Newspaper Comparison

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Newspaper Comparison

Today's society is in many respects dominated by the media.

Newspapers, books, television, radio and the Internet not only play

significant role in an average person's life but are also

multi-billion pound industries that, through the public exposure they

are subject to, carry great influence. One of the oldest media formats

still in use is the newspaper. This old printed format carries great

political power and boasts huge readerships, partly due to its cheap

price, never exceeding a few pounds an issue, and its portability.

Throughout the decades during which Newspapers have developed, two

main styles of writing and presentation in newspapers have emerged:

Tabloid and Broadsheet. Each varies greatly in their portrayal of the

news and current affairs. This can be clearly seen through the

differences between tabloid and broadsheet stories even when

describing the same event. All newspapers have the intention to inform

and entertain their readers. However, broadsheet newspapers have

typically favoured the information function whereas tabloid newspapers

are more biased towards and entertainment function. Although tabloid

and broadsheet are the two main newspaper formats some newspapers do

occupy an intermediate space between the two. The term broadsheet and

tabloid refers to the size of the paper on which they are printed:

tabloids, being printed on narrow folded pages and broadsheet being

slightly wider. However, nowadays the words tabloid and broadsheet

carry greater significance than the relative size of their paper.

Through tradition and some issues of production and presentation,

broadsheet newspapers ...

... middle of paper ...

...re structured path than

Account B, which has a tendency to hop around with little linking,

creating a more conversational effect, far detached from that of

Account A which follows a clear and precise structure of logically

linking facts and events.

In conclusion, each newspaper followed very different styles, with

strong elements typical of its particular market niche, although it is

impossible to make sweeping comments that will always hold true about

the style of each type of newspaper, as there is always one variable

that cannot be accounted for, the author. This is why the broadsheet

style of Account A can contain the occasional slip of dramatic

language, and why tabloid Account B can make use of the odd fact and

statistic, and why Account C is not just a straight mix of the two,

but has its own unique style.

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