discourse analysis- how to assess bias (The sun + Guardian)

bias created through selection and omission 

 the Sun
  • On the home page of The Sun there's lots of articles advertised for the reader to click on but the main story is one centred on ITV's 'I'm a celeb', a popular tv show that is very topical at the moment. The Sun selects certain articles that are very topical and gossip orientated and it's talking in less of a serious tone.
  • As you scroll down there's many celebrity gossip stories around pop-culture, popular tv shows, sex stories and family life. All articles include a photo in many different ways either a paparazzi shot, selfie or social media photo to grab attention of the reader but to also show the reader who the article is talking about as they focus on celebrities. 
  • Further down the homepage there are a few more serious articles about politics and missing people but as they are underneath a showbiz manner centred around popular pop-culture topics, it shows the editors focus their attention on gossip news more for their younger audience. 
the guardian
  • On the home page of each newspapers website they showcase different types of articles, The Guardian has more political stories and have selected to place trump and general election news stories on their front page. Only when you scroll down it shows a local story from Birmingham about a gang story from a cinema.
  • After that the stories are listed with no pictures so the reader would have to read through the description of the article to work out if they want to click and read more.
  • As you keep scrolling the articles have sub-headings that categorise the articles but overall, The Guardian selects more political and industrial news stories which suggests that their audience is older and the editors want to show us political and more 'news'.
Bias through headlines

the Sun
  • All The Sun's articles are a different colour and are used to joke or reference the celebrity or scenario the article is talking about. The editors use lots of intertextuality in their headlines of articles that the reader should be able to get if they know the celebrity the articles talking about.
  • They normally exaggerate or only tell you some of the story which will make the reader click on the article quickly without thinking and then read through trying to find out what the headline meant by its 'joke' term.
  • This shows some bias by the editors as you would only understand their headline if you knew the celebrity which benefits those readers that do understand their references. Also they are mostly shown from an negative perspective showing the influence they have on the readers to have the same view that they are trying to get across. 
the guardian
  • Most of The Guardians headlines feature the location of where the article is written about to inform readers of how local the stories are but also so they are informed before they read and click on the article to include context. 
  • All the articles are serious and don't reference or joke about other media so the reader immediately knows whether they want to read the article or not. This shows no bias as the reader can make their own mind up about the article but they show lots of bias in the way they display their articles.

Bias through Photos and Captions

the Sun
  • All the suns articles feature a picture weather it's a random google image related to the story, a celebrity paparazzi shot, selfie, social media post or MP speech images. 
  • This shows they advertise their articles all differently showing bias to each individual article by the image they use, for example; they have the choice to use an unflattering celebrity paparazzi photo or an official image the certain celebrity has chosen to post implying they like it which shapes the way we view the article's subject before even reading the article itself. 
  • This shows the editors use immediate bias in the photos they use and they are very good at shaping the way an audience will read the article based on the photo or celebrity the articles about and if they are a negative character. 
The Guardian
  • Only a few of The Guardians articles feature a photo on their homepage but they all look very professional and official as if they've had to of been verified by someone authoritative. 
  • They also feature a video instead on their homepage showing they'd want their readers to watch it showing some bias from editors around this story as they advertise it pretty highly so readers will watch it.
  • This shows that the editors of this newspaper want the readers to think that The Guardian is an official news outlet rather than an untrustworthy source implying they think quite highly of themselves as an newspaper.

Bias through choice and tone

The Guardian
  • As most of The Guardians articles are based on serious news stories they use a very formal and serious tone. 
  • The titles are very straight forward and get to the point of the article focusing on more specific details showing the bias of certain editors based on certain stories they want to inform us on more.




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