Construction of Representations in News

Rohingya Fire

The quote on Time.com above communicates with the readers, as the use of descriptive writing such as "fear" and "fleeing" indicates that the civilians were panicking and scared, they were rushing away in disaster.

http://time.com/4922715/myanmar-rohingya-violence-rakhine/

The Rohingya Fire was a fire that occurred in Myanmar, this caused many Rohingya refugees to flee Myanmar, and end up at Bangladesh. The fire caused devastation as 270,000 refugees fled the village.

This story has been constructed, as out of all the news stories that could possibly be used, the fire was chosen as it is interesting to the audience as it is a disaster that has been introduced worldwide.

The online newspaper above is constructing the story also, the use of descriptive writing persuades the reader to read this particular story as it is creative and gives the reader a chance of imagination, easily able to picture the travesty of the fire through the use of language such as : the guards holding "machine guns" and "fired mortars"  indicates the disaster caused that it was so shocking they were being forced out of the village. Also, the verb "fleeing" implies that the people didn't just exit their village, they did it and a panicking fashion, rushing out. 

The Media act as Gatekeepers, as they control what is shown on the News. The fact that they have allowed the news to show this disaster, indicates how significant it is and the importance to the people around the world. The Agenda Setting here implies that it is not as significant as the Hurricane Irma in Florida, coverage has been shown for both of these travesties, however more coverage has been shown for the Hurricane Irma as Florida is a state whereas Myanmar is a smaller village, and more people can relate to the Florida disaster.

The armed soldiers here are threatening the villagers to leave
their village, as we see the terrified people, huddling together
in shock. This tells us how different everyday life can be here
to where we live. The travesty caused as these innocent civilians' village
is burnt to the ground, and armed forces are being used to remove them.

The picture above has been taken to clearly show the difference between the soldiers and the civilians, giving the audience a clue of what it must be like. We clearly see how the soldiers are closer, indicating dominance, whereas the civilians who are further away and look cowardly are clearly vulnerable and less powerful than these armed soldiers. The soldiers are stood confidently and look powerful, and the crowd of innocent people seem to be looking at them in fear. The uniform that the soldiers are wearing also implies that they are dominant, they are armed with weapons, which helps the audience understand that this is the reason why the civilians are crowding together further away from the soldiers - as the are obviously scared of the guns and the result that could occur if they stood up for themselves.