The Audience's Response to 'Let him have it!' and 'The Daily Mail' in Peter Medak's Film

The Audience's Response to 'Let him have it!' and 'The Daily Mail' in Peter Medak's Film

How is the response of the audience manipulated in Peter Medak’s film

‘Let him have it!’ and ‘The Daily Mail’ article of November 1952? Do

they both show bias?

In November 1952 a policeman was shot dead and another left wounded in

what the Daily Mail called a ‘gun battle’ when Christopher Craig and

Derek Bentley broke into the Barlow and Parker warehouse in Croydon.

I have looked at two media sources of information regarding this

event. A newspaper article taken from the Daily Mail 3rd November

1952 and Peter Medak’s film ‘Let him have it!’. Using these sources I

intend to illustrate how they manipulate the audience and if they are

biased types of media.

The headline for the Daily Mail’s article regarding the events of the

night 2nd November 1952, state that ‘Gangsters with machine guns on

roof kill detective, wound another’. However only two people,

Christopher Craig and Derek Bentley, were on the roof. Neither of

them armed with a machine gun. The article consistently describes the

pair as ‘the raiders’ ‘the bandits’ or ‘the gangsters’. This approach

suggests that there were more than two people, although it never

actually says how many. This is using hyperbole, a deliberate

exaggeration in language for a more dramatic effect. ‘Gangsters’

sounds more threatening and gives a more serious and dangerous

impression of the situation.

The article leads people to believe that the ‘the gangsters’ were

armed. Although Christopher Craig was carrying a gun, it wasn’t a

machine gun like the article states it was but a Firearm and Dere...

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...ged which makes you feel angry towards

Craig and upset that his family went through so much distress.

The audience response in both media forms have been manipulated to

create an interesting and informative news source. Both show biased

by using emotive and formal language, they use the present tense and

link phrases together. Both show bias towards the boys and in

particular Christopher Craig. Portraying Derek as a victim in the

film is biased and influences how we think, it makes us see him as

innocent and misled. The newspaper article emphasises on the shooting

of the police officer and makes out that the raid was made by

‘gangsters’. Neither media sources say what happened without using

hyperbole, generalising information or leaving certain information out

to produce the information source that they want to.