The article I have chosen to use is this one, from the Daily Mail. It gives details of how the Rastamouse television show attracted hundreds of complaints from BBC viewers.
The writer of this article actually does well in coming across as completely unbiased when talking about the show. There are no personal opinions expressed, as all negative remarks are simply quoted from those who made the complaints to the BBC. An example of this would be "Rastamouse attracted more than 200 complaints because of the way it 'stereotyped black people' and because of the 'patois' language used by the Jamaican mouse characters". The parts in bold are simply extracted from complaints already made by viewers. However, there may be a little bit of positivity expressed in the very first line, where the writer calls the programme "a television series about crime-busting Rastafarian mice". The "crime-busting" part of this has positive connotations, as it is generally considered a good thing in the real world. This could perhaps be the author's way of disagreeing with the complaints, but in a very subtle manner.
Interestingly though, when explaining to the article readers what the show is about, he describes the main character (Rastamouse, surprisingly) as one that "spreads love and respect". This again could be an example of the writer trying to subtly explain to readers that the morals of the show are in the right place, and stressing the point that offence is taken, not given. It seems as though the writer, even though he must be as unbiased as possible, has his own opinions about the show.
The author of the article doesn't try to represent himself in any particular way, as he is simply describing what has happened with no personal opinion. The article is very typical of a middle-market tabloid newspaper - it is kept simple, being fairly low register/high frequency, and is straight to the point with the facts rather than opinions. One main feature of the article that show the author is trying to keep the article unbiased is the "Bad language or Good fun?" section of the page, which demonstrates some of the Jamaican Creole employed in the Rastamouse programme. The only slight opinion coming across in the article is in one of the image captions, where he describes a joke the host of The Wright Show made about the death of a teenager as "insensitive". The evaluative adjective is a rather mild one to use in such a case, but nonetheless, the author does give the joke negative connotations and shows the audience that there was a reason for the complaints to be made.
The author of this article largely leaves the audience's shaping of an opinion to themselves. Again, the "Bad language or Good fun?" section demonstrates this, as it gives the audience a chance to analyse the creole used and how it is used and decide for themselves as to whether the use is really in bad taste. The writer also helps present both sides of an 'argument' to the audience. Firstly, he gives the nature and content of some the complaints, with some examples being obtained for the parenting forum 'Mumsnet'. In contrast, he then includes quotes from a BBC spokewoman, which explain how the show is "a hit with our young viewers" and "one of our most popular children's programmes". This gives the audience the chance to weight up both sides of the story and form their own opinions, which they can then express in the comments section of the article. These comments can also be voted on by other users, which then helps give the majority opinion of the public as to which comments are voted up and which are voted down.
Monday, 7 October 2013
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
BBC Voices
Aims
In November 2004, the BBC conducted a survey to determine people's attitudes towards regional accents and languages across Britain.
Methodology
Conducted by Greenfield Online, an online poll asked participants to rank celebrities in order of how pleasant their accent sounded to them. 5010 people took part in the survey, all drawn from Greenfield's members, all aged 15 and over. The sample, however, was not weighted to reflect gender, social class, age or geographical demographics. The participants had a middle of the range spread concerning age; 25-64s were over-represented, whereas <25s and >64s were under-represented. The participants were taken from 63 identified areas across Britain, with 97% saying English was their first language and 27% saying they spoke another language as well as English.
Findings
The survey found that the most consistently preferred accent in the poll was that of Sean Connery, with his distinct Edinburgh tones. Newsreader Trevor McDonald sealed second place, with Moira Stewart and Pierce Brosnan placing close to the top. Interestingly, the poll found that people tended to prefer accents that were regionally very similar to their own. English voters ranked Hugh Grant's accent highly, with Scots giving the nod to Ewan McGregor and the Northern Irish showing preference for Terry Wogan's voice.
The survey's respondents were also found to occasionally wish that they had a different accent. 59% of participants sometimes thought they would be better off with a different accent, with Standard English and Southern Irish being the most 'in-demand'. Reasons given ranged from hoping others would understand them better to simply wanting to sound more pleasant. However, some people did actually like their own accents. Some considered their own to be prestigious, or helpful when applying for jobs.
People who live in the South East also identify less with actually having an accent. For example, 95% of the Northern Irish, 79% of the Welsh and 87% of the Scots believe that they have at least a moderately strong accent, compared to 63% and 64% of the East and South of England respectively believing the same. 4 in 5 people also admitted to changing their accents on certain occasions, such as talking to more senior work colleagues. Or after drinking alcohol, which is significantly more hilarious and bewildering.
Conclusion and Evaluation
Generally, people prefer accents that are similar to their own and closer to home. The celebrity part of the survey can be scrutinised to an extent, as people may already have some sort of preference as to who their favourite celebrity on the poll is - however, this could also just be because of their accent. People who don't like their accents are more likely to prefer having a Standard English or Southern Irish tone in order to sound more pleasant. Overall though, the representation of men and women in the survey was very well balanced and the age range ensured that only those with a well-developed opinion were able to take part in the survey.
In November 2004, the BBC conducted a survey to determine people's attitudes towards regional accents and languages across Britain.
Methodology
Conducted by Greenfield Online, an online poll asked participants to rank celebrities in order of how pleasant their accent sounded to them. 5010 people took part in the survey, all drawn from Greenfield's members, all aged 15 and over. The sample, however, was not weighted to reflect gender, social class, age or geographical demographics. The participants had a middle of the range spread concerning age; 25-64s were over-represented, whereas <25s and >64s were under-represented. The participants were taken from 63 identified areas across Britain, with 97% saying English was their first language and 27% saying they spoke another language as well as English.
Findings
The survey found that the most consistently preferred accent in the poll was that of Sean Connery, with his distinct Edinburgh tones. Newsreader Trevor McDonald sealed second place, with Moira Stewart and Pierce Brosnan placing close to the top. Interestingly, the poll found that people tended to prefer accents that were regionally very similar to their own. English voters ranked Hugh Grant's accent highly, with Scots giving the nod to Ewan McGregor and the Northern Irish showing preference for Terry Wogan's voice.
The survey's respondents were also found to occasionally wish that they had a different accent. 59% of participants sometimes thought they would be better off with a different accent, with Standard English and Southern Irish being the most 'in-demand'. Reasons given ranged from hoping others would understand them better to simply wanting to sound more pleasant. However, some people did actually like their own accents. Some considered their own to be prestigious, or helpful when applying for jobs.
People who live in the South East also identify less with actually having an accent. For example, 95% of the Northern Irish, 79% of the Welsh and 87% of the Scots believe that they have at least a moderately strong accent, compared to 63% and 64% of the East and South of England respectively believing the same. 4 in 5 people also admitted to changing their accents on certain occasions, such as talking to more senior work colleagues. Or after drinking alcohol, which is significantly more hilarious and bewildering.
Conclusion and Evaluation
Generally, people prefer accents that are similar to their own and closer to home. The celebrity part of the survey can be scrutinised to an extent, as people may already have some sort of preference as to who their favourite celebrity on the poll is - however, this could also just be because of their accent. People who don't like their accents are more likely to prefer having a Standard English or Southern Irish tone in order to sound more pleasant. Overall though, the representation of men and women in the survey was very well balanced and the age range ensured that only those with a well-developed opinion were able to take part in the survey.
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