they deal with presenting the news to their readers. Evidence of this can be found through comparing how the two newspapers documented the inferno in a cable train in a tunnel in the Austrian alps, on Saturday 11 November 2000. 170 people were burned alive due to finding themselves trapped as the train caught fire. Only 18 people survived, and it is said to be the worst accident in alpine history. It was reported by David Dillon for the Sunday Express and by Peter Conradi and Michael Woodhead for The Sunday Times. At a first glance, the layout of the article in The Express is much more effective than the article in The Times at attracting the readers attention. There is a bold, dramatic headline, typed in enormous, capital letters. It is punchy, and straight to the point, simply reading, “INFERNO”. In The Times, the letters are much smaller, and not in capitals. The headline is longer, therefore the powerful message is not as instant, “Tunnel inferno kills 170 skiers in Alps”. However, this headline is straight to the point and creates a great shock within people due to stating that 170 people were killed. Readers become emotionally involved and extremely interested when they realise people have lost their lives. In The Express is not instantly clear that people have died. The use of the word “kill” is powerful and hard hitting. If the word “die” had been used instead, the effect on people would not be as dramatic. This article in The Express is the only article on the page, with the exception of two advertisements. This ensures the reader is not distracted by another story. In The Times, there are several other articles and advertisements to take the reader´s attention away from the main headline. The Express uses a bold, thick border around the article, making it stand out further. In The Times, there is a border, yet it is less effective as it is very thin and not very bold. There is just one column of text in the Express article. The article is dominated by a large photograph of one of the survivors, bloodied, looking sad and shaken. It provokes the interest of the reader, making them want to read about the story. The same scene is used in The Times. It is portrait, showing most of the woman and the two rescuers. In The Express, the photograph is landscape, showing the woman and the two rescuers from the waist upwards. I feel the photograph in The Express is more effective at a glance, because it causes you to focus on the woman´s face and her expressions, as well as the shocked expressions on the rescuers and people around the woman. It is not necessary to see the people from the waist down. It does not convey any extra emotion or information, other than the flecks of blood on the woman´s ski suit showing that the injuries were horrific. The Times uses two photographs, where as The Express only uses one. The second photograph was of the tunnel in the Alps. It helps readers to visualise the scene of the accident, yet because the tunnel is not photographed on fire, it does not have a dramatic effect on readers. It breaks the three column long article down, making it look less wordy and more interesting.

The Times newspaper concentrates more on delivering accurate information, than presenting it in a way that will instantly attract the attention of readers. However, its headline and pictures do provoke interest, and cause readers to become emotionally involved. The Express is obviously very keen to draw in the reader´s interest instantly, making them want to read on. Factual information is sparse on front page articles. A large amount of small print can put off many readers, therefore a great amount of the details are saved for later pages. In The Express, there is punchy sub heading to give readers more information about the accident and make readers want to find out more. There is no sub heading in The Times.

The language used in The Express article´s sub heading is meant to grip readers and make them feel deep shock, and want to read on. It makes the severity of the situation clear instantly, “170 feared dead as blaze sweeps packed ski train in Austrian alps”. By saying “blaze sweeps packed”, it makes it clear to readers that the train was full of people. One can visualise the fire rapidly spreading through the train. The images one gets from those few words are very dramatic. The opening paragraphs from each article are very different. David Dillon of The Express immediately engages the reader, making them feel empathy. His opening statement is as follows: “POLICE face the harrowing task today of identifying 170 young skiers burned alive in a blazing Austrian cable train”. He is emphasizing the tragedy of the accident, by using words like “harrowing”. He then states, “Many victims are believed to be British”. This makes readers feel extra concern, as the fact that people from their country have died makes the tragedy