Key Idea: This topic is a family of journalism text types — the ones you meet in papers, magazines and news sites. Some inform (news report, interview), some entertain (feature, review), and some argue an opinion (editorial, column). The trap: none of them is ever ‘just neutral facts’ — each makes choices (what comes first, which word, whose voice, what's kept or cut) that steer how you feel. Naming those choices and their effect is the heart of Paper 1.
🗝️ The news & opinion text types
| Text type | What it's for | Conventions to spot |
|---|---|---|
| Magazine article (feature) | To entertain and engage, not just report | A hook opening; a distinctive voice; anecdotes/vivid detail; headline + standfirst |
| Newspaper article (news report) | To inform fast, key facts first | Headline + byline; inverted pyramid; the 5 Ws; quoted sources; a slant hidden in wording/order |
| Editorial | The paper's official argued opinion | A clear stance; a confident ‘we’ voice; loaded words, contrast, rhetorical questions; a verdict |
| Opinion column | One named writer's personal, one-sided view | First-person persona; anecdote → point; humour/sarcasm; hyperbole; questions |
| Interview | To reveal a person through their own words | Q&A form; the interviewer's angle; self-revealing word choice; what's kept or cut (framing) |
| Review | To give a verdict and help you decide | A clear verdict; evidence for it; a witty voice; guidance for the reader |
🔍 The one move that scores
Analyse any of these the same way: name the choice (a hook, a loaded verb, a rhetorical question, an anecdote, a quoted line, a verdict), say its effect (what it makes the reader feel, think or trust), then reach the so what — what it's for and who it targets. For ‘neutral’ news, always ask which fact came first and whose words are chosen — the slant hides there. A label alone scores nothing.
✍️ IB-style worked examples
IB-style question — analyse a news report
Analyse this news opening: “Council chiefs last night defended the decision to axe every free bus route in the town, insisting families would ‘barely notice’.”
Step by step:
Name the choices: the strong verb ‘axe’, and the quoted official phrase families would ‘barely notice’.
Effect: ‘axe’ makes the cut sound violent, not routine; quoting ‘barely notice’ makes officials look dismissive.
So what: even in a factual style, the wording quietly sides with worried families and against the council — that's the hidden slant.
‘Axe’ makes the cut sound violent and quoting ‘barely notice’ makes the council seem dismissive — so a ‘neutral’ report quietly places the reader on the side of affected families.
IB-style question — analyse an editorial
Analyse this editorial line: “We are told there is no money for libraries. Strange, then, how quickly it appears for a new car park.”
Step by step:
Name the choices: the sarcastic ‘Strange, then’ and the contrast (no money for libraries, money for a car park).
Effect: the sarcasm mocks the ‘no money’ excuse; the contrast exposes a double standard.
So what: the reader is pushed to feel the council's priorities are dishonest — the paper's line — without it ever saying so outright.
The sarcastic ‘Strange, then’ and the sharp contrast expose a double standard, pushing the reader to share the paper's outrage — its argued stance, carried by tone not by a plain statement.
IB-style question — analyse an interview
Analyse this exchange: “Q: Was the fame worth it? A: (long pause) Ask me when I can walk down a street again.”
Step by step:
Name the choices: the framing note ‘(long pause)’, and the reply ‘when I can walk down a street again’.
Effect: the pause makes the answer feel heavy and honest; the reply hints at a watched, trapped life.
So what: keeping that pause in shapes our view — we read fame as a cost and the subject as weary, not ungrateful.
The noted ‘(long pause)’ and the reply about not being able to walk down a street make fame feel like a cost — and the interviewer's choice to keep the pause frames the subject as weary rather than ungrateful.
Important: Don't retell what the text is about (‘it's about a bus cut’, ‘the reviewer disliked the film’). The marks are in how it informs, argues or entertains — the hook, the loaded word, the quoted line, the verdict. And never treat news, an interview or a review as plain truth: order, word choice and what's kept always carry a slant.
Tap each card to check yourself.
Feature vs news report? A feature entertains with voice and craft (the hook, anecdotes); a news report delivers facts fast and plainly — but still with a slant.
Where does slant hide in ‘neutral’ news? In which fact comes first, the verbs/adjectives chosen (‘axe’ vs ‘end’), and whose quotes appear — and whose are missing.
Editorial vs opinion column? An editorial is the whole paper's unsigned ‘we’ stance; a column is one named writer's personal, proudly one-sided view carried by voice.
Should you trust every interview quote as the full truth? No — an editor selects, orders and annotates quotes (‘(pause)’, ‘(laughs)’); the framing shapes the portrait you read.
What must a review always do beyond ‘I liked it’? Prove the verdict with specific evidence and perform it in a voice — judgement + evidence + wit combine to guide your decision.
Exam Tips
- Every text: name the convention → its effect → what it's for and who it targets.
- For news, ask which fact came FIRST and which verbs/quotes were chosen — find the slant.
- For editorials and columns, find the stance/persona, then the devices that push you to agree.
- For interviews, analyse the subject's words AND the framing (kept quotes, noted pauses).
- For reviews, state the verdict, then show HOW it's proved with evidence and performed.