Structure, Purpose & Language of News Articles (U7: P3, M2)

Learning Outcome 2 (U7): Know the construction and content of news articles

P3 (U7): Describe the structure and purpose for different news articles

Organisations will put their news stories onto different platforms, in order to appeal and aim at a wide variety of audiences. This is effective, as it means that everyone is exposed to both specific stories, as well as specific organisations.

The Observer

The Observer structure is that of a traditional newspaper, using the traditional paragraph structure of short bursts of information, as to not overwhelm the reader with loads of information at one given time. This allows the reader to take in all the necessary information, not being overwhelmed.

The Observer

This is a common convention of broadsheets, and is used throughout broadsheets. Broadsheets are more text heavy than tabloids, so to counter-act this heavy text, broadsheets use short paragraphs, as a way to lay out the page in a less intimidating way to view. The purpose of this is to relay the information to the audience in a succinct manner; newspapers are fact-based, so elaborate, overly verbose language is not necessary.  

The purpose of a broadsheet is to provide consumers with a newspaper that offers updated information on current world affairs. As well as this, broadsheets also aim to offer consumers with relevant, mainstream news. The news that will appear in broadsheets will normally carry some weight to them, being serious and affect certain groups of people. This article's purpose, which is from March 2019 and is about the gilets jaunes protests in France, is to share the events that are unfolding in France, by using coherent and educated language, that will highly appeal to a specific target audience.

The audience of The Observer's target audience are well-educated males. Over 50% of the readers of the Observers are male, accumulating an average reader age of 44. This affects the content that The Observer releases, as they will ensure that the content that is included in their newspaper directly appeals to this specific audience. This includes foreign affairs, political news and current affairs. This specific article fits in with this specific audience, as it uses language that highly educated people will be used to reading.

The mode of address of The Observer is very formal, emphasising its main target audience. This is a common convention of broadsheets, with the majority of broadsheets papers using formal language, in order to appeal to their specific audiences. This article interlinks with this mode of address, as its serious tone, and lack of emotive language, results in a very formal article.

The sentences within the paragraphs are long ones, with very few to no short sentences. This is because the long sentence structure results in a more coherent read, appealing to the highly educated target audience The Observer is aiming at. This is true in this specific article, as the majority of the paragraphs are made up of only 1 or 2 sentences.

BBC Online

BBC's website contains a similar structure to that of a traditional broadsheet, as it also uses short, fact-filled paragraphs, as to not overwhelm the audience with mass information. Similar to The Observer, BBC does this to appeal to its target audience, which is a wide variety of people, stretching across all aspects of society. BBC adapt this structure, as it gives the website the most professional aesthetic, giving it a different appeal to viewers.

BBC Online

This article, from February 2020, which is about the coronavirus in China, co-inlinks with this traditional structure, as the paragraphs are no longer than a sentence or two long, and contain the relevant information in them.







The purpose of the BBC website is to offer updated and regular news, to a wide range of people. This is done by constantly updating the articles, ensuring that they are always up-to-date and accurate. As well as this, the purpose of the website is to ensure that anyone, anywhere can access articles that appeal to a range of audiences, not just one specific one. The purpose of this article is to inform people of the spread and progress of the coronavirus. It is constantly updated, and offers people the ability to read something they appeals to them.

The audience of BBC articles is inclusive, being a government-funded organisation. This means that they have to ensure that there is articles that appeal to everyone. This results in a wide variety of articles being available on the website. The audience of this article is affluential people, interested in foreign affairs and wanting to learn about the dangers that could potential affect them in the near future. The BBC is also a politically-neutral organisation, meaning that they have to provide a balanced account of current affairs, presenting different sides of any given argument.

The mode of address is very formal, with a lack of emotive language and descriptive words. The paragraphs are very fact-driven and heavy, and contain many statistics and points about the article. This compares with broadsheets, as it contains the same paragraph structure of only 1 or 2 sentences. In this article this applies, as it continues this structure of short sentences and formal language.

In general, the paragraph lengths in the BBC article are somewhat shorter than those in The Observer article; being a daily, updated service, the information presented is even more fact-driven, with less elaboration than in the broadsheet article. The fact that it is not opinion-based, offering a neutral standpoint, also contributes to this.

The Sun App
The structure of The Sun's app is the same as any traditional newspaper, especially that of a tabloid. The articles follow the classic conventions of tabloids; with very minimal text, and long quotes, that are  used for reporting on the article. This is because the text on The Sun's app almost plays second fiddle to the images.

The Sun app

The images are very large, which is a common convention for tabloids. This appeals to specific audiences, offering a different reading experience for readers. This article is from February 2020 and also concerns the coronavirus outbreak in China.















The purpose of The Sun's app is to offer readers a way to read the lasts news, in an informal way, anywhere they want. This is done by a constant update of the articles that are put onto the app. This keeps the news fresh, and creates a vested audience and following, one that keeps coming back to see the new updates. In addition to this, the purpose of the app is to provide people with a platform, where they can access updated news anywhere, at any time. The purpose of this article is to provide people with an update about the sudden outbreak of coronavirus, and its progression.

The Sun has a very specific audience. They predominately aim at 'The White-Van Man', a male aged between 25-44 years old, in the NRS social category C-E. This affects both the content of the articles, and the style in which they are written. The content is a mixture of both the main news, such as the coronavirus outbreak, as well as niche stories; stories that wouldn't be reported in broadsheets.

The Sun app

This specific article (coronavirus outbreak) appeals to this specific audience, as it reports on a worldwide audience, and something that is covered across all major news platforms, in a very informal way.

The mode of address of this article is very informal, especially in the headline. This is a common convention of tabloids, engaging the audience with witty word play. 'Dripping Off' is a play on 'Stripping Off', and appeals to The Sun's mainly male demographic, many of whom have traditionally bought the paper due to its focus on celebrity culture - and, indeed, to the long running Page 3 models. This highlights the informality of tabloids, as the humorous titles appeal to an informal audience, helping them to sell more. This is true in this article, as the text is minimal, with the majority of the page being taken up by various images.



M2 (U7): Analyse the linguistic conventions used within different news articles

There are many linguistic conventions that these articles abide to. This is done to build a recognisable article, resulting in the article appealing to a large majority of consumers. In The Observer article, the headline is big and bold, standing out amongst the article and the page, drawing the reader it for a closer look.

The Observer headline

This is done so that, when flicking through the pages, the title will grab the reader's attention, and almost persuade them to have a closer look at the news story. As well as this, it clearly shows the reader what the specific article is about. The headline can be formal, like in broadsheets, or informal, like in tabloids. The use of 'Gilets Jaunes' is an example of an elaborate code, which excludes certain readers and makes the article exclusive to certain readers - The Observer is aimed at more educated, ABC1 audiences, so this will appeal to them. The headline is also longer, as well as being more fact-based, giving detail on what the article is about, rather than  using any word play, such as alliteration. Because it it more fact-based, there is little word play or emotive language.

The Sun headline

In The Sun's headline, on Megxit, the pun 'Megged off' highlights the informality of tabloids. This results in an appeal to a different audience, meaning the spread of information is greater. The target audience that will be appealed to in this article are people in the NRS social grade C-E. The emotive language used - 'furious' and 'desperate' - as well as the direct quotation again highlights informality, as well as giving it credibility. Informality is also created by use of first names rather than surnames. For example, the use of 'Doria' to describe Meghan's sister suggests a degree of familiarity, encouraging empathy in the reader.

All the articles, whether its broadsheet or tabloid, digital or traditional, use the same paragraphing structure. This structure is small paragraphing, usually no longer than 1 or 2 sentences long, using a mixture of long and short sentences.

The Observer

The BBC online

These articles are taken from a broadsheet and app; two different platforms, with two different audiences, yet have the same paragraphing structure and layout. This is done so the articles don't come across as too intimidating to an audience, as well as keeping the information clear and coherent. This means that the article will gain a following, and will appeal to a range of people, outside of the immediate appeal of the articles. As well as this, it also means that the information can be separated in an appropriate way.

The BBC has very broad appeal, and is supposed to be politically neutral. For this reason, there is less opinion in it, so the articles tend to be more fact-driven, rather than emotive or manipulative. The lengths of sentences and paragraphs are therefore shorter.

In both of the articles above, use of punctuation is kept to a minimum. Commas are rarely used, especially in the opening paragraphs, because these typically aim to convey facts succinctly and concisely. However, The Observer paragraph, whilst still only one sentence in length, and relatively short for a piece of prose writing, is longer than that of the BBC, with more emotive language, such as 'erupted' and 'smashed'. This is to imply the drama and violence of the protests.

In line with the factual nature of the BBC's writing, facts and statistics are used throughout the article:

BBC Online

Here, statistics in the form of numbers are used in each of the first five paragraphs of the article, in order to convey the scale of the epidemic. For example, "18 million people" are housebound in the east of China, conveying to the reader the impact the epidemic has had.






The use of the 5W's is a must have across all ranges of news articles. This is the base of news articles,  providing audiences with the necessary information that they want to learn. Without including these, the main purpose of the article, to provide the necessary information, is lost. This is necessary, as if this is mixed, then the main reason and purpose of the news article is lost, meaning that the article doesn't serve any purpose.

In the BBC online article, the 5W's have been included multiple times. For example, we discover that an '80-year-old Hong Kong man' fell in on a cruise ship (Who, Where); the cruise ship was 'docked in Hong Kong' (Where); hospitals have been built 'to provide an additional 10,000 beds' (Why).

The mode of address depends on the specific newspaper; whether it is a tabloid or broadsheet. This is because they have very different target audiences, so use language differently to appeal to a range of audiences. The Sun uses emotive language, resulting in it being very informal, appealing to a specific audience. The Observer juxtaposes this, using a serious tone and 'bland language', resulting in the article being less of an entertaining read, and more fact-driven.

In tabloids, especially in The Sun's app, the articles have large chunks of direct speech, on the specific event that is being reported on. This is done to make the audience feel included, building a friendlier reading environment for the specific target audience. This is common within tabloids, as they build a more included reading environment, compared to broadsheets, who concentrate more on getting the facts across.

The Sun app

This makes the reader feel directly involved in the article, meaning the information will be digested more, as they are more vested in the article.











Tabloids tend to use popular celebrities when commenting on news stories, whilst broadsheets will often use people in positions of authority, such as MPs and specialists in individual fields. Tabloids also use 'vox populi', interviewing members of the public to appeal to their target audience. This helps create more of an intimate feel with the stories, so that they are relatable.

The Sun online

In the article on the right, for example, that comes from The Sun's website, the story centres on an ordinary member of the public. The mode of address is informal, using 'mum' rather than 'mother', to encourage identification, alignment and empathy. The use of direct quotation adds to the feeling of authenticity and credibility. The interviewee uses emotive language ('I have to live every moment wondering of he might die') that chimes with the emotive language used in the rest of the article ('deadly virus') to encourage reader empathy.

The Guardian online

Broadsheets also use interviews to add credibility, though there is a tendency for them to quote specific organisations or specialists. In The Guardian article (right), the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) is quoted, which creates authenticity. The use of direct speech is factual and elaborate - in the last paragraph, for example.

Overall, tabloids attempt to create more of an intimate bond with the reader, via emotive language and puns, whilst broadsheets tend rot be more fact-driven.