How to answer newspaper questions 2/4/2020

What you should know to answer a newspaper question:

• The media language of newspapers- font, layout e.t.c 
• What may be represented- ideas, values, individuals, events, social groups
• What stereotypes are and how they can be used to construct representations and position audiences (make them respond in a certain way) 
• Summary of language and representation theorists. 
• 4 things about each newspaper- genre, owner, audience, politics. 

Gilroy's theory

• Britain colonised a lot of the world and he believes this time of colonisation has had a knock on effect and believes we can still see the effects of this in the media now.
• Believes that ethnic minorities are often shown as powerless, weak and the 'other'
• Affects both newcomer and native born.
• The history is embedded in us and some white British people feel superior to other people-causing racism.

Example question: Analyse the representations in Sources A and B. Use Gilroy's ideas in your answer. (10)

Task 1-info about papers

1. Daily Express is a mid market. The Guardian is a broadsheet.
2. Daily Express is right wing so they have more negative views about immigration . The Guardian is left wing. 
3. Daily Express-middle class, white men. The Guardian-liberal, progressive people who want change

Task 2- how migration is being presented

The Guardian

• Choice of image presents suffering through the use of a close-up of a migrant's face showing their tears. 
• The image pulls at the heart strings of readers showing that we need change-which is typical of a liberal paper. 
• The readership should support the paper showing that we need change as the readership is left-wing so should support immigration. 
• The power of three is used though the bullet points highlighting the suffering that people in Calais are going through.

Daily Express

• The daily express shows a negative view towards immigration on their front cover as they have large texts which consumes most of the page (a typical mid market convention) using powerful, sensationalised language telling people that they need to stop migration. They use the word 'invasion' to try and make it sound as if these people are completely different from them and are going to cause harm.They also use the collective pronoun 'we' showing unity and suggesting that they are representing the whole of the UK's thoughts. 
• This is a stereotypical view of a right-wing paper as they typically tend to be more negative towards immigration. 
• The readership will support the paper's view as their readership are typically white, right-wing, British citizens who don't embrace diversity. 

Task 3-Gilroy

Gilroy's theory strongly links to these front covers as his theory is about how Britain sees the rest of the world and the covers reflect on people around the world. Daily Express reinforces Gilroy's theory that British people view themselves as superior to people around the world as it shows migrants in a negative way- British people are not wanting anyone from any other country to come into theirs as they view themselves as superior. This is shown through their language choices of 'stop' and 'invasion' showing that they strongly see migrants as 'the other' which Gilroy suggests. The Guardian shows that other people have these negative thoughts about migrants like Gilroy's theory suggests. This is shown by the council refusing to help migrants. The paper shows that they don't agree with the negative treatment towards migrants as it uses an emotional image and emotional language. 

Task 4- Plan for the question

1. INTRO- The Daily Express is a mid-market paper so has an audience of between B,C1,C2. The Guardian is a broadsheet paper so has an audience of A,B,C1. This effects what stories they write and the language they use. The Guardian is left-wing whereas the Daily Express is right-wing which influences the representations of both political and social people in which they include in their papers. The Daily Express's audience are more middle class white men with right wing beliefs whereas The Guardian's audience are high class, liberal, educated people with right wing beliefs. Paul Gilroy has a theory called 'ethnicity and post-colonialism' which contains his thought that history has been embedded in us and some white British people feel superior to other people due to how Britain had colonised the world and WW2 efforts. This theory helps analyse the covers as they show the papers reaction to migrants and the reactions can be linked to what people believe from Gilroy's theory.
2. Source A (Daily Express) represents migrants in a negative way as it uses forceful and sensationalised language in their headline towards them.This is a feature of mid-market papers but can also be due to its political beliefs as right-wing are typically more negative towards migrants. This shows Gilroy's theory as the paper is not welcoming to migrants therefor making Britain's look as if they view themselves as superior which Gilroy talks about. The use of having the headline bold and take up a lot of the page is another typical feature of the mid-market genre and allows readers to see this heading straight away and the paper's readership will agree with this view. Source A has another story featured 'why our royals just love being together'. This shows the paper showing the royal family in a positive way and enforces the paper's beliefs of loving everything British and disliking outsiders. This supports Gilroy's theory as people are supporting British patriarchy but not helping people in other countries that are in need which shows how they believe that Britain is better. 
3. Source B (The Guardian) represents migrants in a positive way but are showing that they are being treat in a negative way by others. They do this by having a big image of a vulnerable looking migrant on their front page. This will be emotional for readers to see but readers should recognise that things need to change as readers are liberal due to the paper being left-wing. The headline of the paper shows that the paper is angry about how the council has treat migrants by their language choice. The paper doesn't use sensationalised language but instead words it in a way which shows what has happened but is clear their view on it which is a feature of broadsheet papers. Gilroy's theory is relevant here as it shows that the paper has recognised that there is still British people who view themselves as superior to people from other countries. The paper subverts the theory by not showing this view itself as Gilroy believes that media show these post-colonial views but The Guardian recognises that these racist views are wrong. The paper also features another story ' falling pound and rising inflation hit post-brexit bounce' this shows the negative impact of the vote for Britain to leave the European Union. It shows the paper showing that brexit was a bad idea which may be due to its left-wing leaning as Brexit was supported by the conservative party as many people wanted harder restrictions on immigration again showing their reluctance to other countries like Gilroy's theory whilst the labour party didn't support this. 
4. Overall, Daily Express convey to the views of Gilroy through their media language showing negativity towards migrants. The Guardian subverts the views of Gilroy has showing sympathy towards migrants but do convey to elements of the theory as they recognise that people do have these negative opinions of people outside of Britain. These beliefs are due to their political leaning and the thoughts of their readership.