Newspaper Article Comparison

Compare the same article from two different newspapers

 The Guardian & the Daily Mail

The Daily Mail Article

The Daily Mail is against GM crops. This is shown by the subject specific lexis that is used in the article. The article uses words like ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘affects more people’. This choice of lexis makes the audience believe that GM crops are not safe, because a big newspaper is against it. The article has a negative mise en scene, which is also trying to convince the audience that GM crops are unsafe, and are a thing to be ‘concerned’ about.

The Daily Mail’s article also gives figures and numbers, to further suggest to the audience that their opinion on GM crops is correct, because the numbers and figures will convince the reader that they have the facts. The article uses dates ‘1994’ – ‘2000’ to show the audience how long the ‘damage’ has been going on for. The use of these dates is also to gain the audiences favor, and make them believe that Gm crops are a bad thing. Using figures such as ’18 countries’ and ‘200 yards away’ also does this.

The Guardian Article

The Guardian shows a very different opinion on GM crops. The Daily mail is clearly against GM crops, however, The Guardian is clearly in favor of GM crops, as is immediately shown by the Masthead ‘Embrace Gm or risk becoming ‘museum of world farming’ This bold and straight to the point masthead catches the audiences attention and instantly draws them in, to their side of the argument. The article also uses a positive mise en scene to pull the reader in, using words such as ‘embrace’ and ‘safe’.

The Guardian also uses subject specific lexis to convince the audience that GM crops are a good thing by using words such as ‘Embrace GM crops’ and ‘important’ This choice of words makes the reader believe that the article is correct, and because it has been published by a big newspaper, it must be true.

The guardian also uses numbers and figures to convince the audience to support GM crops. The article uses numbers and figures such as ’15 years’ ‘£1bn’ and ‘£100bn’ these numbers and figures further convince the audience of the truth of the article. The Facts make the audience believe what they are reading is the truth.