Compare and contrast Essay Example for Free

Compare and contrast Essay In this coursework I will be examining 3 different newspaper articles about the famous fight between Frank Bruno and Tim Witherspoon. All 3 articles were published the morning after the fight so none of them would have had the hindsight of what the others had said. The articles are A Brave Bruno Fails from The Star, Bruno left In A Wasteland from The Guardian and Fans Hail Bruno As Title Bid Fails from The Daily Mail. There are 2 different types of newspaper these are tabloid and broadsheet. Broadsheet newspapers have an average reading age of about 14 whereas the average reading age of tabloids is only 7-8. From the 3 newspapers The Daily Mail and The Star are tabloids whereas The Guardian is a Broadsheet. The way the articles start and finish is important. In The Star the first paragraph is a single long sentence. This isnt something you would expect from a tabloid. The Guardian also has one long sentence for the first paragraph. This is something you would expect more from the Guardian, as it is a Broadsheet. The first paragraph in The Daily Mail is split into more than one sentence, something you expect more from a tabloid. The way the 3 articles end is also interesting. The Star ends very complimentary of Frank Bruno. It says how he showed strength and courage, how he had a heart of a lion. It ends on a triumphant note, saying that Bruno has not lost everything. The Guardian ends with some quotes from Frank Witherspoon. He is being a good sportsman, saying how Bruno could come back again if he wanted to. It also says I said those rippling muscles of his were no good. This is probably what Frank Witherspoon said before the fight. Before a fight both the fighters would have been insulting the other persons fighting, trying to psyche themselves up and put down their opponents. This is what Witherspoon was saying before the fight, about Brunos muscles. Now the fight has finished and he has won he is being nice and saying that he didnt mean it. The Guardian also ends on a high note. This is the person that has just beaten Bruno saying that he could come back. This is a good point for all fans of frank Bruno. The Daily Mail finishes by giving details about the end of the fight. It tells us how Frank Brunos manager, Terry Lawless, threw in the towel. This signifies the ends of a boxing fight. This article ends on a slightly negative note. Frank Bruno has lost the fight and the heavyweight title stays in American hands. The general mood in each article is different. The Star article is slightly triumphant. Words like strength and courage are used. There is even a feeling of splendour when majestic words such as conquering and king are used. It is not all happy though, there is a slight sign of sadness, using words like pathos and sadly. The Guardian article is disappointed. It starts being not very nice about Bruno, wondering whether he was ready for the fight. At the end it starts with a glimmer of hope, with Witherspoon saying how Bruno could come back if he wanted. The Daily Mail article has a very hopeful mood. It goes on about how Bruno may have lost the fight but he grew in status and has earned everyones respect. The fans have not turned against him and sang Frankie, we love you. Even after he had lost they still loved him. The article has an encouraging mood, all is not lost. The 3 articles, although they are all about the same event, concentrate on different aspects of it. The Star article concentrates almost entirely on Frank Bruno himself. The first column is all about a conversation taking place between Bruno and his manager. His opponent Witherspoon isnt mentioned until the bottom of the first column. He is given only 1 paragraph out of the first 6. After this he is not mentioned for the rest of the article. It does mention how the heavyweight title remains in American hands as Witherspoon won, but this only mentions the country. That is at the top of the second column and after this the rest of the column is back to Bruno. The Daily Mail gives a very detailed description of the actual fight. There are also a lot of exact figures given. There is a 42,000 crowd paid more than i 2 million. The other articles tend to generalise or guess, The Star calls it the nations, and The Guardian calls it thousands. The majority of the article is taken up by the description of the fight. The amount of detail that goes into the description means you can visualise parts of the fight actually happening. It tells us all about how the snap began to go out of his punches, and how he shook Witherspoon with good punches. The Star has a lot to say about the fans admiration of Frank Bruno. It turns the 42,000 crowd mentioned in The Daily Mail article into the whole of England. It talks about the nations longing to see a Briton crowned king. It makes it all very majestic using words like king, turning the boxing fight into a very important event. The Daily Mail has a lot to say about Brunos fans as well. It mentions the 42,000 crowd. It is also the only newspaper to mention money, when it mentions the i 2 million that fans spent on watching Bruno. It goes on to say how much the fans loved Bruno, They sang Frankie, we love you in a demonstration which came from the heart. The Star has a very good attitude towards Bruno. You can see this from the title where it calls Bruno brave. The article mentions the theme tune from the Muhammad Ali film. The haunting theme tune from The Greatest Story Ever Told. This is like The Star is comparing Bruno to Ali. Ali was one the greatest boxer ever so to compare Bruno to him is a very big compliment. It is also saying that Brunos story is also a great story like Muhammad Alis was. The fact that Tim Witherspoon is only mentioned once in the article tells us that The Star doesnt care about him at all, only about Bruno. They dont care that he won the fight; they believe Bruno is the better. Nearer the end of the article there is a sentence in italics. But dont feel guilty Frank, we told him. This is the paper talking to Frank Bruno. The we is referring to The Star. They are telling him not to feel bad that he lost. It then continues to say how he showed strength courage showed the world one Briton with the heart of a lion. This is very complimentary to Bruno, saying he has the heart of a lion is saying he is extremely brave. In The Star article there is a bit where Brunos own words are included. This makes us feel that we are getting close and personal to Bruno. We are getting to know him better. The Guardian is not as nice about Bruno. It says how the rigidity and stiffness of Brunos boxing contrasted with the swinging street-corner style of the man from Philadelphia. It doesnt think that Bruno was a very good boxer at all; it even prefers Witherspoon a bit. It goes on to say that Brunos fighting proved to be no more than drawing material. They are saying that Bruno wasnt ready for the fight. It is as if all of his fighting has been taught to him from a drawing board in a gym somewhere. None of it comes naturally to him. This is mentioned in another articles as well. In The Daily Mail it says the manufacturing of Bruno was incomplete. The Guardian journalist goes on to give Bruno some advice about the fight. Bruno ought to have produced more sweeping moves across the ring This is what The Guardian journalist thinks Bruno should have done. This is only with hindsight that he is able to give this advice though; Witherspoon has already won the match. The Guardian doesnt really compliment Bruno at all. It does say how he held all the aces when it came to reach. The other time it could be interpreted as a compliment in the first paragraph. It says Bruno was like an intrepid explorer trekking the icy waste. Someone who is an intrepid explorer is very brave and fearless. The icy waste is Tim Witherspoon. It is saying that in his fight against Witherspoon Bruno was very brave. In this extended metaphor it goes on to say, suddenly he slipped into a crevasse. The crevasse is his loss against Witherspoon. The Daily Mail has quite a good attitude towards Bruno. It is a lot better than the attitude from The Guardian. It opens with the sentence The only thing Frank Bruno lost at Wembley in the early hours of yesterday was a fight. This means that he grew in status; even though he lost the fight he has gained a lot of peoples respect. It goes on to say how he grew also in the affection of the fans. All of this means the newspaper thinks he fought well. We can see that the newspaper likes Bruno when it continues to say he gave the last ounces of his heart and guts and showed ability enough to suggest a long way into the fight that he had a real winning chance. They are being very kind about Brunos fighting style. But even though they say these things they also mention how the manufacturing of Bruno was incomplete. So The Daily Mail also thinks that Bruno was not ready for the fight. This is backed up earlier in the article when it says how it was a classic clash of Street Fighter and Gym Fighter. This means that Witherspoon is a natural street fighter but Bruno is not, he has been taught everything in a gym.