Plan B - iLL Manors

Ted Lecture- Ben Drew

Link & Stuff

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20089801-71/social-networking-fanning-londons-flames/

Print Analysis - The Sun

The Sun Article

Unlike the Telegraph the 'The Sun' did not go for the subdued approach to the news. the headline reads 'Cops Battle New Riots Across London'. Again this headline is longer and more detailed than other i've witnessed. Sensationalist words 'Battle' and in a lesser sense 'New'. Battle has many dark and potent connotations of war and even death. 'New' in this context implies a growing expanding radius of violence, which is true, but impies a overall cohesive nature to the riots. Which by all accounts are false.
The opening paragraph does not disappoint 'London is ablaze' we are lucky they did go for 'London is Burning' then we would have been singing all day. the emotive language is hard to spot *Wink*. The report focus more so on the extreme violence that has been caught on camera. Unlike the Telegraph who refer to the violence as a passive event and focused more on the government reaction and the larger social complications. Is comprehensive use of images continues throughout the report a total of 24 provocative images are used. Each with there own little caption that describes the image in a fearful and mystical manner. Examples are 'Spreading... Mcdonalds in Birmingham city centre attacked' or 'In flames... streets of Hackney are under siege'. An explanation is not needed as the report can be reduced to a homeless man yelling into the sky 'We all gonna die'.
Even with the crazy amount of sensationalist text and emotive images, the report does one thing right, they refer to shooting victim by name something the telegraph did not do. This grounds the report and even humanises the report.
As you may have guested youths are not give a fair voice or a voice at all in the report. They are demonised and feared refered many times as Yobs, Mobs, thugs, hooded looters, devils. Connecting quite nicely to Stan Cohen theory of Societal Deviants and the creation of Moral Panics.
The opening image is of an young woman jumping to safety in to the waiting arms of fireman. The fire burns brightly in the background casting the young woman life in shadow and uncertainty as she makes a leap of faith. This is the definition of emotive imagery fortunately youths are not seen in the image but in the explanation of the event it is reported that 'Hooded youth were seen leaving the burning building'.  The layout of the report is different to the telegraph (What a surprise) the layout is simply images with extended captions with an very loose structure, image 'Were all gonna die' image 'were all gonna die' riese and repeat.
Despite this the report does cover the major points and governmental press releases in a comprehensive manner.                      

Print Article Analysis - The Telegraph

Telegraph Article







This article is less sensationalist than I was expecting, the major difference this broadsheet has from the tabloid counterparts is the subdued images used. The telegraph choose to show a ransacked store with a lone policeman guarding the carnage. This has less explosive connotations, than a flaming car, but tells a similar story. This subdued nature is continues through the article as the Headline 'London riots: the underclass lashes out' this headline subverts the norm of one, two, three,four tier headline, form a more articulate and truthful statement. The use of the word 'Underclass' has few powerful connotations, in comparison to words like 'Yob', 'Mob'. Underclass makes no jump to conclusions about the nature of the group involved. But this uncertianity is soon put to rest by the more emotive language in later paragraphs.

This softer and gentler side to the news abruptly stops once you read the article. The strong emotive words seen in the Tabloid are replaced with detailed 'over the top' description of the events such as 'Not the hooded teenagers fleeing home at dawn.' In the first line the telegraph highlights that the youth are involved in large capacity. The description continues in a style reminiscent of a movie. And is legitimised by the quotes from the local resident. Stating that he knew this was going to happen. I was hoping that he was discussing the EMA cuts or tuition fee increase or any other major social problem that affect young people. But he placed it in a new context, they were waiting for an excuse to riot. Not for any social reason.

Similar to the many other articles they glossed over the apparent reason for the riots, referring to the shooting victim as 'some black guy'. This dismisses the 'trigger' as inrelevent in realtion to the larger social and political reasons. As the aritcles continue the use of emotive language continues with increasing vigour. 'Mob' and 'Yob' make recurring apperances. Strangely the article does not demonize the youth for their part in the riots. It makes a stronger and more provokative statement, 'this is what we expect from the youth'. The lack of Jobs and turblent government regime has created a climate ripe for senseless violence from the 'Youth Culture'.

If you couldn't have guest it, the youth do not get a fair voice or a discussion is a remotely positive light during the article. They are portrayed not as evil or even folk devils, more over they are seen as a bad seed, a victim of social climate of the times. Unable to be fixed or changed by government, or public, they are a symptom of a much large infection spanning into government postions. To reiterate ealier points Youth are not demonised in this article they are shown as uncontrolled runts of a damaged socity. if they are continued to be shown with an absence of free will or freedom of choices, good or bad, this can cause even more damage to the tenuous relationship soicity has with the youth of today.

Analysis of News Report CNN Young Man VS Boris Johnson

This short clip broadcast on the american news channel CNN. This short clip is interesting as the young man give a solid coherent argument to Boris Johnson. He does not condone the rioting but does explain the possible reasons. He refers to Political issues, mainly the crisis in Libya as a sinkhole for our countries tiresome funds and implores the london mayor to reconsider reallocating funds for domestic uses. This is in direct oppression to the representation of the youth in the media. He is well dressed, well spoken, polite but forceful and passionate about his view point.
As this was exclusively shown on American news channel this shows the evolution of the riots to a social and political friction in Britain. The headline was 'Sweeping Change' the riots are a simple trigger for personification of the major troubles in Britain.          

Analysis of News Report 12th August

This news bullitin shows the fear in government and in the public at the riots. The speech from David Cameron was taken with a pinch of salt and a larger serving of tripidation. His call for almost 3 times the number of police on the streets, gives precedence for the news headline of cival unrest and senseless violence. This is not a subdued news bulletin but more grounded and dictated by facts. Allowing for it to be taken at face value. Unforuantly during this change on the other side of the screen to count provocative images are being flashes with new found fruosity. 'Criminality pure and simple' was the main quote taken from the broadcast. Cameron did not focus on the youth as the root cause during his speech, but in context to the earlier and later broadcast, that is who he meant. The youths are not given a fair voice, they couldn't interview them due to the structure of the broadcast but the could discuss the riot from their POV. This broadcast focuses on the government response to the riots. Mainly that Cameron came back EARLY from his holiday, what a leader. The increase in police presence legitimises the news broadcasts.