P1: News

Thursday 13th June

Introduction to News

L/O: Critically evaluate the nature of news and news sources.

What is the purpose of News?

• Selling of information
• A business - commercial industry
• Persuasion & Influence
• Entertainment
• Profit

Key facts:

• Newspapers are not PSB (like the BBC) they are commercial publications. Over 3 quarters of the British press is owned by a handful of billionaires.
• Over a quarter of the press is owned by Lord Rothermere and Rupert Murdoch - between them these two men have over 50% of the printed press.
• Newspapers and their online publications are not legally obliged to provide an un-bias public information service. There are ethical and moral codes of press conduct but the printed press is a self regulatory industry.

• Impact of technology with the printing press - 'newspapers' first produced in Germany in the 1600s the first being printed in 1605.
• Early newspapers were controlled by Government. In the UK they required permission - The licence act 1643 - to be printed. A tax on Newspapers - The stamp Act of 1712 - made them expensive to buy. This meant that news was controlled and available only to the wealthy enough to afford it. On top of this, low levels of literacy also restricted the possible readership.
• The French Revolution and the freedom of the american press spread the idea of newspapers containing opinion as well as the factual reporting of event.
• Economic developments in trading and the beginnings of the industrial revolution during the first half of the 1800s lead to a rise in specialist newspapers containing a new type of data - statistics - these were very useful for the sophisticated investment decisions of the booming Victorian economy.

How has news developed as a media product?

Throughout history news has developed a lot along with the development of technology. To begin with in 1605 the first newspaper was printed using the printing press

How has technology shaped our access to news?

What are the challenges to newspapers and their survival?

Monday 17th June

Media ownership and the printed press in the UK

Lord Rothermere

• Rothermere was educated at Gordonstoun School and Duke University.
• He was a supporter of the former conservative party leader, David Cameron.
• Born on 3rd December 1967
• Occupation: Publisher
• Chairman of DMG media, who owns the Daily Mail, MailOnline, Mail On Sunday and Metro.

Rupert Murdoch

• An Australian-born American media mogul who founded News Corp.
• Born: 11th March, 1931
• Acquired a number of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding into the UK, taking over the News of the World, followed closely by The Sun.

News case studies

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

Van Zoonen argues that in a patriarchal society, the way women's bodies are represented is very different to the way in which male bodies are represented. Female bodies being seen as objects and male bodies being seen as a spectacle. Van Zoonen also suggests that gender is performative, so our ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performances of these roles.

Both source A and source B represent Van Zoonen's theory of gender. Firstly the Guardian newspaper  shows David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron on the 24th June, the day in which David Cameron resigned after the UK voted to leave the European Union. The front cover image represents a patriarchal society and supports what Van Zoonen is arguing. This is shown through Samantha Cameron wearing a very stereotypically female outfit, dress and heals, she is also standing away from David Cameron with quite reserved body language, connoting she may not be happy with his decision. On the other hand David Cameron is standing by the podium, presenting him as a powerful male because of his status, the fact he is also standing outside number 10 downing street shows he still has power and supports Van Zoonen's idea of male's being seen as a spectacle, he is also wearing a suit which is seen as a typically masculine thing to wear, his body language could be seen as vulnerable but he also looks to have a tough exterior which again shows him to be a strong and masculine figure to the millions of people watching. In terms of the main headlines there are only male figures mentioned, reinforcing Van Zoonen's theory.

The Daily Mail front cover also represents a patriarchal society through the main image they have used. This image consists of almost all male figures with only a few women in the image

• Neither sexualise women - shows traditional values 
• Conclusion - ideologies and how the images link with this.

Monday 1st July

How the papers impacted Brexit

Did the press influence the Brexit result? Refer to the arguments of Hesmondhalgh and Gerber in your answer.

I believe the press did influence the Brexit result in a number of different ways. Both The Sun and The Daily Mail used media language to influence the public including each of their headlines and the use of the union jack in their front pages, the more the public were exposed to this the more influenced they would have got to vote leave. Gerbner's theory relates to this as he argued that long exposure to television cultivates standardised roles and behaviour, influencing them to act a certain way, this can also work in terms of newspapers and the press. Hesmondhalgh's theory also relates to this as Hesmondhalgh argued that cultural industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration, cultural production is owned by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk.

The ways in which the newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail, which are politically right winged, influenced the press with the use of union jacks and using various headlines of 'BeLEAVE in Britain',  'If you believe in Britain, vote leave', and 'Who will speak for England?' The union jack was a way to influence the public by using the connotation of independence with the English flag, the reinforcement of this from a number of different newspapers gives the public a view that England should be independent and therefore lead them to vote leave. The headline of 'Who will speak for England' highlights the causes of independence and nationhood that helped the leave campaign, again reinforcing the idea of independence to the public. Other headlines such as 'BeLEAVE in Britain' and 'If you believe in Britain, vote leave' almost guilt the public into voting leave because if you don't they're saying you don't believe in your own country. Gerbner's theory supports this as it states that prolonged exposure to this will influence people into acting a certain way and in this case with the press did end up with the vote being to leave showing that the influence from the newspapers and press did influence the Brexit result.

Hesmondhalgh's theory relates to this in similar ways to Gerbner, however Hesmondhalgh also says that cultural production is owned by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk this relates to the two main people who own the newspapers that gave a lot of influence towards the brexit vote, Lord Rothermere and Rupert Murdoch, between the two of them they own the two newspapers that influenced people the most during the Brexit vote, The Daily Mail and The Sun.
To conclude I think the press did manage to influence the Brexit result through the use of repetition, this can be supported by Gerber and Hesmondhalgh's theories.

Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced, influences their ownership and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and The Daily Mail newspapers you have studied to support your answer.

The Guardian and The Daily Mail are very different in terms of their political alliance and therefore their values and beliefs. The Guardian, owned by Scott Trust ltd, a left wing newspaper. and The daily mail, owned by Lord Rothermere, is a right winged newspaper. Due to their political differences, what they choose to publicise is different and this can have a big impact on their target audiences beliefs as being two very popular newspapers they would be very influencing towards their audience.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/opinion/think-corbyn-is-a-danger-to-britain-heres-how-youve-been-brainwashed/12/12/

Key points in the article:

• £2 million public money was funnels to a charity in Scotland which posted disparaging stories against Jeremy Corbyn and bother Labour figures
• Corbin wants to stop corporate tax breaks, close down overseas tax avoidance, and stamp out wage inequality.

Analyse the representations in sources A and B. Use Van Zoonan's concept of patriarchy in your answer.

Rachel - Portrayed as stereotypical wife
Football - Men being manly
Jeremy Corbyn - Male leader
Only one female demonstrates we still live in male dominated society

Imagery - Slightly less gender bias- 3 women
Headline shows inequality as they're trafficking girls
Male sport at the top


Van Zoonan's concept of patriarchy can be seen in both the front cover of source A and source B. Van Zoonan's theory of patriarchy says that 'Gender is performative and in patriarchal culture, the way women's bodies are represented as objects is different to the representation of male bodies as a spectacle'. This theory relates to both of the newspaper covers as they both demonstrate stereotypical views of both women and males.

Starting with The Times, The main image on the front cover is of 3 women which makes this cover less related to Van Noonan's

1. Jeremy Corbyn - Labour
2. Boris Johnson - Conservatives
3. Jo Swinson - Liberal Democrat
4. Caroline Lucas - Green Party
5. Nigel Farage - Brexit Party
6. Ian Blackford - SNP

                                                                                                                                                                     



Wednesday 4th March

Print News

L/O: To explore the purpose & process of the printed news industry.

• newspapers are expensive to produce as they require a large amount of material and highly trained staff.
• technology has changed newspapers as they are now printed in colour, satellite and internet mean stories are wired quickly from anywhere.
• They are expensive to distribute because they have to be physically transported around the country and need to be in outlets from the early morning.
• You could lessen this cost by printing locally, by going online as it can also be global, free papers like The Metro.
• Newspapers get promoted on TV, social media, sister papers, by offering exclusives, synergy deals with other companies.
• Circulation is number of copies distributed rather than number of copies sold.
• Ownership refers to who financially supports and produces the paper.
• In the UK there are 3 ownership models:
• Media Barons - owned by wealthy individuals or proprietors. E.g. Rupert Murdoch.
• Trusts - 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.
• Cross-Media converged conglomerates - global institutions 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 seven companies and also almost 60% of the market share is owned by just two companies: News UK & DMG Media.
• The news industry contributes massively to the UK economy, despite falling print sales.
• Production is financed in different ways, but the two main forms are:
• Circulation sales: 
• 14.3 million people read a paper daily
• 81% of a papers 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 ad in The Daily Mail is over £30,000.
• Papa make money from ads in both offline and online versions.
• Print readers are 75% more likely to read ads.
• Alternative methods of funding include:
• Subscriptions 
• Memberships
• Reader donations.
• The print news industry is facing a crisis due to falling sales and increased use of online news.
• Traditional funding models may need revising.
• Theresa May announced a review of the new industry in February 2018 to ensure quality news and journalism.
• Possible funding strategies include:
• Government or public funding subsides.
• Philanthropy.
• Greater focus on payment from online access.
• Pooled reporting to reduce costs of journalists.
• Greater use of freelance agencies.

Technological developments and their effects on owners and audiences of newspapers:

1980s - Computers, printers & Desk Top Publishing (DTP) programmes - Made the process quicker and cheaper. Owners control production and distribution on a mass scale. Audiences have power to create own print media more easily but not distribute it.

1990s - The Internet - Growing availability of information leads to greater competition for owners. Audiences have more control of information they receive from a greater range of sources; no cost.

2000s - Broadband, Web 2.0, Smartphones & Tablets, HD digital cameras, Apps - Online news, access to a greater range of audiences, more likely to see fake news. Owners no longer in control of production and distribution of news. Owners no longer in control of information that is circulated. Audiences able to create, share and distribute their own news. Audiences can access information anywhere.

• In order to remain relevant and tackle falling sales news has had to go online.
• Advantages for owners of internet news:
• Production - reduces environmental costs; energy saving.
• Distribution - reduces cost; global reach
• Circulation - allows greater access which increases overall circulation; audiences can interact with the news; owners can monitor story popularity.
• The proliferation of technology has not been helpful for print news. The Guardian has lost 200,000 print readers in 10 years. The Independent is now available online only.

Monday 9th March

Print News

L/O: To explore the news values, bias and regulation of printed news

News gathering

• Newspapers have teams of reporters who gather news locally or through press agencies. These agencies operate globally to identify key facts when major events happen.
• Press agencies report facts without judgement and so all information is objective. This information is sold to newspapers who reshape the story to reflect their own values.
• DMG media and News UK are shareholders in PA - It may not cost them as much to get the same stories.

Gatekeeping

• The editor acts as gatekeeper: responsible for filtering, selecting or omitting stories based on importance and appeal. 
• These stories must then be checked for accuracy. 
• As part of this process, editors can practice protective coverage: withholding information on the grounds it would be harmful to the public, powerful people or impede a legal investigation.

News Values

• Guidelines used to identify which news is considered to be most valuable, appealing and newsworthy for audiences.
• Indicates that the news is a socially constructed product.
• 12 most significant news values are:
• Frequency
• Threshold
• Unambiguity
• Meaningfulness
• Consonance
• Unexpectedness
• Continuity
• Composition
• Reference to elite nations
• Reference to elite persons
• Personalisation
• Negativity 
• Whilst the editor is in charge of gatekeeping, the tastes and preferences of the audience are highly influential.
• For example: Readers of the Sun may prefer sensationalised stories and so personalisation may be made a value so as to create emotive stories. However in The Guardian, composition may be a significant value as the readers desire a sense of balance, liberalism and appreciate debate.

Pick 5 different front covers and identify which values have been applied to the front cover stories.

The Times:
Threshold - coronavirus pandemic
Negativity - coronavirus fears
Unambiguity - straightforward
Composition - variety of stories to appeal

The Daily Telegraph:
Threshold - coronavirus pandemic
Negativity - coronavirus fears

The Daily Mail:
Threshold - coronavirus pandemic
Negativity - coronavirus fears
Reference to elite persons - Meghan & Harry

The Guardian:
Threshold - coronavirus pandemic
Negativity - coronavirus fears

The Sun:
Personalisation - Royal family
Reference to elite persons - Meghan & Harry
Threshold - coronavirus pandemic
Negativity - coronavirus fears
Unexpectedness - different to other papers

Political Bias

• The UK news industry is considered a free press because it is not controlled by the government.
• Newspapers have been referred to as the fourth estate, this refers to ...
• Examples: MP expenses scandal, Facebook and Cambridge Analytical scandal. Both cases involved the abuse of political power and privilege.
• Political bias should be considered in relation to the ownership and regulation of the press. It can be seen to influence thinking and political outcomes, and therefore democracy.
• A papers political and ideological values are often referred to as left or right-wing. A papers position can vary depending on time and editors.
• The majority of the public see The Mail as very right-wing and The Guardian as fairly left-wing.
• Homogenous: singular, similar and undistinguishable - means that most papers offer a similar view of the news they report and therefore reinforce a singular view about our society/culture. Opposite = Plurality.
• Both The Daily Mail and The Sun are: 
• Right-wing
• Support and reflect the values of the Conservatives
• Owned by wealthy, white, male media barons who control global media outlets

Wednesday 11th March

Print News

L/O: To explore the regulation of printed news.

Regulation

• Regulation of any industry may be directed by government legislation or an independent authority. It controls how an industry is run and how people behave.
• There are two main arguments for and against the regulation of the press.
• FOR: The news industry has too much political power and influence over the British public, which has reduced freedom of speech, compromises democracy and is not in the public interest.
• AGAINST: The printed press should not be regulated or controlled, especially by government legislation. It would affect freedom of speech, democracy and would not be in the public interest.
• Regulation is concerned with maintaining the need for a free press and the function of the fourth estate. Political influence of owners and the need for plurality is also a regulatory concern.
• Recent events have put regulation at the top of the political agenda. In light of recent debates, regulation in the UK focuses on:
• News content and information printed by the press.
• Ownership and competition laws.
• The British press is self-regulated.
• Through an independent organisation of editors, it regulates itself within an accepted code of conduct.
• Punitive rather than preventative.
• Breach could lead to a fine or printed apology.
• Problems with this is that the information is already out there.

The Leveson Inquiry (2011)

• A public led inquiry into the relationship between the press and the public, police and politicians.
• Recommendations:
• Continue to be self-regulating.
• Create a new press standards body with a rigorous code of conduct.
• Back up regulation with legislation.
• Provide public with confidence that complaints will be dealt with. 
• Protect the press from Government interference.
• As a result, two new regulatory bodies were established:
• Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
• Is not seen to fulfil Levinson's requirements, so doesn't have official regulatory status.
• In its role it:
• Hold newspapers to account
• Protects the right of the individual.
• Upholds standard of journalism.
• Maintains freedom expression for the press.
• It is funded by its members(National daily papers like The Mail). The public can submit complaints without going through the courts and IPSO will investigate. Papers can opt-out and self-regulate outside of IPSO. E.g. The Guardian.
• Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS)
• Became a Levinson complaint regulator in 2016.
• Funded by the IPRT, meaning that it is commercially independent from the news industry and not compromised by its funding system, unlike IPSO.
• First of its kind for the UK, but not received well by editors who see it as an attempt from the government to control the freedom of the press.

Ownership and competition laws

• Regulated by the communications act, 2003.
• The Enterprise Act, 2002, enables discretional intervention by the government if a cross-media merger raises plurality concerns.
• This is to prevent any one media type or voice having to much influence.
• The Levinson Inquiry identifies that existing ownership laws didn't take changes in the media into account.
• In 2012, OFCOM recommended reviews of mergers between cross-media companies and news owners in the UK every 4/5 years.
• Currently, plurality and competition is regulated by the 20/20 rule:
• 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.

DIRT:

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]

• Online papers - advertising.
• 'Clickbait' advertising.
• Guardian moved to more compact model to save money in distribution cost.

Exam style questions:

Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced influences their ownership and regulation. Refer to your two case studies to support your answer. [10]

The political context in which newspapers are produced influences their ownership and regulation due to the rise in technology.
The British press is self-regulated through an independent organisation of editors and regulates itself through an accepted code of conduct, and breach of this could lead to a fine or a printed apology, however the issue with this is that the news is already out there and so this does not prevent the breach from happening in the first place.
However, The Levinson Inquiry in 2011, a public led inquiry into the relationship between the press and the public, police and politicians due to newspaper companies hacking celebrities' phones in order to get information to use as a story. As a result of this two new regulatory bodies were established, these are The Independent Press Standards Organisation and The Independent Monitor for the Press. The IPSO, however were not seen to have fulfilled Levinson's requirements and so doesn't have an official regulatory status and it is funded by its members and so the issue with this is that if it is too harsh with regulating the newspapers who are paying to be members of this organisation, the newspaper companies can just decide to stop being a member and so the IPSO will lose its funding. 20 MINUTES

Thursday 12th March

Case Studies

L/O: To investigate the ownership, funding, regulation, values and ideologies of the set products.

The Daily Mail

Ownership & Funding:

History of the paper:
The Daily Mail was founded in 1896, it is the United Kingdom's third highest circulation daily newspaper, after Metro and The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, while Scottish and Irish editions of the paper were launched in 1947 and 2006. The Daily Mail was an immediate success. Circulation quickly rose to 500,000 in 1899, and by 1902 the circulation was over a million.

Owners/trusts & funding model used:
Lord Rothermere is the owner of The Daily Mail, he controls The Daily Mail & General Trust - The corporate parent of the newspaper and DailyMail.com. It is published by DMG media: Subsidiary of DMGT that manages a multinational portfolio.
Main source of funding is circulation sales and advertising.

Circulation figures:
The average circulation of The Daily Mail is 1.17 million of January 2020.

Advertising costs:
£30,000 for a coloured double page spread. Colour display advert costs £181 per single column cm.

Sales figures for last 5 years:
2016: 1,589,471
2017: 1,511,357
2018: 1,343,142
2019: 1,246,568
2020: 1,169,241

Alternative revenue options:
They introduced 'DailyMailTV' in 2017 in the U.S. It is a daily talk show which you can view on the MailOnline website or on Youtube.
Increased cover price from 60p to 70p.
Closed Didcot printing facilities to reduce production costs.

Online options: Revenue:
Daily Mail reported a 25% year-on-year increase in ad revenues to £76m at Mail Online in the 6 months to the end of March last year, a period in which print ad revenues fell 12% to £57m at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Mail online has bounced back after revenue growth dropped 2% during the first half of last year, following a move by Facebook to reprioritise news appearing on users' timelines.

Changes in last 10 years (distribution, price, format, technology) and effect on circulation & audiences:
- In terms of the price of buying The Daily Mail it in the last 10 years it has risen from 50p to 70p as of 2020.
- Daily Mail TV online.
- known to recognise and adopt new technologies.
- They state that they reach 70% of the population.
- Mail online has grown with both online and mobile readers.

The Guardian
Ownership & Funding:

History of the paper:
The Guardian was founded in 1821, by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle, a group of non-conformist businessmen. It's original name was The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959. C.P Scott made the paper nationally recognised when he bought the paper in 1907. Published by GMG (Guardian Media Group).

Owners/trusts & funding model used:
The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The Guardian is funded by the users as they can subscribe for £37.50 and/or contribute to them.
2.8% of market share, although circulation figures have dropped.

Circulation figures:
The Guardian recorded the smallest year-on-year circulation decline with a drop of 5% to 130,484 copies.

Advertising costs:

Full page - £18,000 per day

Half Page - £11,000 per day

Billboard - £46,000 per day

Colour display advert costs £90 per single column cm.

Sales figures for last 5 years:
2016: 164,163
2017: 156,756
2018: 152,714
2019: 141,160
2020: 132,341

Alternative revenue options:
They have a magazine called 'Guardian Weekly' which you can subscribe to and they have an app available for people to install.
The Scott Trust: non-profit organisation set up theguardian.org
Reduced production costs.
Digital version of the brand to off-set losses.

Online options: Revenue:
You can become a patron of The Guardian from £100 per month, however much a person chooses to pay they get a certain amount of benefits from becoming a patron such as invitations to events that they hold.

Changes in last 10 years (distribution, price, format, technology) and effect on circulation & audiences:
- In terms of the price of buying The Guardian it in the last 10 years it has risen from £1.60 to £2.20 as of 2020.
- Tech developments hit them the hardest as they have the lowest print circulation figures of all the UK dailies.
- Target audience are tech savvy and so are more likely to switch to online reading.
- Have responded with online issues, app, and tablet edition.
- Holds 3rd largest share of combines online and print circulation.
The Daily Mail
Ideologies, Values & Regulation:

Mission statement or principles:

News values it prioritises:
Likely to prioritise: Negativity, threshold, personalisation, reference to elite nations and people, meaningfulness and consonance.
Paul Dacre (previous editor until 2018) favoured sensationalisation, personalised news that combines hard and soft news stories.

Political bias (previously and now):
Conservative, right-wing.

Ideologies conveyed (look through papers):

Reporting style:

Which body it's regulated by:
A paying member of IPSO. Use of hyperbole can lead to complaints.

Examples of any recent (last 5 years) complaints or breaches:
Between 2016 and 2018 IPSO investigated 17 cases brought against the Mail (Most of these breaches were to do with inaccuracy, privacy and intrusion and only 2 were upheld.
Apologies printed on page 2.
Exception: July 2018 edition Khan vs Daily Mail, apology was printed clearly on front page.

The Guardian

Ideologies, Values & Regulation:

Mission statement or principles:

News values it prioritises:
They state that their news values are honest, fair, liberal investigative journalism.
They are likely to prioritise: Composition over negativity, threshold, personalisation to reflect liberal, progressive and balanced approach.
Katherine Viner (editor) describes values as agenda-setting. Stories are prioritised if they are in the public interesting reflect equality and freedom. She states needs to report on different cultures, perspectives, and community services.

Political bias (previously and now):
Historically left of centre.

Ideologies conveyed (look through papers):

Reporting style:

Which body it's regulated by:
Has opted out of both IPSO and IMPRESS as claims both have impact on the freedom of the press and investigative journalism and so they self-regulate.
They self-regulate through a readers-editor  (appointed by the Scott Trust) who handles complaints alongside two independent figures to work with an ombudsman to ensure impartiality.

Examples of any recent (last 5 years) complaints or breaches:

Have faced government prosecution in the past, E.g. Snowden (whistleblower) and CIA & NSA.

Applying Theory

Curran & Seaton - Power and Media industries:
1. Patterns in Ownership and control are important in how the media functions.
2. Media Industries are capitalist and aim to increase concentration of ownership; leads to narrowing of opinions represented in the press, affecting plurality.
3. Owners pursue profit at the expense of quality or creativity

The Daily Mail
1. The Mail has had historical ownership of paper by Rothermere family since 1896. Repeats ownership pattern.
2. Current market share of DMG reinforces right wing political agenda to a large audience.
3. News values support populist reporting that relies on sensationalised or personalised stories.

The Guardian

1. Historical ownership of paper by Scott Trust ensures ownership and control do not affect journalism values.
2. Aims to provide a voice for different perspectives; alternative to narrowed opinions presented by controlling outlets.
3. Aim to guard against this. Changes in format and move online shows need to adapt to survive.

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.

The Daily Mail
1. DMGT as parent company to DMG Media (news subsidiary), allows Rothermere family to integrate a number of outlets and services, reducing competition.
2. Increasing digital outlets and reducing printing plants helps reduce risk.

The Guardian

1. Has struggled to survive in a competitive market dominated by a few global conglomerates. Circulation dropped 13.1% in 2018.
2. Developing digital outlets, moving to compact format & identifying other revenue streams to help reduce risk.

Livingstone & Lunt - Regulation
1. Consumers are individuals who seek private benefits from the media and require regulation to protect them. Citizens are social, seek public or social benefits from the media and require regulation to promote public interest.

The Daily Mail
1. Member of IPSO. 17 cases brought against them in respect of claims of inaccuracy, invasion of privacy and intrusion.

The Guardian

1. Self-regulates as perceives both regulatory bodies as being unethical and ineffective. They will, for example, protect whistleblowers and run the stories if in the public interest.


Target Audience Research - The Daily Mail:

Key demographics:

• 59% female
• average age of 59
• 62% ABC1 (most in C1)
• Majority live in South East
• Average savings of £39,000
• Mainstream, Resigned & Succeeders.

Hobbies/Interests:

• Royal family, travel, health and dieting, celebrities, competitions and quizzes.

Issues they would be aware of:

• 
  

What do they do with their disposable income:

• 
  

How do they access media:

• 
  

Films/Docs/Magazines/Music/Sites they might like:

• 
  

What type of stories would appeal to them:

• 
  

Target Audience Research - The Guardian:

Key demographics:

• 50% female
• Average age of 55+
• 75% ABC
• Explorers, Reformers & Succeeders
• Progressives who are interested in culture, travel and embrace technology and change.

Hobbies/Interests:

• Arts and culture, sports, fashion and lifestyle, political affairs, current news.

Issues they would be aware of:

• Environmental issues

Wednesday 18th March 

Target Audience

L/O: To investigate audiences of printed news and audience appeal.

Target Audience

• 29.1 million people a month still read newspapers = mass audience.
• Demographics include:
• 51% male
• 55+ most likely
• 57% millennials
• Middle (28%) & working (27%) class
• Psychometrics (VALs)
• Aspirers, Mainstreamers, Reformers, The Resigned & Succeeders.

Content & Appeal

• Whilst the stories features in a paper reflect the views of the owner and editor they must also reinforce the values and interests of the target audience.
• Harpcup's news values (2001)
• Technical Codes:
• Key codes and formatting conventions used to make the paper visually appealing.
• How are Layouts, cover lines, headlines, colour and fonts used?
• Language:
• Lexis & mode of address depend on the genre, ideology and target audience.
• How is Mode of address and lexis used?

Which can be applied to these two case study papers:

• Celebrity - 'Agony of Ant's wife as he finds love - with HER friend' + image of Ant
• Magnitude - 'Let's go to war on NHS waste'
• Follow up - Brexit
• Entertainment - 'Come on England'
• Bad news - Brexit
• Entertainment - Recipies

How are the following used?

Layout, coverlines and headlines:

• Headline in the middle, splits the paper in two - different stories appealing to different people in there audience.
• Cover lines - some appeal more to men some more to women
• bright colours to appeal to women

Colour and fonts:

• Bright colours to appeal to women
• Serif font for masthead and main headlines (hard news) suggest traditional values - appeals to resigned audience.
• More entertainment like news is in San Serif font.

Mode of address:

• Direct mode of address - 'Lets go to war'
• Conversational - inclusive, informal
• Appeals to mainstreamers

Lexis:

• Emotive lexis 'agony', 'mouthwatering' in entertainment stories
• Formal with the more political stories.

• The power elite - Main image of Theresa May
• Entertainment - World Cup
• Celebrity - Gareth Southgate
• Follow up - Brexit
• Relevance - Brexit
• Bad news - lost a member 

How are the following used?

Layout, coverlines and headlines:

• Headline splits the paper into two sections top being entertainment news bottom being political.
• More balanced layout in terms of the ratio of image and text - links to newspaper values of being balanced and fair.
• Masthead on right hand side - unconventional - suggests they are different, produces a different perspective - links to audience appeal.
• Coverlines - not many - world cup & politics.

Colour and fonts:

• Serif font - traditional for broadsheets - fits conventions - reflects formality and seriousness.
• Pink contrasts blue and relates to idea of 'love'
• Quote in red - shows it is important and something that you are likely to read first

Mode of address:

• Formal, indirect, serious - along with formal images 
• appeals to target audience as it is meant to inform them
• codes and conventions of a broadsheet newspaper

Targeting audiences:

How do The Daily Mail and The Guardian target their audiences?

• Price 
• 70p
• £2.20
• Cross-platform advertising
• 
  
• Promotional offers
• 
  
• Subscriptions
• Range of subscription packages from £10 a month
• Range of subscription packages & donations 
• Sponsorship
• 
  
• Deals with UNICEF, Unilever & Philip; sponsored Glastonbury festival
• Partnership marketing
• 
  
• Contract with Yahoo enabling global reach

Thursday 26th March

Media Language

L/O: To explore the use of media language and codes and conventions in print news.

Codes:

• A complex system of signs that create meaning
• Can be divided into two categories:
• Technical: Camerawork, editing and 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.

Newspaper genres:

• There are two main genres of UK national daily newspapers: 
• Tabloid
• Broadsheet
• General differences of these include:
• Size
• Lexis
• Mode of address
• Headline size
• Image to text ratio

Tabloidisation:
Why have many traditional broadsheets reverted to the tabloid size?

• The distinctions between the two genres are getting increasingly blurred
• Dual convergence: When genres borrow conventions from another in the use of media language and so increasingly resemble one another.
• You also now get these hybrid papers, like The Mail, that does exactly that.

Media Language Conventions:

Media Language and Ideologies:

• As all newspapers are constructed, they all use media language and journalistic values to incorporate viewpoints and ideologies.
• Therefore, they can be seen to have a fundamental impact on democratic societies, their values and attitudes.
• The use of connotations reinforce ideology and maintain hegemony, depending on the paper's political bias.

Newspaper analysis: The Daily Telegraph

Newspaper analysis: The Daily Mirror

Wednesday 15th April

Media Language & Case Studies

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

The Daily Mail

• 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.

The Mail has hybridised tabloid and broadsheet newspapers by combining conventions of the two genres together. A convention of a broadsheet newspaper is little use of images and much more copy, whereas a convention for a tabloid newspaper is little to no copy and much greater use of images. The Daily Mail, however, have hybridised these two conventions as they tend to dominate there front pages with headlines and images but also some copy, as seen in the front page below. Other ways in which The Daily Mail have hybridised the two genres include, having a mixture of both hard and soft news, they are more formal than tabloid newspapers, however more opinionated than broadsheet newspapers, they have a serif masthead, which is a convention of broadsheet newspapers, they address both a lower class (tabloid) and skilled working class (broadsheet) audience, and finally they include a mixture of news and entertainment.

• The technical conventions in The Mail enables the editor to signify meaning and communicate the paper's conservative viewpoints and ideologies.
• For example the serif font is used for the majority of the front cover, connoting traditional values and a sense of authority - that the readers can trust their reporting.

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

The cover above uses media language to show genre, viewpoints and ideologies in various different ways. Starting with the masthead they have the classic Daily Mail masthead which is recognisable to their readers. The name 'Daily Mail' connotes that they value bringing their readers the latest news everyday. The use of the serif font on their masthead and headlines connotes tradition which shows their traditional, conservative values and ideologies. Their colour palette of blue, red and white connotes the English flag and therefore suggesting that they are proud to be British and of the country. The top section of the newspaper has offers including money off in supermarkets and holidays connoting that they value giving back to their readers.
The main image is of Donald Trump, The Queen and Melania Trump. In the image all of them are smiling and look happy, this connotes that the newspaper supports Donald Trump, as they chose to use this image, which clearly shows the newspapers conservative viewpoints, this will also appeal to the audience as they will share these same viewpoints and ideologies. On the other hand, the image below of Jeremy Corbyn isn't a very flattering one as it shows him leading a protest, not looking very happy. This suggests that the newspaper do not support his viewpoints as he is the leader of the Labour party.
The headlines also clearly show their political viewpoints as 'The Pomp' refers to Donald Trump meeting the Queen, something that the newspaper believes is a really nice thing to see, while on the other hand they refer to Jeremy Corbyn as a 'Pygmy' which is a negative word towards him. The headline also says 'Corbyn's rent-a-leftie mob shames Britain', the word 'shames' shows the newspapers dislike for Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party as they are suggesting that they have let the country downy doing the protest. The contrast between the lexis they have used when talking about Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn really shows the newspapers viewpoints and what political party they stand with.

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 and layout.

Look at examples from pre 2018 and now. Explain the changes it made to the areas above.

Changes include:

• Top 1/4 background is now completely their logo colour of blue, colour palette has become more recognisable as being The Guardian.
• Changed their masthead to have capital letters instead of all lowercase, makes it look more important and sophisticated, also links in with their audience being well educated as the capital letters are supposed to be there.
• In the two examples above the layout has changed from the entertainment stories looking separate to the rest to now looking like part of the newspaper and colour palette.
• The technical conventions in The Guardian enables the editor to communicate the paper's liberal viewpoints & values.
• For example, the serif font connotes traditional broadsheet journalism and indicates that, despite the tabloid size, the paper still provides the same quality journalism.

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

This cover uses Media Language to show genre, viewpoints and ideologies in various different ways.
The font used throughout the cover is a serif font this connotes the traditional broadsheet journalism of which the newspaper produces, and indicates that, despite the tabloid size the paper still provides the same quality of journalism. The main image used on this cover shows both Donald Trump and Theresa May walking somewhere. Donald Trump looks as if he is shouting something to someone and is grabbing Theresa May's arm. The image is taken at a low angle which could suggest their power but also the photo makes Donald Trump look quite rude by holding Theresa May's arm as he is and shouting at someone. This unflattering image shows the papers political viewpoints, being that they do not support Donald Trump. Theresa May also looks as if she might be laughing at what Donald Trump is shouting which suggests that they also don't support her or the conservative party.
The headline is written formally and is indirect to the audience, which follows codes and conventions of broadsheet newspapers. The layout is divided into two sections using their classic blue to separate the top. The sections are divided into the top half being entertainment and the bottom news, the larger ratio of news shows that they value giving news more than entertainment stories and shows that the bottom section is more important to them and their readers.

Mock DIRT

• Daily Mail uses serif font - connotes tradition and therefore shows there traditional conservative values, also goes against conventions of a tabloid newspaper.
• Daily Mail main image - Makes it seem as if Theresa May is well-loved by the crowd of people they have put behind her.
• Daily Mail colour palette - Blue, white and red imitates colours of the Union Jack enhancing their headline about 'Reigniting British Spirit'.
• Daily Mail image to text ratio - More text than images and some copy - does not follow codes and conventions of a tabloid however large headline in capital letters does follow tabloid codes and conventions.

• Daily Mirror uses san serif font - connotes they have more modern values and ideologies.
• Daily Mirror main image - Particularly unflattering, suggests they do not support her or the conservative party.
• Daily Mirror image to text ratio - Little text and no copy - follows codes and conventions of tabloid newspapers.
• Daily Mirror political views - explicitly telling their readers to vote labour as it is for 'The many not the few' - clearly shows their political stance.
• Daily Mirror colour palette - Red, white and blue imitates colours of the Union Jack - Connotes they are proud to be British and that voting Labour would be best for England.

Monday 20th April

Print news: Representation

L/O: To explore the constructions of representations in papers and the impact of contexts on these representations.

Representations

• Dominant group: Sociological term used to refer to a group that controls the values systems in a society. Not necessarily the largest in terms of size. Tend to hold social, political & economic power.
• Within our society, there is a dominant group (DG) that holds positions of power within social institutions or owns the production of cultural products such as the news.
• Many academic theorists suggest that, in general, members of this group have the following 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.
• It could be argued that, because the dominant group have access to power and a means of communication, they have control and influence over the way in which other social groups are seen and understood.
• Individuals who do not fit the characteristics of the dominant group would be classed as being a form of subordinate group. However, for example, a white, British, working class woman would fall into the dominant ethnic group but the subordinate class and gender group.
• All this suggests that the representation of individuals and social groups will always involve bias towards the dominant group because:
• The dominant group tends to include those who construct the representations news content.
• The representation of other social groups, positively or negatively, helps to maintain the social position of the dominant group.

Contexts

• The choices made by editors when considering how they represent events, issues, individuals and social groups are influenced by ownership, economic factors, news values, political bias & regulation.

Use the following bullet points to make notes on how/why they following areas will influence representation in the printed process:

Ownership:

Economic factors:

News values & political bias:

Regulation:

Selection

• Representation occurs as a result of selection (through gatekeeping) and combination (the way different features are selected and combined).
• Gatekeeping will depend on the appeal to the target audience and how the stories can be shaped to reflect a particular political agenda or viewpoints.
• This process of selection also includes the act of deselection: which social groups are not represented and why.

Combination

• Different genre conventions means that tabloids and broadsheets might combine representations differently.
• 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 neutralised, 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.

Selection & Combination

Select two newspaper front pages, one tabloid & one broadsheet. For each one identify:

• The number of stories, the issues covered and the social groups represented or absent.
• Explain how the different groups, issues or individuals are represented.
• Summarise the differences between the two.

The Daily Mirror:

• 2 stories, 2 different issues
• 
  

The Daily Telegraph:

• 9 stories, 2 different issues
• 
  

Stereotypes

• Stereotypes can be positive or negative and are used widely by the media as they are quickly understood by audiences.
• In using them, editors can represent social groups or events in a way that reinforces prejudice and generalised ideas about people within our society. However, they can also be used to question these prejudices.
• Many stereotypes are therefore used to reinforce the ideology of the DG and position the audience to see the same viewpoint.

Complete the following of common stereotypes found in news media.

Class:

Age:

Gender:

Ethnicity:

Disability:

Realism

• Although newspapers report on actual events, the process of gatekeeping means the selection and manipulation of the information presents the newspapers version of the real event from a particular viewpoint.
• Constructed realism: The way in which a media product uses the technical elements of media language to create a product that looks real but is:
• A version of reality.
• Constructed through a series of choices made by the editor/journalist.
• Audiences tend to accept these versions as real. The constant repetition of similar representations help these to become natural.
• The ideology embedded in these representations is then also accepted.

Applying theory

Using the two covers you analysed for media language, explain how you can apply the following theories to the representations constructed:

Hall:

Gauntlett:

Van Zoonen:

Bell Hooks: