This article is discussing the sudden death of a whistle-blower who was recently involved with the release of information that led to a major news media scandal in the UK. This article is designed to raise the question of whether his death should be considered suspicious or not as it follows an on-going series of reports that are constantly being updated as more and more of the scandal is revealed. The article does that by drawing attention to what the deceased went on record as saying to the New York Times, declaring that the scandal runs far deeper than just the current newspapers being named, hinting at the extended political infringements too. This is stated at the very beginning of the article and is designed to immediately plant a seed of doubt in the reader’s mind.
The BBC have been involved with the story from the beginning, along with The Guardian newspaper and as such, their agenda is to demonstrate the murky behind-the-scene workings of the mass media market. The death of this man is utilised by the BBC to meet their agenda. It is only halfway through the article that it is mentioned that his death is not being treated as suspicious – this is deliberately done so that the reader is already questioning the circumstances of his death. The tone of the article is factual but it has an implied question mark at the end of nearly every sentence. The article ends by, again, referring to what the deceased said with regard to what was asked of him by one of the main individuals at the heart of the corruption. This is done to leave the reader with a final reminder of what they ought to be querying with regard to his death.
References
BBC News. “NoW whistle-blower Sean Hoare found dead in Watford.” BBC. 18 July 2011. Web. 18 July 2011.
