The VW Emissions Scandal
The report by the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3256417/Volkswagen-suspends-sale-4-000-vehicles-UK-diesel-emissions-cheating-scandal.html
These two articles both concern the recent
scandal caused by the discovery of software in Volkswagen cars which allowed
them to cheat on emissions tests.
However, the articles differ greatly in their styles. The article from BBC News is typical of an
online article, as it contains a clear headline and sub-heading. It is also concise, which is important for
online articles, because people often have shorter attention spans when using a
computer.
On the other hand, the Mail’s article is much
longer in comparison, which is a risk, as in the environment of online news
articles, they could potentially lose the interest of the reader. However, below the headline is a list of
bullet points which give a brief summary of the article, which is very typical
of an online article that is trying to pull the reader in.
However, both articles are very formal in style,
and attempt to convey the news story in a factual and professional manner. No contractions are used in either article
and the lexical context of the articles is related to the subject matter. They contain statistics relating to the story
and quotes from individuals involved in the incident, which is to be expected,
as any high standard article should contain these basic features.
Both of the articles also contain pictures,
which act as a visual aid in describing the story and the events surrounding
it. This is another method that authors
of online articles employ to improve retention rates. Rather typically of these websites, there are
also many adverts lining the sides of the webpage which are intended to
intrigue the reader and keep them scrolling through different stories for as
long as possible.
