A Comparison of School Riots Newspapers

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A Comparison of School Riots Newspapers

In Bideford, Devon a disturbance broke out in a comprehensive school.

The Daily Mirror and The Daily Telegraph both wrote a report on the

story but their comments were quite different. I will analyse both

papers use of language and their effect on the reader will be compared

along with how emotive the tabloid and the broadsheet are.

The two headlines for each story immediately show you how different

the two papers are. The headline in the Daily Mirror is very emotive.

Using words such as “School Mob” may shock the reader because of their

connotations. Schools are normally thought of as orderly places where

trouble doesn’t happen; this is why it seems strange to put the word

with “mob”. “Mob” suggests a gang of people who are out to terrorise

and destruct. When you put “school” in front of “mob” it makes you

think of teenagers shouting and protesting against teachers which is a

stark contrast to normal school life.

However the headline in The Daily Telegraph is far less emotive.

“Pupils go on Rampage.” “Pupils” is a much less emotive word compared

to “Mob”. “Pupils” suggests normal school children learning and

abiding by school rules. Although The Daily Telegraph headline is less

emotive it has one very striking and emotive word in it, “rampage”.

“Rampage” creates an image of a full scale riot or stampede this is

why it is a powerful word to use in a headline.

The Daily Mirror’s and The Daily Telegraph’s reports both contain

similar information that can be said to be factual but they also have

difference. For example the two reports both confirm the school

disturbance happened in Bideford, Devon and they also say it happened

on the same day. Another similarity is that both reports claim that

the police were called to the school; they also confirm schoolchildren

caused damage and that the disturbance started because of a teachers

pay dispute.

On the other hand the papers include different information about the

disturbance and its events.

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