When Analysing a Media Text, Consider the Following

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When analysing a media text, consider the following:

1. Where was the text published (e.g. in a newspaper, on the internet or in a magazine)?

2. What does this tell you about the intended audience? (Age, gender, interests, attention span, and education – does the article assume that the reader understands particular words or references?)

3. Is the headline a fact or an opinion? Identify any interesting language features and analyse the connotations.

4. If there is a strapline, do the same.

5. Summarise what the article is about in a paragraph of three to four sentences. Remember to drop short quotations into your answer.

6. Summarise the message of the article in one sentence.

7. Identify three facts and three opinions that support this message. Explain why each one is a fact or opinion and what they add to the article.

8. Are any people quoted in the article? If so, these people are called sources of information. Who is quoted and how credible are they? What effect will their comments have on the reader?

9. How would you describe the writer’s attitude? What is his/her tone? Find evidence to support your answer. Can you find any evidence of bias? Again, give evidence to support your answer.

10. Comment on any photographs or images. Why do you think they are there? What do they reveal? How effective are they? Write a short paragraph, giving a full, detailed answer.

11. If there is a caption under each image, comment on the language used.

12. Write a paragraph, commenting on any words and phrases from the article you find interesting. Look out for emotive language, use of colloquial language and/or slang, puns/word play, parody, irony, metaphors, similes, alliteration, personification, hyperbole (exaggeration) etc. Also comment on the use of different sentence lengths and the effects that these have.