Daily Telegraph Essay Example

Daily Telegraph Essay Example Daily Telegraph Essay Daily Telegraph Essay I have read a broadsheet article and a tabloid article on smacking, the broadsheet is the Daily Telegraph and the tabloid the Daily Mirror I will compare them both and write how effectively they present the issue of smacking. People likely to be reading a broadsheet will be the more educated people in the community who have a greater understanding and people likely to be reading the tabloid will be the slightly less educated people.The Daily Telegraph uses a heading that has the word urged, which is a suggestion not an instruction therefore is the issue very serious? It also says smack children, which gives no suggestion of excessive violence. This article uses statistics to try and show the seriousness of the problem it says 9 out of 10 parents thought mild corporal punishment was acceptable, they say 9 out of 10 because it makes you think and it sounds more than 90%. Using these statistics only considers the parents view it also does not specify what mild, means. These statistics are also only taken from a newspaper poll they are not government published results.The newspaper uses celebrities like Esther Rantzen and she says she regretted hitting her children because they did not get close to her she also says that her parents hit her and she rebelled against them and now she is a television presenter, so has smacking done her any harm. The paper also quotes Peter Dawson from the professional association of teachers who says his daughters were grateful, for him smacking them. He also says, if a small child is crawling towards the fire you should give them a good smack, which is a common sense example. Good smack, suggests the seriousness of the situation, but it does not specify what a GOOD smack, is .This comment is strategically placed at the end of the article so it is the bit you go away and remember and who could argue with a comment like that? The paper also uses a quote from the NSPCC who are experts on children and they believe that smacking can easily escalate into violent abuse, but I feel that they have made it a subjective matter because it is not an actual fact. The paper also tries to make the article balanced by asking teachers what they think and they say it is nonsense, to say that smacking can easily lead to violent abuse. This would reassure readers because teachers spend a lot of time with children often more time than parents and they are an authority figure so they should know what they are talking about.A pressure group called family and youth concern say it is just another attack on parental rights. Which could mean that parents have a right to hit their ch ildren. The paper also describes a leaflet, which says there are new ways of encouraging, parents to stop hitting their children but the wording is weak and suggests that the problem is minor. The newspaper quotes Penelope Leach who is against smacking and she asks parents not to smack their children for a week and then you will see the difference.The Daily Mirror is the second paper with an article on smacking I have read. This paper is a tabloid and is aimed at the less educated people in society it uses smaller more common and understandable words. This paper has a photo of two children which creates an immediate emotive response and it immediately contrasts to the broadsheet which has no photograph they leave it to your imagination.The children look fairly well dressed but they are bruised and cut, they look sad and the fact that they are well dressed shows that not only lower class children get beaten. The caption, which is written in bold type immediately, draws your attention to it. The caption says hands off, which is a very confrontational tone to create an emotive response. It also says mum or dad, which shows that either parent can beat their child the most extreme line used in the caption is violent nightmare, which shows the extremes of the abuse these children are facing. The caption also states that even younger, children get beaten than those in the photo who are about nine years old.The headline seems to be more effective than the broadsheet headline it says pressure growing, which is more immediate and of greater concern. The article is written by Roger Todd, who does not have a title unlike the writer of the broadsheet article, this could be because the issue is more important than the person who writes it. The article starts with a conversational tone which is in no way threatening and so draws the audience in but by paragraph three the tone becomes more serious as the paragraph ends with it is deadly serious, deadly, hints at the violence to come later on in the article and so keeps readers interested. In paragraph four the paper introduces a pressure group, called EPOCH, much like the broadsheet does, pressure group, suggests that the group is highly organised because it has to be because the problem is so wide spread.The article goes on to say that the department of health is spending 200,000 on a study of child beating, this is a lot of money and so suggests there is a big problem and the Telegraph informs its readers of this. The article also says the Scottish law commission has probed, the issue suggesting a detailed examination. The paper also tries to lay the blame on the parents if they have naughty children, it says a child who behaves unspeakably, in a shop for example is likely to be bribed, by its parents to shut up so it knows that if it is naughty it will get something, whereas a well behaved child does not get anything and seems to be ignored. In paragraph thirty the paper highlights injustice for some children, which questions whether parents who are teaching the child right from wrong actually recognises the difference themselves. In paragraph thirty-one a system of praise and reward is written about and claims to have children eating out of your hand. This paper seems to offer more help to parent readers by giving advice unlike the Telegraph. The Mirror even offers a helpline to parents in need of advice on handling their children.Overall I think the Daily Mirrors article is more effective because it uses more violent language which makes the reader read on and also makes the reader more emotional about smacking and should convince them that smacking is wrong. The Mirror is a bit sensationalist because it goes a bit over the top. The Mirror is more for the children and biased towards them whereas the Telegraph is more balanced but cleverly creeps over to being against smacking. The Telegraph provides a broader look at smacking and uses a slightly less violent tone without redu cing the seriousness of the article. So overall I think the Mirror is more effective but the Telegraph provides a more balanced and broader look at the situation.