Newspaper Homework Essay

1)  Analyse the different social and cultural representations in Sources A and B. Apply either Hall’s theory of representation or Levi-Strauss’s structuralism

The Sun and The Daily Mirror are both examples of tabloid newspapers; these normally feature popular articles that tend to appeal to the masses (this would be celebrity gossip or human interest stories). The adverts are usually aimed towards lower social groups and use more images than text. The two newspapers are focusing on political issues, in terms of context this was a day before the 2019 election. The Daily Mirror are known for being left-winged while on the other hand The Sun have been more right-winged in recent years.

The Daily Mirror is focusing more on specific issues, whereas the Sun is giving a generalised picture of what will happen after Brexit. The Sun features opposing politicians Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn,. Both pictures have been placed inside light bulbs with only Johnson's light bulb on; a way to say that with Johnson as prime minister Britain has a 'bright' future. The Sun is being influenced by the cult of personality, as in it's focusing on the two leaders while The Daily Mirror is focusing on legitimate social issues. The Daily Mirror showcases it's left-winged beliefs by making their article about Labour's values; aiming to help issues surrounding British people, such as Grenfell, NHS, TV Licence, Schools, Child Poverty, Crime Victims, The Homeless and Nurses. The pictures shown aren't ones of these people, it shows them suffering to make the audience more empathetic towards them.

Hall argues that most media texts have meanings encoded into them; He noticed that almost all the faces he saw on TV were white and he found that when black people, like himself were represented they were more comedic characters and he said even though it might not be intentional that representation of ethnicity might be prejudiced. The politicians shown are both upper class white men while the only person of colour appears on The Daily Mirror's section of Grenfell in a more weak way.

To conclude there aren't that many social and cultural representations in source A and B but Hall's theory of representation notes that representation is not about whether the media reflects or distorts reality. The Daily Mirror shows the others; lower class people who are suffering from many different social issues stating that we should vote labour if these people (who are most likely the audience for this newspaper) want change.

2) Sources A and B cover the same news event from two different tabloid newspapers. 

How far have media conventions been used to construct viewpoints in Sources A and B?

The media conventions in Sources A & B construct very different viewpoints, for one Source A is a newspaper with right-wing beliefs so it's viewpoints will definitely contrast the viewpoints of Source B; a newspaper with left-wing beliefs. Both these papers are tabloid newspapers, meaning that there will be more images than text.

Both Sources feature each of their traditional iconic headline for their brand. The Sun has a blue cross next to it's title with the phrase ''Vote Tory and we can all move on''. The Daily Mirror features a similar type of propaganda but against conservatives, next to the title we have a mid-shot of Boris Johnson with the text ''Boris.... his 40 big lies''. The number 40 being in red to symbolise labour while The Sun had it's blue cross for conservatives. In Source A we have an image of Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, but the pictures have been cut out of their original backgrounds and placed into light bulbs. The only light bulb that seems to be working is Johnson's, this is a metaphor for ''a bright future'', which is re-enforced by the text below it. On the opposing side we have Corbyn, his facial expression is more comedic than Johnson's professional manner. Corbyn's light bulb is out and there seems to be rain and lightning strikes behind him, contrasting to the ''bright future'' Johnson will be giving Britain.

Another image that's featured in the paper is a copy of The Sun's article on Neil Kinnock, who was the Labour leader running against John Major. John Major won, supposedly because of The Sun's support. The Sun is notorious for influencing elections, for example in 1992 the headline ''It's The Sun Wot Won It'' claimed that the conservatives won because of The Sun's support. They supported Margaret Thatcher and she won, this is similar to their Labour support with Tony Blair. One major headline in Source A would be the ''Save Brexit Save Britain'', they're speaking more on business and economics which is typical of right-winged papers. This contrasts with Source B, which speaks more on equality. The text ''For Them Vote Labour'' mimics the Source A text as they're both in the same position. Source B then depicts many different social issues troubling Britain at the moment, all these images depict people in unhappy situations with the aim of making the audience more empathetic towards them, willing them to vote Labour.

The colour scheme of these newspapers stick to the traditional black and white scheme, but for The Daily Mirror we have red text boxes and some phrases highlighted in red to showcase the colour of the Labour party. A similar technique is used with The Sun; we have the blue cross and then the page is split into two, one side is black and white and the other is blue but with some green to represent Britain.

To conclude even though these papers cover the same events, each paper showcases a different contrasting viewpoint. Source A uses it's blue colour scheme to depict their support for the Conservative party and their right-wing beliefs and speaking more about the economic subjects such as Brexit. On the contrary, Source B uses it's red colour scheme to display their support for the Labour party and their left-wing beliefs about equality and helping the British people.