Different types of newspapers

Last week, I learnt about the different types of newspapers, specifically broadsheets and tabloids.

Broadsheets are newspapers which reports serious news which includes sections such as Singapore, Asia, World, Money, etc.(The Straits Times). They usually report news such as natural disaters, wars, political disputes, etc and are objective. They are read by every age group.

Tabloids are newspapers which reports what is "in" and what is "out" and are mostly not serious, such as "in"(The Straits Times). They consists of celebrity news, work of students, articles regarding the feelings of the reader after having experienced/read about a certain event. They are mostly read by teenagers.

Comparing these two types of newspapers, a broadsheet is twice the size of a tabloid. A broadsheet is more about serious news while a tabloid is more sensational and gossipy. Also, a broadsheet is objective(propogandas) while a tabloid is not.

Factors that make a story newsworthy(from my viewpoint as a teenager):

Uniqueness is one of this factors, readers would like to read unique news besides same old boring news about the government and political leaders, etc. It can be about news such as people with a certain ideal defying the ideal. Such as Pregnant nun accused of arson. Most people view nuns as kind-hearted and innocent. But this nun have not only defied their ideal(getting pregnant) but also accused of arson, a serious offense. So this should be a big scoop.

Another factor is the number of people affected/impact. A person getting injured seems a small deal to most of us but an earthquake killing and injuring thousands of people will catch our attention.

Another factor is who it affects. If a ordinary citizen just died today, no one will really care but if it was the minister mentor or a famous person, it will definitely hit the headlines.

The last factor is a how touching the story is. It must make the readers sympathise/empathise the incident. Such as, a dog saving its owner from a mad dog by fighting with it but as a result, died.

Strange fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

I feel that the author doesn't use the word "lynching" as not using the word creates more sympathy for the Blacks. It is also to show the contrast between what South America is thought to be and what it actually is. "lynching" is also not used so that the setting is more detailed and lets the reader guess what is happening and not directly tell them.

Mississipi Burning

I have watched a move called Mississipi Burning last week. It was about racism, a group of people which were called KKK lynched Negros just because they did not like thier skin colour. In the movie, the director wants us to pity the Negros(using methods such as showing the little boy reactions after his father was lynched and how KKK treated the Negros) and cause us to hate whites. The FBI agents, after a lot of effort, finally found enough evidence to sue the KKK. This shows that with perserverence, anything can be done, even able to put KKK in jail in such a racist community. In total, I feel that the movie is a little non-realistic and is critising the whites in the way that everyone in Mississipi except one single woman is discriminating the Negros which was probably not true in real life. The movie tells us that there shouldn't be racism as everyone despite skin colour, gender, etc is still a person and should be treated like everyone else, fairly.