HARD NEWS

Undoubtedly, this news should be considered as hard news, since the subject matter of it is,
firstly, a crime, and more specifically, a murder, and secondly, this event concerns the highly
discussed topic of domestic violence and crimes against women. Besides that, all the
information is presented in a direct way with factual data.

THE HEADLINE

1) The headline of the article does match what is described in the article: the sequence of what
happened, the key points of the crime scene, the victim and the alleged killer. However, in fact,
a significant part of the article is devoted to the description of the life and professional career
of the killer, which cannot be traced in the headline. On the other hand, the headline contains a
phrase that creates a certain angle of perception of the material for a reader: a global
outpouring of grief and rage. Consequently, the reader has this public feeling of pity for the
victim and a negative attitude towards the perpetrator.

2) The headline of the second article looks rather narrow: it reflects only the attitude of Boris
Johnson to the protests. However, the article mentions the comments of many other people
about the situation and addresses the issue of police behavior at the vigil. Moreover, the
description of Sarah Everard’s death and the protests associated with this event is almost never
found in the article. However, the headline still emphasizes the ambiguity and legal complexity
of the past protests. Here we also see that the author leaves out an auxiliary verb ‘is’
(concerned).

THE SUBHEAD

2) The subhead in the second article narrows the scope of the headline, as it reveals a specific
issue of Boris Johnson's concerns, more specifically, police actions towards women who take
part in vigil. Therefore, we can say that it is useful for the reader, since the general theme of
the article becomes clear.

LEAD-IN

1) Retracing Sarah Everard's last known movements is confronting, to say the least.

This lead could be classified as Straight News Lead, however without certain details. The
headline serves as an intrigue, forcing the reader to reflect on what was controversial in the
murder of the girl. Indeed, in reality, the girl was last seen on a busy street. This makes readers
think about the relevance of the problem of female violence, if a woman can become a victim
even in a crowded area.

2) The prime minister will chair a meeting of the crime and justice taskforce later to discuss
ways to protect women.

The lead-in of the second article, in a certain way, states the starting point for the further
article. It mentions the intention to consider the issue of protecting women at the
governmental level, which is further mentioned in the text, both on the part of the protesters
and on the part of victims of violence.