Introducing the Language of the News:

Chapter 4

Powerpoints for Instructors

Meaning through design

Exercises

Exercise 1: Different designs for different audiences

Section 3 of Chapter 4 discusses the differences between broadsheets, Berliners and tabloids. Typically, broadsheets tend to include most important national and world news items, while tabloids, which target readers considered to be less educated, specialize in national news, sports news, and gossip. Many newspapers once traditionally printed in broadsheet format have reduced their page size to cut printing costs and become more reader-friendly; in these cases, the distinction between broadsheet and compact formats does not reflect differences in newspaper content.

A country where the press has traditionally been divided into broadsheet (or ‘quality’) vs. tabloid (or ‘popular’) papers is the U.K.

Access the site: http://frontpagestoday.co.uk/. Looking at the papers that appear as you open the page decide:

which papers seem to a have a broadsheet, a Berliner, or a compact format?
which papers can be classified as popular papers and which as quality papers?
which quality papers have a compact format?
what elements of design characterize tabloids and distinguish them from broadsheets?
how do the Berliners differ from both the broadsheets and the tabloids?
how do the quality papers using a compact format differ from the tabloids?
how does language differ between the tabloids and the quality papers? Give examples.

Exercise 2: Different designs for different audiences (part 2)

After completing Exercise 1, access the following site: http://www.thepaperboy.com/india/front-pages.cfm.
This shows a number of front pages of newspapers published in India.

Comparing this page with the ones from the UK found at http://frontpagestoday.co.uk/, how would you say the press in the two countries differs in terms of:

the types of papers published (with special reference to the relative number of quality and popular papers printed)
the design characteristics of the papers (e.g., type and size of fonts used, relationships of visuals to text, etc.)
the presence of advertisements on the front pages?

On the basis of this analysis, could you generalize and say that the press in the two countries targets quite different readerships? Please explain. In which country does the press appear more traditional in terms of the choice of layout and the relationship between text and visuals? Please explain.

Exercise 3: Comparing print and online papers

Section 6 of Chapter 4 introduces the topic of the differences and similarities between print and online papers.

Go to http://frontpagestoday.co.uk/ and focus on some of the front pages – for example: The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Sun.

Then compare the papers’ front pages with their web sites – for example:

Look at the similarities between the online and the versions of the papers (e.g., in the fonts used in the Nameplates, in some aspects of the page navigation style). Note that some of the differences are due to the use of the electronic rather than the print medium. Could you say that the papers maintain their graphic personality in both print and online versions?

Exercise 4: Use of pictures in news stories

As we see in Chapter 4, the angle from which the news is presented determines the wording of the news, as well as the accompanying pictures. At the links below, two articles tell the story of anti-government protestors occupying the two main airports in Thailand and blocking incoming air traffic, in clashes with the Thai police. Both articles appeared on November 28, 2008 in two different newspapers.

In the two articles the news is the same, but it is presented from opposite angles. The Reuters article – reported in the Independent – emphasizes the police’s attempts to control events and break up the protest, whereas the article by the Associated Press – reported on abcnews – focuses on the active role of the protesters occupying the airports and their unwillingness to stop the protest.

Read the two articles below and discuss how, in each article, the illustration accompanying the text reinforces its message and at the same time provides a key to the interpretation of the text. (An exercise involving the language used in these two articles can be found in the exercises for Chapter 7.)

Riot police gather at besieged Thai airport

By Ed Cropley, Reuters, November 28, 2008 (http://www.independent.co.uk) (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/riot-police-gather-at-besieged-thai-airport-1039469.html)

Thai protesters defiant as police boost presence

Associated Press, November 28, 2008 (http://abclocal.go.com/) (http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=6529573)