Thursday, 15 October 2015



Headline- The man who survived a Taliban roadblock.

Key features:

Online article, photographs that catch the reader eye instantly of children fleeing the city and photos of the Taliban seizing Kunduz.

First had account from a survivor.

How does the article inform and entertain its reader?

The article informs and entertains its reader by straight away telling the reader a man has survived after coming face to face with Taliban troops, this is shown in the headline “man who survived”. This gives the reader entertainment because the article is telling the world what is happening daily and that although this man survived many others have died during the seizure of Kunduz. The article informs the reader that Taliban troops were in control for “seven days”.

The article informs the reader by using Lexical choice “Taliban insurgents” the word “insurgents” informs the reader that the Taliban troops were violent and ready to fight to seize Kunduz and remain in control of the city for as long as possible. The verb “traumatised” is used in the article to really inform the reader that the violence the Taliban are showing is horrible and the affect it is having on Afghan civilians is horrific.

The article uses a concrete noun “they smelled bad” this suggests to the reader that all the dead bodies that are stacked up on the side of the road or giving off a disgusting, sickly stench. The article also engages the reader again by using Lexis in the sub-heading “Killing ground” this once again is effective in informing the reader that during and after the city was captured by the Taliban, the city was filled with death and murder like a battle ground. Also when the article uses the word “beheaded” to highlight to the reader the brutality of the events occurring in Kunduz.

The article gets the attention of the reader by listing the terrible events “mass murder, gang rapes and house-to-house searches by Taliban death squads” this really catches the eye of the reader because it is a straight forward list of what the Afghan civilians are going through. The article uses pre modification in the noun “mass murder” and verb “gang” this informs the reader that this isn’t just a single murder or rape case this is happening right now and has been happening for the last seven days.    

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