How does the Big Issue cover you have studied use media language to construct an alternative representation of an event/group/issue?

The image on the front cover is a conventional child's drawing of a house but it is being erased by an eraser with the words 'council tax' written on it. This image connotes that children are being left homeless due to the council tax. Parents could be the target audience of this front cover as they may be affected by this cover as it may make them feel sorry for the children and parents going through homelessness. This may make then want to pick up and buy this particular edition of The Big Issue to find out if there is anything they can do to prevent more children and families becoming homeless.

The most eye catching piece of text of the cover says 'WIPE OUT' in red, bold, capital letters. This grabs the reader’s attention. Underneath this is more text that says ‘The tax debt scandal forcing people from their homes’ This helps to explain the front cover by telling the reader what the connotations actually mean – that people are being made homeless do to the councils bedroom tax.

This front cover covers a big political story - bedroom tax. This could relate to one of the magazines main missions of ethical capitalism because they are making a profit but raising awareness of an important topic to help people affected by the bedroom tax.