Newspaper Article

ResearchAncillary TaskThe Guardian

Language

New Girl 8.30pm, Channel 4 If Zooey Deschanel's "I'm so beautiful, but it's OK to like me because I'm clumsy" act is wearing thin, you can breathe a sigh of relief this week, as it's the flatmates' turn to be neurotic. Nick persuades Jess to pose as his girlfriend to make his ex jealous and Schmidt has an interesting encounter with his sex-nemesis, Gretchen. Oh yes, she's wearing stretch pants and she won't take no for an answer.

- This description is light-heartedly scathing about the programme: New Girl.

- It describes the programme but does not persuade the reader either way, whether to watch it or not. - It uses quite sophisticated language, suggesting that the audience are well educated.

There's a scene in Gypsy Blood – True Stories (Channel 4) that is at first confusing. The camera is jumping around all over the place and it's all very close range. There's some brown fur in there somewhere, plus heavy breathing and a pathetic whimpering noise.

Slowly it becomes clear what's going on. The scene is actually being filmed by a dog, which must be wearing the camera around its neck. So we're looking out along the underside of the dog's snout. In the dog's mouth is a deer; I know it sounds implausible but the dog is a very large one (it looks like a greyhound but it may be some kind of lurcher) and the deer is very small (a Chinese water deer, as it happens). The dog is shaking the deer from side to side. This is killing, up close and personal. The viewer almost feels as if they're being shaken to death by a dog.

The scene is characteristic of Leo Maguire's powerful observational documentary, both in the artful way it is filmed (maybe a teeny bit too artful, I thought, at times: I could have done with less lingering on poppy fields etc and the whole thing fitting into an hour) and the cruelty and violence of the subject matter. There are other violent scenes involving animals. Like hare coursing, and a horrible cockfight in which one bird is on the point of collapse as the other pecks away at its head and one of the men watching shouts: "Kill him then, you fucking useless cunt. Oh, he's gone, finish him son, finish him." (No cameras around the cocks' necks, thankfully.) But most of the violence is between men. And between boys.

"Box, box," says Hughie Doherty to his son, who's pounding the pads his father is holding up. "See, he won't give, go on, Charlie, upper cut, Charlie, uppercut, do an upper cut, Charlie, up the way, quick, over the top, hook, bish bash, bing bang ..."

Charlie is 18. Months. Charlie's older brother Francie, seven, is already an established fighter. "When I'm in a fight, I have to remember it's not just for me, it's for my family and my name," he says. If dad Hughie ever saw Francie not standing up for himself, running away, or crying, then he'd give him – his own son – a good slapping, for letting the name down. Names mean a lot around here, especially if it's Doherty.

- The writer comments on use of camera, and the effect that it has.

- Technical language is used, relating to documentaries. The documentary is identified as ‘observational.’

- Some slang is used in the article, mixed in with sophisticated language.

- There are a lot of quotes from the programme used throughout the article.

Layout

The newspaper gives television programmes a star rating out of five.

The Titles are bold, slightly larger than the rest of the text on the page and are sometimes brightly coloured.

A ‘promo’ picture from the programme is shown in the middle of the page and is surrounded by text.

The date and time that the programme will be or was shown is at the start of the article and is shown in bold.

Audience• High level of education (at least a degree.)

• High income.

• Travel frequently.

• Financially aware.

• Interest in global warming and the environment.