Daily Mirror Vs the Times



The ideology of the daily mirror is clearly anti-Trump. It gives a post apocalyptic tone through the background with the dark and miserable colours, you can assume something is terribly wrong. the mise-en-scene from the weeping statue of liberty further reinforces the idea of disaster. The headline provokes a rhetorical question to the audience, creating an uncomfortable direct mode of address, this anchors the audience in such a way so that they feel a similar feeling with the statue. The use of sans serif font has a hermeneutic connotation for the audience, that it's formal and blunt.This suggests Trump's presidency will lack formallity. it's also a connotation of the tabloid newspaper. The mise-en-scene of the pillar of smoke is symbolic of the world trade centre bombings in 2001, an explicit example of intertextuality. mise-en-scene of the red text at the bottom connotes failure and destruction, further insinuating that the mirror is biased against Trump's ideologies. A binary opposition is formed through the dark clouds and the green statue of liberty, suggesting that America itself is situated in a dark place. The mise-en-scene of destruction demonstrates to the target working class audience that the world's narrative is currently in a state of disruption, unbalanced equilibrium. This directly refers to post apocalyptic genre conventions in order to inform the working class audience that we are in a state of drastic unbalance.


The Times on the other hand is visibly biased towards Trump, we can see this through the facial expression of Trump looking proud and his overall body language with him holding his fist up connotes power and freedom. However there are smaller things on the page which show anti-trump tones. The times front cover is polysemic in the sense it's how you interpret the page. The huge American flag behind the two shows patriotism as well as how it anchors the audience to believe that Trump will have a good impact on America. The facial expressions of Trump also reflect his large ego, symbolising his smugness and characteristics. The quote 'you will be so proud of your president, you will be so proud' reinforces his ego as well as possibly seeing him as a villainous figure as if he's forcing it upon the audience as well as the people living in America. The whole page is extremely polysemic. No one really knows if he's going to have a positive or negative impact.

-The mise-en-scene of the American flag is symbolic of of freedom, justice and american values. This anchors the audience to believe that Trump is a positive force.

-The headline, 'THE NEW WORLD' is presented in a serif font, which has connotations of positivity, seriousness, and the ideology that Trump will be a global force for good.

-Trump's red tie is connotative of hope, positivity, and patriotism. Red is also the colour of the republican party.

-Placement of headline is directly over Trump's heart, demonstrating his love and intentions to shape the world.

-A possible polysemic reading: slightly wary of the future. Bias through selection: a slightly smug picture of Trump has been elected, suggesting that Trump is unprepared. For other audiences, it might connote confidence, or Trump's fear at responsibility

-Lexis: choice of the word 'shockwaves' is perhaps symbolic of natural disasters. Potentially, the audience may negotiate a negative response to Trump

-Pull quote's lexis demonstrates the new president's egotism, but may be comparative to other orators like Martin Luther King. 

- However, also an intertextual reference to a comic book super villain. Yellow has connotations of strength and superiority.

-Ultimately, by generally supporting Trump, The Times has demonstrated a significant right wing bias. Further reinforces the ideological perspective of the newspaper. 

Why do newspapers demonstrate bias and agenda?

1. To appeal to a certain target audience, they will also try and construct an audience; if you don't have an audience to sell your product to, then you need to create an audience. 

2. To provide entertainment to the audience, newspapers will often bring a very controversial opinion to entice the audience. This creates narrative conflict.

3. Certain benefits including celebrity endorsements and guest columns by politicians who share similar ideological views.

Through the headline and image, an ideological representation will be created in which the audience will refer to in order to get a sense of how the newspaper is biased.

Representation - a re-presentation; showing something again.

The study of representation looks at:

- the group, place or issue in which a media text is focusing.
- the technical devices the media text uses in order to present        these groups or issues.
- the message about the group or issue being created within the        text.
- the impact of this message on the target audience.



























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