Paradise Papers/Social Participatory Media

Write up a description of the main differences between the two front pages from The Guardian and the Daily Mail, looking at both conventions and how the stories have been presented to the reader.

Daily Mail makes out that the Queen is innocent by using the verb 'dragged' because it makes us think that it is not the queen's fault. In contrast, The Guardian are holding the queen more accountable to the matter as they state that it is her cash that is being invested therefore it is her fault. The Guardian have made this story the whole front cover therefore the issue would clearly interest their readership more than it would for the daily mail. this may be due to it being about money and investments therefore the less educated readership of the daily mail may be less interested in this topic area. the daily mail have included other plugs on the front page so that those who arent interested in the money issue can read about the 'schoolgirl' or the 'diet'. this is because their readers are typically more interested in social issues and celebs.

the font and size of the main headline on the daily mail's front page is much more in your face than the guardian's main headline. they used short, punchy words to dramatise the issue and have described it as a 'row'. it is clear from this that the daily mail are trying to describe the issue to the reader as simply as possible so that they understand what is going on. on the other hand, the guardian have used very highbrow language in their headline because the majority of it's readership would understand what they are addressing. the reason for the smaller, lower case headline on the front of the guardian would be because it doesn't need to be made exceedingly eye-catching as the story covers the whole page and have used the bright yellow theme which would instead catch the audience's eye.

Write a paragraph outlining why you think the Guardian created a series of news articles looking at the same issue and how that may reflect the newspapers political ideology and news values.

the reason behind the guardian producing more than one article on the matter is because it would interest their readership. they are providing interesting articles for more educated people therefore money and investments would be more relatable to them than the people who read the daily mail, typically speaking. it is common for the guardian to go into more detail about articles because the readers would be interested in the issue of money. their readership would want to continue to read about further news regarding the issue therefore the guardian do this by creating a series of news articles.

Look at the Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and the Independent online newspaper and consider what you learn about these two publications from their versions of the story and the front page conventions.

the daily express and daily mirror have adopted a similar approach to the daily mail on this matter as they have both used large, capital lettered main headlines to attract as much attention as possible. they have also included other plugs , like the daily mail, to interest the people that arent bothered by money investments into reading the paper. everything on the front cover of the daily express/daily mirror/daily mail is very in your face, unlike the independent. it is noticeable that the daily express have described the issue as a 'row', which is the same word as what the daily mail used. the independent have used a similar approach to the guardian with the lower case main headline and high level of vocabulary. this suggests that their readership is similar to the guardian's.

it is interesting to see that the daily telegraph has only included a small headline regarding the story. this suggests that there are more important issues that would interest their readership more than this would. it is as though they have only included it on the front because the issue has been on the news lately so they feel as though they have to include it.

Look at the online versions of these stories via Mail Online and The Guardian website. Compare and contrast their coverage. Use the sites to find out as much as you can about the story, so you fully understand it. What other media elements do the two websites provide readers (e.g.: audio or video clips, hyperlinks to other sites or connected stories)?

from looking online, i have noticed that the guardian have a page on their website dedicated to all the paradise papers stories. whereas, with the mail online i could only find paradise papers articles dotted about. as you scroll down the article on the daily mail, a video pops up of the article so that their readership can, instead of reading the information, watch a clip of it with someone explaining it. this adds to the sense that the daily mail is more in your face, as it doesn't give you a choice to watch the video or not. the guardian goes into a lot of detail about the story whereas the mail online include less copy and more visual images to please their less educated readership. as you scroll down the article on the mail online, they have included a 'related articles' box with four other articles featured. as you reach the bottom of the article, they tell the reader to 'share' the article and include many social media tabs for the reader to easily click on. this is less prominent on the guardian as they only include small social media icons and no text telling them to share the article. down the left side of the article the guardian have included a few related articles for the reader to click on. the guardian include many hyperlinks on words throughout their articles to encourage the reader to click on them which leads them to another article relating to that word.


The mail online have included subheadings on some of their paradise papers articles to simply educate the reader on what the issue is about. this clearly shows that their readership is less educated because the subtitles are questions that the readers may have about the issue.

Look at social media sites and explain how you think they encourage readers to interact with the story.

from looking at the guardian's twitter feed on the paradise papers, i have noticed that people can easily get involved with the stories by retweeting them and writing their own comments about them. by retweeting their posts, their friends may be more encouraged to get involved. a link that kept coming up was called 'the guardian opinions' which encourages people to get involved in the articles by giving their opinions. The Mail Online also have a twitter feed with posts related to the paradise papers. other pages have tagged them in their posts, increasing their publicity. Shirky's theory can be applied to this as it suggests that user-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about something.

both newspapers include an easy-to click on link of their article and then caption it in simpler words to make it very easy for readers to understand what the post relates to. considering they both post so frequently, there are more and more things for people to get involved with. the link to the article always included a picture so attract the audience's attention, just like they do in their paper copies,.

Social and Participatory Media

How active are the social media feeds of The Daily Mail and The Guardian and what might this tell us about their readers and how involved they are with news products? Which articles are included and which generate the most social media activity and audience participation?

the guardian's twitter feed is very active, with just 5-10 minutes between each of their posts. the daily mail's twitter feed is just as active as the guardian's. both of their readerships are clearly very involved with social media, as otherwise the newspapers wouldn't be posting so much content online. 

the guardian's most popular posts are ones relating to DNA sampling, women's rights and supporting same-sex marriage. it is clear from this that the guardian's readership are interested in more educated matters. another popular post is about archaeology and birds suggesting that they care more for the environment than the daily mail's readership. 

i have noticed that the most popular posts on the daily mail's twitter feed are ones of dogs doing silly things. this shows that their readership are more interested in lighthearted issues. another one is meghan markle pictured outside Buckingham palace aged 15.