Crime Articles in Local Newspapers

Within all newspapers crime seems to be a mainstay as it is a subject that all be can pay attention to as it intrigues them how people can behave in disgusting ways as well as giving them an insight in to the ways that people behave not only in your country but your community as well. I found an example of a crime story to look into as it is one of the main stories that feature within all newspapers. There however there is a difference between the articles on crime in a national and local newspaper, with a national newspaper only focussing on the extreme crime happenings like murder while the local newspaper also considers the minor criminal acts in comparison such as theft. I found a good example of this in the 'Kentish Gazette' where there is a criminal act reported about a small theft on a shed in which '£3,000' worth of equipement was stolen. Not only is it small in comparison to national stories the criminal is yet to be caught this example shows exactly how the stories differ with the smaller criminal acts included in the local newspapers as the readers of the national newspapers want to know about the big news of the day while local papers deal with events concerning the community which could also affect them.

Whether a person has been found  guilty for the criminal activity affects the way the article is written even if they are a suspect it changes the way you can approach an article with stronger language and a more definitive view on what happened if someone was convicted. The writer if writing about a convict is likely to show the criminal in an as strongly opinioned article as possible this often includes imagery making the criminals look bad, as you can see from another article from the 'Kentish Gazette' on a couple of convicted criminals for 'robbery' and 'violence'. The imagery in this example makes them look very bad showing negative body language and appearance that brings a negative view. The language is also changed with quotes such as 'Drunk's racist tirade lands him in jail' and 'poured out torrent of racial abuse'. In comparison the language used for a suspect is a lot more unopinionated as in the eyes of law they are not yet guilty.