P1: News

PRINT NEWS

Wednesday 9th September  

Lesson 1 

L/O - to explore the purpose & process of the printed news industry 



TABLOID VS BROADSHEET

• A tabloid has a lot more ''in your face' colour than a broadsheet newspaper does. A broadsheet newspaper has some colour, however overall it is very dull. 
• A tabloid newspaper has a bold font, whereas the broadsheet newspaper has a more sophisticated font
• The Sun, for example, is a lot less informative and focus more on entertainment whereas The Times would have a lot more information on the matter.
• A tabloid has a lot more imagery than a broadsheet. 
• The audience of a tabloid is particularly in a lower class than a broadsheet 
• The tabloid audience is younger than a broadsheet newspaper 

INDUSTRIES 

PRODUCTION: Why are they expensive to produce?

• Require a large amount of material.
• Employ many highly trained staff. 
• The amount of the produce 
• The technology used 

How has technology changed the traditional approach?

• More efficient
• Printed in colour
• Satellites and internet - stories wired quickly from anywhere 

DISTRIBUTION: Why are they expensive to distribute? 

• Have to be physically transported 
• Need to be in outlets from early morning 

How would you lessen this cost?

• Less paper (decrease in size)
• Printed locally 
• Online can be global and cheaper
• Free papers - e.g. The Metro 

MARKETING: How do they promote their papers?

• Advertising - TV, social media, sister papers
• Exclusives 
• Synergy deals with other companies 

CIRCULATION:

• Number of copies distributed (not sold) 

OWNERSHIP

• Refers to who financially supports and produces the paper
• In the UK, there are 3 ownership models:

1. 'Media Barons' - owned by wealthy individuals or proprietors. E.g. Rupert Murdoch

2. Trusts - a legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a 'trustee' to manage and control the running of the paper. E.g. Scott Trust (GMG) The Guardian

3. Cross-Media converged conglomerates - global insitutions that own numerous media outlets. These may be owned by Media Barons. E.g. DMG & Lord Rothermere

• Newspaper ownership in the UK has become increasingly concentrated, and therefore less diverse, as the industry is run by just SEVEN companies. More worryingly, almost 60% of the market share is owned by just TWO companies: NEWS UK & DMG Media

ECONOMIC MODELS & FUNDING

• The news industry contributes a lot to the UK's economy, despite the industry falling
• Production is financed in many ways, but the TWO main ways being:

Circulation Sales:

• 14.2 million people read a paper daily
• 81% of a paper's revenue comes from print sales
• Cost of a national daily paper ranges from 70p - £2.70
• Cost of a national weekend paper ranges from 80p-£3.80

Advertising:

• Cost of full page colour ad in Daily mail is over £30,000!
• A full page in The Guardian is £18,000!
• Papers make money from ads in both offline and online versions
• Print readers are 75% more likely to read ads

Alternative methods of funding print news can include: 

• Subscriptions (online)
• Memberships
• Reader donations 

The print news industry is facing a crisis. Traditional funding models may need revising. Theresa May announced a review of the industry in 2018 to ensure the quality. Possible funding strategies include: Government or public funding subsidies, Philanthropy, Greater focus on payment from online access. 

Technology introduced                                         Effects on Owners

1980s                                                                     

Computers, Printers &                                         Helped owners bring in more money as

DTP programs                                                      able to produce more copies through tech

                                                                              Also brings in more audience with more 

                                                                              copies

1990s

The Internet                                                          Bad effect of owners, they would lose money 

                                                                              due to access of news online. Loss of audience

                                                                              Growing availability leads to competition. 

2000s

Broadband, Web2.0,                                             Bad effect as quicker access on news through 

Smartphones &                                                     the use of smartphones, anywhere! Audiences

Tablets, HD digital                                                can create and share. 

cameras, Apps

CASE STUDIES

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is owned by DGM Media and the General Trust. The Daily Mail make most of their money through sales and advertisement of other companies in their newspapers. They also have a subscription for users online. The daily circulation figures are 1,100,000. The advertising costs are heavy; a front page full cover costs over £30,000. The number of sales for the last 5 years are ...... The Daily Mail website was created in 2003. It is now the most visited English-language newspaper website in the world, with over 11.34m daily visitors in August 2014 alone. They generate revenue on the online website through advertisements from companies, like the newspaper itself.

The Guardian

The Guardian is owned by 'Guardian Media Group', which is owned by The Scott Trust. It is funded by the readers through voluntary contributions, subscriptions or membership. The daily circulation figures of January 2020 were 126,879. A full page print of The Guardian can cost up to £18,000. 

Wednesday 16th September

Lesson 2 

L/O - to explore the news values, bias and regulation of printed news. 

   

NEWS GATHERING

• Press Agencies gather news. They operate globally. 
• They report facts without judgement. 
• This information is sold to newspapers who reshape the story and reflect their own values.
• DMG Media and News UK are shareholders in Press Agencies

GATEKEEPING

• The editor acts as a gatekeeper, overseeing all the information.
• The stories are then checked for accuary
• Editors can practise PROTECTIVE COVERAGE: withholding information that could be harmful or impede a legal investigation.

NEWS VALUES

• Guidelines are used to identify which news is most valuable, appealing and newsworthy.
• Indicates news is a SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED product.

There are 12 'most significant' news values. The ones that stand out in this one they are:

• Frequency - short-term events like murders
• Threshold - the size of an event indicates it's importance
• Unexpectedness - the rarity of an event which leads to its circulation
• Negativity - bad news is good for the press

         

These values in this Guardian front cover is mostly:

• Reference to elite persons 
• Negativity 

POLITICAL BANS

• Political bias influence thinking and political outcomes, and therefore democracy
• The majority of the public see The Mail as very right-wing and The Guardian as fairly left-wing. 
• a survey showed that over half of the national daily papers support right-wing values.
• Homogenous: singular, similar & undistinguishable.
• Both The Daily Mail and The Sun are: rightwing, support and reflect the values of the Tories, owned by wealthy, white male Media Barons who control global media outlets

There is a similar view coming from more than one press, DO WE HAVE FREE PRESS?

Political Bias in Newspapers:

In the Daily Mirror, we see left-wing views. This is presented by the choice of image used. It is a unpresentable, ugly photo of at-the-time conservative leader Theresa May. She also appears to be looking up at something, as if she is afraid. This is contrasted in the Daily Mail, where she is presented as powerful with a low-angle shot along with a crowd cheering her on in the background. This instantly presents the Daily Mail as a right-wing newspaper. The left-wing newspaper criticises the PM, whereas the right-wing alternatively supports the PM. In Daily Mirror, the language used to describe the PM is hurtful, calling May a liar. Whereas in the Daily Mail, there is a use of positively strong language, such a 'REIGNITE' to grasp the attention of the reader and then present May in a good light. There is clearly a difference between the two papers. 

Wednesday 23rd September

Lesson 3 - Regulation 

L/O - to explore the regulation of printed news

Barthes: SEMIOLOGY:

1. Denotations can signify connotations, associated meanings for the same sign
2. Denotations and connotations are organised into myths
3. Myths create and ideological meaning and help ideology feel natural, real and acceptable

e.g. how is the media language (headline, image and juxtaposition to the caption, words) used as signs to connote a message?

Levi-strauss: SCRUCTURALISM:

1. This is the study of hidden rules that shape a structure to communicate ideology and myths.
2. We understand the world and our place within it based on binary oppositions

e.g. Her and villain in politics, good vs bad

REGULATION

• The control of how an industry is run and how people behave
• FOR: The news industry has much political power and influence over the public (reduced freedom of speech)
• AGAINST: Should not be regulated by government legislation. Affects freedom of speech and democracy
• It is seen as the FOURTH ESTATE political influence of owners.
• Regulation in the UK focuses on: news content and information printed by the press, ownership and competition laws. 
• The British press is SELF-REGULATED

Two new regulatory bodies were established in the last decade:

Independent Press Standards Organisation (ISPO)

• Public can complain
• It is funded by its members
• Papers can opt out

Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS)

• Not funded by its members.
• First of its kind for the UK
• Not received well by editors

GUARDIAN DO NOT WANT TO BE REGULATED BY EITHER

OWNERSHIP & COMPETITION LAWS

• Regulated by the communications act 2003.
• In 2012 OFCOM recommended reviews ever 4/5 years
• Prevents anyone who runs a newspaper group with a national market share of 20% or more from controlling licences to provide ITV or C5 TV news - the 20/20 rule. 

Curran and Seaton: POWER AND MEDIA INDUSTRIES.

1. Patterns of ownership and control are important in how the media functions.
2. Media industries are capitalist and aim to increase concentration of ownership. This leads to a narrowing of opinions represented in the press.
3. Owners pursue profits at the expense of creativity or quality
4. The impact of the internet on the ownership of news is nominal and it is still controlled by an oligarchy (small groups of people who have control)

Hesmondhalgh: CULTURAL INDUSTRIES.

1.  Cultural industries follow a capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration so production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates.
2.  Risk is seen in terms of loss of money Risk is high because production costs are high.
3. Companies rely on repetition to minimise risk and cover failure. Repeated formats are easily recognisable to audience and use copyright laws to protect products from reproduction and piracy. 

MOCK QUESTION 3 

Explain how economic contexts, including commercial and not-for-profit funding, affect the distribution of newspapers. Refer to The Guardian and the Daily Mail to support your answer [10]

The distribution of newspapers is on a decline with the uses of economic contexts. To start off, the commercial funding of the Daily Mail decreased their contribution into the newspaper to make more profit. DGM media, who own The Daily Mail, closed a printing factory in order to increase their income of profits. This affects the distribution of newspapers, as there would be less of a number of them in circulation. As a result of this, whilst still printing newspapers, they push their online website and mobile readers, using advertisements to make money. This is different when compared with The Guardian, who are owned by The Scott Trust. This means that profit is not an option, and that any money put into The Scott Trust gets put right back into the newspapers (a not-for-profit funding method). The Guardian made their newspapers smaller in size with an increased price; this means that they can distribute more papers with the left over paper from the decreased size.

Target = 24/9/20, Good comparison here. Target: 5, 6, 7, 8. See DIRT starter work through the improvements.

5, Politics of each paper- sensational vs objective resulting in more widespread distribution of The Mail.

The Mail is sensational. They try to get across their capitalist right-wing agendas whenever they can. This is different compared with The Guardian, which is objective. The Guardian gets both sides of an argument and doesn't push a certain message heavily like The Daily Mail.

6, Cover price increase for both

The cover price of the Daily Mail and The Guardian both increased to cover costs. The Daily Mail would've had profit and covering costs in mind, whereas The Guardian would be focused on simply just covering costs.

7, Guardian - donations, online success = 15% share / Mail adverts and clickbait = success and 20% share

The Daily Mail has a greater success than The Guardian through its adverts and also clickbait. This is also because The Guardian gets their funding from donations and online success.

8, Theory applied to each example.

The Curran and Seaton theory of Power and Media industries is used here, as we see that The Daily Mail has the same opinions of those that are owned by DMG Media. This means that the capitalist views are focused on and a narrowing of opinions are represented in the press. This is not seen with The Guardian, as it is not entirely capitalism, and they also tend to focus on left wing politics. 

Wednesday 30th September

Lesson 4
L/O - To investigate the ownership, funding, regulation, values & ideologies of the set products

*SEE NOTES ABOVE* 

DAILY MAIL HISTORY

It was one of the first British papers to popularise its coverage to appeal to a mass readership. Founded in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, it was made The Daily Mail when first created in London. In 1902, its circulation exceeded one million, competing with its rivals. for the top circulating newspaper. Although the Mail lost circulation in the 1970s, it became one of Britain's best-selling newspaper at the close of the 20th century. History of RightWing agendas 

THE GUARDIAN HISTORY

The Manchester Guardian was founded by John Edward Taylor in 1821 and first published on 5th May of that year. It published weekly on Saturdays until 1836, when a Wednesday edition was added. In 1993, the competitive broadsheet market was thrown into confusion by the reduction of prices of The Times - which attracted more readers. Throughout this period, The Guardian maintained its full price. History of slightly Left-Wing Agendas

THEORY                                                       Daily Mail                                  The Guardian

Curran and Seaton 1:                                       

Media industries are capitalist                Rothermere Family and                 The Scotts trust ensures that

and aim to increase concentration          the DMGT ensure the                     ownership is not influential

of ownership.                                          concentration of ownership            and the opinions are

                                                                increases and maintains the            maintained as varied. The 

                                                                opinions of the owners in                Guardian slightly left. All 

                                                                various media news outlets              newspapers under Scotts

                                                                  Daily Mail far right, DGMT          Trust share both opinions

                                                                                                                        and views, not narrow mind.

      

Curran and Seaton 3:

Owners pursue profits at the                   Daily Mail closed factories             The Guardian pumps money

expense of creativity or quality               costing workers their jobs.              into the Scotts Trust, which

                                                                 This is at an expense of                   goes right back into the 

                                                                 creativity and quality as                  newspaper. No pursuit of 

                                                                 workers contribute both                  profits at any expenses. 

Curran and Seaton 4:

Even after the impact of the                    Daily Mail still controlled

internet, it is still controlled by                even after internet by

small groups of people                             an oligarchy. 

              

Wednesday 7th October 

Mock Question

Explain how the cultural context in how the news is produced influences the content offered to audiences (10 marks 17 mins)                                                                                                       

To start, there are cases of higher risks for certain newspapers, such as the Daily Mail, as they have a large share hold with it being over 20%. As a result of this, they cannot cover as many cultural and domestic stories as they'd like to, as if they put out a news story the government do not like for example, then they'll lose readers. This is not the case for The Guardian, as if they were to release a controversial story, they do not have as much of a risk as their share hold is much lower - The Guardian get views for their controversial stories. The Mail has focused on personalised news values that value negativity and soft news stories that are sensationalised which links to the cultural values. The Guardian focus on more hard hitting news to show freedom and equality in their values. (Livingstone and Lunt - require regulation to protect reader - 17 cases brought to IPSO in 2 year period for mail). By mixing genres, there is a wider representation and a greater diversity, with a change in newspaper conventions. Newspapers feature cultural events that are important to audiences in their lived experiences. Mail personalised news, refers to elite nations and people. This links into the social context of the UK, as we like looking into others lives. The Guardian refers to stories of the public interest.The times that we live in now help the Daily Mail greatly, as the internet and technology allow for the newspaper to click bait to a great extent. This helps them get clicks. Being in the UK, it is a tradition that we read the news. Click-baiting helps the Daily Mail, as they can get a title that catches peoples attention, and then put minimal information into the article itself - the content is minimised. If this were to be The Guardian, it would be more equal and fair. This generates trust for The Guardian. It also shows that as a culture, we are accepting of this clickbait being used. The Guardian is now the 3rd in the market after having only a 2.8% share in the printed news. Online news has meant that the newspaper has grown through the use of the internet and other online methods. The Mail has the largest market share and states that it reaches 70% of the population through both print and online news. (Hesmondhalgh - Risk is seen in terms of loss of money. Risk is high because production costs are high)

Wednesday 14th October

Lesson 5 - DIRT 

Target Numbers: 2, 3, 5

Wednesday 21st October

Lesson 6 - Target Audience

L/O - to investigate audiences of printed news and audience appeal

Audience profiling

Can be done with:

• Demographics 
• Psychometrics 
• Type: mass or niche

29.1 million people a month still read UK newspapers = mass audience

 Demographics

• 51% male
• 55% most likely
• 57% millennials
• middle (28%) & working (27%)

Psychometrics (VALS)

• Aspirers
• Mainstreamers
• Reformers
• the Resigned & Succeeders

DAILY MAIL

Demographics:

• 62% ABC1 demographic (mostly C1)
• 15% millennial
• 59% female
• Average age 59
• Primarily white
• Majority live in SE
• Average savings of £39,000

Psychometrics (VALS)

• Mainstreamers 
• Resigned 
• Succeeders                                                                          

Hobbies/Interests

Issues they should be aware of

What they do with their disposable income

How they access media

• Computer
• Phones
  
• Tablets

Films/Docs/Magazines/Music/Sites they like

Types of stories that would appeal to them

• Celebrity lives and news

THE GUARDIAN

Demographics:

• 50% male
• Average age 55+
• 75% ABC
• 16% millennial 
• Various ethnic groups

Psychometrics

• Explorers 
• Reformers
• Succeeders 

Hobbies/Interests

Issues they should be aware of

What they do with their disposable income

How they access media

• Computers
• Phones
• Tablets

Films/Docs/Magazines/Music/Sites they like

Types of stories that would appeal to them

• Politics
• Issues ongoing around the world

HARCUP AND O'NEIL (2001) 

What applies to this magazine cover?

1. THE POWER ELITE Stories concerning 'powerful individuals, organisations or institutions. This makes a distinction between world or business leaders and reality TV contestants etc.

2. CELEBRITY Stories covering the already famous

3. ENTERTAINMENT Includes stories about sex, show business, human interest, humorous stories or photos

4. FOLLOW UP Stories about subjects already in the news

5. RELEVANCE Issues perceived to be relevant to the readership

6. GOOD NEWS Positive overtones - rescue, miracle cures, etc.

7. BAD NEWS Negative overtones - conflict, tragedy, etc.

8. SURPRISE Stories with an element of surprise and.or contrast (formerly unexpectedness)

9. MAGNITUDE Stories with significant numbers of people or large impact

LAYOUT, COVER LINES & HEADLINES

• Sleek and clean
• Not too bold
• Not in your face

COLOUR & FONTS

• Old font - respect
• Mostly black and white - also links to old timer

MODE OF ADDRESS

• Direct

LEXIS

• Simple vocabulary 

1. THE POWER ELITE Stories concerning 'powerful individuals, organisations or institutions. This makes a distinction between world or business leaders and reality TV contestants etc.

2. CELEBRITY Stories covering the already famous

3. ENTERTAINMENT Includes stories about sex, show business, human interest, humorous stories or photos

7. BAD NEWS Negative overtones - conflict, tragedy, etc.

8. SURPRISE Stories with an element of surprise and.or contrast (formerly unexpectedness)

9. MAGNITUDE Stories with significant numbers of people or large impact

COVER LINES & HEADLINES

• Clean and ordered layout
• Headlines not too bold 

Wednesday 4th November

Lesson 7

L/O - To explore how newspapers attract their audiences and apply audience theory to newspapers

Bandura: 

1. The media influence people directly
2. The media can influence directly or indirectly through related platforms such as social media so we can become influenced by the media without being exposed to them. 

Gerber: Cultivation Theory

1. Exposure to particular media forms, genres or content over long periods of time can cultivate and shape our behaviour (video games links to violence)
2. Repetition of negative media messages and values are likely to create 'mean word syndrome' which leads to mistrust and fear of of other within our society

Hall - Audience:

Encoding/decoding model

Media producers encode with a preferred meaning. 

Each audience can decode in one of 3 ways:

1. Dominant reading - accepts the preferred meaning and ideological meaning
2. Negotiated reading - decoded message is accepted by audience, disagrees with parts so changes it to fit their experience and values
3. Oppositional reading - both the preferred meaning and any ideological assumptions encoded in the product are rejected

Bandura 1: 

Include something that applies to them - the NHS - which affects people's lives. Also directly applying to people with the weight watchers. Aggressive lexis. 

Bandura 2:

Influenced and exposed to media with weight watchers to make changes in their lives. Daily Mail have Mail Online whilst also using social media.

Gerber 1:

'WAR ON NHS' - long period content shaping the opinions of audience causing negativity. Also story about Ant cheating on wife, dragging the audience into their personal matters and lives.

Gerber 2: 

Fear and mistrust of the government and NHS itself. Influencing the audience in a negative fashion, as it contains aggressive lexis 

Hall 1 - Dominant reading:

Lexis, 'loses', presents a negative light, however 'faces down' presents a positive light. Audience agree with stories as they are the preferred target audience

Hall 2 - Negotiated Reading

Some audience have negotiated reading, as the lexis gives a positive and negative view of the Prime Minister at the time. They take both sides and can see opinions from each side. This is because The Guardian is not purely left wing, so there would be mixed views and opinions 

Hall 3 - Oppositional Reading

Little audience might have a oppositional reading, as they disagree with both the positive and negative information of the news story. This would most likely be because the story is very biased. 

Target Audiences

Research how both the Mail & Guardian target their audiences

Price:

• The Daily Mail price their papers at 65p
• The Guardian price their papers at 70p

Both have a similar price for their audiences. BOTH
AFFORDABLE TO ABC

Cross-platform Advertising:

• Both use Cross-platform advertising

Promotional Offers:

• Daily Mail give vouchers with subscriptions, as does Guardian
• Offer discounts on their site for a range of companies 
• Guardian offers discounts to book shops, etc. 

Sponsorship:

• UNICEF
• Unilever & Philips; sponsored Glastonbury Festival

 

Subscriptions: 

• Both offer multiple subscription packages ranging in prices
• The Guardian is a little more expensive in terms of packages 

 

Partnership marketing:

• Mail offer many savings with Global Savings Group in various retailers
• Guardian have contract with Yahoo enabling global reach

The use of language through the use of lexis presents Bandura's first theory, which 'influences people directly' in this Daily Mail front cover. The words 'cripples' and 'crisis' presents this cover in a negative way, whilst also having the involvement of the 'NHS'. This means that people are affected directly, as the NHS is a big part of people's lives. Bandura's second theory also applies to this story, as it would have been shown on social media and through their 'Mail Online' website. 

We also see Gerber's first theory being used in this front cover. This is because we see the use of repetitive content over a long time period, such as using the NHS as a narrative. This shapes our behaviour and presents the NHS is a negative light, as they keep involving it with dismissive language. Having a negative front cover such as this also shows Gerber's cultivation theory, as this includes mean world syndrome. The repetitive use of negative media creates a state of mistrust and fear within society.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

Wednesday 11th November

Lesson 8

L/O - to explore the use of media language and codes & conventions in print news. 

In order to show a products form and genre is recognisable, certain codes & conventions are followed.

CODES:

• A complex system of signs that create meaning.
• Can be divided into TWO categories:
• TECHNICAL: camerawork,editing & MES choices that require technical equipment/skills to produce, E.g. shot type, layout etc. 
• SYMBOLIC: the meaning communicated through the technical elements. 

CONVENTIONS:

• The generally accepted way of doing something

There are TWO main genres of UK national daily newspapers: tabloid and broadsheet.

GENERAL DIFFERENCES:

• Size - Tabloid newspapers are smaller than broadsheet newspapers
• Lexis - In a broadsheet newspaper, the language will be more intellectual than a tabloid
• Mode of address - Broadsheet contains a direct mode of address, as also tabloid does 
• Headline size - In a tabloid, the headline in much bigger than in a broadsheet
• Image to text ratio - Broadsheet contains a small amount of imagery in their newspapers, however in a tabloid we see much more use of images taking up the page

In this tabloid newspaper, we see each of these general differences being used. The size is small, with fairly simple lexis. It does not include very intelligent language. To further back this point up, the mode of address is also directed at the audience with the use of "us". 

BARTHES:

1. Denotations can signify connotations associated meanings for the same sign.
2. Denotations and connotations re organised into myths.
3. Myths create an ideological meaning and help ideology feel natural, real and acceptable. (rose = romance)

Another difference is the use of 'soft' and 'hard' news. 

TABLOID JOURNALISM (soft news)

Tabloid journalism is often not taken seriously by established reporters. They report on sensational stories such as celebrities, gossip, etc. They are over-exaggerated and even falsified for the sake of grabbing readers' attentions and generating higher profit. 

QUALITY JOURNALISM (hard news)

Quality journalism is used in broadsheet newspapers rather than tabloids. They are taken seriously and expected to release the truth with 100% facts of a story. They report on mainstream issues and society itself, rather than the sensationalised celebrity stories or gossip. Overall, it is good journalism. 

The distinctions between the two genres are getting increasingly blurred. DUAL CONVERGENCE is when genres borrow conventions from another in the use of media language and so increasingly resemble on another.

You also now get these hybrid papers, like The Mail, thats does exactly that.

1. The Mail and The Guardian have both declined in popularity. 
2. The repetition of conventions are still seen in newspapers. These conventions have not changed throughout history.
3. This is true, as broadsheets tend to borrow their conventions. They have borrowed from the tabloid genre. 
   

Wednesday 18th November

Lesson 9

L/O - To analyse the use of media language and codes & conventions in set products.

THE DAILY MAIL

• It is considered to be the first UK tabloid in terms of its journalism.
• It is considered to be a MID-MARKET TABLOID
• A newspaper that offers a mix of both soft and hard news content in its coverage of news to appeal to its target audience

Using your knowledge of the conventions of both tabloid and broadsheet papers, explain how the Mail has hybridised these two genres. Look at content & layout.

The Mail has taken from both tabloid and broadsheet papers. Right away, we see there is a use of bright colours on the page, which have been taken from a tabloid. The main image is also a fairly big size with a huge caption, which takes up the page. As for what it has taken from broadsheet newspapers, the content itself is hard news, something broadsheet papers report rather than tabloid's common soft news. The serif font is also used for the majority of the front cover, connoting traditional vales and a sense of authority. The paper has been hybridised by using things from both tabloids and broadsheet papers. 

Analyse how this cover uses Media Language to show genre, viewpoints & ideologies.

Media Language Theory:

Levi-Strauss: STRUCURALISM

1. This is the study of hidden rules that shape a structure to communicate ideology or myhts.
2. We understand that world and our place within it based on binary oppositions. For example: night and day. We know it is not night if it is day.

The Guardian 

• Historically, it was a broadsheet associated with serious journalism and hard news coverage requiring a well-educated reader.
• It adopted the compact (tabloid) size in January 2018
• In doing so, it made changes to its masthead, colour palette, font & layout.

 

The guardian switched to a more tabloid-like newspaper in January 2018. There has been a clear change of colour palette, making it more colourful. The main image is now increased in size, which therefore makes less room for text. 

Media Language Theory:

Baudrillard: Postmodernism pg. 113

1. Postmodern society is concerned with hyper-real simulations, play of signs and images.
2. Social distinctions are no longer rigid; difference in class, gender politics and culture become simulations
   
   
   

REPRESENTATION

L/O - To explore the constructions of representations in papers and the impact of contexts on the representations 

Dominant Group Characteristics:

• Middle aged
• Male
• Middle Class
• White
• Capitalist
• Christian
• Heterosexual
• Able-bodied
• Western
• University Educated

Dominant Ideology: the social experience, values and beliefs of the dominant group

If there's a dominant group, there will always be a inferior group. 

Ownership:

• Media Barons -  Paper is influenced by the Media Barons and their ideologies. 
• Journalists - The newspaper will want journalists that conform to its ideologies 

Economic Factors:

• Capitalism - This will give the editors the choice of how they integrate political bias into papers. They want money themselves rather than handing it out. Represent capitalism as good
• Newspaper genre - The genre of the newspaper represent its values 

News Values & Political Bias:

• Genre - Representation of the values of the papers through the genre, presented in positive light
• Target Audience - The target audience influences the viewpoints of the paper
• 
  Political Agenda - The political bias of the newspaper influence the stories of the paper itself, including tearing down politicians  

Regulation

• Free Press - Allows the newspaper to print any story they want. 
• Self-Regulation - Allows the newspaper to regulate itself, therefore allowing them to include whatever 

 

SELECTION

Representation occurs as a result of selection (through Gatekeeping) 

and combination (the way different features are selected and combined)

Tabloid Covers:

• May focus on a range of stories represented in a similar way
• usually reinforces common representations of the DG through celebrity or popular culture
• tend to repeat representations from edition to edition so that the combination becomes naturalised, expected & accepted

Broadsheet Covers:

• May focus on a range of stories represented in different ways
• May question common representations of the DG to encourage the reader to do the same
• Combination of content may aim to provide a range of perspectives in the chosen representations 

Number of stories: 2

Issues covered: Politicians private life, Famous person's death

Social groups represented: Power elite, politicians, women, men 

Explain how different groups, issues or individuals are represented:

In this front page cover from The Sun, the tories are represented as reckless and stuck up, as one of the captions reads out 'Top Tory is accused of cheating on her again'. This story and caption represents all Tories negatively, as it includes an act of indecency. 

Number of stories: 3

Issues covered: Politics, Celebrities private life, a millionaires life. 

Social groups represented: Politicians, males, females, working class, celebrities

Explain how different groups, issues or individuals are represented:

On this front page cover from the Daily Express, Corbyn, a representative of the Labour party, is presented negatively. This reflects the Labour party as a whole. The issue brought to hand is that he has been backstabbed, showing the public that the Labour party are not very secure.  

Summarise the differences between the two newspaper covers:

In the two papers, political parties are presented in different lights. For example, in The Sun's cover, the Conservatives are presented negatively after suspicions of Boris being unfaithful to his wife; Whereas in the Daily Express' front cover, we see the Labour party represented negatively. This gives different representations of certain social groups. 

CLASS

Common stereotypes found:

The lower class are often presented as non hardworking scumbags and dependant. 

Purpose of Negative stereotype:

To cater to the upper class and make the dominant people of society proud against their competition.

AGE

Common stereotypes found:

The youth are seen to want change seen negatively, whereas the older aged people wanting to keep things the same seen as positive.

Purpose of Negative stereotype: 

To appease to the dominant older aged people of society rather than the minority such as the youth.

GENDER

Common stereotypes found:

REALISM

Constructed realism is the way in which a media product uses the technical elements of media language to create a product that looks real but isn't. 

In my chosen covers, Bell Hook's theory is represented, as the coming together or gender, race, class all representing the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is included in both covers. Both of the front pages include political figure Boris Johnson in the main image, who some would say represents the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. 

Van Zoonen's theory is shown in the Daily Express cover. Van Zoonen believes the media portray images of stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces societal views. The media does this because they believe it reflects dominant societal values. This is shown through the cover by the top left image and story of a female. The newspaper has included this as it appeals to dominant views.

Gauntlett's theory is shown in the second cover where Jeremy Corbyn is not represented as an individual, but more as a person from a group. The is a complex relationship with identity presented in the cover.

Hall's theory is shown in the second cover where the exact truth is not represented in the cover, it is exaggerated. They add in what is present, but what is absent is what matters and they have not included that, all for the purpose of clickbait. 

Wednesday 2nd December 2020

PRINT NEWS: REPRESENTATION & CASE STUDIES

L/O - to analyse the construction of representations in case studies and the impact of contexts on these representations 

Daily Mail: The owner, former and current editors are all part of the dominant group. This will impact the choices in the way events, social issues and groups are represented. 

Industry Contexts 

• Economic and social contexts are all represented from a traditional perspective to reinforce the conservative values.
• As a mid-market tabloid, it has a focus on reporting national current affairs alongside celebrity or entertainment news.
• These representation rely on: 
• sensationalised, personal & emotive journalism
• Prioritising positive representations of:

1. Individuals in the DG
2. Traditional family values
3. British culture/nationalism
4. Right-wing political ideology
5. the Conservative party
6. Potential negative representations of minority groups, not just through the reporting of these groups, but also by their absence 

How are events, issues, individuals & social groups represented on this cover through processes of selection & combination?

How does the mail construct stereotypes to communicate ideology & position audiences?

On this Daily Mail cover, certain individuals are represented negatively whereas some are represented as in a positive light. Through the process of selection, they have represented Jeremy Corbyn as a villain by the use of imagery and lexis. He is presented as 'the pygmy' and seen with a camera angle looking down on him when he is not looking his sharpest. Combine this with the Daily Mail's positive take on the American President meeting the Queen rather than the protest, you can clearly see that the Mail has constructed a clear ideology and target audience. They have done this by presenting certain stories as better than others, for example the conservatives positively and the labour party negatively. 

The reinforcement of the dominant group is shown through the lack of social groups and cultural diversities. For example, in the protest image, we see that the majority are male, resembling the dominant groups ideologies. We can also see a lack of cultural diversity; the image consists almost entirely of white, middle aged men. There is an absence of minority groups which shows their lack of power. This is how the Daily Mail has constructed their stereotypes to communicate ideology & audiences within their newspapers - resembling the dominant group. 

Industry Contexts

The Guardian: despite being owner by a trust which aims to support diversity, the members are largely white, British & middle-class. Therefore, representations from a perspective of white middle class. The editor invite columnists from a range of social groups to provide diversity. So they provide opportunities for minority groups but reflect values from a liberal middle class viewpoint. It is primarily a liberal paper.

• As a broadsheet, it has a focus on reporting national and global current affairs and civic issues that are of public interest. Suggests objective representations, however, news values will still be applied by the editor.
• As they have a centre-left political bias, they will look to choose positive representations that support this and be critical to the dominant political group. 
• Guardian staff and target audience are largely white, middle class, British & university educated. So, although it aims to construct positive representations of a range of events, issues and individuals, the perspective will always be with some bias from the dominant group. 
• The Guardian see from both sides of the story rather than leaning to one side fully. 

How are events, issues, individuals & social groups represented on this cover through processes of selection & combination?

How does the guardian construct stereotypes to communicate ideology & position audiences?

On this Guardian cover, certain individuals are represented negatively, for example Donald Trump. Through the process of selection they have presented him as a villain by the use of imagery and lexis. The Guardian use "fake news", a quote from Trump when said that he criticised the PM. This shows him denying it, which then directs your attention to the image, where he looks to be talking behind the PM's back. This presents him in a negative light, and also reflects the ideologies and audiences of the Guardian - with Trump being right wing. This could also link with Van Zooten's theory, with the male being the dominant group in this situation by being in the spotlight. 

There is also an absence of social groups. In the top left, the English Men's national football team represent the able bodied - which are seen as the dominant group. The Guardian do not include the unable-bodied, presenting their newspaper with typical newspaper ideologies and dominant group ideologies, reflecting their centre-left values.

Target: 4-Bring in a relevant context area to discuss in relation to the cover you are analysing.

Linking context into this, it may cause a flow of support towards the British Prime Minister, as Brits will want to back up their leader and not let anyone speak bad about her. 

With regards to context in the football news story, this had been represented this way as the footballers are presented as the dominant group, leaving out the non dominant groups (for example, the disabled).

Wednesday 9th December

Online News

L/O - to explore the industry, regulation and ownership of print & online, social & participatory news.

ONLINE NEWS

1) Which factors have led to the increase in online news

An increase in technology overtime has led to online news being seen more frequently. This is also due to the change in cultures - many people switch to online rather than having an actual newspaper held in their hands. The expenses of technology decreases overtime, allowing more people to have, for example, and iPhone after it being released some time ago.

2) How do owners monetise online news content?

Owners monetise their online content with the use of advertisements from different companies and people. These companies pay the owners to get across their work to masses of people. They also make money from memberships and subscriptions from the public.

3) How has the development of technology and digital convergence impacted the production, distribution & circulation of online news? 

The development of technology has impacted the production, distribution & circulation of online news massively. With new technology, the production of online news can be done in a short amount of time, along with the distribution and circulation. With the use of technology and digital convergence, we are now able to shorten the amount of time it takes to get news out. With handheld newspaper copies, you would have to wait a day to see the news, whereas with technology, we can see it as soon as it is reported.

4) How is online news regulated and why is this an ongoing issue?

Online news is not regulated, and this is an issue as news companies can put whatever story they want out there and not face massive consequences unless gone through months of cases.

This links to Livingstone & Lunt's theory that self regulates are unethical & ineffective. They will, for example, protect whistle blowers and run the stories if in the public interest. 

-----------------

The Mail Online was launched in 2003 and rebranded as a separate site in 2006. They offer it on four different platforms: desktop, mobile, tablet formats, social media. These are opportunities for different platforms of advertisements. Unlike some other papers, digital advertising is profitable for the MailOnline. It had a combined revenue of £93 million in 2016, which saw a rise to £119 million at the end of 2017. They remain competitive. 

PRODUCTION:

• The Mail Online's content is exclusive and not published in print
• Employs over 800 people who post over 1,500 articles and 560 videos a day.
• Although separate, with a different editor, it retains the same conservative news values
• Features international news and mainly UK-focused coverage of sports, finance & travel.
• Celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news is a major component, with the site being dominated by images.

DISTRIBUTION:

• Digitally distributed across various platforms and apps (e.g. snapchat)
• Reduces distribution costs and enhances profit from ads
• Enables a global reach for the brand through content in various countries.
• Attracts younger audiences than the print newspaper

CIRCULATION:

• Since 2015, the MailOnline is considered to be the most visited English language site in the world
• Approximately one third of its daily traffic comes from the US and Australia 
• 15 million users accessing content daily
• 10 mil snapchat readers daily
• Facebook page has 1 billion monthly video views. 

REGULATION:

• Member of IPSO (readers can complain about content on any platform)
• Since 2015, IPSO has received 39 complaints
• IPSO can only regulate content produced by the MailOnline journalists.
• More room for invading privacy or publishing inaccurate information, given its gossipy nature.
• Significant impact of sharing, commenting and often anonymous participation on content is encouraged. Success is debatable. 

1) What impact has digital convergence had on the production, distribution & circulation of DMGT online content?

The development of technology and digital convergence has impacted the production, distribution & circulation of DMGT and the Daily Mail massively. With new technology, the production of online news can be done in a short amount of time, along with the distribution and circulation. With the use of technology and digital convergence, we are now able to shorten the amount of time it takes to get news out. With handheld newspaper copies, you would have to wait a day to see the news, whereas with technology, we can see it as soon as it is reported.

2) Go to the IPSO website and find examples of complaints against MailOnline content. 

3) Select two articles from the MailOnline. Look at the types of comments left by users.

1. The internet has encouraged globalisation of news through the uses of different apps and social media. For example, with the news being put onto social media, individuals are then able to share and write their own opinion about said news story. With this not being region specific, anyone in the world can do this.

ONLINE LESSONS

Wednesday 6th January

New technologies and digital convergence allows owners to reach different segments and at different time of the day. This extends their market reach. UK news brands have the following reach:

• 84% of men & women
• 88% of 18-34yr olds

Owners are able to reach a millennial audience who don't usually read print news. This allows for a much broader audience. 

Owners reach audiences by identifying and providing content that appeals to them. Online news has an advantage with using click streaming. Brands reach different audiences using online platforms with the use of this. In my opinion, the online news is simply content that the public are interested in (what they want to hear), rather than content that is in the public interest (what they need to hear). With click streaming, this allows people to see what they want to see rather than what they need to hear. This may help certain brands, but as for hard news it is seen as negative.

The MailOnline content is accessed by almost 13million daily browsers across its platforms.

Their readers can be identified by the following demographics:

• 73.3% aged 35+
• 26.7% aged 15-25 (print is 9.5%)

DGMT argue their success is due to 'a consistent application of core principles', defined as:

• creating addictive & timely content
• using data & analytics effectively
• making front door traffic & engagement a priority
• reinforcing the Daily Mail brand

They use click streaming to analyse audience preferences. 

Daily Mail

APPPEAL THROUGH USE OF NEWS VALUES & SELECTION

Celebrity - "Prince Harry will not meet Queen for face-toface Megxit talks due to Covid."

Entertainment - "Kim Kardashian ditches her $1.3m engagement ring..."

Surprise -  "Police COVID crackdown begins"

Bad News -  "Police fine group of 11 hikers who breached Covid rules..."

Good News - "Clap For Carers is back..."

Relevance - "Tory MP's urge government to add school works to virus jab list"

Follow-up - "Boris Johnson desperately tries to win over furious Tory MPs..."

News Agenda -  "1.1 Million Britons have Covid..."

APPEAL THROUGH USE OF TECHNICAL CODES & LANGUAGE 

Layout - Masthead at top of page, different genres and content underneath. Main story reaches across page, as you scroll down other stories are jotted about - mostly celebrity. 

Colours - A lot of blue (on brand) and plain white background. 

Font - Serif fonts - shows traditionalist views linking to age of brand. 

Mode of Address - mostly direct to draw you in

Lexis -  Simple vocabulary 

USES & GRATIFACTION OF Mail Online

Personal Identity - "Manchester students threaten 'rent strike'..."

Information - "One in four deaths involved coronavirus leading up to Christmas"

Entertainment - "Kylie Jenner puts on a busty display..."

Social Interaction - "Manchester City confirm THREE new coronavirus cases..."

The Guardian

The Guardian content is accessed by over 4million daily browsers across its platforms. Their reader can be identified by the following demographics:

• 67% aged 35+
• 33% aged 15-25 (print is 9.5%)

Their audience can be broken down into the following:

• 34.7 million monthly global unique users.
• 24.2 million UK monthly cross-platform users. 

They are the market leader in providing online news content across desktop & Twitter.

APPEAL THROUGH USE OF NEWS VALUES & SELECTION

The Power Elite - "Hancock opens lockdown debate"

Celebrity - "Tiger Wood's documentary curious white space at heart of the golfer's life"

Entertainment - "Orwell's Animal Farm game review"

Surprise - "Quarter of England and Wales deaths Covid-Related in week before Christmas"

Bad News - "Northern Ireland food supply disruption

Good News - "Clap For Carers"

Magnitude - "Corona Virus"

Relevance - "GCSE and A-Level exams axed"

Follow Up - "Johnson cautions on when England's schools will reopen

News Agenda -  "EU medicines regulator approves Moderna Vaccine". 

APPEAL THROUGH USE OF TECHNICAL CODES & LANGUAGE

Layout - Masthead and logo at top, main story with image in middle of page, as you scroll down there are other stories.

Colours - White, Blue and Red - resembles Britishness 

Font - Serif fonts showing traditional views.

Mode of Address - Direct

Lexis - Sophisticated 

USES & GRATIFICATION OF The Guardian

Personal Identity - "McDonald's walk-in takeaways paused..."

Information - "GCSE AND A-Level exams axed"

Entertainment - Tiger Wood's documentary..."

Social Interaction - "Two more Manchester City players test positive".

APPLYING THEORY

The following theories can be applied to audience & online news:

• Bandura: Media effects - daily mail - looking into others lives is important
• Gerbner: Cultivation theory - daily mail - reporting on reality TV stars
• Hall: Reception theory - the guardian - "Johnson claims no vaccine if SNP chose"
• Jenkins: Fandom - daily mail - sharing celebrity lifestyle
• Shirky: End of Audience - people are able to produce news online via social media

ONLINE NEWS

L/O - To explore the use of media language in online, social & participatory news.

CONVENTIONS (ONLINE NEWS)

• Online news obviously shares many conventions with print news. However, it has to develop some of these to suit the different media form.
• For example, more headlines on the homepage compared to a front page; rolling or breaking news can be easily included and updated.
• They will also merge different communication elements from print, audio and video into one webpage.
• Key differences between a print and an online article will be a greater use of sub-headings and audience interaction elements, such as SM links, comment & share options.

CONVENTIONS (SOCIAL MEDIA)

• While Twitter & Facebook borrow ML elements from online news, their news content looks very different to print media.
• These platforms use conventions to engage the audience and amplify the concept of belonging to an online community and participating through the media form.

Choose an online news article from a NON CASE STUDY PAPER. Screen shot and annotate the possible meanings connoted. Use accurate terminology.

Banner - Includes the logo - allows the audience to clearly see what they're on.

Navigation Bar - Allows the audience to choose what content they want. 

Social Media Links - ^

Sidebar - ^

Reader Sign In Link - ^

Search Tool - ^

Advert - Medium sized advert in top right of article.

Headline - Bold and stands out to let audience know what it is.

Font & Typeface - very fundamental fonts. Sans-serif.

Central Images - A shot of what links to the story

Masthead - Top left of the screen, sizeable

Colour Palette - Red, Black, Green and white - vividly opposing sensationalised news. The addition of green is the theme of the genre of news.

MAIL ONLINE WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

What we first see on the MailOnline website is the masthead with a live countdown for the days the UK have been in lockdown. The navigation menu is full of different genres. In the top, there is a link to the Daily Mail's Facebook page. There are ads located on both sides of the page, with the news articles being shown in the centre of the screen with large headlines above the story. The colour palette is white, red and blue, which has connotations of the Union Jack. 

To start, the headline is found at the top of the article and it is there first thing the audience see with it being bold and some words capitalised. The adverts show up on the sides and a bar at the top. The banner includes the masthead and logo - the royal coat of arms. Social media links are under found just under the by-line - however not shown in image. The colour palette is red, white and blue showing nationalism. Comments are at the very bottom of the article. 

• The Twitter and Facebook accounts involve high powered people and celebrities in the cover art, e.g. Trump. The handles and names prove to be easy navigation to the pages, with this also being the case for profile pictures. 
• People can comment on and share the articles with simple presses of buttons. This is dissimilar to print versions of news.  

Mail Online Ryanair Confrontation Story

Headline - Located at the top of the article. Bold and sizeable. Notable lexis with the use of 'furious' - sensationalising is present.

Main Image - The main image is a picture of the man representing a personal story. This sensationalises the story.

Caption - Personalises the story by mentioning the man in the image.

Comments Button - Allows for people to give their own thoughts on the story based on the content and allows for discussion. 

THE GUARDIAN WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

What we first see on The Guardian home page is the banner, with it being at the top of the screen. This includes the Masthead, log in, subscribe, search and more. As for advertisements, there is a pop up that can be deleted - the sidebars are filled with weather updates and the date, as well as articles. The headlines are either next to or under an image of the article. The colour palette is red, blue, yellow and white.

The banner at the top of the page includes the masthead, log in, subscribe, search and more. Social media buttons are found on the sidebar, along with an advertisement. The content of the article is in the middle of the page. The headline is located at the top, above the image. Red, blue, white and yellow is shown. There is a comments section at the bottom of the page.

• The cover art, profile pictures and names are the same on Facebook and Twitter - helping the audience know exactly what they want. 
• People can comment on and share the articles with simple presses of buttons. This is dissimilar to print versions of news.  

THE GUARDIAN GOVERNMENT ARTICLE

Headline - At the top of the article above the image and caption, giving information about the article. Honesty is shown - showing the Guardian's views and ideals.

Main Image - Helps the audience to understand the article by presenting a visual representation of a prison - helping the readers vision the article better.

Caption - Honest and informative, lexis associates itself with the intended target audience. 

Comments - The comments allow the audience to discuss the article.

THEORY APPLICATION

Barthes:

• The media language used helps to connote the values and ideologies of the two newspapers. The audience are allowed to let their mind roam with the denotations and connotations, whilst keeping the ideologies of the papers.

Todorov:

• Certain stories and articles of the MailOnline and the Guardian fit into the Todorov narrative theory

Neale:

• The genre of news can change due to different factors and circumstances revealing repetition and difference. With the use of online news, workers can quickly change news whether that be on social media or the website with a few button presses.

Levi Strauss:

• The given websites have different ideologies, presenting them as 'binary opposites'. This can make or break the audience's views and opinions.

Baudrillard:

• Creating a 'hyperreal' situation, newspapers can adapt stories to essentially make them become 'meaningless'. 

ONLINE NEWS

L/O - to analyse representations in online, social & participatory news.

IMPACT OF INDUSTRY CONTEXTS

The representations offered in the MailOnline not only reflect values and agendas of DMGT, but also appeal to a global audience.

As an online tabloid, the MailOnline focuses on reporting global human interest stories featuring celebrities and entertainment. The representations of these event, individuals and social groups rely on:

• Sensationalised, personal & emotive journalism
• Individuals in the family group
• Traditional family values
• Global, westernised cultural values
• A right-wing political ideology
• The values of consumerism and individualism
• The possible prioritising of negative representations of minority groups, not only through news story but by their absence.

Look at the MailOnline website and identify where this can be seen and what specific representations have been constructed. 

• Headline is sensationalised to provoke audience attention
• Story becomes personalised as Dominic Raab is directly involved and mentioned. 

Headline - Bold and contains sophisticated lexis - presenting the traditional ideals of the paper.

Image - eye-level shot of man - presents him as equal.

Font - Sans-serif and bold to present the paper's ideologies.

The Mail Online constructs representations through the use of positive and negative stereotypes, reinforcement of traditionalist values and wider ideological values. The key ideological messages communicated on its website are:

• Dominant groups have social power
• Individualism is important
• Globalisation benefits society
• Consumerism is natural

Donald Trump is represents the dominant group being a white upper class male. This shows that he has high social power.

This story is individualized but also showing important news with the president out of office. 

An example of globalisation, the American Pfizer vaccine makes news in the UK.

 

Hall: There is a lack minorities present which represents the Daily Mail's values - presenting the dominant group.

Gauntlett: The Daily Mail presents Biden in a negative light due to his left-wing views - despite him being part of the dominant group.

Van Zoonen: A story on the website reads 'how to lose weight in 10 seconds' with an image of a female in little clothing. This objectifies women.

Bell Hookes: A story on Trump leaving the White House before seeing Biden enter office with his Female Black vice president. This shows the coming together of gender and race.

Butler: Priti Patel's is struggling to distribute the vaccine in large numbers - suggests the incapability of her role as she is female.

Gilroy: There is a notable absence of black, African, Caribbean people, which gives representations that the paper inherent superiority of white western civilisations.

Wednesday 27 January

The Guardian

The representations offered in theguardian.com extend those form the print version but must also appeal to a global audience for the website to have global reach and maximise profit.

As an online tabloid, it would be expected to report global human interest stories featuring celebrities and entertainment. This is hard to see when compared to other online tabloids however, its representations of these events, individuals and social groups rely on:

1. Balanced, liberal journalism
2. Prioritising public interest stories that represent the following issues:

• Politics and current affairs
• Social welfare
• The arts, culture, sports & lifestyle
• Global, westernised cultural values
• Representative diversity of social groups
• A centre-left political ideology. 

On The Guardian home page, we can see some of the above, such as politics and current affairs and centre-left political ideologies. This is shown through the negative representation of Boris Johnson taking an 'essential' trip.

theguardian.com may offer a different viewpoint to other online news platforms, it is still made doe consumption, thus reinforcing globalisation, consumerism and individualism as ideologies.

Consumerism allows GMG to extend the content from The Guardian across its online news platforms, building on its brand values via a loyal audience who are encouraged to continue consuming the brand values via a loyal audience who are encouraged to continue consuming the brand. This has increased traffic to the site and improved revenue for GMG, suggesting the representations constructed are appealing to its audience and therefore advertisers.

This indicates that the need to increase profit doesn't have to be at the expense of finding new readers with different news content. 

Headline - Bold and contains sophisticated lexis - presenting the traditional ideals of the paper.

Image - low-level shot - shows power to the people in the image. 

Font - Serif to present the paper's ideologies.

The Guardian constructs representations through the use of positive and negative stereotypes, reinforcement of traditionalist values and wider ideological values. The key ideological messages communicated on its website are:

• Dominant groups have social power
• Individualism is important
• Globalisation benefits society
• Consumerism is natural

• The representation that the dominant group has social power is shown here, as a powerful figure and white man is allowed to bend the rules and laws.

• Individualism is important is shown through this story, negatively presenting the government and its 'incapability' of tackling the virus.

• Globalization is represented here, showing a benefit to society by allowing us to read stories from around the world and educating the audience 

• Consumerism is represented as normal in this. Dating apps are becoming the norm, and fashion is shown

Hall: There is a lack minorities present which represents the Guardian's values - presenting the dominant group.

Gauntlett: The Guardian presents Boris in a negative light due to his right-wing views - despite him being part of the dominant group.

Van Zoonen: A fashion story stereotypically shows an image of a female

Bell Hookes: A story of refugees which represent different genders and races - under stories of the dominant group

Butler: Goes against this with a story of Boris not listening to his own rules and laws.

Gilroy: There is a notable absence of black, African, Caribbean people, which gives representations that the paper inherent superiority of white western civilisations.

NEWS CONTEXTS

L/O - to explore the contexts of the news industry

The historical, economic, political, social & cultural will need to be included or referenced in exam. 

Daily Mail Print

HISTORICAL - An old media form in a new era

ECONOMIC - Advertisements can be seen on every newspaper - this is how they make money. DMGT also rely on circulation from the newspapers to generate revenue. 

POLITICAL - Being a right-wing paper, there is often a lot of support for the conservatives and a lack of for left-wing parties and figures. 

SOCIAL - Social context is seen through the Daily Mail as they cover relevant events from the time they are published. In the above image, we see that this piece of information was relevant at the time of distribution. 

CULTURAL - Reading news content daily is a cultural trend embedded in the behaviours of the British Public - a partial reason of why newspapers are still being distributed.

HISTORICAL - An introduction to the digital age - newspapers decrease in distribution and interest and online news is easier access and free.

ECONOMIC - DMGT monetize their website with the use of advertisements, like print news. This is used for profits. Market shares are monitored to increase profits.

POLITICAL -  Includes values of DMGT, a right-wing bias. An example is seen in the Daily Mail not showing the main story as negative, therefore supporting Brexit.

SOCIAL - The Mail Online represent social context the same as the print by reporting current affairs.

CULTURAL - The Mail Online enters a new age and supports cultural context as technology and online is now and becoming ever-more embedded within the British culture and World culture. 

HISTORICAL - An old media form in a new era

ECONOMIC - Advertisements can be seen on every newspaper - this is how they make money. The Scotts Trust also take donations; all of this money is pumped back into the company to make the news better. 

POLITICAL - Being a left-wing paper, there is often a lot of negativity for the conservatives and support for left-wing parties and figures. 

SOCIAL - Social context is seen through the Guardian as they cover relevant events from the time they are published. In the above image, we see that this piece of information was relevant at the time of distribution - Boris Johnson in the middle of a pandemic.

CULTURAL - Reading news content daily is a cultural trend embedded in the behaviours of the British Public - a partial reason of why newspapers are still being distributed.

HISTORICAL - An introduction to the digital age - newspapers decrease in distribution and interest and online news is easier access and free.

ECONOMIC - The Scotts Trust monetize their website with the use of advertisements, memberships and donations. This is used to pump the money back into the news and make it better. 

POLITICAL -  Includes values of The Scotts Trust, a left-wing bias. A story shown is about the NHS not having enough beds - this could be seen as a dig at the right-wing conservatives for not having the country under control

SOCIAL - TheGuardian.com represent social context the same as the print by reporting current affairs.

CULTURAL - TheGuardian.com enters a new age and supports cultural context as technology and online is now and becoming ever-more embedded within the British culture and World culture. 

Wednesday 10th February 

News Exam Format

L/O - to understand the exam format for the News unit 

QUESTION 1

Analyse the representations in Sources A & B. Use Van Zoonen's concept of patriarchy in your answer

The two newspapers give us different views of representations from social groups, individuals and conventions. We can see this through the use of media terminology included within the newspapers. The newspapers go against Van Zoonen's theory of patriarchy. 

To start, The Sun (source A) have represented David Cameron, a powerful figure of dominant social groups, to make him seem uncapable of his job. This is shown through the main image with a eye-level angle and an odd facial expression - unconventional for a power elite and higher up member of society. The typical low angle to represent power has been lost here. The lexis of the headline also shows the incapability and lack of ambition of Cameron through the use of inappropriate language which is seen as unprofessional. This further shows the audience that the ex-PM is being represented as impotent. All of this goes against Van Zoonen's theory of patriarchy, as a member of many dominant social groups (gender, class, etc.) is being presented in a negative light. 

To add to the disproving of Van Zoonen's patriarchy, The Times (source B) also contributes. On this cover, the lexis presents Cameron in a negative light with the word 'Earthqauke', suggesting everything has gone to ruins. This also further shows the incapability and impotent nature of Cameron. This cover is not reflecting dominant social values. In the main image, it shows David Cameron with a worried face which goes against conventions of dominant groups. This further shows that Van Zoonen's patriarchy theory cannot be seen in these covers.

QUESTION 2

How far has genre influenced the media language in Sources A & B.

The two biggest genres of newspapers are tabloid and broadsheet. Broadsheets are traditional newspapers - the big, hard news copies - whereas Tabloid's are smaller and report more on entertainment, such as celebrities ,rather than important news. Source A is a tabloid and Source B is a broadsheet; they both show clear influence of media language through the genre and their target audience. 

The Sun (source A) is clearly seen as a Tabloid. This is due to many reasons and terminology. To start, the colour palette is a big signifier of the genre. This is because traditional broadsheets are mostly in black & white, whereas tabloids contain a range of colours. This is for the eye-catching element it adds. Adding to this, the lexis used in the newspaper is very informal with the use of inappropriate language which is presented by a fundamental sans serif font. This also links into the sensationalist nature of a tabloid. The target audience is represented through these ideals and media language - informal and uneducated. 

In contrast to this, The Times (source B) is a broadsheet and influences media language just like tabloid. The media language is very different to source A. To start, the main colours are black and white which shows the traditionalistic views of the genre. The serif font and formal language also show the influence of the genre on the media language. The term 'Brexit Earthquake" is straight to the point and presents hard news in a more formal manner. The main image shows Cameron leaving 10 Downing Street with a medium shot - this is not sensationalised like a tabloid. 

In conclusion, the genre influences media language heavily, as shown in  Source A and Source B.

NEWS MOCK

QUESTION 1

Analyse the different representations of ethnicity in Sources A and B. Apply one appropriate theory of representation in your answer.

Source A (The Independent) has contrasting representations of ethnicity from that of Source B (The Daily Mail). Bell Hook's feminist theory of the coming together of gender, race, class all representing the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is seen. She believes that the non-dominant group's values are not shown and that white, male, upper class people control the media industries.

In Source A, we can see the positive representation of ethnicity in the fact that they are being valued. The front cover represents values of a non-dominant group. The Independent are spreading the word that these people are distressed. The main image shows a member of the oppressed group expressing his emotions seen through an eye-level shot. This makes the reader see them as on the same level as the audience - which humanizes them. The headline. "Teachers told to guess children's race for new national database" - a non-sensationalised headline which shows that it is hard news and paramount. The serif font also shows this. We also see this in the lexis of the sub-heading, "Farewell, Jungle. Hello, uncertain future". This has direct connotations of a jungle, making it seem like the conditions in the camp were very poor and hard to live in. It brings awareness to the reader. All of this media language contributes to the representations of ethnicity - a positive light on a non-dominant group which is unconventional for a newspaper. It shows the suffering of this group. Linking Bell Hook's feminist theory, the values of white, male and upper-class men is not shown here through an unconventional newspaper front cover.

To contrast this, Source B shows this story in a different way. It includes the values of the dominant group by presenting representations of ethnicity and non-dominant groups negatively through uses of media language. To start, there is no main image representing the cover story. This shows that the paper do not want to associate anything other than the dominant group with their ideals. Secondly, a sensationalised, capitalised headline is the main eye-catcher of the front cover that reads "You pay £36m for Calais clear-out". This further proves the negative view of the migrants. The explicit meaning of this is telling British citizens are being taxed more due to the events in Calais, representing the ethnic community as a hassle towards the UK. The headline "That's what French will bill us for chaos" presents minorities as reckless, sensationalising the story. Overall, there is a negative representation of ethnicity shown from The Daily Mail. This can link to Bell Hook's theory. It shows the conventional views and ideologies of a white, male upper-class society with the coming together of gender, race, class representing the white supremist society. 

QUESTION 2

Sources A and B cover the same news event but are two different newspapers. 

How far has the combination of elements of media language influenced meaning in the sources?

In your answer you must:

• explain how the combination of elements of media language influences meaning in newspapers.
• analyse how media language has been used to construct meaning in the sources. 
• make judgements and reach conclusions about how far the combination of elements of media language has influenced meaning in the sources.

Sources A and B are two different newspapers however they both cover the same event in contrasting values and ideas. They both use the combination of elements of media language which influences meaning. For this, we can use Hall's representation theory to showcase this. 

To start, in Source A (The Independent), we see elements of media language influencing meaning in newspapers through group representations and other various techniques. First of, we can see the positive representation of ethnic minorities through the headline, main image and lexis. The combination of this influences and presents meaning within the newspapers. The lexis of the headline "Farewell, Jungle. Hello, uncertain future" represents the social group in a positive light, influencing the meaning. The word 'jungle' makes it seem the living conditions were very poor in Calais. A serif font and non-capitalised text enables a non-sensationalised news story, reflecting on the social group and treating them as equals. The main image shows the non-dominant group being expressive in a joyful emotion through a eye-level shot which presents them on the same level as the audience. The combination of the analysed media language influences meaning, as we are seen an unconventional front cover with an appearance of values from non-dominant groups. Secondly, various social groups are represented at the top of the front cover through age and gender. We see a range of faces from female to male, middle-age to older presenting a caption of social issues; two examples are 'The male pill is hard for me to swallow' and "How Brexit skewed our view of refugees". This is an example of a combination of media language influence meaning due to the representations and unconventional views. We can apply Hall's representation theory to this, as some readers will interpret a dominant, negotiated or an oppositional reading of the stories. These groups can be represented in many ways, showing there is no 'true representation' of people or events. 

In comparison, we see contrasting representations in Source B (The Daily Mail) despite elements of media language still influencing meaning. Covering the same news event, The Daily Mail have created different meaning compared to The Independent. This is shown through the headline. It is large, bold and capitalised - this shows that the story is being sensationalised. It is being exaggerated to provoke public interest at the expense of a social group. This is also seen in the lexis; "You pay £36m for Calais clear out", involving the reader directly into the negative perception of the non-dominant social group. The negative representation includes This shows the combination of elements of media language influencing meaning in a newspaper through headline and lexis. Also seen on this front cover is the objectifying of women. On the right side of the newspaper we are shown a female in a revealing dress. The lexis also contributes to this with the addition of "Radio waves that keep Kylie young at 49." It shows that they are purely focusing on her looks. Adding to the negative representations, the elderly and disabled are shown to have less ability than that of the able-bodied, due to the caption "My dream cure to insomnia", often linked with those. We can link all of this to Hall's representation theory, as it shows that there is no true way to represent certain social groups. We can see that in contrast to Source A, Source B is a lot more negative with their representations.

To conclude, there is a massive contribution with elements of media language that influence meaning in newspapers, whether it makes it negative or positive.

QUESTION 3

Explain the impact of technological developments and changing economic contexts on the cost for audiences of consuming news. Refer to The Guardian and The Daily Mail to support your answer

The impact of technological developments and changing economic contexts on the cost for audiences of consuming news has been greatly improved and upgraded due to the proliferation of technology and society as a whole; for example, the internet, changes of platforms (new devices), etc. As a result, there have been positives and negatives for newspaper companies.

Firstly, the impact of technological developments have impacted the newspaper industry to a great extent. It forced certain newspapers to change how they work and distribute. This can be shown through The Daily Mail. The owners are right-wing DMG Media who produce their news solely for profit. To counter-act the falling circulation numbers, they launched an online website for news called "Mail Online". Available on every device, they also have social media pages that allow for anybody to share, like and give their opinion on the event at hand. However, due to the rapid increase of technological developments and drop in circulation figures, they had to adapt to the changing economic contexts. An example of this was when DMG Media shut down a factory making newspaper copies. People lost their jobs all for the greed of the company wanting to maximise their profits. To add to this, with a lot of focus and attention on their 'Mail Online' website they encourage users to subscribe to gain benefits over non-paying users. Along with this, other companies can pay DMG Media to advertise their content on the website. This is another way they make profits. Despite all of this, they even increased the cost of their hard copy newspapers to 65p. All of this shows how the great impact of technological developments and changing economic contexts on the cost for audiences consuming news. The audience pay more of a price to access news. We can use Hesmondhalgh's theory of cultural industries - risk is seen in terms of loss of money, and that risk is high because production costs are high. Companies rely on repetition to minimise risk and cover failure. 

Secondly, The Guardian have also been impacted by the impact of technology and economical changes. Being owned by the Scotts Trust, they do not use the newspaper for profit. Instead they take the earnings from the newspaper and pump it back into it. They had a very similar case with the technological developments as the Daily Mail. The Guardian shifted attention to the online website and social media accounts due to the changing of cultural views. Contrasting to the Daily Mail, they have no advertisements and only making money through newspaper sales, subscription memberships and donations. Similarly to the Daily Mail however, they also increased their newspaper price to combat the changing culture. In contrast, we are unable to apply Hesmondhalgh's theory of cultural industries to The Guardian. This is because there is no loss of money, as the money goes right back into the company.

In conclusion, audiences have different ways of accessing news at different costs due to the impact of technological developments and changing economic contexts. People now have many ways of consuming news.  

QUESTION 4

Evaluate the usefulness of one of the following theories in understanding the extent to which media ownership influences the content of news stories. Either:

• Curran and Seaton on power and media industries
• OR Hesmondhalgh on cultural industries.

The Curran and Seaton theory on power and media industries can be fairly useful. This is because it can be used only on certain newspapers, like The Daily Mail. This is because the theory links into capitalism, and so it works well with capitalist newspapers. Due to this, we would be unable to use this theory on non-capitalist newspapers, such as The Guardian. The theory states that patterns of ownership and control are important in how the media functions, media industries are capitalist and aim to increase concentration of ownership. Also owners pursue profits at the expense of creativity or quality and even after the impact of the internet on the ownership of news, it is still controlled by an oligarchy. 

To start, we can see Curran and Seaton's theory clear when applied to The Daily Mail. This is due to the nature and values of the newspaper. It is owned by DMGT, a right-wing company who work solely for profit. An example of this is when they shut down a hard-copy newspaper factory, with many losing jobs, due to the increase of attention online. They also increased their price for the newspaper. To add to this, they offer advertisements on their newspaper and online websites to increase profits. This contributes to applying Curran and Seaton, as owners pursue profits at the expense of creativity and quality shown by the closing of factories. 'The patterns of ownership and control are important in how the media functions' is also shown through The Daily Mail. This is because it has been passed down through the Rothermere family throughout decades. It contains the values of The Daily Mail due to the limited owner status. This shows that despite the impact of the internet on the ownership of news that it is still controlled by an oligarchy. All of this proves Curran and Seaton's theory on power and media industries which helps us understand the extent to which media ownership influences the content of news stories. 

Contrasting to this, The Guardian disproves Curran and Seaton's theory. The owner, GMG, is one of the UK's leading media organisations. The Scott's Trust is a private company and the sole shareholder in GMG. Due to the newspaper being ran by a Trust and not a singular person, unlike the Daily Mail, there is a wide range of views and opinions. This goes against Curran and Seaton's theory, as it shows no increase in concentration of ownership. The money generated from The Guardian goes right back into making it better, this goes against the point of 'media industries are capitalist and aim to increase concentration of ownership'. Overall, we cannot apply Curran and Seaton's theory for The Guardian, as it does not align with the points made. 

In conclusion, the theory is made useful when applied to capitalist media industries and ownership, however not so much when applied to others.