Below is an image of an article on the 10 Tips for Life
The 5 W’s and 1 H of Journalism
- Who – This article is written by a famous rapper and musician, who is called Wyclef Jean
- What – An insight on his tips on life as a rapper and musician in the format as a magazine article and promoting a new album being released
- Where – N/A
- When – September 2017
- Why – To encourage people to be a ‘perfect gentleman’
- How – A numbered list with each number being a different top tip (eg, KARMA IS GONNA GET YOU)
How do the headlines, stand firsts, pull quotes and captions appeal to the audience and encourage them to read the article in full?
The headlines, ’10 Commandments’ and ‘Wyclef Jean’ may appeal to the audience because they are in a bold format to ensure it stands out. The ’10 Commandments’ has also been placed inside a red arrow which appeals to the audience as they are being more creative in terms of how they present their headlines. The other headline, ‘Wyclef Jean’ is formatted in a large font size which grabs the audience’s attention almost immediately as it makes it really clear who this article is based on and if they are interested in this famous rapper, they will want to read this article in full.
The stand first ‘The rapper and musician’s rules for life’ is a simple but effective way to make it known what this article will consist of. This is because it is clear and gets straight to the point of what it is the audience will be reading about as if it was too confusing and the audience had to decode it in a certain way, they might not bother reading it.
The pull quote, “What makes a perfect gentleman? Leave big tips baby!” gives the audience some information about what the article is going to be about. It also includes a bit of slang, “Leave big tips baby!” which engages the audience as it could make the article more approachable because of its less formal nature behind it.
The captions, such as “MUSIC CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE. LITERALLY” gives detail about what each paragraph is going to be about. This could appeal to the audience so they get a rough idea what each paragraph will be on so they know if they will want to carry on and read it.
What is the article about?
It is about a famous rapper called Wyclef Jean and he writes about his top tips on life from a musicians perspective. From this double page spread magazine article, the audience could learn how to have a better outlook on life which could affect them positively as it could change their perspective on some things so they can live a more free life. For instance, “do unto others as you would have them unto you.”
What is your sense of the location/event/person that the journalist is writing about?
Wyclef Jean uses slang language, which could present him asman informal, fun individual even though he is a grown man, as the audience can discover from the front cover. He also uses a lot of short, simple sentences and when this is used in media it could be to tell the reader exactly what they need to hear rather than putting unnecessary information the audience might skip past and ignore.
How does the journalist represent the star?
The journalist represents the star through the use of colloquial language. This is mostly shown on each of the captions, for instance “KARMA IS GONNA GET YOU”. By using the word “gonna” and not “going to” it sets quite a casual tone for the rest of the article so the audience can understand what type of person the star is (laid-back).
Focus Forward
When doing articles in my magazine I am considering using interviews, Q&A’s or possibly top tips/advice on things as I think those elements relate to my target audience more because of the most popular age being millennial when I researched the indie genre. In terms of language, I will also consider using techniques like alliteration, colloquial language and metaphors to make my magazine stand out from others.