Representation and bias

1) Whose perspective have Sky News used to present the story? (Clue: it’s in the opening line)
Sky News used the police's angle, perspective and point of view to present the story.


2) How are the police represented in this coverage?
The police are represented as innocent officers and are presented to make it seem like they were people who were trying to help the local citizens. 

3) How are young people represented in this coverage?
Young people are presented as a disgrace because they are shown to be causing havoc to the area.
 
4) What images and videos are selected by Sky News to accompany the story?
Sky News selected videos throwing petrol bombs at the police to back up their point. This suggests that young people at the time as inconciderate people who are causing harm to local surroundings and innocent residents.  Also, they showed videos of burning buses and buildings along with local shops being looted. 

5) What choice of words is used to present this news event?
The presenters used words such as "it appears" and "claim". This suggests that they are taking the police's side as they are trying to show that young people were 'looting' stores. This sets an bad image of young people.

6) What aspect of the story is chosen as the most important detail and included at the very beginning of the report?
Sky News think the the most important aspect of the story is that 8 police officers were hospitalised and injured due to the riots. 

7) How is narrative used to engage the audience with this news story?
Narrative is used in order presenting the story to keep the viewers engaged.

8) How can we apply Todorov’s equilibrium theory to this coverage?
This news story had an equilibrium and a disequilibrium however there is no new equilibrium as it does not show what is going to happen.

9) What examples of Propp’s character types can we find in this coverage? Are there heroes and villains?
The police officers are presented as heroes and young offenders are presented as villains.

10) How might citizen journalism have been used to provide a different angle on this story?
If citizen journalisim was used to present this story then this story would been less biased and would have both sides of view as there was only one point of view and that was the police's.