For my essay I decided to choose Question 1 which is to ‘Critically analyse a news story as it is presented in at least two media outlets. Where is this story on the news agenda? What factors have placed it there? How has it been framed? Whose interests does the story serve/challenge?’. I decided the best topic in the news to discuss would be the corona virus. It is everywhere and all people are speaking about. Not to mention every morning when you wake up news sites and radios are flooded with updates about the Pandemic that has put the world at a standstill. I looked through all of the major Irish news outlets, both broad sheets and tabloids to try and figure out the main factors all of them were pushing across to their audience but also all the differences between them in such a strange and unusual time. I decided to look into the Irish Mirror and the Irish Sun to try and see what two of Irelands news outlets were trying to convey to the public the most. I decided that it would be best to take certain parts of the virus to talk about, starting with the health care workers who have been working non-stop since the virus hit Ireland.
Health Care in the Irish Mirror: (https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/coronavirus-ireland-news-nearly-1000-21810177 )
The Irish Mirrors website is flooded with articles about how this pandemic is affecting the health care workers who are working day in and day out to try slowing it down and put an end to it also while keeping themselves and their family safe. The Article that caught my attention was ‘Nearly 1,000 hero healthcare workers battling Covid-19 as number of hospitalized cases soar’ this title is very attention grabbing and emotion evoking as it praises the ‘hero’ healthcare workers who have been infected while helping others. The article shows that 26 % of the infected people in Ireland are Health care workers which is around 950 people. As the amount of cases in Ireland rise so do the amount of infected people in hospitals which further put the nurses and doctors at risk. The median age of confirmed cases is 48 and the median age of death is 80. The article is very factual and not over emotional, it displays many statistics and numbers of the people effected. It highlights just how many people is being effected while trying to help the members of the public who already have it, earning their title of ‘Hero’ .
Health Care in the Irish Sun: (https://www.thesun.ie/news/5283484/nurse-coronavirus-shifts-london/ )
The Irish Sun is also filled with news on the Corona Virus but not as much on the health care workers many of their articles seem to be more on the way the virus is developing, theories of how to slow it down and donations made by celebrities. Usually with titles such as ‘TREATMENT HOPE,(EL)TON OF SUPPORT, LIKE BEING ON A BATTLEFIELD.The article im going to mention from the Irish sun is ‘LIKE BEING ON A BATTLEFIELD’ Nurse reveals stress of 13-hour shifts on frontlines of Britain’s war on coronavirus’ The article features a story told by a nurse of her account of the 13 hours shifts she had been doing to fight against the corona virus. This article is a lot more dramatic and all of the negative or awful things said about the conditions are highlighted and emphasized by bold capitalized writing like “DEHYDRATED AND EXHAUSTED’ It seems to be trying to put forward this is an all bad situation. While the situation is bleak, the nurses and doctors struggle there is big strides being made by these people to impact the speed in which the corona spreads. The nurse talks about the odd atmosphere on the wards where people appear calm, but you can tell they panicking, she talks about the uncomfortable gloves and masks which are ‘claustrophobic’ and aren’t ‘easy’ to wear. Despite situations and circumstances not being easy the nurses and doctors still show up for all their shifts to do what they can to help the people in need while also risking their lives to do so. At the start of the article that comes across as dramatic but also follows into just how crazy this situation is on the wards of the busy hospitals filled with Covid-19 patients some being the doctors who were treating them A NURSE on the frontlines in the fight against coronavirus has given a harrowing account of working 13 hours shifts on a “battlefield” ICU ward.
The title perfectly braces the audience to understand how dangerous their working situation is. Overheating, exhaustion, no time for water breaks, the measures of safety they have to take every day. It’s a scary thought.
Similarities and Difference on the Health Care workers in both news outlets.
Both the Irish Mirror and The Irish Sun made it clear that the health workers were hero’s during this pandemic risking their lives every day to save others. Both the mirror and the sun also highlight how high risk these jobs are for the nurses and doctors particularly when you realize how many of them are now sick or showing symptoms of being sick. Unlike the Sun the mirror displays many facts about the current statistics and where the health workers fit in among them, the mirrors title lacks drama but evokes emotion. It portrays the workers as hero’s who are hurt and need help because they have risked so much for strangers which Is true but the mirror using this tactic provokes people into seeing the ways they can help like following all the precautions to avoid getting sick or passing it on to others and staying away from strangers as best as possible. Both of these articles were directly addressed to the audience to try and make these circumstances they’re working in common knowledge so that people stop taking Covid-19 as a joke. Kaspar Steiler (1695) Zeitungs Lust und Nutz (Newspapers’ Uses and Gratifications). Identified importance and proximity as news values, also that events depicted are dramatic and negative. This would apply to both newspapers. Both have a presence of drama, mainly The Irish Sun and both are mainly negative considering the stories and circumstances.