Essay on Daily Star and Daily Mirror

'Using the comparison of these two texts as your starting point, explore the media issues and debates which they raise.'

The Daily Star and Daily Mirror are two different newspapers that have different ideologies and representations. Both newspapers have used the Celebrity Big Brother story about Shilpa Shetty being verbally abused by her fellow housemates.

The Daily Star has used the story as their main headline, which takes up the whole front cover of the newspaper. This is to attract their primary target audience of males, 19-35, of c2, d and e class. The audience would be attracted to buy the newspaper because of the articles, as it is mostly “Goss...Pics...Sport”. This can be contrasted with the Daily Mirror, which has used the story as its second story, and have used a story on the economic problem. This is to attract their primary target audience of males and females of B, C1, C2 class, and aged 21-45.

This is further highlighted by the language used by the newspapers. The Daily Star has used simple English to appeal to their audience. Whereas, The Daily Mirror has used more complex English to attract their audience. This can reinforce the issue of ‘chavs’ in society, as the Daily Star is conveying that their audience is uneducated and not interested in ‘real news’. Whereas the audience of the Daily Mirror are well educated, as the news on the front cover is about “Mortgages...Inflation...Debt”.

In addition to this the difference between class and society is shown through the price of both newspapers. The Daily Star is priced at 0.35p and the Daily Mirror is 0.45p. As a result the issue represents the audience of the Daily Star as less privileged; as they are unable to buy a more expensive newspaper like the Daily Mirror.

The Daily Star has used half the page, to show an image of Shilpa Shetty, whilst the Daily Mirror has used the right hand corner of the page, which is less then a quarter of the cover. This can suggest that the Daily Mirror does not find the news as worthy as the Daily Star does. The representation of Shilpa Shetty differs between the newspapers, through the layout and captions used. The Daily Star has used a provocative image of Shilpa Shetty, as she is shown to be a sexual object, which reinforces Laura Mulveys theory of ‘male gaze’. Freud’s theory of penis envy can be applied to the way Shetty is positioned, as her legs are long and wide apart, emphasis’s her as a sexual fantasy.

This is contrasted with the Daily Mirror which has only used Shetty’s face instead of her whole body. This can portray her as an innocent victim and like a ‘Madonna’, instead of showing her as a ‘whore’. This is further highlighted, because the image used by the Daily Mirror is an official image produced by Big Brother, whereas The Daily Star have researched an image to show her looking seductive, to appeal to their audience. The Daily Mirror has reinforced the historical view of Indians being, moralised and wise, which reinforces Bhaba’s view.

The difference between the newspapers value to news is shown through the amount of pages the Daily Star has dedicated to the Shilpa Shetty story. They have publicised the story over “pages 4,5,6 and 7” and the Daily Mirror has placed it one “page nine”, which shows the importance of the story to the audience of the Daily Mirror. There is also a difference in the way both have presented the story. The Daily Star has shown it be the only news important and has glamorised the story, reinforcing the effect theory. This is contrasted with the Daily Mirror which has shown the news as important, because a human is being verbally bullied. This introduces the issue of human rights and bullying issues. Both newspapers reflect on the British society during the 1970s as being racist towards other ethnic minorities, and suggest it is still visible in the 21st century, multicultural Britain.


Another difference between the two is the other news presented. The Daily Star is mainly focused on celebrity gossip, which is shown through the two pugs at the top right hand corner of the cover. The first is about “Beyonce’s Golden Globes”, the pun used is supported by the image of Beyonce, as her torso and breasts are focused on, instead of her achievements. The ideology of females as weak and inferior to men is suggested here as it is placed next to an image of four males, who have achieved a lot at the Brit awards, which reflects on the ideology of the patriarchal society.
The hypodermic needle model suggests that images in the media promote females being beautiful and sexual. The pressure of conforming to these ideas leaves the female audience feeling that they should change their appearance and be more like the images shown, for example like the image of Beyonce on the Daily Star.

Overall, both newspapers raise important issues and debates, such as racism and bullying, which is relevant in the 21st century. The Daily Star is a newspaper which reflects the lower class society attitudes and views compared to the middle class, bourgeoisie society that read the Daily Mirror.