Analysis of three sun articles on the execution of Robert Harris Essay

These three articles printed in the sun newspaper in 1992,approach the execution of Robert Harris in very different ways . The articles have chosen to cover different parts of the Robert Harris case. Article 1 is focused on the way Robert Harris died and the T. V reporter Michael tuck giving a graphic description of the execution and the build up to it . The second article is about he nuns including Mother Teresa who tried to turn the decision around so Harris’s life could be spared. Article three gives a description of where and how the victims were murdered and what how the parents felt and thought of Harris’s execution. The first article explains and describes what happened to Robert Harris. It starts with a detailed description of Harris’s execution. † Gurgled and gasped as cyanide gas choked the life from him†. This has been written as the second sentence to give an immediate impact of disgust and it plays with your emotions and it makes you more interested and you want to read on. Once the writer has got the readers attention, he then goes to the lead up to the execution. The first article is very against the death penalty as when it talks about the execution was reprieved twice before he was finally gassed, the article tries to make you feel sorry for Harris. Michael Tuck describes the execution as â€Å"grisly† â€Å"and† not a humane way to die† and in this he is confirming that he is against the anti-death penalty. Alternatively, article three is not against the anti-death penalty. It starts off with Harris’s victims parents, giving there opinion on Harris’s execution. One of the victims farther said ‘ I have no time for do-gooders who says that he should be spared look what he did to my son’. † Am I supposed to erase the memory, the pain of that†. This is trying to make you feel sorry for the parents of the victims and it is trying to persuade the reader that capital punishment is good. Article two is set out in a bold headline, which reads â€Å"NUN’S MERCY BID† and under the headline is a small paragraph. It mentions Mother Teresa Name to give a sort of good feeling to the article because Mother Teresa well know personality of being warm, nice and a gentle person and it says that she appealed to a California governor Pete Wilson to spare Harris’s life this sort of makes you feel that if Mother Teresa is trying to safe his life then she must be doing the right thing and Harris’s life should be spared. It says in the article that there were loads of anti-death sentence campaigners who urged for the killer not to be killed. This is a fact that many people wanted Harris to live and theres evidence of Mother Teresa point of view. Theres a couple of lines in this article that say that â€Å"Harris had alcoholic parents and he was fifth of nine children terrorised by there farther†. His lawyers said that he may have been brain damaged by a beating at the age of two†. This could make the reader feel sorry for Harris and its not fair for Harris to be killed in this way but there no evidence that the article is true. The visual presentation in the articles plays a very important role. In article one, theres a big picture above the article of two chairs where Harris was probably killed I think that this picture is trying to make you feel sorry for Harris as the picture makes you feel a sort of horrific sense of dying and displays a horrible looking setting in where people are chained to chairs and then are choked with gas and then killed. Beside the picture is â€Å"TV man watches Harris in gas chamber†. This is very emotive language and makes the article more dramatic. In article two there is a photo of a man I think its Harris but it could be a different number of people maybe Michael Tuck watching the execution or is it Harris himself its good as it lets the reader speculate. All three articles are made up of fact an opinion. Article one is mainly made up of opinion it is nearly all Michael Tuck telling the readers what he thought. He said â€Å"But IF you ask me this is not a clean and humane way to die† This is Michael Tuck expressing his opinions on the execution. Article two has got a bit of opinion He said â€Å"he may have been brain damaged by a beating at the age of two† The words â€Å"may have† means that not necessarily true. The only fact in this article is that Mother Teresa fought with other campaigners to spare Harris’s life. Article three appears to be a balance of fact and opinion. The first half of the article is mainly opinion. Theres the victims parents saying what they think about Harris’s execution. â€Å"They were out for a fun day fishing when they were executed by this beast†. It is the parent’s opinion that Harris is a â€Å"Beast†. The second half of the article seems to tell more fact, it says how the victims were killed, for the first time across the three articles. But after telling the story theres still opinions added. † The grinning Harris calmly ate the boys hamburgers†. There is know way that anyone could of none this so this must be opinion. In conclusion all articles have different stories, which all connect together, but as you can see Harris was an evil man as he shot two innocent boys dead for no reason at all. Language used in these articles is effective and ahs been used well to give you a clear picture of how Harris died and how he killed two innocent teenagers. People tried to save him but it didn’t work. When all three articles are read separately they create a biased opinion on Harris execution, but when read together you have a balanced account of Harris case.