Differences in Traditional and Tabloid coverage

There are plenty of key differences looking into the traditional coverage of The Times (UK) and the tabloid coverage of The Mirror (UK) that give the website it’s stand-out feature(s).

THE TIMES

The first noticeable feature found in The Mirror was its easy navigation and layout. Its various sections are very well organized and you’re able to scroll down without the annoyance of ads. The website gives you the chance to approve or reject the use of cookies. Whereas the layout can be compared to the New York Times giving it that reassurance the publication could be mostly reliable.

This publications holds a vast amount of topics and issues ranging from the most important news such the covid-19 vaccinations of most British people over 70 to political news on Tory MP’s accusing ministers of incompetence to Everton beating Tottenham in the FA Cup.

Once you click an article you are given the byline and the name of the staff writer (or contributor). The headlines show that the focus is mainly in the form of hard news. Therefore, the reader or viewer looking for hard news of the day can rely on The Mirror’s coverage.

The intended audience here will most likely be those ages 30 and up.

THE MIRROR
Right away in this publication I was hit with ad after ad.

The feeling was of suffocation. There was room to breathe as moving away from the ads led to instant pop up sections that seemingly became irritating.

You can see how this tabloid website had more of a click-bait desperate headlines. In an instant one can tell these are all soft news used to subdue the reader into “fascinating” readings.

For example this headline is titled “EXCLUSIVE: Woman shares horrific photo of severe 'Covid toe' that looks like 'Chernobyl burn’” can easily bring the uninformed reader who only seeks fun, inept, unintellectual articles.

One strange thing I noticed in several articles that mostly are contained in every published article is this unusual line: Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@trinitymirror.com or call us direct 0207 29 33033.

But hey at least they have a byline.

Overall, the two are clearly different. Traditional news mainly publish hard news coverage, while tabloids coverage is more soft news (plus lots of ads). Although, one similarity is that neither had wire reported articles.

As a journalism student, producing content for a traditional news website rather than a tabloid would be highly preferred because there is a sense of seriousness in reporting news that means something compared to news coverage that berate me with more ads.