| Tom, could I ask you for some advice, please? |
| Yes of course, if you think I can help. |
| What's it about? |
| It's my first media studies assignment, and I'm not sure how to go about it. |
| You must have done it last year. |
| Is that the one comparing the coverage of a particular story in a range of newspapers? |
| That's right. |
| Oh yes, I really enjoyed writing it. |
| So what sort of things do I need to compare? |
| Well, there are several things. |
| For example, there's the question of which page of the newspaper the item appears on. |
| You mean, because there's a big difference between having it on the front page and the bottom of page ten, for instance? |
| Exactly. |
| And that shows how important the editor thinks the story is. |
| Then there's the size: |
| how many column inches the story is given, |
| how many columns it spreads over. |
| And I suppose that includes the headline. |
| It certainly does. |
| It's all part of attracting the reader's attention. |
| What about graphics - |
| whether there's anything visual in addition to the text? |
| Yes, you need to consider those, too, |
| because they can have a big effect on the reader's understanding of the story - |
| sometimes a bigger effect than the text itself. |
| Then you'll need to look at how the item is put together: |
| what structure is it given? |
| Bear in mind that not many people read beyond the first paragraph, |
| so what has the journalist put at the beginning? |
| And if, say, there are conflicting opinions about something, |
| does one appear near the end, where people probably won't read it? |
| And newspapers sometimes give wrong or misleading information, don't they? |
| Either deliberately or by accident. |
| Should I be looking at that, too? |
| Yes, if you can. |
| Compare what's in different versions, and as far as possible, |
| try and work out what's true and what isn't. |
| And that relates to a very important point: |
| what's the writer's purpose, |
| or at least the most important one, if they have several. |
| It may seem to be to inform the public, |
| but often it's that they want to create fear, or controversy, |
| or to make somebody look ridiculous. |
| Gosh, I see what you mean. |
| I suppose the writer may make assumptions about the reader. |
| That's right - about their knowledge of the subject, their attitudes, and their level of education, |
| which means writing so that the readers understand without feeling patronised. |
| All of that will make a difference to how the story is presented. |
| Does it matter what type of story I write about? |
| No, national or international politics, the arts... anything, |
| as long as it's covered in two or three newspapers. |
| Though of course it'll be easier and more fun if it's something you're interested in and know something about. |
| And on that basis a national news item would be worth analysing - |
| I'm quite keen on politics, so I'll try and find a suitable topic. |
| What did you choose for your analysis, Tom? |
| I was interested in how newspapers express their opinions explicitly, |
| so I wanted to compare editorials in different papers, |
| but when I started looking, |
| I couldn't find two on the same topic that I felt like analysing. |
| In that case, I won't even bother to look. |
| So in the end I chose a human interest story - |
| a terribly emotional story about a young girl who was very ill, |
| and lots of other people - mostly strangers - |
| raised money so she could go abroad for treatment. |
| Actually, I was surprised - |
| some papers just wrote about how wonderful everyone was, |
| but others considered the broader picture, |
| like why treatment wasn't available here. |
| Hmm, I usually find stories like that raise quite strong feelings in me! |
| I'll avoid that. |
| Perhaps I'll choose an arts topic, |
| like different reviews of a film, or something about funding for the arts - |
| I'll think about that. |
| Yes, that might be interesting. |
| OK, well thanks a lot for your help, Tom. It's been really useful. |
| You're welcome. |
| Good luck with the assignment, Hazel. |