2.Newspaper styles

Newspaper Styles

This table compares and contrasts two different newspapers. Try the same exercise yourself with two other papers, using the same headings.

Collect examples of your own to support or contradict the findings of the table.

Are there any other headings you would use?

The Guardian

Daily Mirror

Topics social, political, economic issues about specific people and their lives

Treatment serious but with some intelligent humour popular, though sometimes sensational

Headlines small size, long length; many words eg "Freedom for Britons held by guerrillas" large size, short length; plentiful use of exclamation marks eg "Freed!"

Present Tense often uses present continuous "-ing" eg "5,000 car workers facing loss of jobs" often omits verbs eg "5000 lost jobs"

Descriptions names often come first, description afterwards eg "Jim Collins, a 24-year-old from Barnsley" descriptions often come first with the name afterwards eg "34-year-old mother of three Leanne ..."

Names formal, eg "Blair" in headlines, "The Prime Minister" or "Mr Blair" elsewhere sometimes familiar eg "Tony" or "Premier Tony Blair" elsewhere

Vocabulary formal, words quite long, sentences complex, higher reading level familiar, words quite short, sentences often simple, usually one sentence per paragraph, common use of cliché and jargon eg "horror", "rap", "probe", "row", "cut"

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	The Guardian	Daily Mirror
Topics	social, political, economic issues	about specific people and their lives
Treatment	serious but with some intelligent humour	popular, though sometimes sensational
Headlines	small size, long length; many words eg "Freedom for Britons held by guerrillas"	large size, short length; plentiful use of exclamation marks eg "Freed!"
Present Tense	often uses present continuous "-ing" eg "5,000 car workers facing loss of jobs"	often omits verbs eg "5000 lost jobs"
Descriptions	names often come first, description afterwards eg "Jim Collins, a 24-year-old from Barnsley"	descriptions often come first with the name afterwards eg "34-year-old mother of three Leanne ..."
Names	formal, eg "Blair" in headlines, "The Prime Minister" or "Mr Blair" elsewhere	sometimes familiar eg "Tony" or "Premier Tony Blair" elsewhere
Vocabulary	formal, words quite long, sentences complex, higher reading level	familiar, words quite short, sentences often simple, usually one sentence per paragraph, common use of cliché and jargon eg "horror", "rap", "probe", "row", "cut"