Exploring British newspapers' sport coverage : a comparative study of a tabloid and a broadsheet on Wimbledon 2016

Through a comparative analysis of a British broadsheet and tabloid (The Sun and The Guardian), this dissertation aims at clarifying the way these newspapers cover a major sporting event such as Wimbledon. The first purpose of this paper was to observe potential differences and/or similarities between both types of press, both in terms of content and form. The second objective was to determine if we could make connections between the identified characteristics of both categories of newspapers and sport articles. To do so, the titles and articles of the selected papers have been scrutinised. This dissertation revealed that The Guardian and The Sun covered the 2016’s occasion of Wimbledon differently. The broadsheet seems to focus on detailed and precise information. Its articles and headlines tend to be simple and factual. On the other hand, the British tabloid appears to take advantage on incidents and unusual events which may happen during the matches to distinguish itself from other newspapers and appeal to a broader readership. In order to make its headlines eye-catching, The Sun uses devices such as puns, plays on sounds, intertextuality and humour. Finally, it results from this study that some of the newspapers’ characteristics are not related to their genre (tabloid or broadsheet) but rather depend on the newspaper itself.