Comparing the Madeline Mccann newspaper article and the Sharon Mathews newspaper article.
First of all these newspaper article differs because of the very different headlines. In the Madeline Mccann paper the headline reads "Our children sleep wit us now",this automatically makes the reader feel sympathy towards the parents of the missing child and make them be biased in favour off the parents in which they'll be more likely to not hold the parents accountable. In comparison in the Sharon Mathews newspaper article the headline reads " Police get more time to question Shannon Mathews mother", this headline automatically makes the reader feel uncertainty about the mother and consider the argument that she might have had a doing in her daughters disappearance. Another way in which the newspaper articles differ is by the pictures that we are presented with. In Madeline Mccann's article there is a picture of her mother and her sister playing at a park they look care-free and happy her mother is seen helping her walk down the stairs, this image makes the parents of Madeline Mccann seem loving, caring and normal in which they love their children and wouldn't want any kind of harm to come to them, this is done purposely to sway the views of the readers to see the parents as innocent. In contrast in Shannon Matthews article there are two pictures put next to each other a close up of Shannon Matthews mum looking down and the other close up of Shannon smiling and looking happy, these images help to create a disconnect between Shannon and her mother and this ultimately makes the reader believe that Shannon and her mother did not have a lovable relationship like normal mother and daughter should have, leading on from this the mother pictured looking down makes the reader consider that she may be guilty in having a part in Sharons disappearance. Madeline Mccann and Sharon Mathews come from very different homes and environments, Madeline Mccann's parents were both doctors and were wealthy middle class, hence them being able to travel to Portugal for a holiday which is where Madeline went missing. Sharon Matthews mother was working class living in a government house and Shannon was kidnapped just a mile away from her home in Dewsbury West Yorkshire, in her local community. ( 10 marker)
The language that is used in Madeline Mccann's article when describing the parents and in Sharon Mathews article when describing her parents differ. In Madeline Mccann's article the language used is much more nice tone, a good example of this is when it reads " Her consultant parents have also raised several million pounds through their fund, which has paid for private detectives". This soft tone and exposing us to the great efforts the parents are going through to find their daughter makes us believe us believe that they are innocent and had nothing to do with their daughters disappearance, the use of the words'consultant parents' makes people have a different view of the parents in which they are held at a high respect because of the work they do and the morals they are supposed to carry within the work that they do and their lives. The work they do also brings in alot of money in which they are middle-class citizens so they are stereotyped to be perfect. However in Sharon Matthews article the language used to describe her parents have a much more derogatory feel, a good example of this is when the article reads "The Daily telegraph understands that Miss Mathews, who has seven children to five fathers, was arrested on Sunday", this has a derogatory feel to it because stating that she has seven children to five fathers has nothing to do with her being arrested but they purposely threw that in to make the readers feel even more disgust towards her. This also leads onto the bad representation of working class people in the media, in which contributes to the negative assumptions of the working class and creates prejudice in people of the middle-class and higher class. (10 marker)
Paul is correct when he says that representation is contested in particular of those with less power in society because this is evident in the differences of the two news articles. For example Madeline Mccans parents were middle class consultants so the news article was sure to mention the fact that her consultant parents have also raised several million pounds through their fund, which has paid for private detectives", mentiong that her parents were consultants was neot required but it made is used to makle the audience have the assumption that they are good and level-headed people/parents that alternatively sways the views that her parents had a part in the kidanpping of their daugheter. In contrast the news article for Sharron Matthews mother was working class and lving in a govertement house with her seven children the article therefore does the complete opposite in which it brings to light the shames that the family carry, a good example of this is when they talk about an ex-boyfriend of Sharons mother the article reads " Mr Meehan is in custody charged with 11 counts of possesing child pornography", it is rightfully so that they expose this sick human being to tghe public too protect the children but it doesnt show who Miss Matthews is. They purposely do this too put more disgust on Miss Matthews name in which people will dislike her more because she was alllowing a peadophile to live and be around her seven vulnerable children. This is evidence that news coverage can be hierarchal in which the parents of Madeline Mccan were high in class os they were sure to state the positives about her parents to attain their power, but Sharon mother was working class so they were sure to state the negatives soo that she stays powerless. (10 marks)
The dominant meaning of the Daily Telegraph is that middle class/higher class people carry morals and the working class do not carry morals, but the wider message is that middle class people are more suitable parents than working class parents.The audience are supposed to feel that the Mccanns are innocent and in desperate need of help and that the Matthews are criminals and cunning. I take an oppositional reading because of the simple facts that the news article is biased for both articles in which they only state positives about the Mccanns (the middle class) and negatives about the Matthews the (lower class).I do not know the Mccanns personally but i do know that everyone has negatives about them and i do not know the matthews personally but i know that everyone has positives about them so i am aware that these news paper article are one-sided and alternatively unfair. This links into 'reception theory', in which they publish information that will make the reader encode it and make them automatically agree with the article and what it is saying without telling them too, in which they'll then hold positive views too the Mccann family because the article only states the positives about the family and they'll hold negative views about the Matthew family because of the negatives written about them. It is very evident that what is being published in the article determines how the audience feel towards the parents of the children because if only negatives were written about the Mccanns they'd be seen in a negative light and if only positives were written about the Matthews they'd be seen in a positive light it all depends on what is written in the article.
(15 marker)
First of all these newspaper article differs because of the very different headlines. In the Madeline Mccann paper the headline reads "Our children sleep wit us now",this automatically makes the reader feel sympathy towards the parents of the missing child and make them be biased in favour off the parents in which they'll be more likely to not hold the parents accountable. In comparison in the Sharon Mathews newspaper article the headline reads " Police get more time to question Shannon Mathews mother", this headline automatically makes the reader feel uncertainty about the mother and consider the argument that she might have had a doing in her daughters disappearance. Another way in which the newspaper articles differ is by the pictures that we are presented with. In Madeline Mccann's article there is a picture of her mother and her sister playing at a park they look care-free and happy her mother is seen helping her walk down the stairs, this image makes the parents of Madeline Mccann seem loving, caring and normal in which they love their children and wouldn't want any kind of harm to come to them, this is done purposely to sway the views of the readers to see the parents as innocent. In contrast in Shannon Matthews article there are two pictures put next to each other a close up of Shannon Matthews mum looking down and the other close up of Shannon smiling and looking happy, these images help to create a disconnect between Shannon and her mother and this ultimately makes the reader believe that Shannon and her mother did not have a lovable relationship like normal mother and daughter should have, leading on from this the mother pictured looking down makes the reader consider that she may be guilty in having a part in Sharons disappearance. Madeline Mccann and Sharon Mathews come from very different homes and environments, Madeline Mccann's parents were both doctors and were wealthy middle class, hence them being able to travel to Portugal for a holiday which is where Madeline went missing. Sharon Matthews mother was working class living in a government house and Shannon was kidnapped just a mile away from her home in Dewsbury West Yorkshire, in her local community. ( 10 marker)
The language that is used in Madeline Mccann's article when describing the parents and in Sharon Mathews article when describing her parents differ. In Madeline Mccann's article the language used is much more nice tone, a good example of this is when it reads " Her consultant parents have also raised several million pounds through their fund, which has paid for private detectives". This soft tone and exposing us to the great efforts the parents are going through to find their daughter makes us believe us believe that they are innocent and had nothing to do with their daughters disappearance, the use of the words'consultant parents' makes people have a different view of the parents in which they are held at a high respect because of the work they do and the morals they are supposed to carry within the work that they do and their lives. The work they do also brings in alot of money in which they are middle-class citizens so they are stereotyped to be perfect. However in Sharon Matthews article the language used to describe her parents have a much more derogatory feel, a good example of this is when the article reads "The Daily telegraph understands that Miss Mathews, who has seven children to five fathers, was arrested on Sunday", this has a derogatory feel to it because stating that she has seven children to five fathers has nothing to do with her being arrested but they purposely threw that in to make the readers feel even more disgust towards her. This also leads onto the bad representation of working class people in the media, in which contributes to the negative assumptions of the working class and creates prejudice in people of the middle-class and higher class. (10 marker)
Paul is correct when he says that representation is contested in particular of those with less power in society because this is evident in the differences of the two news articles. For example Madeline Mccans parents were middle class consultants so the news article was sure to mention the fact that her consultant parents have also raised several million pounds through their fund, which has paid for private detectives", mentiong that her parents were consultants was neot required but it made is used to makle the audience have the assumption that they are good and level-headed people/parents that alternatively sways the views that her parents had a part in the kidanpping of their daugheter. In contrast the news article for Sharron Matthews mother was working class and lving in a govertement house with her seven children the article therefore does the complete opposite in which it brings to light the shames that the family carry, a good example of this is when they talk about an ex-boyfriend of Sharons mother the article reads " Mr Meehan is in custody charged with 11 counts of possesing child pornography", it is rightfully so that they expose this sick human being to tghe public too protect the children but it doesnt show who Miss Matthews is. They purposely do this too put more disgust on Miss Matthews name in which people will dislike her more because she was alllowing a peadophile to live and be around her seven vulnerable children. This is evidence that news coverage can be hierarchal in which the parents of Madeline Mccan were high in class os they were sure to state the positives about her parents to attain their power, but Sharon mother was working class so they were sure to state the negatives soo that she stays powerless. (10 marks)
The dominant meaning of the Daily Telegraph is that middle class/higher class people carry morals and the working class do not carry morals, but the wider message is that middle class people are more suitable parents than working class parents.The audience are supposed to feel that the Mccanns are innocent and in desperate need of help and that the Matthews are criminals and cunning. I take an oppositional reading because of the simple facts that the news article is biased for both articles in which they only state positives about the Mccanns (the middle class) and negatives about the Matthews the (lower class).I do not know the Mccanns personally but i do know that everyone has negatives about them and i do not know the matthews personally but i know that everyone has positives about them so i am aware that these news paper article are one-sided and alternatively unfair. This links into 'reception theory', in which they publish information that will make the reader encode it and make them automatically agree with the article and what it is saying without telling them too, in which they'll then hold positive views too the Mccann family because the article only states the positives about the family and they'll hold negative views about the Matthew family because of the negatives written about them. It is very evident that what is being published in the article determines how the audience feel towards the parents of the children because if only negatives were written about the Mccanns they'd be seen in a negative light and if only positives were written about the Matthews they'd be seen in a positive light it all depends on what is written in the article.
(15 marker)
This is a well written and fairly detailed response Candace. You understand the theory points well and explain them with reference to a range of examples taken from the articles. You use media language confidently and you analyse the differing represenations. Well done! B+ Vanessa
ReplyDelete