Newspaper Comparison

Nowadays, the media has many methods of reporting news to the public. Newspaper has been one of the best to deliver a wide range of local and international affairs. As usual, there appear to be some newspaper that have more proficiency than others. This blog will compare a newspaper with a tabloid in several aspects.

Aspects of Comparison	The Telegraph	Mirror
Language	The author used a set of formal vocabulary such as: “Cost of a child hits record £222,000”, “…raising a child…”, “…nursery care…”.	The author often used informal vocabulary and phrasal verbs throughout the article such as: “The cost has rocketed to £222,000…”, “...bring up…”, “…darling…”, “…babysitting…”.
Content details	More detailed information and estimations about the in the future. Examples: “… this is set to reach £350,000 by 2023 if costs continue to increase…”, “…London (£239,123), the South East (£237,233) and the East of England (£233,363) have remained the three most expensive places to raise children.”	The text is quite short and concise. Basic information are included. Example:  “… £19,270 feeding one child and £16,195 on holidays…”, “The most expensive area to raise children is still London at £239,123.”
References used in the article	Supported by three references are used. Two are in-text and one is a direct quote. “…LV='s annual Cost of a Child Report show that…” “According to LV=, more than four…” “…said Mark Jones, head of protection at LV=” <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]-->	Supported by two references are used. One is in-text and one as a direct quote. “…according to the Cost of a Child report.” “Mark Jones, for LV=, said…”
Visual images	One large focused picture of a child and his mother kissing him is displayed for the main topic.	One large picture for different ethnicities of children.

Bibliography

Gammell, K. (2013) ‘Cost of a child hits record £222,000’, The Telegraph, 24 January [Online]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/9823143/Cost-of-raising-a-child-hits-record-222000.html (Accessed: 24 January 2013).

Sayid, Ruki. (2013) ‘Baby boom: Cost of raising a child rockets by 58% in a decade’, Mirror, 24 January [Online]. Available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/personal-finance/cost-of-a-child-report-222000-to-bring-1552229 (Accessed: 24 January 2013).

 

Crime & Punishment

1) Should the death penalty exist as a punishment for murder or terrorism?

In the past, the authority of justice was extremely tough. There was either a life sentence or an execution. Nowadays, regime has changed to have some of tolerance, and human rights organisations have appeared to fight these extreme verdicts. " Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner." (Amnesty, 2011).

2) Should the main purpose of prison be punishment or rehabilitation?

Detaining criminals in a prison and freeing them after they serve their sentences would not change much in their behaviours. Accordingly, Modern prisons are heading toward schemes to rehabilitate the prisoners and prepare them to be freed the community. A ministry of Justice spokeswoman (cited in the Huffington Post, 2012) stated that the prisons are presence to protect the community, and to punish and rehabilitate prisoners thus they are less likely to commit crime.

 

3) What is the best way to deal with juvenile crime such as joy-riding, Vandalism and graffiti?

Regarding joy-riding, in my home country of Bahrain its sentence has some tolerance. It is dealt with by fine and delaying the date of the driving test for 6 months. When it relates to vandalism and graffiti, their sentences are much strict. They may be a fine or serving one to two months in prison.

4) Is it ever right for political activists to break the law?

As the political activists are there to reform the government policies, it does not make sense if they break the law. But sometimes they beak laws that they think they are not fair and they need to be changed.

5) How strict should the law be with people who drink and drive?

Although, these people often cause accedents, in most countries they are only fined a small amount of money. Authorities should treat them accordingly to their criminal registery, also to how dangirous their driving is.

6) Which is the more serious problem in your country – tax evasion or social security fraud?

The social security fraud appears to bethe most common in my country. Usually who commits this kind of crime face low income problem. Therefor, the authorities are trying to trace these people that could be fined or prisoned.

 

7) Should the police have the right to stop and search you in the street without a warrant?

The duty of police is to keep order in street. Hence, if there is no mystry in the behaviour of the drivers behaviour they should disrupt them.

8) Should the law respect the rights of homeless people to squat in unoccupied property or shop doorways?

The state is responsible of providing shelter for its people. So if there are people still have nowhere to go the law should respect thier condition.

9) Should smoking cannabis be a criminal offence?

Cannabis is a kind of pisones that is harmful for human being, and more dangerous than smoking tobbaco.

 

Bibliography

Amnesty International (2011) Abolish the death penalty. Avilable at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty (Accessed at: 24 January 2013).

Huffington Post (2012) ‘Prison Overcrowding Undermining Rehabilitation, Says Report’, The Huffington Post, 6 March [Online]. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/05/prison-overcrowding-rehabilitation_n_1322339.html (Accessed at: 24 January 2013).

 

 

London Riots 2011

Police officers in riot gear block a road near a burning car in Hackney (Macgregor, 2011)

Following Arab Spring in 2011, there were many peaceful demonstrations in London. These protest soon turned into riots and violence. I first knew about it when I was reading BBC News. There were many photographs of young men published online were clashing with police. Petrol bombs were intensively used from the rioters’ side, and in contrast police fired teargas canisters. The violence was dominating the scene all over the capital. As a result, many were arrested, injured and many shops were closed and ruined.

According to BBC News (2011) the riots erupted on 6th August over a death of unarmed man who was shot by police, since, the violence commuted to famous cities around England such as Tottenham, Birmingham and Manchester. The incentives beyond the riots appear to be more than shooting unarmed man. Generally, Those who took part in fight with police were almost young men reportedly come from poor communities, and they are unemployed (CBC News, 2011). Penny (cited on the CBC News website, 2011) claimed that "The truth is that very few people know why this is happening."

Authorities reaction to riots was to restore order and peace, and not to allow terror emerges on Britain’s streets. Thus, enormous number of troops intervened to deter rioter from vandalizing public and privet properties. Police arrested many and promised to bring them to justice.

Bibliography

BBC (2011) England riots: Maps and timeline. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14436499 (Accessed: 10 January 2013).

CBC News (2011) Getting to the root of the U.K. riots. Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/08/09/f-uk-riots-faq.html (Accessed: 10 January 2013).

Macgregor, L. (2011) Police officers in riot gear block a road near a burning car in Hackney [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2011/aug/09/london-riots-croydon-hackney#/?picture=377701208&index=16 (Accessed: 10 January 2013).