News Writing: Top lines

I have chosen three top lines from the most recent issues of every newspaper in my room at the moment. I aim to briefly discuss them in terms of news writing style and language – rating them in a traffic light method.

Daily Mail – 15^th November

“Profits have surged by more than a third at the nation’s second biggest energy supplier – as millions of families face fuel poverty because of soaring prices.” – 26 words AMBER

“The sex scandal engulfing former CIA chief David Petraeus and America’s commander in Afghanistan deepened yesterday when it emerged the two men had personally intervened in a messy child custody battle.” – 31 words RED

“Clashes broke out across Europe yesterday as millions took to the streets to protest against austerity measures.” – 17 words GREEN

The Daily Mail tends to go over the ideal word limit per para – not as concise as I’d expect news writing to be. Sometimes the top lines seem to get a bit confused and muddled, especially in the case of the 31 word long sentence. The paper ensures that it covers the relevant ‘Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?’ fundamentals.

Daily Express – 1^st November

“Women don’t really master the art of cooking until they are 55.” – 12 words GREEN

“The death toll from Hurricane Sandy reached 65 yesterday as America’s East Coast began counting the cost of the most devastating storm in its history.” – 25 words AMBER

“Sparkling in gold and with a twinkle in her eye, Dawn French is in love – and doesn’t care who knows it.” – 21 words AMBER

The Daily Express was the paper that stuck to the word limit guidelines most closely, with the impressive word count of just 12 introducing a feature article. Even though the publication fits within the news writing limits, top lines are still very descriptive and not as concise as they could be. This idea is in particular reference to the introduction to a Dawn French article. I would argue that perhaps all relevant information is not entirely covered in the top lines – information is quite vague.

 Daily Mirror- 6th December

“Veteran BBC presenter Stuart Hall was last night charged with child sex abuse.” – 13 words GREEN

“Lounging lovely Gwyneth Paltrow may look like she’s sitting pretty but she admits being torn between her film career and her role as a mum.” – 25 words AMBER

“The knives are out again between Gordon Ramsay and his father-in-law, who has now lodged court papers to CLOSE the TV chef’s restaurant empire.” – 26 words AMBER

The Daily Mirror is on the upper bound of the word limit, easiest to read but with stylistic features of tabloids where ‘close’ was capitalised for dramatic effect. The language is very informal and uses traditional English catchphrases, such as ‘sitting pretty’ which would appeal to the older demographic of the paper. I would praise the paper’s top lines in that they cover all relevant information necessary for the impending story – I am not left with any questions.

The Sun – 29^th November

“America last night slapped a ban on BP picking up new contracts to drill for oil and gas in the States.” – 21 words GREEN

“An elderly woman collapsed and died just ten minutes after yobs pelted her house with stones.” – 16 words GREEN

“A Brit woman dies of rabies after a nip from a tiny puppy, an inquest heard yesterday.” – 17 words GREEN

The Sun was under the word limit and uses simple yet adjusted language for the typical white van drivers such as ‘slapped’ and ‘pelted’. Top lines are generally very concise, although similar to the other tabloids’ use of very descriptive language. These intros are most idyllic for their purpose, according to the news writing guidelines provided by Brian.

Daily Star – 27^th November

“Hot Helen Flanagan was sensationally booted out of the TV jungle last night.” – 13 words GREEN

“A Canadian has been named the new Governor of the Bank of England.” – 13 words AMBER

“Celebrities are showing off their hair-raising efforts as the charity event Movember nears its climax.” – 15 words GREEN

Finding an article that wasn’t celebrity related was a real challenge in the Daily Star but they establish their target market early on and make it work for them. All of the top lines in the publication are below the ideal 20-25 words per para guideline but they still continue to include all relevant information. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

Sensational language brandishes the paper as a typical tabloid along with the iconic red top incentive. The use of puns e.g. ‘hair-raising efforts’ for the awareness of the Movember campaign are common in tabloids to entertain the reader and essentially keep them focused.

Journalism Now: Femail or Woman?

The Daily Mail and The Sun have different demographics reflective within their features: Femail and Woman. The Sun’s circulation between 1 October 2012 and 28 October 2012 boasts an average of 2,384,895 per issue and The Daily Mail 1,866,701. The Mail dominates the ABC1 category, largely over 65s whereas The Sun’s readership is a majority of 25-34 year olds in the ABC1 category. The Daily Mail has a 52.98% female readership although The Sun maintains a male majority with 58.05% reading on a daily basis. With the introduction of The Sun’s Woman supplement the publication could be aiming towards a different audience.

Femail was created for each Thursday edition. This is a concentrated item of several pages as a specialised feature iconic to The Mail. The newspaper from the beginning has been recognised for its female features – supermarket and fashion adverts reflect this throughout.

Femail’s layout links with the rest of the paper; the format is fairly bland with the grey title barely hinting that the insert is even for women. This colouring is continued throughout the supplement not stereotyping females at all.

The lives of real people are the focus in Femail – there is little if not any mention of celebrities. The Mail understands its audience and what their readers want without developing ideas with famous faces.

Features can easily identify the audience in Femail. The Mail uses phrases for a mature audience older than The Sun’s demographic, for example: ‘stay younger longer’ and ‘at any age’.

Femail appeals to women with families and the housewife image as articles include topics such as washing machine reviews, kitchen ideas and recipes.

Woman, however, is published daily so is fairly diluted over the week, ensuring the frequent reader’s satisfaction. Woman’s format is a double spread feature on a family story with a beauty column running alongside. It hints at the same concept that magazines such as Take a Break act on with real life stories sent in by readers.

Stories relating to mother-daughter relationships in Woman stereotype the familial bond of readers. Relationships are a recurring topic in Woman indicative of The Sun as a family newspaper. It differs to The Mail in that the audience is younger families with fashion conscious mums less interested in the home. Gender stereotypes are clearly identified in Woman with pink covering the entire supplement and with large concentration on beauty and fashion – soft news.

Slang features in Woman as The Sun maintains its tabloid roots with verbs including ‘whopping’ and ‘botched’. Rhetorical questions create a conversational tone with readers similar to other women’s lifestyle magazines. The review like format of the beauty columns in Woman reinforces this friendly tone towards readers building up a familiar bond between paper and reader.

In contrast to Femail, celebs are key figures in Woman they reinforce the articles’ information and are attractive to the younger demographic. They incorporate an image and intended reaction with little aid, making a story easier to follow and relate to.