Read All About It - Looking at Newspapers

Read All About It!
Looking at newspapers

Introduction

During this unit of work you are going to look at newspapers and the way they are written.

You should start at SECTION ONE. Read carefully and do the things that are printed in the boxes like the one below:

Plan your work in your English book but write your final answers on paper.
DO NOT MOVE ONTO SECTIONS TWO OR THREE until you have worked carefully through SECTION ONE.

SECTION TWO harder to do and SECTION THREE is even harder. If you manage to get all the way through the booklet you will be an expert on the press!
But don't worry if you do not get beyond SECTION ONE.

Your teacher will help you with the tasks and will tell you how long you have got to do this work.

Newspapers

Newspapers can be divided into two sorts: they are either broadsheets or tabloids.

Broadsheet newspapers are the large ones (e.g. The Times and The Daily Telegraph)

Tabloid newspapers are the small ones (e.g. The Sun and The Daily Mirror).

Read through a selection of tabloid and broadsheet papers.
What makes newspaper writing different from other sorts of writing?
Write down a few things.

You may have discovered the following things:

Newspaper writing is in columns .

Newspaper stories are often called articles or reports .

All articles' titles are called headlines .

Many articles have pictures to go with them; the writing under a picture is called a caption

Articles are often split into sections by subheadings ; often these are just one word.

Articles often include interviews with people involved in the incident.

To sum up:

Newspaper reports normally use the following:

columns
headlines
pictures
captions
subheadings
interviews

Cut out a newspaper article, stick it into your book and then find in the article each of the six things above. Label each of the six things.

Look at the example below

[COLUMN]

[PICTURE]

[CAPTION]

ROYAL LINK: Charles

[HEADLINE]

Internet debut for Charles

By MIRROR REPORTER

THE Prince of Wales was set to link up with computer buffs worldwide last night when he made his debut on the Internet.

[COLUMN]

Subscribers to the information superhighway will be able to see the Prince's comments about his own Business Leaders Forum.

[SUBHEADING]

billion

And the potential one billion subscribers worldwide will be able to read the text of his speech to a celebrity gathering at St James Palace in London today to mark the Forum's fifth anniversary.

The Prince's Internet debut - thought to be a Royal first - shows his efforts to involve business leaders in solving community problems.

[INTERVIEW]

A forum spokesman said of the Internet venture:

"It's a way of getting the same message across to schoolchildren gathered round the computer in an Indian village and to a boardroom in New York."

Headlines

Newspaper reports have headlines at the top. These are often very dramatic. Look back through the newspapers you have read and find some good headlines.

Cut out five headlines and stick them into your book.

Now look at the headlines below. They were all taken from one newspaper on one day.

Choose one of the headlines and write a news report to go with it.

Hippo hit by a pay row	Hairy monster ruined Dad's dinner	But will Curry be too hot?
FLYING BABY LANDS DAD IN STORM	Bid to ban cruel electric collars	What a carve-up by the doctor
WHY MEN TURN INTO MONSTERS	'Flying car' wrecks house	Just cut it out, vicar!

The School 'Riot'

Sometimes you can find one event reported in all the daily papers, and then it is interesting to compare reports. On the next few pages you will find six reports of something that happened in a school in Bideford in Devon. You can decide for yourself whether any of the reports sound exaggerated!

Pupils riot at strike school

CHILDREN ran riot at a mixed comprehensive school yesterday when their pay-protest teachers refused to supervise the dinner break.
   The youngsters threw eggs at remaining staff, smashed windows and milk bottles and then marched out into the surrounding streets.
   Worried residents alerted the police, who sent seven patrol cars to the school at Bideford, North Devon.
   Police said: "Considerable damage was done to the school.
   "It was a case of pure lack of supervision. The headmaster and two staff were trying to look after nearly 2000 children."

BORED

   According to the police and education authorities, between 60 and 80 boys and girls took part in the disturbance.
   But some pupils and people living nearby put the figure at up to 300.
   One youngster said: "We got bored because the classrooms were locked and there were no activities."
   The trouble was brought under control in 35 minutes and normal afternoon classes resumed. Education chiefs ordered an inquiry.
   Headmaster John Dare said that only 12 children caused damage and they would be dealt with "very severely."

(Daily Express)

School Mob
Runs Riot

HUNDREDS of children rampaged through a school yesterday as their teachers joined in a lunchtime strike over a pay claim.
   At another school six boys were suspended after a mob of children smashed windows and threatened the headmaster.
   Trouble flared across the country as teachers working for thirty education authorities refused to supervise children at lunchtime.
   The worst violence was at Bideford School in Devon where a gang estimated at up to 300 strong stormed through the school smashing windows.
   It took eight policemen to help headmaster John Dare restore order after he had tried in vain to supervise 18,00 pupils single-handed.
   Last night Mr. Dare said there were about a dozen ringleaders. Those who could be identified would be " dealt with severely."

(Daily Mirror)

Police curb pupils' lunchtime riot

POLICE were called to control rampaging pupils yesterday, as teachers lunchtime sanctions began to bite.
Doors and windows were smashed at Bideford Comprehensive, North Devon, by stone-throwing troublemakers within a mob of about 50 unruly youngsters, some said to have hammers and knives. Others looked on.

(Daily Mail)

Bored pupils riot as staff walk out

A MOB of 300 youngsters ran riot through their school yesterday - because they were bored.
   It happened when teachers at the 100-staff comprehensive refused to do dinner duties and walked out in a union dispute.
   Only the headmaster and two teachers were on duty, and they wre powerless to act.
   People living nearby watched, terrified, as gangs of 15 and 16 year olds rampaged through the 1000-pupil school at Bideford, Devon, chanting "We want a riot" as they smashed windows.
   Police who rushed to the giant complex in seven cars calmed the frantic pupils.

Hammers

   As the afternoon lessons ended the youngsters said they were protesting about being confined to one playground.
   "We were bored and had nothing to do," they said. "We will continue our action until the teachers dispute is over.
   "We brought screwdrivers and hammers to school and stole knives from the canteen."

(The Star)

SCHOOLKIDS RUN RIOT OVER LUNCH

CHILDREN ran riot through a town yesterday after being locked out of their school by work-to-rule teachers.
   About 300 pupils roamed the streets smashing windows and terrifying families.
   Police were called to quell the lunchtime rumpus - the second day running there had benn trouble at the 1780-pupil Bideford Comprehensive School in Devon.
   Headmaster John Dare said later his staff were working to rule in support of the pay claim by the National Union of Teachers.
   Teachers have banned voluntary supervision and there were only three on duty to control pupils during breaks.

Angry

Mr Dare - who said he was "saddened" by the incident - will be making a full report to the Devon Education Authority.
A spokesman for the authority said: "We have yet to establish the xtent of the damage caused."

(The Sun)

PUPILS GO ON RAMPAGE

By COLIN RANDALL

POLICE were called to a comprehensive school in Devon yesterday to quell a disturbance involving at least 60 pupils.
   Officers went to the 1700-pupil mixed school in Bideford after nearby residents reported a "developing riot."
   The trouble, described by Devon County Council as "a disturbance rather than a riot," occurred at lunchtime when only Mr John Dare, the headmaster, and two members of staff were available to supervise pupils because of the teachers' pay dispute. Several windows were smashed by children throwing bottles and stones.
   Police restored order after about 35 minutes and normal lessons were held in the afternoon.

Report called for

   Mr Dare estimated last night that only 50 pupils were directly involved. He thought that no more than a dozen children were responsible for causing damage.
   Mr Joslyn Owen, Devon's Director of Education, has called for a full report on the disturbance.
   Bideford school is divided into two complexes. Yesterday's disturbance seems to have stemmed from anger and boredom from children excluded from one part of the building.

(Daily Telegraph)

Now answer these questions about the school 'riot' reports:

Which two newspapers tell us how long the trouble lasted? Do they agree?
Which three newspapers tell us what weapons the pupils used? Make a list of those weapons?
Four newspapers say that only windows were broken. What else was broken according to the other two?
What reasons might there be for these differences between the reports?
Two newspapers refer to the pupils as a "mob" and a "gang". What idea does mob give? What idea does gang give? Why didn't the newspaper use the word group instead?
One newspaper says the pupils "stormed" through the school. Why didn't it say that they ran ?
One newspaper says that people living nearby watched "terrified". What would these people have done if they were really terrified?
Which report do you find the most dramatic or sensational? Explain your choice.

SECTION 2

Emotive Language

If something is emotive it makes people emotional. If you have just had your new bike stolen then your friends might avoid boasting about their bikes: bikes are an emotive subject for you at the moment.

Newspapers often choose emotive language (words) to get their readers to react emotionally to a story. If you call an event a 'riot' rather than a 'disturbance' you are much more likely to get your readers excited.

Below are four pairs of headlines.

In each pair which headline is most likely to excite the reader? (a) or (b)?

(a) Scabs thrown out of the union
(b) Strike breakers must leave union

(a) Fire at school
(b) School blaze

(a) Skilful Graf
(b) Graf magic

(a) Stewart injured
(b) Stewart agony

You probably found that easy.

Now read the headlines below. Re-write them, replacing the words in bold with more emotive words. The first two have been done for you as examples .

Man hit by robbers
( Pensioner hit by muggers )

A hundred peasants killed by troops
(A hundred peasants slaughtered by troops)

Argument closes factory

Train seats cut by teenagers

House prices fall throughout country

Supporters run onto pitch

Shortage of money creates problems in schools

Trouble on roads after snow fall

Player hits referee.

Political meeting ends in disturbance

Re-read The Star's report about the school 'riot'. It is printed below. The report uses a lot of emotive language. For example, it uses "mob" instead of crowd or group ; "refused" instead of declined or decided not .

Bored pupils riot as staff walk out

Hammers

As the afternoon lessons ended the youngsters said they were protesting about being confined to one playground.
"We were bored and had nothing to do," they said. "We will continue our action until the teachers dispute is over.
"We brought screwdrivers and hammers to school and stole knives from the canteen."

(The Star)

What quieter, less emotive words could the report have used instead of "terrified" (paragraph 4); "frantic" (paragraph 5)?

How do we feel about:
1. the "youngsters", and
2. the teachers who "refused to do dinner duties"?

Explain how the writer's choice of words makes us feel these things about the pupils and the teachers.

You have now learnt two important things:

Newspaper reports often use language that is emotive rather than factual and neutral.
This emotive language affects the way we feel about people and things in the reports.

Now you can do your own study of newspaper language.

On the next pages are two reports published on the same day in 1990. They are about a political protest in South Africa. At that time Black South Africans didn't want other countries' teams to come to South Africa because Blacks were not allowed to play in South African teams. An English cricket team visited South Africa and many Blacks demonstrated angrily against it. A man called Mike Gatting was the English captain. The reports are about what happened at one demonstration.

You will find that one of the two reports is far more dramatic than the other and uses a lot of emotive language . You will also find that the way that Mike Gatting and the black demonstrators are written about encourages us to feel certain things about them . For example, one of the reports makes Mike Gatting sound panicky and even a coward. The other report makes Gatting sound more cool and dignified.

One report is from The Independent; the other is from The Star. The report from The Star is in two parts. Read the reports from both papers.

Mike Gatting gets canned at tea-time
MIKE GATTING walked 150 yards through a chanting throng of demonstrators outside the Jan Smuts Stadium here yesterday to receive a petition concerning poor playing conditions in the Natal townships. Protected by the demonstrators’ own stewards, who linked arms on either side of the pathway, Gatting – with Ali Bacher, the managing director of the South African Cricket Union and the man behind the tour, David Gravney, manager of the English team and John Emburey, one of the players – was subjected to a shower of stones and a few soft-drink cans during the walk back. A can bounced off Gatting’s shoulder, but otherwise the cricket party escaped. "It was the most heroic sporting achievement off the field I have ever seen," Dr Bacher said when the party returned to the pavilion.	From Richard Evans in Pietermaritzburg "You guys in the British press have vilified Mike. But he has come here with no knowledge of the country and has said nothing more stupid than a lot of white South Africans do every day. The situation is extraordinarily complex and many people who have lived here all their lives still don’t understand it." It all happened at thc tea interval during the third match of this inflammatory tour. Within a minute of returning, Gatting walked into the dressing-room and said: "Come on, lads, let’s get out there." He then led the team on to the field and Graveney bowled the second over after tea. The original plan had been for Gatting to walk out of the main gates to receive the petition while	standing behind a low wall. But Mohammed Casimjee, one of the protestors, insisted that he walk to a podium 150 yards from where the biggest rally of the tour – nearly 5,000 blacks and Indians – had been marshalled. "You are guaranteed safe in, safe out," Mr Casimjee said, "Nothing will happen to you." Dr Bacher looked somewhat doubtful about that, but Gatting moved forward and, after a conversation with the protesters, set off. Despite the stones, the anger was contained. Chants of "Gatting go home" went on unabated, but nothing was thrown while the former England captain was on the podium, and on the journey back the stewards did an excellent job. "Gatting is a brave man," one Indian said, "but I still think that the tour should be stopped." (The Independent)

Gatting stoned by mob at demo

CRICKET rebel Mike Gatting ran for his life yesterday when he stoned by an angry mob.
A sea of missiles rained down on him from a 4,000-strong South African horde after he agreed to meet a deputation.
The shocked rebel captain thought he was going to receive a protest note.

Bottles

But instead he was pelted with bottles and stones.
He was hit by a drink can and the crowd screamed "Gatting go home" as he raced for the safety of a cricket ground.

Full story - Page 2

(The Star - cover story)

REBEL GATTING RUNS GAUNTLET OF DEMO HATE

From JACK RIDGE in Pietermaritzburg

REBEL cricket captain Mike Gatting was pelted with stones by screaming hordes yesterday.
   And he was struck by a Coca-Cola can as he faced the fury of a 4,000-strong South African mob.
   Gatting had agreed to meet a deputation of anti-tour campaigners.
   But instead of an expected note of protest, he was met by a hail of stones and a torrent of abuse.
   Stewards were unable to control the angry mob … and the deeply shocked Gatting was jostled and bumped.
   With missiles raining down on him, he raced desperately back to the safety of the ground.
   The demo happened at Pietermaritzburg during the match against a South African invitation team.

Angry

   The rebel skipper had agreed to meet the anti-tour deputation during the tea interval.
   Then he was persuaded to climb on to a podium to receive a protest letter.
   Protest organiser Mohammed Cassimjee assured him: "You are guaranteed safe in, safe out. Nothing will happen.
   "You will be given a memorandum relating to the lack of facilities in townships and general opposition to the tour."
   But as Gatting walked to the podium with other rebel cricketers, the mood of the crowd grew angry.

Shocked

   He looked shocked at the deafening chants of "Gatting Go Home".
   The violence erupted as he raced for the safety of the cricket ground.
   The England side had been tipped off about trouble at the match.
   Thousands of demonstrators swamped fields surrounding the ground.
   And there was a massive police presence with helicopters, armoured cars and water cannon.
   But they kept their distance in an attempt to avoid provocation.

(The Star - page 2)

Make a list of all the words in The Star report that are emotive. Next to each word write a couple of alternative words that mean almost the same but are less emotive. Set out your ideas in a chart - see the example below.

Write at least 150 words about the report in The Independent and the one in The Star. You should compare the two reports and look at the different sorts of language they use. Explain how the two papers make us feel about Mike Gatting and about the demonstrators. Write about details in the reports.

EMOTIVE	LESS EMOTIVE	NEUTRAL
mob	gang	crowd
raced	ran	hurried

Now let your teacher see your work on tasks 1 - 24.

Meanwhile you can get on with the last task - writing a newspaper report.

Think up a very uninteresting story. For example, a member of your family eating their breakfast messily, or your hamster escaping from its cage, or a teacher forgetting to set homework. Now write a tabloid newspaper report of this story.

SECTION 3

News and Ideas

You might think that the purpose of news stories is to tell us what has happened - to report the facts, but we have already seen that the way events are reported can make us feel certain things about the people involved. In other words the news is not reported neutrally. And anyway, who decides what should be reported?

Let's consider an example: say a newspaper's owner does not like comprehensive schools or their pupils and teachers. What if that owner believes that those schools are staffed by bad, lazy teachers, and that they are attended by bored and moronic pupils? His own children probably went to expensive private schools. If the editor of the paper simply expressed these beliefs in the comment section of the paper most readers would probably reject the beliefs as being too crude and extreme, but these ideas could be cunningly suggested to the reader in two other ways:

Firstly, the paper could report any stories it could find about disorder in comprehensive schools. Secondly, it could use emotive language about the pupils and teachers .

Look again at The Star report of the school 'riot' in Bideford. (Incidentally, why have I put inverted commas round 'riot'?)

Bored pupils riot as staff walk out

Hammers

As the afternoon lessons ended the youngsters said they were protesting about being confined to one playground.
"We were bored and had nothing to do," they said. "We will continue our action until the teachers dispute is over.
"We brought screwdrivers and hammers to school and stole knives from the canteen."

(The Star)

Discussion Points

What impression of the pupils and the staff is given to the reader?
Surely only moronic youngsters would riot simply because they were bored?
When the refuse to do dinner duties and walk out aren't they behaving like two year-olds?
Doesn't the powerless headmaster sound pathetic, especially when compared to the heroic police who easily calmed the rioters, even though they were frantic ?

The paper has not directly condemned pupils and teachers, but if its readers are already slightly biased towards comprehensives then their prejudices will have been confirmed or reinforced .

Below I have re-written The Star report in as neutral a way as I can manage. Would you agree that this version - Disturbance in Devon School - does not try to praise or blame anyone?

Disturbance in Devon School

A DISTURBANCE involving as many 300 pupils occurred yesterday in a school in Bideford, Devon.
Teaching Staff were taking part in a National Union of Teachers pay dispute and were unwilling to do unpaid supervision. The incident took place at lunchtime when, as a result of the dispute, only the headmaster and two other staff were on duty.
Some local residents were alerted by noise coming from the usually quiet school. They contacted the police who arrived quickly and soon calmed the situation, but not before at least two of the school's windows had been broken by pupils.

Report called for

   Afterwards, the headmaster, Mr. John Dare, said that the real trouble had been caused by only a dozen pupils, and that those found to blame would be "dealt with severely".
   Devon's Director of Education, Mr Joslyn Owen, has called for a full report on the disturbance.
   Pupils claimed that the trouble had been triggered by frustration at being confined only to one recreation area in a school that is divided into two complexes. The disturbance hence seems to have stemmed from the anger and boredom of children excluded from one part of the building.

Now turn back to the reports of the Bideford school 'riot' near the front of this booklet.

Compare The Daily Telegraph report with two others (not including The Star) and consider what impression is given to the readers about the event and the people involved in it?

diction

Organize your ideas carefully and write at least 250 words.

Newspapers and Politics

Most newspapers support the same political party most of the time. If you read their comment pages - particularly the editorials - then you will probably see which party they support.

Which political parties do the following papers traditionally support? The answer will be either Conservative or Labour.

The Times
The Star
The Daily Mirror
The Sun
The Daily Mail
The Daily Express

Discussion Points

The Independent claims not to support any particular party, and many of The Guardian 's readers believe that it is also 'neutral', however readers of other newspapers generally believe it to be slightly 'left wing' (more towards Labour than Conservative). Do you think it is possible for a newspaper to be unbiased?

Which political party a paper 'believes in' is usually quite clear, but other beliefs are not so easy to notice. Take any paper and ask yourself: what does it want you to believe about black people, women, Europe, equality, animals, teachers, housing estates, the unemployed and so on?

The Sun is the best selling tabloid newspaper whilst The Times is a respected broadsheet. Do you think they would hold the same views about many things? Do you think that the people who own newspapers make a difference to the views they contain? ( The Sun and The Times are owned by the same person).

People have all sorts of beliefs about these things, and so do newspapers.

You should have now learnt that:

Newspapers have ideas or beliefs about the things they write about.
They convey those beliefs implicitly to their readers by choosing to report some things rather than others, and by the way reports are written.

Now you can do your own study of newspaper ideas

Choose any newspaper and look through it, reading reports and comment columns. Try to work out what sort of things it wants its readers to believe. Starting with the comment columns might help you.

Try to work out how something that the paper believes in is reflected in its choice of news stories and in the style of its reporting. You might like to do this study with a partner.

Now do this:

Write up your findings in the form of a scrapbook that mixes cuttings from newspapers with your own comments and analysis in a mixture of notes next to the cuttings, and whole paragraphs.

Ideas and the Tabloid Press

Some people hate the tabloid papers (the small ones like The Sun and The Mirror) because they think that these papers encourage our lowest instincts: greed, hate, spite and so on. Every so often the tabloids are accused of having no morals at all, and being too willing to destroy celebrities' lives by publishing scandalous things about them. Certainly the tabloids seem to be obsessed with sex.

People who hate the tabloids often refer to them as the "gutter press". Why?

Plan and organize a whole class debate on the following topic:

Do the tabloids deserve to be called 'the gutter press'?

You will need to work with other people on this task.

In the debate, two people should speak on each side. After they have made their prepared speeches, the chairperson then allows people to make comments from 'the floor', occasionally allowing one of the speakers to reply. Eventually the chairperson asks the speakers to make some final comments and then calls a vote to see which side has the more support.

To help you to think about your ideas read the poem called Gutter Press below. What is it about tabloid newspapers that the poet, Paul Dehn, is attacking?

Gutter Press

Shall I get a picture of the lovebird singing?
Shall I get a picture of her pretty little eggs?
Shall I get a picture of her babies

'Want my honey?'
Shall I get a picture of the pollen flying?
Shall I get a picture of the golden dust?
Shall I get a picture of a queen bee?

Newspaper Man Gets Shot!
May all things clean
And fresh and green
Have mercy upon your soul,
Consider yourself paid
By the hole my bullet made-

Paul Dehn