News & Newspapers

Tuesday 12th December 2023

What is news?

lo; to explore the history of news industry in the genres of newspaper.

Do now:

1. Four elements for theoretical frame work;

- Audience, representation, media language, and industry.

2. Elements included when analysing Mise-en-Scene;

- Costume, props, setting, hair and make-up, actors, lighting.

3. Three contexts are studied as part of the theoretical framework; 

- Historical, Political, and Social.

4. The term denotation refers to - What something is and what it may present.

5. The term connotation refers to - What is represented and what it actually presents. 

What is the purpose of news:

- Entertainment

- Educate

- Inform

- Profit

1950's and 60's, newspaper were the highest selling, but as TV became more available, it became more mainstream and took the top position, and newspaper has been on a deadly decline ever since. 

Daily Star : Tabloid

-Slang like; "whoopsie", and "cringiest."

- Brightly coloured, red used a lot, christmas magazine.

- Larger images, a big one that takes up most of the cover, and a few smaller ones dotted around

-Less words and cover-lines, more images and advertisements like, Tesco, and "£10 off when you spend £20."

- Target audience who aren't interested in actual news just need a little entertainment, includes gossip, quotes and almost sarcastic and satire lines like, " Whoopsie, lost my messages like Bojo."

The Times: Broadsheet

-More formal

-One picture and lots of words.

- No colour on anything other than the picture.

-  A lot more sentences and words. 

Tuesday 9th January 2024

What is News?

Lo; to explore the nature and ownership of industry.

1. What is the purpose of news?

Educate, Inform, Profit, Persuade, and entertain.

2. How was news shared historically?

Reading newspapers.

3. What development 150 years ago made it possible to make money from the news?

Printing Press

4. What development contributed to the decline in newspaper circulation?

Tv in the 1950s/60s.

5. What are the features of having a broad sheet?

Formal language, Hard news, more copy less image.

UK ownership models:

'Media Barons'- Owns the sun, the times, owned by wealthy individuals; Rupert Murdoch.

'Trusts' - Managed by a trustee, who runs paper, eg; Scott Truss, owns The Guardian, & the observer.)

'Cross-Media converged conglomerates.' - Many media outlets, owned by Media Barons, e'g; DMG & Lord Rothermere. (Owns daily mail & Daily Mirror).

Newspapers are NOT PSB ( like the BBC), they are commercial publications.

This means their aim is to get profit to make sure their company stays afloat, this means most likely they will not share the most important news, but the most popular news.

This impacts their audience by keeping them in the dark about real issues so that people can see the fake news and more interesting news that would be hidden if it was televised rather than being a news paper.

Over three quarters of the British press is owned by a handful of billionaires. Over a quarter of he press is owed by Lord Rothermere and almost another quarter is owned by Rupert Murdoch, meaning that between them, these two men alone have over 50% of the entire printed press.

Newspapers and their online publications ( example synergy/convergence) are not legally obliged to provide and un-biased pubic information service.

This means that the information that they publish could be anything from lies, to scandal, to something completely made up.

This could impact attitudes and opinions by using things like propaganda and twisting peoples opinions to trick them into believing and thinking how you want them to.

The daily mail is owned by the Daily Mail and General trust which is run by DMG & Lord Rothermere.

The sun times is owned by Lachlan Murdoch news corp.

The Daily Star, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, People magazine, and Daily record are run by Reach

The telegraph group owns the telegraph.

The Guardian Media Group owns the Guardian observer. (2%)

Nikkei owns the financial times (2%)

Tuesday 16th January 2024

Do now:

1. Scotts trust.

2. Media Barons. {Rupert Murdoch}

3. Cross Media Conglomerate. {DMG Media}

4. Lord ruthermore. {27% of media is owned by him}

5. 71% 

Newspaper funding & Regulation

Lo; to explore the impact of newspaper funding and regulation on the printed press.

How does media ownership contribute to news bias?

- Political opinion of owner.

- Business interests of owners/friends.

- Commercial advertising ties

-Profit; newspapers are not PSB - news s not 'non-fiction' it is stories designed to sell.

Ownership & Bias

- newspapers are not usually profitable, but are seen as a means of gaining political and social influence. They are often owned by richer individuals rather than conglomerates, so their businesses tend to specialise in newspapers and sometimes magazines as well, rather than several medias. 

-The guardian and Observer are owned by a trust set up in the 1930's to protect the editorial independence of the Guardian newspaper and to safeguard journalistic freedom and the newspaper's liberal values. These liberal values have meant support from the guardian for both the labour party and the liberal democrats with the newspaper trying to express a range of views from slightly right to the centre of the left wing.

-the guardian media group brought the observer in 1993 after a disastrous period in which it has been used by its new owner as a weapon in a vendetta against a business rival. This is an example of the sort of editorial inference that the Scott trust was set up to avoid.

The Guardian

The Mirror

The Independant

The Telegraph

the times

The daily express

The daily mirror

The sun

Right Wing

Left Wing

Centralist

How do newspapers make money?

-Paywalls & membership

-Advertising

-Events & Other Sales

-Circulation (sales)

-Sponsored Content

We need regulations so it can keep people safe, but if there were too many regulations then the government would be able to control what is said in the press making it very bias and unfair as they would never be criticised. 

Thursday 30th January 2024

Do now: 

1. Free press means they were able to print and publish whatever they wanted without legal prosecution. This was a democracy something very crucial to Britain at the time. 

2. The press opinionated the media, making it so it was biased and only one view could get through, this sole view was their own. One that they could feed to the public and make sure they goy the profit and support of the stories they wanted, losing a lot of trust from the public. They also taped into peoples phones

3. The governments response to this was to set up a regulator, which was the Leveson Inquiry, who discovered the phone jacking of people like Millie Doweridge who was missing and gave parents fake hope, hacked the Mccans phones and even JK Rowlings phone, to try and make a good story that no one else had discovered.

Audience - The Observer

Who owns the Guardian/The observer? - Scotts Trust.

What political stance do they have? - They are left wing/ Liberal.

How are they regulated? - The observer is self regulated, however most newspapers are regulated by Ipso.

How do they make money? - From selling newspapers.

Age Range - 35+

Gender - male & female

Where they live - London and south.

Social class - Upper middle class ( AB & ABC1)

Political view - Progressive

Value Interests - Art, food & drink, and culture lovers.

Convergence is relating to newspapers when they are put across multiple medias, like online, and physical copies. 

Tuesday 6th February 2024

Do now:

One way that the newspapers are funded is through revenue gained by the newspaper companies by using things like paywalls for online newspapers and news sites. This goes directly to the owners, and can be distributed where ever needed. These are often set out like traps for example they might let you read a really enticing beginning of an article for free then randomly it will cover the rest of the article when you go to scroll down and read more, asking you to sign up to their subscription or even to pay directly for this one article. 

Another way that the newspapers are funded is through buying physical copies in a shop, these are more limiting and outdated to the other option of reading online because if you have a subscription you can read as many news stories as you could want to, but if you buy a physical copy although you can keep them forever, you are limited to only one paper and can only read however many there are in this one paper. The revenue comes in when you pay the price of the newspaper to the shop who buys the newspaper from the business that makes them. 

The Observer is funded by selling magazines, however, there are two magazines including this one owned by the Scots Trust. The Observer targets their desired audience and is published on the weekend as a bigger newspaper, while the Guardian is published online 6 days a week; Monday through Saturday, using a broad sheet.

Media Language

Lo; to investigate how print newspapers use media language to create meaning.

Common Sense Issues:

Advantages of online news:

-More accessibility to a wider range of people, because it's free, which is an advantage to the audience and readers, but it's a disadvantage to the people who own and run the newspapers because they do not make nearly as much profit as physical copies. 

-You can access it anytime, anywhere, advantage to both sides.

Disadvantages of online news:

-Some people who are older, for example elderly, will most likely not have access to the online newspaper, due to not having internet or mobile phones, homeless people will not be able to own one, if you cannot afford one you won't be able to access it all.

Homework:

On the Lego movie poster the gender stereotypes and roles are clear and obvious, for example a man in the centre of attention making him  immediately the most important. However, the man, Emmet, wears a terrified face where as the woman, Wyldstyle, wears an angry almost fearless face that can be seen as unstereotypical and out of sort for a woman especially in an action film. This shows her to be the strong one and breaks stereotypical gender roles by her powerful look compared to her costar, Emmet's cowardliness. 

Liberalism: Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property and equality before the law.

Internationalism: Internationalism is a political principle that advocates greater political or economic cooperation among states and nations. It is associated with other political movements and ideologies, but can also reflect a doctrine, belief system, or movement in itself.

Patriarchy/Anti-sexism: Patriarchy is a social structure and legitimating ideology in which men have more power and privilege than women; according to feminist ideology, patriarchy is the main source of violence such as rape, battering, and murder against women in contemporary society.

Racism/Anti-racism: Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups.

Contexts:

Consumerism: Consumerism is a social and economic order in which the goals of many individuals include the acquisition of goods and services beyond those that are necessary for survival or for traditional displays of status. 

-The want instead of need and over consumption of goods and material items that are not necessary or changing to your life or lifestyle. 

Celebrity Cultures:Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands.

-Following and obsessing over famous people, or celebrities and the way they live.

Multiculturalism: The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use.

-Diverse cultures, backgrounds, and races. 

Changing attitudes to genders: The equality change compares to historical changes, difference between countries and their stride towards diverse and general diversity toward gender. 

The Observer 4th February 2024

Mast Head: The Observer.
Date Line: Sunday 4th February 2024
Byline: Shami Das
Headline: Labour draws up ultra-safe 'Bombproof' manifesto
Subhead: Patients tell of trauma at rehab linked to Scientology.
Caption: Under the picture, long sentence.
Standfirst: 
Copy:
Main Image: female politician, gender equality, powerful, low angle shot, 
Minor Image:
Columns:
Skybox: Colourful, bright, positive colours, Fun, silly images, promotes the idea of the arts, theatre, , swift, singer, shows appreciation of music culture, interests in food via the image and recipes.
Pull quote: In the grey box, personalised news, politician but about his diet.

Tuesday 20th February 2024

Media Language in News Papers & Online News

Lo; to investigate how online newspapers use media language to create meaning.

Do now:

Advantages

-Everyone can read it.

-Attracts an older target audience.

-Keeps more people in work, selling, writing and publishing/printing news papers.

-Industry gets more money by people buying them.

-Not everyone has access to the internet or a phone.

Disadvantages

-More expensive to produce than online publishing.

-More news stories online, not limited to however many are in a paper.

- Can not find specific stories in a news paper, like you can online.

Lexis - Words that are used. 

Masthead - 'The Observer' black text on a white background capitol T + O rest lowercase serif type -> Same as print.

The Lexis0 'Observer' suggests it watches the world and therefore the news is all knowing.

-Navigation box - Blue background -> white text; same as the Guardian -> wants the link to show they are the same. The Newspaper of the year.

Stand First- Small font grey writing under the big headline, on white background. 

Byline-

Headline- Black Serif font, bold one line of text -> Grey Background box. 

Subhead- Small font grey writing under the big headline, on white background. 

Main Image- Ukrainian President speaking at a podium, in front of the flags.

Minor Image- Smaller picture, computer, more bland, does not take away from main image. 

Links- Yellow font, big, button, on dark blue background, bold, very visible. 

Pull Quotes-

Advert-

Video-

Social Media Links- Small but still able to see, grey writing white background, twitter link, aimed at adults. 

Sign In- White writing, at the very top, blue background, stands out, big icon.

Search Bar- White writing and icon on dark blue background, at the top, visible if looking for it. 

Banner- Blue top of the paper at the top of the home page, where the titles are. 

Political Bias - Left -> Liberal -> progressive -> Equal -> (Labour) -> Zelensky supporting underdogs. 

Owned by GMG -> Links : led to the guardian .

Banner/Guardian Masthead.

representations:

World wide news - rep of cultures, underdogs are reported.

Gender-> Non stereotypical -> Equality -> Positive about sexuality .

Race -> Race equality in news.

Tuesday 27th February 2024

Do now:

1. Typography: typography is the fonts that are used.

2. Layout is the way that the media is laid out, like images, captions, paragraphs and everything that you would see in a news paper and the way that it is arranged.

3. Lexis: The words used.

4. Masthead is the big title at the top of the paper, usually the name of the news paper.

5. Sky box: 

Historical Case Studies

Lo; to evaluate the impact of social, cultural, political, and historical contexts on 1960's newspapers.

Concerns of the British public in the 60's

-protests about gender and civil equality

-Vietnam war { American Allies}

- Cold war

Tuesday 5th March 2024

Do now:

1. Navigation bar - The link to appropriate sections/pages in a website that helps readers in transversing the online document.

2. Banner - A heading or advertisement appearing on a web page in the form of a bar, column, or box. 

3. Pull Quote - Made up of text that is pulled from the text that is, duplicated and presented on the page as an attention of grabbing visual element.

4. Stand First - The first summary of a paragraph of a text in a newspaper article.

5. MastHead - The title of the newspaper.

1960's

-lack of gender equality

-Fear of invasion

-Cold war

-Espionage

-Secretive governments

-Protests

-Lot of social change

-Lots of Racism

Tuesday 12th March 2024

Do now:

-lack of gender equality

-Fear of invasion

-Cold war

-Espionage

-Secretive governments

-Protests

-Lot of social change

-Lots of Racism

Explain how broadsheet newspapers reflect the time and historic contexts which they were published. Refer to the Observer front page from 1960s that you have studied to support your answer. {10 Marks}

1. Address the question 

2. An example from the observer of how they reflect the context.

3. Explain what this example indicates about the context of production. 

4. Link back to the question.

Model Answer:

The observer from the 1960s reflect the racial inequality of the time. The article featuring the mixed race marriage highlights that this was uncommon in 1960s. Because it has a front page feature, quotes, also acknowledges a race issue in society, of the time of production. This article reveals the issues in the 1960s that are shown in newspaper. 

{Three paragraphs}

The Observer from the 1960s reflect the obvious gender inequalities of the time. The article featuring this os called, 'Lawyers will urge divorce by consent', which signifies a marriage divorce as a mans choice. This shows the obvious sexism in the 60s and how patriarcal society really was. However, this was not uncommon for the time as, the only mentions of women in this patriarcal news paper of the 1960s is either through marriage, or the lingerie ads at the side of the screen, which add to showing the common view of the 60s that women were male accessories and objects. This is shown through the mass amounts of political and serious articles in the news paper, despite the fact that women are not mentioned in any serious article other than marriage, male controlled articles. This article reveals the issues tin the 1960s that are shown in newspaper.

The Observer from the 1960s reflect the racial inequality of the time. The article featuring the mixed race marriage highlights that this was uncommon in the 1960s. Because it has a front page feature, and also acknowledges a racial issue in society, of the time of production. This article reveals the issues in the 1960s that are shown in newspaper. The article goes on the feature racial slurs.

Tuesday 19th March 2024

Do now:

1. In the 1960s Observer front page how would the copy appear?

Copy dominates the front page.

2. In the 1960s Observer what does the masthead consist of?

The observer title.

3.In the 1960s Observer front cover how many stories are covered on the front page?

9+

Exam Format

Lo; to explore the exam format & content for the news unit. 

Question 6 - 1 mark: industry and terminology

-How the Observer is funded? issue price, advertising, subscriptions.

-Owned by scots trust.

-Regulated by IPSO or IMPRESS

-Globalisation

-Diversification

-Convergence

Identify the word that describes the way newspapers increasingly operate on a world wide scale.

-Globalisation.

identify the term used to describe a quality newspaper such as the observer. the term originally described the size of the newspaper.

-Broadsheet & tabloid.

Tabloid - lots of images and less text.

Broadsheet - Bigger, less images and more text. 

Question 7 - 4 marks : social media & online press ( industry).

-Online diversification - advantages

-Uses of social media

-Newspaper fund, print & online

-Hard VS Soft news - print & online

Explain one advantage for a newspaper of each of the following.

-Publishing in print.

-Publishing online only.

By publishing in print, you open the doors to targeting an older generation who don't have access to the internet or any sort of device to read the news on despite being interested on what;'s going on. So these people would guy physical copies. on the other hand, publishing online only would pick up a lot more of the younger generation because they are constantly online and it would guide them in a good direction. 

Question 8 - 5 mark: unseen extract short analysis question: contemporary print ( media language and representation)

Refer to extract three in the insert.

analyse how this Observer front page represents two social groups that are often represented in the media.

A social group can be based on class., gender, age, generation, race, religion

The Observer has presented the social group of women as powerful. However, this is easily juxtaposed with the props such as roses, and make up that they are wearing, as they look overly feminine with all things considered. Yet despite this, the look on her face shows how determined and strong willed she really is.

Question 9

It is clear to me that the front cover of the Observer does reflect the green conventions of a broadsheet.

Tuesday 26th March 2024

Do now:

1. Conventions of a tabloid newspaper cover: more image: text ratio, Lots of colour, big masthead, and unimportant news, aimed at younger people, lists things about celebrities and more irrelevant current affairs.

2. Conventions of a Broadsheet newspaper: less image: text ratio. Less colour, lots of writing, political news, more about relevant current affairs, aimed at a mature audience, older people. 

3. The Observer is a broadsheet newspaper.

4.

Broadsheet Newspaper

Tabloid Newspaper

Guided Practice Q9

Lo; to explore the exam format for Q9 for the News Unit & Apply analysis skills and exam writing technique.

Genre = Type

Type in newspaper = tabloid or broadsheet.

Introduction- One mark

The media language used in the observer cover reflects the genre conventions of a broadsheet newspaper.

Paragraph about:

-Masthead: big & bold, black on white, Serif- sophisticated news.

-text: image ratio

-Image

-Colour.

The Observer cover reflects generic convention of a broadsheet newspaper. An example of this is the formal Masthead that clearly indicates the genre of a Broadsheet newspaper. This clearly indicates that the Observer establishes itself as an established and recognised Broadsheet newspaper, with sophistication surrounding it almost entirely. Therefore it is evident that the Observer does use media language to reflect the generic conventions of  broadsheet newspaper, therefore proving the fact that it is aimed at a higher social class and faces a specific target audience, therefore using significant genre conventions which can be used to select 

The Observer cover reflects generic conventions of a Broadsheet newspaper. An example of this is the 

Tuesday 30th April 2024

Do now:

1. Tabloid Conventions: Big masthead, normally full of nonsense and gossip rather than real news. Big red title, little text and big images, targeted for a younger and less educated audience.

2.Broadsheet Conventions: Big black masthead, more political title, genuine useful news, little image, big text, targeted at a mature and more educated audience.

Question Ten: Modern Analysis

Lo: to explore the contextual issues of news in a modern newspaper.

The media language in Extract Three reflects the genre conventions by having a small image to text ratio, there is one medium sized picture, which is obviously professionally taken, therefore it is most likely not used to slander the person but to make them look better, suggesting them to be a supported character in the news story. There is then the rest of the page which is filled with text, letting the words do the talking rather than the image leaving room for speculation. This is a common feature of a broadsheet newspaper like the Observer because unlike the Tabloid newspapers, they like to have control of what is taken in from the story, and don't tend to leave much to assumption and speculation, as their news isn't rumour based, it is sophisticated and serious news. The font used is serif, which can be used to signify that the fact that 

-Wars: Ukraine & Russia, Palestine & Israel

-Celebrity Culture & Effects

-Gender Equality & Stereotypes

-Racial Equality & Multiculturalism

-Consumerism: buying stuff you want & need

- Attitudes to sexuality: more support and embrace

-Supporting positive mental health:

1: 

2: Celebrity on the front cover of the newspaper. 

3:  There is a feminine women shown in a positive light on the front cover: stereotyped nonetheless, she is wearing white, holding a flower and is wearing nice hair and makeup. 

4: Link back to the question

The Observer cover rom today depicts the contextual issue of Racism equality. An example of this is seen in the skybox of the newspaper cover, where a black woman is featured on the front cover, rather than a white person, this shows a progressive take on racism in the modern day and the modern news paper. The Observer can then be portrayed as a modern and accepting newspaper in society and in general. This can be used to prove the point that all races are equal and there is and should be no superiority between them, because everyone is valued and we are all the same. However this is not to say that racism has disappeared in the modern society, because it simply has not, Racial Equality has come a long way and it still has a long way to go, because racism isn't something everyone agrees on in todays society. This can also be seen as a presentation tat women are capable, showing gender equality in the modern times, which can be strongly backed by newspapers like The Observer. Gender equality and Racial Equality are two very difficult and different things to deal with, however, both have grown tremendously as time has progressed since 1960's, society clearly changing as well, to become more accepting to gender and race showing that the issues are clearly not as big and bad as they used to be.