News: Analysing the Language of Newspapers

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News: Analysing the Language of Newspapers









Image result for daily mail logo
 The Daily Mail
'hostage take walks into bowling alley full of children clutching a sawn-off shotgun'

A man was filmed calmly walking into a bowling alley full of children just moments before a gunman allegedly held two staff captive with a sawn-off shotgun. The dash-cam footage was captured at approximately 2.40pm and appears to show a man entering the building with a long object in his left hand. It is not known whether he was involved in the incident but just moments later a man allegedly shouted 'game over' when walking through MFA Bowl at Bermuda Park in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.Terrified witnesses claimed he held the gun in the air and strolled through the building in front of terrified families before being arrested four hours later.

Tone: What tone is being created by the copy? What is the purpose?
The Daily Mail uses a tone that tells us that they want us to feel especially sympathetic towards the 'terrified witnesses' and the 'terrified families' that witnessed the incident. The Daily Mail had said that it was 'full of children' to make the crime sound more awful than it actually was, and to again make us feel more sympathy for the victims. This is because of the idea that children are weak and must be protected. 

News Value: What information has the newspaper chosen to present? What has it left out?
The newspaper has chosen to tell us the main information to the case: that there was a 'gunman' and that at '2.40pm' a man entered the bowling alley with a long object. It has also told us that the gunman was definitely arrested. It has left out that no one was hurt or injured during the incident and the gunman was not identified (No name or photo).

Agenda: Does the story appear to have an agenda? Is an opinion visible? Why do you think this is?
In my opinion i think that the main agenda of this story was to make you worry and feel sorry for the victims who were 'terrified'. The newspaper readers would agree with the agenda, as many of them are from the lower/middle class, and therefore would care more if there were children or anybody who is in harms way, (where as the guardian reader prefer more informational and reliable sources).

Formality: Is the article written formally or informally?
This article is written informally, due to the information being very brief and not very informational. The use of the word: 'allegedly' suggests that it is not yet confirmed and isn't very reliable, this therefore suggests that it is informal.

Responsibility: Is the story trustworthy? Do you feel that the story is responsibly reported?
In my opinion i believe that The Daily Mail's interpretation of the story isn't very trustworthy due to them writing 'allegedly' which implies that the information may not be reliable or real. They also are not clear on how many people were involved as they mention 'A man' multiple times that do not indicate if he was the attacker.

Bias: Is bias present?
In this story bias is present as it is only talking about the victims, it does not however refer to the police and the other emergency services. The victims were not injured, however all of the emergency services that were present during the incident were not thanked in any way.


Image result for The guardian logo

The Guardian 
'Police storm bowling alley in Nuneaton to bring hostage situation to an end'

Police have stormed a bowling alley in Nuneaton where a gunman took two members of staff hostage on Sunday, bringing the incident to an end. Warwickshire police said a man was arrested and no one was injured in the incident. At 2.30pm this afternoon Warwickshire police received reports of a man with a firearm in Nuneaton. Specialist firearms officers and police negotiators, along with fire, ambulance and police air services, attended the location at the bowling alley in St David’s Way, Bermuda Park. 
Tone: What tone is being created by the copy? What is the purpose?
The Guardian uses a tone that tells us that they are not biased, and they do no directly make you feel sympathetic for the victims, as it states that 'no one was injured'.

News Value: What information has the newspaper chosen to present? What has it left out?
The newspaper has chosen to tell us almost all of the information, as it mentions that no one was injured, it also mentions that a lot of emergency services were used during the incident, and it tells us the location. It does not however tell us the name of the attacker, nor does it show us a photo of the attack, however videos of the incident were shown online.

Agenda: Does the story appear to have an agenda? Is an opinion visible? Why do you think this is?
In my personal opinion i think that the main agenda of this story was to give thanks to the services that helped out during the incident, i think this was because the services do not really get a lot of recognition for the work that they do. 

Formality: Is the article written formally or informally?
This article is written formally, for example they uses the words/phrase: 'A man with a firearm', where as the Daily Mail stated that it was a 'gunman'. The Guardian uses more formal terms whilst talking about the incident.

Responsibility: Is the story trustworthy? Do you feel that the story is responsibly reported?
In my opinion i believe that The Guardians story is trustworthy as they have given more information than The Daily Mail. Other than the odd missing detail, the story is responsibly reported.

Bias: Is bias present?
In my opinion there is very little biased ideas in this story, other than the obvious part of the man with the gun is dangerous.

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