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The Paradise Papers Story Coverage



All Newspapers:                  The Guardian:                                    The Daily Mail:       
-Pro-capitalist                       -Socialist                                            -Capitalist
-Mainstreamed                     -Economics/Politics                         









On Monday 6th November, the main headlines covered leaked documents revealing the financial details of the super-rich. It outlined how many were allowed to keep money outside of the UK in order to avoid paying tax. The Daily Mail use the word ''dragged'' in their headline like they are protecting the Queen and making her seem like she is the victim. This suits their ideology as it is a right wing paper. The Guardian use negative phrases like ''controversial'' and ''accused'' making the Queen seem like the perpetrator, which shows their left wing views.

Image result for the guardian front cover november 2017


The Guardian spent a number of days publishing a series of articles focusing on this 'Paradise Papers' story. The yellow colour links all the front covers together.
Free Press works in this country as without it the government would regulate what is published and so not meeting the public interest as this story wouldn't be published.

Media Language- How are conventions used to signify the newspaper's style and news value? What elements are designed to appeal to the readers?
The Daily Mail:                                                            The Guardian:
-section on pullout                                                        -yellow colour scheme (paradise papers story)
-celebrity as main image                                              -plugs
-masthead                                                                     -masthead
-puff 'newspaper of the year'                                        -main headline
-minimal amount of splash                                           -left wing ideology
-right wing ideology                                                     -socialist stance
-football pullout                                                            -berliner format (lots of copy)
-main headline


Media Industries- How is the political ideology of the newspaper made clear? Look at the language register and positive or negative connotations of the language used. 
The Daily Mail:
-'Dragged'- defending the Queen which shows the papers right wing ideology as they are portraying the Queen as a victim

The Guardian:
-'controversial' and 'exploiting'- negative words to portray the Queen which shows the newspapers socialist views
-'poor'-targets people that are not as wealthy 

Media Audiences- How does the use of language confirm the reader's viewpoints about this story? Look closely at the news values of this newspaper via the editorial decisions made over which is the splash story. How does it appeal to the target audience?
The Daily Mail:
-They are defending the Queen and making her look innocent to the public which is because they are a right wing paper so this suits the target audience, making it more popular to them.
-The audience are interested in 'soft news' so they are interested in celebrities hence why there is a school girl on the front page, Billie and her life style. This is also linked with the 'party dress diet'.
-The newspaper is all linked to economics e.g. school girls worth 5m and the Queen 100m tax scandal, showing it is all about money.

The Guardian:
-target audience= left wing, socialists; so would be attracted by the story that shines negative light on capitalism.
-fits audiences viewpoints= good economical and political stories for the guardian readers as it is 'hard news'.

Media Representation- Look at the representation of women (daily mail) and social cause (guardian) here. Why is significant for understanding reader appeal?
The Daily Mail:
-The 13 year old school girl actress presented on the front cover is represented as a pretty young girl that is clearly popular and famous as she is on the red carpet. Even though she's the youngest female on the page she is represented as confident and independent. 
-The Queen is represented as vulnerable, this is suggested by the verb 'dragged' which implies that she has no choice in the matter. This follows the stereotype of a women who is typically represented as timid- vulnerable and weak.
-The model follows the 'male gaze theory' as she is presented as taking her clothes off, has a lot of skin showing, represented herself as a sexual object, looking over her shouldering with a seductive facial expression.
 
The Guardian:
-clearly distinguished between upper and lower class ('poor' and 'wealth').

  • Write up a description of the main differences between the two front pages from The Guardian and The Daily Mail, looking at both conventions and how the stories have been presented to the reader.
The Daily Mail used the past tense verb 'dragged' in their main headline which suggests that they are defending the Queen and portraying her as a victim. They have done this because it is a right wing paper so therefore this suits their capitalist views and right wing ideology, which appeals to their target audience. However, the Guardian used negative verbs like 'exploiting' and 'controversial' which portrays the Queen as a perpetrator and that she is in the wrong. This is so it can show the newspapers socialist views and left wing ideology as this is what appeals to their target audience.
As the readers of the Daily Mail are interested in 'soft news' and social issues, the newspaper has stories about celebrities in it for example the story about the 13 year old actress, Billie, and her lifestyle. This is also linked to the 'party dress diet'. All of the articles on the front of the Daily Mail are linked to economics for example it says that the school girl is worth £5m and the Queen £100m tax scandal, this suggests that it is all about money. Whereas the Guardian is just one article all about the Queen tax scandal article which shows that their readers are more interested in 'hard news'.

  • Write a paragraph outlining why you think the Guardian created a series of news articles looking at the same issue and how that may reflect the newspapers political ideology and news values.
The Guardian focuses on left-wing socialist ideologies so therefore their readership will be interested in these type of stories/articles. It portrays capitalism negatively which keeps the reader engaged for a number of days and allows the audience to get a deeper understanding of the story and the effects of it on everyone. They provide 'hard news' for their audience as it focused on all details of stories whilst still showing their left-wing ideology. The yellow colour that is on the front cover of all of the newspapers that include something about the Paradise Papers Story, this links all of them together. The colour yellow represents happiness, freshness, loyalty and optimism; this contradicts the story as the Guardian focuses on the disloyalty of people.
  • Look at the Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and the Independent online newspaper and consider what you learn about these two publications from their versions of the story and the front page conventions.
The Daily Express and The Daily Mirror are similar to The Daily Mail as they have also used plugs on the front page. This is because the audience for these newspapers are more interested in social news, like celebrities for example, rather than economical news so plugs are used to appeal more to their audiences. However, The Daily Telegraph has only focused their front page on the Paradise Papers story, like The Guardian. This is because the audience for these newspapers prefer harder news so would be more interested in news articles like this one. The Independent online also has an article about the scandal, even though it is an online newspaper it is presented quite similar to the normal newspapers. The Independent online has an exclusive interview that the other newspapers do not have which would make it more appealing to the audience. The Daily Mail and The Guardian both show clearly their ideologies on their front covers, whereas the other newspapers aren't as clear whether they are right wing or left wing. This could be because they are less influenced by their political stance as they use non-bias headlines which could leave their audiences to decide for them selves.



  • Look at the online versions of these stories via Mail Online and The Guardian website. Compare and contrast their coverage. Use the sites to find out as much as you can about the story, so you fully understand it. What other media elements do the two websites provide readers (e.g.: audio or video clips, hyperlinks to other sites or connected stories).

  • Look at social media sites and explain how you think they encourage readers to interact with the story.











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