Media- newspaper story analysis

The news story I am addressing is "BECKY FIEND WEDS Becky Watts Killer Shauna Hoare wants to marry her lesbian lover behind bars". This news story is about a woman named Shauna Hoare who killed Becky watts and is trying to get approval from the prison chapel to marry Bernie Chance whilst she is in prison. This news story mainly incorporates news values such as: negativity, binary oppositions and predictability.  News values are the aspects of the newspaper which can be inferred to give across a certain message due to images, what is written in the newspaper and subtitles that are normally a short abbreviation of the news story it is addressing.
The newspaper story uses the news value of negativity as the newspaper can be seen as occasionally pessimistic and disrespectful to the idea of Shauna Hoare marrying Bernie Chance. This is clearly shown in the title of the news article as the noun “fiend" is used which is normally associated for someone being a demon or some sort of abnormal being. This shows that the journalist is trying to demonstrate that she should not be allowed to marry Bernie Chance. The title "BECKY FIEND WEDS" is all in bold letter which is purposely done to stand out to the person who is reading and to show that it is absolutely outrageous for Shauna Hoare to actually consider getting married after everything she has done. As the newspaper article develops, they state that Becky ‘s mother, Tanya would despise this as she says that” the teen’s big day should have been her wedding, not her funeral”. This shows that the mother had the stereotypical expectations of how woman were expected to get married; ideally this is seen as a important day which is enjoyable so Shauna having the chance to actually experience such an amazing day whilst Becky is dead to her is unfair. 

Shauna Hoarse- killed Becky and wants to marry her lesbian lover.


  Becky watts- the girl who was murdered at 16 years. 



                                                                                 
Furthermore, the newspaper article uses binary oppositions which are in support with Galtung and Ruge theory as binary oppositions are aspects which are unspoken, can be inferred and are opposites of one another. For example, good vs. evil. The newspaper does this successfully by illustrating one image of Becky watts and one image of Shauna Hoarse. Both images are a Mid-shot there by showcasing facial features, body posture and clothing. This binary opposition as one picture has a positive display and the other quite negative display. Becky Watts image looks aesthetically appealing as   she is smiling and is wearing a blue dress which makes her look elegant and beautiful. The fact that she is smiling connotes that she is joyful and is having fun. The chosen picture consists her wearing a dress which is blue which connotes loyalty and trust, making her looks extremely innocent. This makes people become agitated and annoyed by Shauna Horse as she killed someone who may be seen as such a lovely girl. She also, has the look of a stereotypical woman making her an example of how woman were demonstrated in society.  In contrast, you have an image of Shauna Horse were she has a stern look on her face which may make her look intimidating and unapproachable.  She also looks exhausted as she has eye bags underneath her eyes. This connotes that she puts herself under a lot of pressure and stress making people not really finding her appealing. This is in contrast with the woman ideology as the fact that she has these qualities makes her look macho like a man instead of weak and venerable.

The newspaper consists of the news value of predictability as it is obvious the mother Tanya wouldn’t want Shauna Hoarse to be allowed to marry as her child didn’t get a chance to get married. Also, after stating at the start that she detests the idea of the marriage taking place the writer of the newspaper reinforces it by using even more impactful phrases such as “devastating blow” and “refuse” to emphasise how much people should not support the idea. But instead, oppose it as the mother of the person who was killed is clearly not ready to forgive.

I conclude that this newspaper article is hinting that people should not permit the marriage to go on and that the prison capital should not support it despite the occasional  references of how Bernie chance feels about her lover Shauna as that is biased as Bernie loves her. The following news values predictability, negativity and binary oppositions mean. Predictability: a story or reference which has an obvious outcome in a news story. For example, a riot is expected to be violent. Negativity: “if its news, it’s bad news”. This implying that even if a newspaper article is seen as positive there will be some sort of catastrophe or issue. Binary oppositions: complete opposites of one another can be used in narratives. For example,  Men and women.  Galtung and ruge theory is clearly shown in this article as all these news value create inferred meaning which therefore opposed Shauna.  For example, the title of the article which was pessimistic.