Broadsheet and tabloid article comparison Essay

Three newspapers, ‘The Times'(a British broadsheet), ‘The Mirror’ ( a British tabloid) and ‘Newsweek’ (an American paper) have all related to the same ski incident where 20 people died in a cable car as an American Fight Jet sliced through the cable car’s wires sending its occupants hurling three hundred feet to their deaths in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. The major differences between the three articles is that ‘The Times’ and ‘The Mirror’ were able to get reporters to the scene of the accident within hours of the crash but ‘Newsweeek’ wasn’t able to get a reporter out to the Dolomites as they weren’t a particuarly rich newspaper firm and it took them 2 weeks to publish the news and by then everyone had found out, whereas ‘The Times’ and ‘The Mirror’ chose to publish it the very next day. The Times’ is very factual throughout but ‘The Mirror’ uses very chatty language. ‘The Mirror’ and ‘Newsweek’ are biased towards the victims because they can’t defend themselves against what the American Fighter Pilots had done. The major similarities between the three newspapers is that they have all got the same account of what happened and that the American Fighter Pilots are to blame. Also how it happened and they agree on the basic facts. Within the three newspapers they all use factual content of some description. ‘The Mirror’s factual content is stating that why the incident occured, who was involved, that there were no survivors and how there bodies were found beneath all the rubble. ‘The Times’ goes into more detail about the incident and the paper is more business like and better grammar. ‘Newsweek’ is just stating the facts and is basically worded for the younger readers to understand. There are a couple of discrepancies between the three newspapers, ‘The Newsweek’s descrepancies are that it is has not been illustrated. It took them two weeks to publish the incident. It was using very basic writing techniques. It also prints that the incident was not that bad a disaster â€Å"By then, Prime Minister Romano Prodi had already judged the crash as an act of trajic recklessnesss†. The Mirrors discrepancies are that it uses too many opinions rather than facts. Too much surrounded the incident rather than what the American Goverment should will do to improve its training schemes and how to make it up to the victims’ families. The Times’ discrepancies is that it is too long and too intellectual. I feel out of these three newspaper articles surrounding this accident The Times is the best for facts but The Mirror is the best for witness accounts and opinions and pictures of the wreckage. The language used in the three papers are all different and targeted at a specific group of people. The Mirror is aimed at people who thrive on other people’s misfortunes. The Times is aimed towards the more intelligent and business like individuals. Newsweek is aimed at American people around where this paper is based to give them news about their state. There are not many differences in tone, mood or bias achieved due to the language used. The Mirror’s tone is very dramatic, emotional and to the point, its mood is shocking and is biased towards the victims and does not really mention opinions based on the American Pilots. The Times’ tone is very serious and business like, its mood is partially shocking but still remains serious and factual. The Times is not biased in its report as it considers both sides of the incident. Newsweek’s tone is very evasive and eluding, its mood is not shocking but almost normal, it is biased towards the American Pilots â€Å"An US Fighter Jet clip’s a gondola cable† and they act as if it isn’t such a bad crash. In ‘The Times’ and ‘The Mirror’ interview people who were next in line for the cable car and those who witnessed the incident. The Times also spoke to Fauseo Colasant; who was a police chief in Cavalese, many officals, a spokesman at Aviano, Giorgio Ruialdiwho was a rescue worker at Cavalese, Massimo Brulti who is the deputy Defence Minister. The Mirror’s interviewees were Neil Harmar and his girlfriend Stacey O’Donnell who were next in line, police chief Andrea Russo, a fire service spokesman, American Defence Secretary William Cohen, salesman Neil of Heathfield, Sussex, furious locals, Regional President Carlo Androtti, Cristina Antoniazzi the owner of the Hotel Locanda La Cascato just 100 yards from the cable lines and Air Force Chiefs. All the mentioned people above all commented on how low and dangerous this was, also how trajic an accident it was and that the Military war games should stop which put peoples lives at risk. Newsweek didn’t have any speakers because they it was a strategic choice and chose not to publish the article until two weeks later when everyone had found out about it through other people and other major newspapers such as ‘The Times’ and ‘The Mirror’. Most of the people who were interviewed said that it was a tragedy â€Å"If pilots want to put their own lives at risk that is up to them, but it is not acceptable that inncoent tourists should take the consequences† and many important people mentioned how many victims were confirmed dead. The US Defence Secretary William Cohen said â€Å"The victijm’s were nine women, ten men and one child†, and a fire spokesman said â€Å"It’s official- it’s twenty. † but Air Force Chiefs declined to comment. Regional President Carlo Androtti said â€Å"Military aircrafts should stop these war games which put innocent people’s lives at risk. Many people have told me how some Military Planes actually fly under the cables†, The Times has more factual content rather than content rather than speakers but the people who were interviewed said how much of a tragic incident this was. The Pentagon had launched and inquiry into the accident and expressed it’s ‘Deepest Sympathy’ for those killed, but this was an accident that should ahev nopt happened as the conditions were excellent â€Å"Visibility on the mountain had been ‘excellent’ at the time of the disaster. † the Newsweek had Italy’s Air Force Chief General Mario Arpino who said â€Å"The Prowler was four miles off of course and flying 3,300 feet below the altitude designated in the flight plan filed at Aviano. The minimum cruising altitude for US pilots in Italy is 500 feet. † Newsweek doesn’t use its article based on all on the one accident like the other papers did but it compares it to another crash. There is not really and explination for the different nationalities but they must think it is truly embarrasing for letting this get out of hand even with the amount of complaints recieved by the Regional President Carlo Androtti. The Mirror layout is so that the readers will straight away focus on the accident that happened and a photo of the devastation at The Dolomites because of the pictures and the headline. The layout of The Times shows it is a sophisticated paper that contains pictures of the EA-6B Prowler Jet that caused the accident, the devastation and a diagram of how it happened. The layout of Newsweek is very plain and un-interesting. It contains no photo’s of diagrams. This means that it is layed out very poorly and has no effect on the reader. The effect of the use of pictures, diagrams and headlines is expressed very well. The Times has great use of pictures, diagrams and headlines. Their headline is bold, catchy and to the point. Where-as The Mirror is more suttle and detailed, it’s headline is very effective because it stands out. But, Newsweek is exactly the opposite from The Times and The Mirror because it’s headline is based for the reader to become curious and to continue reading the article, thee are no pictures or diagrams which let this article down. In conclusion I feel that The Mirror explains what happened and suggests the full horror of the incident most effectively as it uses many techniques that are typical to a tabloid newspaper. In particular, it gives the incident a personal and British flavour by prominently reporting the reactions of two british Holidaymakers who narrowly avoided being involved in the incident. It also uses bold type, pull quotes and ‘Tabloidese’ – the pacy, dramatic language exemplified by the sub-headline ‘Brits tell of horror in snow’.