Library Dissertation Showcase

Sensationalism, sexism, and bias; an analysis of the coverage of the Depp v Heard defamation trials from four British newspapers

  • Year of Publication:
  • 2023

This dissertation is an analysis of the way in which The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, and The Independent covered the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trials from July 2020 to April 2022. It aims to investigate how each newspaper sensationalises the trials, the bias each newspaper has towards each party, and how political affiliation affects the way in which each newspaper talks about the female members of the trials. By conducting a thematic analysis using the themes of bias towards either Depp or Heard, sensationalist language, and sexist language, it was concluded that not only did political affiliation have an impact on the language used towards women, but the newspapers’ individual relationships with the members of the trial had an impact on who its reporting was biased towards.

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