Analysis of the KentOnline Article: ‘Here are just some of the criminals, burglars, drug dealers, child killers, paedophiles, thieves, murderers and thugs who committed crimes in January’


https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/the-criminals-locked-up-in-january-300994/

This story is fairly unique in its structure, as the lead for the article is essentially detailing that there are multiple different crime stories within the page. Each individual story has a lead and a sizeable body to it, making the article particularly long, therefore the majority of the audience are unlikely to read its entirety. The article certainly features many newsworthy stories, an example of this being the sentencing of paedophile Graham Kemp at Canterbury Crown Court, or Sian Hedges and Jack Benham who murdered their son. Considering this is a local paper to the Kent County informing the public of recent violent/sexual crimes, which are always a topic of interest in areas outside of large cities, the article can be considered as having high levels of newsworthiness. The stories can be seen as fairly impartial as they don’t appear to be seeking any ulterior motive or political gain, but rather serve to document and inform. It may however be argued that certain stories have been left out which detracts from perceived impartiality, though, this was likely done due to news values, i.e. what would be the most engaging to the reader, rather than in an attempt to push an agenda. It could be argued that the stories could be better presented separately, though the format of them being combined does offer a unique way of reading, for those interested in this topic. Ultimately, this piece of journalism succeeds as a way of presenting multiple stories on similar topics to readers, though it may be long winded. 


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