Structure, Purpose and language of a news article (Unit 7: P3,M2)

Please note that some font is highlighted due to a fault with blogger

P3 (U7): Describe the structure and purpose for different news articles

Here is The Times newspaper from February 4th 2020. The Times is a broadsheet newspaper meaning that stories would be more sophisticated and would have articles about current affairs that are affecting the world. The headline for this Newspaper is "Jihadist told inmates he wanted to murder an MP". It is written in formal language to attend to the target audience of class A, B ,C1 with right wing views. The headlines tend to belonged on broadsheets compared to tabloids who if they wrote this article may include a joke or play on words in the headline. Before the article has started it begins with a stand-first. This is a brief introductory summary of an article in a newspaper. This contrasts to a tabloid which would just dive straight into the story. This makes the writing of this more formal and makes the reader more intrigued to read more. In this story the stand first is a quote from the inmate saying "I'll do something real". This quote will cause panic to the reader and make them want to read on because they want to know what something real means if it something that will cause threat to them or where they live. The times do this so more people will buy their news paper and read their article. Another comparison is the use of the main image on the front cover. This article shows the image of the Jihadist and is the main focus of the news paper. Once again this is different from a tabloid or a digital news paper due to the fact they will used many images and clips to draw the attention of the reader. However the reader will be drawn to this  as it's the main focus on the page as its in the middle and big therefore attracting people to The Times newspaper and therefore reading it.

This is different in comparison to the sun newspaper. This is because The Sun newspaper is a tabloid meaning the stories, layout and audience is different to a broadsheet. The suns target audience is NRS grades C2, D and E who are young adults to middle age. The Suns stories are often Gossip about reality TV stars and they often use images to attract the attention of the reader. They often use the male gaze theory to attract the male audience into reading the article as their eyes may go straight to the image. Here is an article from The Sun website about ITVs Dancing on ice stars getting engaged. As you can see this differs from the times newspaper as it is a broad sheet so the stories are going to be more sophisticated where tabloids such as the sun will be more gossipy. The headlines are long but tend to be snappy and use a joke in order to gain the attention of the reader unlike a broadsheet which will use formal language as shown above they will talk about more serious topics. They have included two images of the couple seeming happy from when they were on dancing on ice to now which will entice the readers to when they see this cookie they will recognise them from what they have watched so this will attracted the target audience of woman 25-50 who enjoy reading about reality stars and the gossip about them.



This is the Twitter page for the daily mail. This is a new digital way of distributing on social media. As you can see they have created this twitter page it has 2.4 million followers mostly from the UK.  This was the story that has just been posted on the corona virus. They have a long headline that has been put above the article link. This is to gain the attention of the audience who follow them on twitter when it comes up on their feed. People will then click on the article and read it through. After this they can retweet it and share it to their followers so the story goes around and more people can be aware of this. The target audience this attracts is teenagers. This is because teenagers are constantly using social media leading to them seeing this article and will share it around. Due to the click bait title it could lead to some panic caused so they will check the article read it and share it around therefore it will gain more attention world wide. The headline is long to give information about what the article entails so that they can retweet and like it so they can share it around.


M2 (U7): Analyse the linguistic conventions used within different news articles

Linguistic conventions are the norms that are adapted by a person or a thing. For a newspaper the linguistic conventions would be to have a headline paragraphing, using who what when where, why and how, use of economy and mode of address by use of restricted/ elaborated codes, direct speech, use of commas and sentence structure.

Headlines are a linguistic convention in newspapers as it's the first attraction of the article. This will attract the audience in to read the article as its the biggest font on the paper therefore making it be seen first. It gives information about what's in the article but in a word or a few. It can be made as a joke like in most tabloids or serious and sophisticated like in broadsheets  This is a key convention as its the main attraction to a newspaper in order to get the audience to read it. In the headline from The Daily Mirror's newspapers, the font is large and sans-serif and fills most of the page. The language itself is very emotive, and there aim is to be inflammatory, even to create division. The Daily Mirror often uses personal pronouns and possessive pronouns to make the reader feel a sense of inclusion. So, in the example on the right, 'our streets' gives the reader a personal attachment to the story, whilst at the same time creating a sense of 'us against them'. In this way, the paper creates a division between the Jihadis (and, perhaps cynically, ethnic minorities more generally) and the target audience (white, working class men). It's also supposed to incite public opinion against the government. In addition, the word "Danger" is emotive and is supposed to stoke fear in the reader and therefore spread moral panic. In the stand firsts, the Jihadis are referred to as "high-risk fanatics", again inciting panic. This differs to a broadsheet because the headline uses more sophisticated language and its straight to the point of what is going to happen in this article


Another linguistic convention is paragraphing this is so they break up the text so its easier for the audience to read. It also splits the story up into sections such as beginning, middle, and end or past and present. This makes it easier for the reader in order for them to understand the text. From this Broadsheet it shows that the paragraphing is a few sentences long therefore breaking the story up so it's easier for the reader to follow and know where the story begins and ends. The layout is important to the reader as if it was confusing to figure out and in long paragraphs the reader may become uninterested therefore people will stop reading the article.

The 5 Ws and 1H are linguistic convention of a magazine. They help build the story up and put pieces together. Who the story is about/ Who does it involves? what Happened? when did it happen? where did it happen? why did it happen? how did It happened. This helps the reader unpack the story that has been written so they gain a wider understanding on what the story is about. from this picture it can be shown that I have tabled each part of the article which states the 5 Ws and 1 H which will give all the information to the reader in the beginning so they know what will appear in the story.


Direct speech is the reporting of speech from actual words that the speaker has said. This is an important convention as it gives the reader an insight into the story as if they were hearing it for themselves. This will engage the reader into reading more as they feel apart of the story therefore its more personal.
The use of commas and sentence structure is Important during and article due to the fact it is using good punctuation to ensure that people understand what is being said rather than making it confusing with long sentences. It is also important to use paragraphing in order to structure and break up the story into beginning middle and end so the readers understand it More.

As shown in this image the direct quote is surrounded by commas in order to give the correct punctuation so the reader knows that that this is what the person has said therefore making the story clearer and therefore they will understand It bettering continue to read. Using a direct quote in the headline will attract audiences attention due to the fact they are hearing reading the exact words the person has said therefore they will be more interested to hear what has happened to them and what goes on later on in the article.