A textual analysis of the front page of The Daily Mail (Saturday 19 April 2008)

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The front page is mostly dedicated to different people's fortunes in the past. There are usually stories about people's lives and they do not have to be famous. If they have a grate story in the back they definitely get to the front page.

The covers style is very clear and the splash is easy to notice, it really takes peoples attentions.

The Daily Mail's cover can be compared for example to Enquire, where there are a lot of puffs and splashes.

On the front page there is one huge puff about the Mc Cannes family having their daughter missing.

The puff has a picture about daughter's parents and they look worried but in the same time very depressed. There comes a clear message that there is a lot fear and worrying. The headline is the only headline on the front page that is coloured so it gets your first attention.

The splash doesn't have a picture so it's a bit difficult to analyse it by the picture but the headline is very big and clear. The splash is introduced as: EXCLUSIVE! "30 hospital blunders killed my new baby" the headline shows that the mother is in a shock and thinks that the nurses are not doing their job like they should.

On the front page there's a puff that has a grate picture and a little strapline written only in few words; "Peaches and a frock shock". The strapline doesn't have any hidden meaning.

On the headlines there are no hidden messages in the choice of words of the issue.

The puff certainly is an example of the news values of continuity, familiarity and personalisation.

The splash shows that the news is shocking and it shows lot of negativity

Oona Rossi & Marika Vainio