NEWSPAPERS A LEVEL MEDIA STUDIES Cheat Sheet by suzie22dixon

- Slogan­/Ta­gline: 'catch­phr­ase’, sums up the newspa­per's philosophy or unique selling point

- Centra­l/Main Image: usually a dramatic picture, fills most of the cover, text or caption usually close by to offer context.

- Stand first: block of text that introduces the story and offers initial content

- Standa­lone: picture story used on the cover, to offer visual engagement

- News in brief (NIB) / side bars: smaller facts or articles, a list / column positioned at the side or bottom of the paper

- Plugs and Puffs: adverts (plugs) and offers­/gi­veaways (puffs) on the cover which will appeal to the audience

- Margins and gutters: lines to prevent text overla­pping

-Columns: conven­tional layout for main story text on covers

- Sans serif font: plain font, no decorative elements, more modern look

Aimed at lower social groupings (C2,D & E)

Colour on the masthead, bold large typeface, large and dramatic images

Headline often a pun or a joke

Gimmicks, e.g. bingo games, free travel tickets etc

Aimed at higher social groupings (A,B,C1)

Limited colour on front page, smaller typeface, smaller, subtle images

Headlines more serious and focus on ‘shocking’ rather than sensat­ion­alising

May include free magazines etc. - but usually of an educat­ional nature.

With semiotics think about the meaning encoded by the producer…

As well as connoted meanings

Political bias: To think about bias, consider the political outlook of different papers - split these into broadly left and broadly right wing. Labour is a histor­ically left-wing party; Conser­vative is right-wing

GALTUNG AND RUGE - news values

News values can help understand why and how papers choose the stories that run most promin­ently

1. Proximity - The story should be geogra­phi­cally and culturally close to the target audience

3. Predic­tab­ility - Did we expect this event to happen? Unexpected events are more intere­sting for audiences

5. Oddity - Is there anything unusual about this story that makes it stand out?

… different papers value different kinds of stories

Citizen vs consumer

Consumer Behaviour: Buying goods or services for own use. Driven by personal gratif­ica­tion. Choosing what is best for ourselves and not worrying about effects on others.

Citizens need to be protected from harmful material And regulators need to prevent unethical behaviour by media producers

This is the regulatory body for both The Mirror and The Times

Consumers might be interested in these

They would intervene

This might include;

- Protecting public health or safety

They were heavily criticised after the phone hacking scandal (see wikipedia link on Classroom) and replaced by the IPSO

It is funded by the media companies it regulates

Anything to do with money in the industry

The finances of producing and distri­buting media texts

‘Organ­isa­tion’ might be used instead of ‘company’ because public service broadc­asters like the BBC aren’t run like most companies

Something which commun­icates meaning, e.g., colours, sounds.

Connot­ations

Charac­ters, setting, iconog­raphy, narrative, technical codes and repres­ent­ation.

The mobile phone, for example, allows the user to download and listen to music, view videos, tweet artists etc. All this can be done through one portable device.

Stories often pulled from social media

Cheap, copyri­ght­-free video and images

Pressure on companies to cut costs

Apps – customers pay to use, but production costs are lower

Largest newspaper publisher in UK

Re-named and become Reach

Pool editorial resources

"1 WAS IN HIS OWN FLAT"

"IM NOT GOING" - written as though it is a direct quote from Johnson and suggesting he is dodging respon­sib­ility

Photo: with the text, could be seen as smirking, no remorse or guilt

The Daily Mirror has always had a left-wing political stance

The dominant hegemonic position (or preferred reading) would be… Boris Johnson is not fit to lead the country, having broken lockdown rules that the rest of the country stuck to

The opposi­tional reading: See the message that Boris Johnson is not fit to lead the country, having broken lockdown rules that the rest of the country stuck to… BUT These breaches are not important and don’t make me question his leader­ship, he has admitted he has made a mistake and suggested what he can do to make things better

AUDIENCE PROFILE

C2DE on social grade scale – working class

Left-wing political views

Supporters of the Labour party

FRONT COVER

We may interpret Johnson’s expression as unconc­erned

Large image, occupying most of the page

Bold, impactful headlines

Approp­riate for readers who may be less educated – less willing or able to read large amounts of text

Sometimes used to send the message that Boris Johnson is a “baddie”

Sans Serif font – modern, informal

On one side NHS workers fight to save someone with COVID

Contrasted with Boris Johnson sipping champagne

- NHS and other key workers were risking their lives to save others, whilst Johnson relaxed

- Or even suggesting a causal link – some suggested that Downing St. breaking the rules led to others doing the same, and so Covid spreading

Many say he should resign

They are also the words of ordinary people – not politi­cians

In the Mirror’s masthead it brands itself, “the heart of Britain”

Boris Johnson vs The British Public

- In Keir Starmer’s letter he uses collective language such as “we” and “us”

The Daily Mirror has always had a left-wing political stance

Labour leader Keir Starmer features promin­ently on the front page

Not only critic­ising the PM, but promoting an altern­ative political leader

Starmer is given a direct platform in the double page spread

Daily Mirror’s approach repeatedly echoes Starmer’s

However The Mirror is forceful and unambi­guous in its negative repres­ent­ation of Johnson

So they are unlikely to sympathise with a Conser­vative leader

emphasise the oddity elements of the story

emphasise the ordinary lives of the winners

- "this time next year we'll be millio­nai­res­"

2. person­ali­sation - only fools and horses refere­nces, emphasis on the ordina­riness of their lives

4. threshold - no

Civil servant Sue Gray was asked to write a report on alleged illegal parties in Downing Street during a Covid lockdown in 2020

Boris Johnson apolog­ised, but refused to resign (PARTY­GATE)

63% felt Johnson should resign

onserv­ative voters were more divided on this issue than the wider public

- large main image: Johnson. photo makes him look shameful or guilty. the times is more right wing so probably trying to represent him as accepting his mistake and not doing it again, making him look guilty might provoke sympathy from Johnsons supporters

- supplement plug: How to be fit? - do the bare minimum

This could be interp­reted as a forced smile

His body language is slightly submissive – not standing up straight

The caption text below the images says, “he promised change”

He is acknow­ledging his mistakes and taking respon­sib­ility

Times readers who supported Johnson might interpret the front page as above

This could be interp­reted as Johnson not taking the situation seriously

The evidence from the Sue Gray report is damning

The caption text say Johnson has “rejected repeated calls to quit”

Some readers might see this as him not taking respon­sib­ility

- Emphas­ising this happened repeatedly – not a one-off

- The amount of evidence suggests lots of parties took place

Times readers who are against Johnson and want him to resign might interpret the front page as above

However there is arguably a more positive message also encoded here

Relatively large, bold picture

Inform­ative and in-depth reporting

Formal mode of address – so no slang etc. used

Both the ‘How to be fit? Do the bare minimum’ and ‘I was bitten by a pandemic puppy’ headlines make use of enigma

Without reading the article, this seems contra­dictory or counte­rin­tuitive but also, quite appealing

The inclusion of the banner tells us The Times offers both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ news content

... Or mean that different readers within a household might read different sections of the paper

- Person­ali­sation: Those experi­encing menopause, or know someone who is, might be glad for this coverage

**Why would this article appeal to the Times' audience

article says menopause usually affects women “between the ages of 45 and 55”

Audience research also suggests the Times’ audience is fairly evenly split in terms of gender

She is the Chairwoman of the campaign group Menopause Mandate

As a quality newspaper, the Times wants to offer its audiences reliable inform­ation

So this also allows the Times to plug its radio station in the article - synergy

emphasise the oddity elements of the story

emphasise the ordinary lives of the winners

So this makes the story relatable

This might reflect the Times’ commitment to more serious and inform­ative news coverage

Perhaps less relatable to the Times audience than the Mirror’s

The average wage in the UK in 2023 was around £34,000

However there are still middle class, in the top half of the social grade scale

The cost of living has increased dramat­ically in the past few years

The concerns listed are very middle class: Paying for university fees, Paying for the weekly Ocado shop (one of the most expensive superm­arkets)

Many jobs pay less – including hospit­ality, care roles

The Mirror as been running a campaign called Cost of Living: We’re Here to Help with advice and support

They don’t release these figures, so we don’t know how much they’ve fallen – but they definitely have

Introduced a paywall on their website

Profits were £44m in 2021, rising to £80m last year.

This covers set costs

They also combined their printing press with DMGT (publi­shers of Daily Mail)

Premium experience

Quality of journalism is the same online as in the paper

Regularly updated live news

Offers intera­ctive features such as comments