News

 Monday 7th March 2022

Nature and Ownership of the News industry 

what is the purpose of news?

  • inform, educate and entertain
  • make a profit 
  • influence and persuade

  1. it was exchanged by each person, not just heard by one another by one particular business
  2. the invention of the steam press, photography, the telegraph, TV
  3. i agree, as it allows us to gain more information from other sources that also have different opinions and ideas on a subject, this can mean our opinion can be more thought through and developed. 


In the 60s, printing press was gaining more competition from Television.
By 1965, circulation of Sunday newspapers had fallen to 25 million ---> 2010, is down to only 10 million
(people buy less newspapers now compared to the 60s)

The segmentation of the newspaper market in the 1960s reflected the clear class and political differences in society: 
  • labour supporting working class readers bought the Mirror 
  • conservative supporting working class bought the daily express, 
  • the social elite read the times
  • conservative middle class read the daily telegraph
  • labour or liberal supporting middle class read the guardian 
2010 society is more fragmented, much less sense of loyalty to political parties

News papers in 1960s were stating to be defined by their physical size. All upmarket newspapers were printed in broadsheet whereas, downmarket newspapers would be printed in the tabloid format.



















in the UK, there are 3 ownership models:
  1. 'media barons; -  owned by wealthy individuals or poroprietors
  2. trusts - a legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a 'trustee' to manage and control the running of a paper
  3. cross-media converged conglomerate - global institutions that own a number of media outlets, these may be owned by media barons



















Monday 14th March 2022
Newspaper funding & Regulation


Ownership & Bias:
  • Newspapers are not usually profitable --> seen as a means of gaining political and social influence 
  • often owned by rich individuals rather than conglomerates 
  • The Guardian and Observer are owned by a trust --> Set up in the 1930s to protect the editorial independence of the guardian, safeguard journalistic freedom and the newspapers liberal values
Political bias of the nations newspapers :

The Guardian --> mainstream left of British political opinion
The mirror --> consistently supported the Labour Party since the 1945, Liberal bias
The Independent -->  ends to take a liberal, pro-market stance on economic issues. 
The Times --> considered to be centre-right
The Telegraph -->  politically conservative 
The Sun --> Centre-right to Right-wing Conservative
The Daily Express --> Right wing
The Daily Mail -->. Right-wing tabloid, the Mail is traditionally a supporter of the Conservative Party

  • Newspaper editors insist that the owner never interferes with the content of the newspaper E.G. Rupert Murdoch, who has strong opinions on the European union, his newspapers took different positions in the Brexit referendum 
  • direct interference may destroy the credibility of the newspaper 
  • The owner, however, will appoint the editor, so they have a great deal of indirect power 
  • The Leveson inquiry into the press found that politicians of all parties had 'developed too close of a relationship with the press in a way that has not been in the public interest'

Funding:

How do news papers make money?  --> Ads, cover price

In 1960 newspapers depended on circulation and advertising for revenue

Tabloid newspapers had larger circulation but working class audiences that were less attractive to advertisers, so relied more so on cover price

Broadsheet newspapers relied on the opposite of Tabloids --> smaller circulation but attractive upmarket audience, so relied more on advertising 

Key terms:
  • Circulation -- subscription or over the counter sales
  • Pay walls -- paying to access online content e.g. The Times website
  • Membership -- The Guardian /Observer are experimenting with this model for protecting free online content; they had announced they had reached 800,000 paying members worldwide in october 2017 (£5 a month)
  • Print and Online advertising -- print is traditionally much more lucrative than online advertising but had drastically reduced in recent years, through concerns over advertising being placed next to inappropriate content by Google and Facebook. Online newspapers reach a global audience and can sell advertising to different national audiences 
  • Sponsored content -- brands supplying and/or paying to be connected to content. This blurs the boundaries between advertising and editorial that journalists prize but advertisers wish to blur.
  • Events --  the Guardian/ observer frequently run courses, meetings and conferences 
  • Sales -- The Guardian/Observer sell holidays and books

 



























Free Press --> a body of book publishers, news media, etc., not controlled or restricted by government censorship in political or ideological. 

2. Breach of privacy. they developed a brash, no-nonsense style that addressed the passions of their target audience 
3. recommended that the press should regulate itself with a body that could levy substantial fines, but that this body would have to be recognised by another body set up by parliment
4. IPSO (independent press standards organisation)
5. Rival = Impress -  only covers a few local newspapers

The Guardian and The Observer

  • The Guardian and The Observer are self-regulatory
  • Newspapers such as the Guardian and the observer try to offer a trusted brand online by applying the same ethics and journalistic practices as the print newspapers and by actively moderating readers comments to filter out inappropriate comments
Who owns the Guardian and the observer? -- The guardian media group owned by The Scott trust
What is their political stance? --mainstream left
How are they regulated?-- self-regulated
How do they make money? -- Adverts, subscriptions, cover price
They dont have a PAYWALL for their online publications instead they have a subscription/voluntary donation system
why? -- it limits their audience, more people will view it if they DONT have a paywall, encourages their audience to come back

TARGET AUDIENCE

Guardian : 35 +, ABC1, educated and professional jobs, cultured, Left-wing, progressive and far more open-minded, more stories that promote social change, 

Observer - PRINT : male and female, upmarket readers, live mostly in london and south, progressive people who are keen to try new things

observer - ONLINE : slightly more male than female, one third is 15-34 and two thirds are 35 plus, downmarket social class

Media Language

Advantages and Disadvantages of ONLINE newspapers:

Advantages :
- More immediate and up to date
- always have access via technology
- Free, there is no PAYWALL
- can include wider content 
- wider audience 
- cheaper cost
- audience can comment and interact


Disadvantages: 
- require wifi/data in order to access
- companies don't make as much money due to free reading
- lose money
- older audiences may not access online

Active Audience =  ONLINE, an audience that engages, interprets and responds to a media text in different ways. Challenges the ideas 

Passive Audience = NEWSPAPERS, more likely to accept the messages without challenging and are more likely to be directly affected

similarities and differences of THE OBSERVER online vs newspaper:

Similar: 
- same text
-same Main heading
-serif font



Different:
- different pictures / more in the newspaper
- the newspaper has different storys not shown on the websites main page

















































Monday 25th April 2022                              Media Language

Beliefs and values:

Political bias --> mainstream left, openly criticises the government 

representations --> a wide range and variety of race, gender and sexuality. Doesn't discriminate against one thing
Places a big emphasis on culture, they are given value by being placed on the front cover
The use of different races, age, genders show that they value equality 

Features --> stereotypical news and political stories but within the newspaper they have a wide range of different stories. can suggest their audience have a wide range of interests




The masthead : Formal Font, serif font connotes sophistication and professionalism

Plug: Free magazine connotes that they value their readers and appeal their interests

Puff : giving extra information on two different well-known people which means they appeal to a wider audience 

Layout: divided into two: top section identifies their audiences interests and the brand. the bottom sections covers the actual main stories. The lead story suggests the papers political stance. the size of both main stories suggest their importance.

Sub-heading : The two sub-headings provide the reader with extra information and connect with their values

Headline : simple straight forward headings. Both are political 


    Historical case studies

Newspapers in the 60's:

  • Newspapers circulation was much higher. Mid 60's it was still normal for most houses to but more then one Sunday newspaper
  • The political segmentation reflected clear class difference:


















  • broadsheets were dominated by the news stories, with very little self promotion on the front cover. They relied on customer loyalty. The writing is far more formal and less photos
  • Tabloids relied on their front covers 

Newspaper quotes:

"lawyers will urge divorce by consent" -  show that marriage is a religious act and shouldn't be easy to get a divorce, shows a move towards greater gender equality


"jackie: we're very happy" - Shows that women are mainly seen on front page headlines only when they are linked to a man, highlights the patriarchal society























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