The Daily Mirror - Nicola Bulley

• Masthead


  White text on a red background, a typical red top convention
• Word "Mirror"


  In sans serif font to connote energy and modernity
• Slogan "fighting for you" (Irish edition only)


  Capitalised yellow font, reflects the paper's left wing ideology and the use of the pronoun "you" constructs a personal mode of address
• Colour red


  Connotations of socialism, may be why it is chosen for the masthead
• Word "Mirror"


  Suggests the newspaper's contents are an accurate reflection of events happening in the world, with no mediation, rather than constructed versions of reality
• Plug to the right of masthead


  • 2 for 1 entry to National Trust properties for the over 60s
• The splash covers the finding of a body, suspected to be Nicola Bully
• Headline


  Very large, capitalised, white font stands out against a black background
• Colour black


  Could signify mourning
• Words "Family's Worst Fear"


  Connote the fact that the missing woman is a wife, daughter and mother and this reflects the news value of Personalisation
• Words "worst" and "fear"

  Have negative connotations and reflect the more melodramatic use of language which tends to be found in tabloids
• Two large pictures


  • One is a smiling, close up of Nicola Bully, anchored by the caption "Search, Mum Nicola vanished last month"
  • The other is a square insert, anchored by the subheading "Walkers spot woman in river... mile from where she vanished"
• Use of ellipses


  Connotes that the encoded preferred reading is that it has taken 3 weeks to find her body, implying poor handling of the response to her disappearance
• Pointing motion in the photo


  An action code that would engage the audience and creates a sense of drama and immediacy, also an enigma code that entices the audience to enquire who the man is and what he is pointing at
• Juxtaposition of the smiling picture and the spot where her body was found


  Create a binary opposition between life and death and suggest an enigma that needs to be answered, as to how she ended up in the river
• Capitalised red strapline "Missing Nicola; Body found"


  The use of the woman's first name personalises the story and the red colour of the font connotes danger and the importance of this news
• Small amount of copy on the front page


  A typical tabloid convention
• Phrases with negative connotations like "incredibly heartbroken" and "anxious wait"


  Used to elicit an emotional response from the reader
• "Full story: pages 4 and 5"

  Promises the reader the uses and gratification of information/surveillance
• Audience positioned to fear that the body is that of the missing woman


  The encoded, preferred reading is that it is a tragedy for her family
• Focus on family

  Reflects the working class, older readership of the paper who value the importance of family in society
• Representation of Nicola Bully


  As a young, attractive and normal person, through the choice of the close up photograph, and as a caring person, through the photo of her wearing a charity t-shirt
• Representation of family


  A two parent, heterosexual, white, middle class family, with children, is represented as the hegemonic norm
• Double page spread


  Repeats the headline on the front page by focussing on the fact that she was found one mile from the bench where her phone was left, offers readers the uses and gratification characteristic of surveillance as it gives much more detailed information, the whole front page acts as an enigma code to entice the reader to buy the newspaper
• Infographic map


  • Of the area she vanished in, along with captions to anchor meaning, about specific locations, such as where the body was found in relation to the bench
• Calendar in chronological order


  • Listing key events in the investigation, sets out the information in a clear and concise way and creates a linear narrative for the audience of known developments in the case