LO2: content and construction of news articles

The article is about an ongoing court case at the old baily concerning a couple who allegedly faked their baby’s death and attempted to cover it up by staging a medical emergency on the bus instead of the supposed true cause of death being found out. The overall tone of this article is quite formal and has a teacher to pupil mode of address this is shown through the use of professional opinions about the condition of the baby.

The purpose of the article is to inform the reader on a current court proceeding, this type of article is mostly read for the purpose of surveillance by the reader.   

The overall tone of the article is prominently negative and not in the favour of the parents. Firstly the headline “ Mum ‘faked’ baby’s Stratford bus death 'to hide murder “ the news has put its own spin on the events that transpired even though it’s an ongoing trial and no verdict has been reached, therefore enforcing their own opinion and bias on the article.

“The infant was found to have 40 rib fractures from being squeezed as she was shaken, a broken wrist from her arm being pulled or twisted, and a fractured skull and brain injury consistent with being thrown against the floor or an upright surface, the prosecutor said.” The use of facts like these show evidence that the couple are to blame and informs the audience of the types of injuries that were found on the baby and insinuating the cause of the injuries, this uses the hypodermic syringe theory by telling the audience what to think through the use of primary definers making it more reliable i.e. I see that these injuries do not fit with the idea of a sudden emergency that occurred in a short space of time on a bus and given the word of a trusted source I am lead to believe this more. This can be very incriminating of the couples even though it doesn’t name them as being responsible directly. under the heading ‘Cold and calm’ has connotations of them being sadistic and calculated in their approach to their alleged plan.

The article uses statements of from professionals i.e. "Those members of the public, presented with the nightmare of an infant who was not breathing, did all they could to help," prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said.
The article also said “As a result, her parents were the "only realistic candidates" for causing Imani's death and, at a minimum, at least one of them was responsible for failing to intervene, he added.” By sighting the parents as the ‘only realistic candidates’ pin points them as being responsible. “Mr Atkinson said the injuries inflicted in those days would have caused the baby "very significant pain and distress", which would have been obvious to any parent.” This statement furthure protests the parents guilt by again using a primary definer and through using words like "very significant pain and distress" this use of emotive language makes the reader feel empathy for the baby.

These statements enforce the overall tone of the article and doesn’t portray the parents in a positive light

In my opinion I agree that the parents most likely caused the baby’s death and then attempted to cover it up with a staged medical emergency on the bus, I think this because the evidence that has been given i.e. the mother refusing to give the address of where the baby is living, the nature of the injuries do not fit the series of events and the reaction for the mother seemed very unresponsive to supposedly seeing her daughter dying in front of her.

The purpose of the article is to report on the effects of the health budget cut has had on the elderly. The headline uses the word ‘forced’ which has the connotation of being helpless and the use of large numbers grabs the reader’s attention. The mode of address is teacher to pupil and is formal as it uses facts and figures to furthure its point. The bias in this article says

that these cuts are wrong, this is shown by using quotes from people who show a negative view on the situation “We had the biggest petition in NHS history about the planned pharmacies closures, but Ministers have point blank refused to listen.” and “These cuts will also impact disproportionately on villages and rural communities.”. throughout the article they use a lot of figures to show the extent of the issue and express their point.  

They also sight primary definers in their article and include emotive language to evoke a response form the reader  “The study by the House of Commons library laid bare how much further the ill and sick will have to travel for medicines if pharmacies close because of a cut in a vital subsidy.” Word like “ill and sick” have connotations of vulnerability and helplessness therefore making the reader feel empathy with those who are effected.

The article uses a lot of negative facts to show a the reader what is going on “pharmacies in rural and deprived areas will be cut by £208million” “3,000 pharmacies in England are threatened with closure by the cuts.” this is known as restrictive codes, which are used so the reader can understand what is going on. The use of the word “cuts” has negative connotations and furthure enforces the articles point of view that this is a bad thing. 

The headline ” Squalid conditions. Blistering heat. Flimsy defences. And constant terror. Revealed: The pictures that portray the truth about Sgt Blackman's CAMP HELL” the words “flimsy”, “blistering heat and “flimsy defence” all have negative connotations to them and the words “HELL CAMP” and the use of capital letters to make it stand out to the reader puts emphasis on these words, these particular word choices are used to endorse their point of view. The use of emotive language “HELL”, and “Blistering  heat” is used to evoke an emotional response from the reader at the beginning of the article and cause the reader to feel sympathy towards SGT Blackman.  

I believe through the use of language in this article shows the opinion and bias of the writer for example phrases like “ ‘superb’ soldier”, “Base's extreme stresses would culminate in Sgt Blackman and shooting dead a wounded Taliban insurgent” and “Little wonder that cases of diarrhoea and vomiting were common” These pieces of Informs inform the reader on what the conditions in the base where like and shows they favour SGT Blackmans plea and are trying to justify his actions to the audience and portray him in a positive light and make the reader feel empathy for SGT Blackman. My reaction to the article over shadowed by the fact it is written by the Daily Mail and I doubt the accuracy of the article, but given what the article has said I believe that SGT Blackman was put under an enormous amount of stress being in a what seems to be a poorly constructed base and fully believe this could have phycological effects on someone. However I feel that I the reporter hasn’t represented any real credentials to give him/her the ability comment on a the strength of the base that SGT Backman was staying in or to conclude that the conditions that he was living under caused him to take the life of an injured insurgent. I agree with the articles stance SGT Blackman was under extreme stress from the conditions of the base, but I cannot fully agree that the conditions of the base caused him to kill the Taliban insurgent because there hasn’t been any primary definers opinions i.e. phycologist or anyone who could vouch for the structural integrity of the base. 

The article uses pictures of the extremely hard living conditions that the soldiers lived under as the basis of their point of view relied on these pictures, the picture above shows a marine kneeling beside an IED on the road side just showing how vulnerable and at risk the soldiers were. These pictures serve as a primary definer would to the audience as a reliable source as pictures never lie supposedly and ads validity to the article.

“The four walls were constructed of HESCO barriers — wire mesh, fabric lined boxes which were filled with earth. They normally provide good protection against direct fire from outside, but at Omar the walls were simply not high enough.” The article uses restrictive codes to make jargon more understandable i.e. “HESCO barriers” the article uses simple words to explain the unfamiliar terms to people who would never had come across it before.