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Bias in newspapers

What advantages are there of a newspaper having a particular political/ideological bias?
- Can't write without some bias
- Appeals to a specific target audience
- Supporting party leads to certain benefits (exclusives, money?)

Tabloid front covers:
- Large san-serif font
- Sensationalist (Alliteration, plosives, puns)
- Simple language
- Coloured
- Scandal stories 
- Images
- Large splash
- Informal
- Insensitive
- Red Top Masthead
- Celebrity gossip- "If it bleeds it leads" mentality
- Working class target audience




Broadsheet front covers:
- Informative
- Advanced language
- Society stories (political, environmental, social)
- Few images
- Formal


Polysemy - not everything has one singular meaning. Two or more possible meanings.
Anchorage - Forcing an audience in to a particular reading. The fixing of a particular meaning. 
Many newspapers want to use Anchorage and avoid Polysemy so their ideology can be put across as they wish it to be seen. Anchorage is often achieved through use of captions on images.



The Sun
Anchorage / preferred reading
- He is going to turn Britain to trash
- Bullet points demonstrate qualities, the simplified version of things, imply it is a fact


Opositional reading
- Childish
- Not factual






The Morning Star
Anchorage
- He is the way to change Britain for the better
- Bullet points demonstrate qualities, the simplified version of things, imply it is a fact











Can representations construct reality?
- Accusations (e.g. sex offender) create an opinion of a person which affects their lives



Bias - being in favour of one thing over another
Agenda - having a goal
Bias 
Bias through statistics and crowd counts
Bias through selection and omission 
Bias through placement
Bias by headline
Bias by source control 
Bias by photos, camera angles and captions
Bias through use of names and titles
Bias through word choice and tone

THE SUN WEBSITE BIAS




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