LO2: Article Analysis

Quiet Cornerstone - Sport Magazine

Published February 2nd 2017

This article was written to show the opinions of Dan Cole via an interview. To do this, the majority of the article is dedicated to his opinions on the questions he was asked, as he was asked to further explain his points. Very limited reaction or analysis from the author also shows this.

1. The topic (sport, specifically rugby) and tone (serious analysis and interview) is most likely to attract an older male audience in the ABC1 categories, as rugby is dominated by these demographics, and features one for the interview (building on the 'Ideal Self' theory).

2. 'Quiet Cornerstone' is an effective title for this article, as it connotes to the reader the subject of the article, Dan Cole, while also showing the audience the tone of the article and their attitude towards the player. It also appeals to the older (40+) male audience, who are less likely to be attracted to emotive language and sensational titles.

3. Only complex or compund sentences were used in the article (asides from quotes), which is effective in conveying detailed interpretations of the interview and performance of Dan Cole. As the article is long-from with few interspersed pictures and no social media quotes, this style fits in as it priorities information over ease-of-use (which is most likely the same priority the audience has, as they are more likely to want the full story on the article). 'Despite serious neck surgery in 2014, he has amassed 72 Test caps – including three for the British and Irish Lions' shows this.


4. Although no social media exerts or quotes from other sources were used to provide futher information for the audience, as the article was an interview, quotes from the sportsman compromised a large part of the piece. In fact, in some places paragraph is followed by paragraph with just quotes, with little response from the author. This is because the primary goal is to provide the opinion of Dan Cole to the audience, with the author using the teacher to pupil mode of address to fill in any gaps, ofer interpretations or provide context if necessary. E.g: "Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but you just have to block it out. You should trust the opinion of Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick over, with due respect, a person writing an article. No offence.”

Lifting his palm, Cole laughs at the double apology".

This article brings the topic of England's rugby team and rugby as a whole from an insider's perspective, which is unique as interviews of this nature a fairly few. But this article is to entertian/inform of opinion rather than to educate.

What a con! Gary Barlow faces outrage as it's revealed Let It Shine winners WON'T front Take That musical - CelebsNow

Published March 7th 2017

The subject of this article surrounds the controversy of the Let It Shine TV show - explaining that while it appears to be a betrayal, Gary Barlow didn't specify the roles of the contestants. This contrasts with the opinionated headline ('con' is very bias against the show), showing a bias which is most likely used to relate to the readers.

1. The audience for this article is the same as for the TV show it is talking about - working class women (as the contestants in the show are women, and this demographic is most likely to be interested in competitive talent shows such as this) aged 18-49 (as it's watched by both young adults and families). The peer to peer mode of address connotes a chatty-complaining tone, which also attracts this demographic.

2. Contrary to the norm for this type of article (celebrity gossip), the title reveals large amounts of the info for the article, with little in terms of a hook to encourage the audience to read more. However, the mention of celebrity ('Gary Barlow') and emotive words ('Outrage') do encourage people to read more.

3. A mix of sentence types were used throughout the article - but mainly complex sentences were used in short paragraphs (1-2 sentences) to convey a mix of information and emotion to the audience, 'Despite viewers feeling cheated by the show’s premise, it turns Gary never actually said the winners would have a starring role in the production and instead opted for the phrases', effectively using the peer to peer mode of address to effectively communicate with the audience.

4. A whole section of the article is dedicated to fan quotes, said via Twitter. This was to further the peer to peer aspect, as the audience is literally interacting with other audience member's opinions, e.g.

"Let it shine" who for? not for the winners of the competition, just another backing group in a stage show, what a let down.

— joseph supple (@josephsupple1) March 7, 2017
Furthermore, the heavy inclusion of other people's opinions, which consistently had the same position on the topic (outrage) connotes to the audience that these opinions are shared by the paper, making it more relatable, although not actually saying it is important to avoid bias.

Stavros Flatley father reveals he's devastated by son's arrest - HeatWorld

Published March 7th 2017

The short article is about the father's and families feelings of the arrest of the son. Because of this, only opinions and brief analysis of the opinions are included, with no facts or reports to provide evidence. This makes the newspaper unbias, as they are showing someone else's opinion, not theirs.

1. HeatWorld published this article to inform a younger, working class audience of celebrity gossip (the most likely audience to be interested in such news). The teacher to student mode of address, very short article and short sentences also connote this, as these are the demographics most likely to be interested in short stories.

2. The title does not reveal a lot of information about the article (e.g. what the arrest was for), but uses names and emotive language ('devastated') to attract the reader and make them want to read further.

3. This article uses very simple structure to get the point across, using almost exclusively simple sentences with a few complex to quickly present the information. The teacher to parent mode of address exaggerates this (although it's not the typical mode of address for gossip articles), as it says the points quickly, with no opinion from the author, which allows the article to be so short.
Eventhough the article uses only 104 words, 2 large pictures of the people the story about are included, which connotes that the audience is more willing to see pictures then read the information (again, typical of working class and young people).

4. The heavy inclusion of quotes in this article (compromising almost a third of the text - 31/104 words) is indicative of the short-form article (with little substance) that it is. Instead of wasting time for the reader and author by explaining the sitaution, a brief summary follow by numerous quotes such as in this article is effective in explaining the situation, while not feeling like a news article (which many people dislike).
The first paragraph covers Who, What, When and Where, while the second covers Why and How, which is effective in drawing people in to the article, but due to the fact that the audience can already know everything they need by the second sentence/paragraph, it is ineffective in keeping the audience interested, especially as the rest of the article is filled with background not necessary to the story.

Theresa May facing possible defeat today over her axing of a scheme to rescue refugee children - The Independent

Published March 7th 2017

The article is about Theresa May and her actions, preventing refugees from entering the country. Although the initial theme is biased against her actions due to the emotive language in the title, throughout the article is unbias, providing facts and reasoning behind both side's actions and opinions.

1. The Independent published this in order to inform people of possible events in politics regarding refugees. the audience is ABC1C2, as the text is long and informative of politics (indicative of middle class readers), although the lack of jargon and comparitively short story also connotes lower-middle class readers. The tone is serious and informative, with no comments or opinions and little bias.

2. The title uses mulitple words chosen to attract attention, as they connote action and are easily picked out - 'Defeat, axing, refugee'. The violent imagery on top of the controversy surrounding refugees is successful in drawing people into the article as it includes trigger words people are interested in.

3. Almost exclusively using complex and simple sentences allows the article to present facts quickly and concisely. This connotes that the audience is younger and lower class, as they are the audience demographics most likely to have shorter attention spans and generally target shorter articles.
Only one picture is used in the article. However, it plays an important role, as it's emotive and as a result attracts readers to follow through and read the article, as they want to find out what happens to the people in the picture, which the article is assumed it be about.
The mode of address is teacher to pupil, informing the audience of the news without opinion or conversation, which also connotes a middle class - upper class audience. Building on this, the paper includes all available information the audience may need to understand the story, while not economical from a production standpoint, is effective in drawing in an interested audience who seeks to know all they can on the subject.

4. Quotes compromise a large part of the article, as they are short and efectively show the info to the audience, exactly what the article attempts to do constantly. They are often used to compliment and reinforce the report of the author, although at the end of the article they are used in a TL;DR fashion, again encouraging the idea that younger/lower class readers would read this.
The first paragraph of the article presents the Who, What, Where and How of the article, and as these are the hot-button issues it effectively draws the readers in to find out about the other information, while not presenting the whole story (albeit most of it).

http://theojni.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/lo2-newspaper-analysis.html