News

 Tuesday 19th July 2022

                                                 Practical News

Tuesday 20th September 2022            

                                             What is News?

L/o:  To explore the history of the new industry and the terms of newspaper. 

What is the purpose of news?

inform people 

entertainment 

profit 

educate 

influence/persuade 

what news source do you regularly use

bbc news app
radio news

'News was not a spectator sport' means that news was shared verbally and more personal.

150 years ago printing press was developed this meant it was easy to make money. 

Quicker news gives everyone access to self publish meaning other people can share their own opinions and comment. I think this is a good thing however it may mean people can share unpopular opinions and cause controversy.

In 1950/60 technology advanced and television was introduced meaning newspapers were brought less.

In the 1960s there was a class division meaning different newspapers targeted different audiences.

softer news: celebrities feature (Johnny Depp), personal stories, entertainment purposes

multiple images

'rocker' informal language

Harder news, politics 

not gossipy 

more educational 

less images and big headlines  

Tabloid

The Sun
mirror
daily star

Broadsheet

the times
guardian 
observer
telegraph
the independent 
the financial

Hybrid

The daily mirror
 

Tuesday 4th October 2022

                                                Ownership

L/O: To explore the nature and ownership of the news industry.

It suggests that Media Ownership dominated by profit meaning that companies may not produce as high quality work but still make money. It is owned by multiple companies, however 3 big companies own 71% meaning news may be biased and not have a variety of opinions and view. The BBC is meant to act as a balanced view, they are a non-profit company and really on TV license to fund them. BBC are acing competition against Sky

Media barons

Trusts

Cross Media  converged conglomerate  

Commercial publications main aim is to make profit. This will mean the content they publish is not educational and is there to entertain and attract readers. However this will mean news is biased, the sun for example posts content criticising opposing political parties to influence the viewpoints of the audience.  

Not legally obliged to provide an unbiased public information service. This means biased, fake news is shared leading to fear and uniformed opinions. It also causes divisions in society without good reason. 

Most people who choose to break the codes are unaffected. Occasionally they are fined and asked to write apologies however a small fine is unlikely to cause an issue for someone as rich as they are. This becomes a problem when people are hurt through peoples careless acts. 

DMG - The daily mail- 39%
News corp- sun, times- 28%           
Reach- star, express, mirror , people, daily record- 16%
Telegraph group- telegraph- 5%
Guardian Media Group- guardian, observer- 2%
Nikkei- financial times- 2%

  

Tuesday 18th October 2022

                                       Newspaper Funding & regulation

L/O: To explore the impact of funding and regulation of the printed press.

How does media ownership contribute to new bias?

Only showing one sided opinions, don't include counter arguments.
gender
political
miss inform the audience

Newspapers are not usually profitable but are seen as a means of gaining political and social influence.

The Guardian and Observer are owned by a trust to protect and safeguard journalist freedom and the newspapers liberal values.  These liberal values have meant support from the Guardian or both the labour party and the democrats.

The Guardian Media bought The Observer in 1933 after a disastrous period in which it had been used by its new owner as a weapon in a vendetta against a business rival. 

The Guardian- left wing
The Mirror-left wing
The Independent- central 
The Times-  right
The Telegraph- right 
The Sun- right 
The Daily Express- right 
The Daily Mail- right

How do newspapers make money?

Advertisement
subscriptions/memberships 
people buying it- circulation
paywall
sponsored content  

 

For Regulation

Monitor and stop breaches of privacy
press can't see right from wrong
profit over privacy
IPSO + IMPRESS

Against Regulation 

freedom of press ensures the public knows things so public are aware
allows investigative journalism
freedom of speech

Q1) Free press means the ability to express any opinions they want, even if these criticise the government and other organisations. 

Q2) The press tapped grieving families phones to find out inside information giving families false hope during a difficult time. When this came to life it started up the Leveson enquiry which brought evidence against the press and highlighted their faults. However when the press were interviewed they shared that they did not think what they had done was wrong, instead they paid the families off and essentially got away with what they had done. A small amount of money does not affect people with such power and money. Once this was publicised the government set up the IPSO&IMPRESS. This means that the press can be regulated with out affecting 'free press'. There are several points from the Leveson enquiry that showed that regulation should be bought into place . For example to protect the public and to ensure guilty people face consequences. However, many people are against regulation because it interferes with the freedom of the press to allow events to be reported that are in the public interest. 

Tuesday 8th November 2022

                                         Newspaper Case Study

L/O: To investigate the Observer/Guardian publication. 

Question 6 : 1 mark 

Owned by Scott Trust
Liberal Views (left)
Self-regulated, readers editor
Make money through subscriptions/voluntary donation system

Question 7: 4 marks

Two ways newspapers are funded is through subscription/voluntary donation systems and advertisement. Subscriptions make newspaper profit by making it possible for the public to view articles without as many adverts and a larger variety of content. Advertisement makes newspapers money as they are payed by the company. Their print newspapers will include pictures of the company they are advertising and online copies would include links that take you to the companies website.

Target Audience  The Observer

50-50 male and female, online is 55-45 male to female
mostly live in London, and the south 
enjoy arts and cultures, and food and drink
35+ age, online younger 15-24 (17%)
left wing more Liberal
social class- middle + upper ABC1

1) merging traditional and internet and content
2) The Observer does not just appear on print it is also online website and app, that both follow similar formats.
3) More people can access it online, free, updated constantly
app- on phone, notifications on phone 
more content online
It appeals to a larger audience always accessible everywhere and is frequently updated.
4) Newspaper and online versions are similar by having the same content, and similar lay out e.g masthead font etc
5) They have changed the relationship between the audience and the producer by making it possible , to like articles and comment your opinion and views
6) The Observe appeal to  a varied audience by including  a wide range of content for example sports for a more male audience, lifestyle supposedly targeted towards women and a comedy section for a mixture of both

Tuesday 22nd November 2022

Active and Passive Audience                      

Passive: Read accept message of print news
              Interact- letter to editor, slow turnaround
Active: Comment on article/ page- respond to comments, discussion forums
             Share on numerous outlets 
             Questioning, unnecessary debate and controversy 

                                     Media Language 

L/O: to investigate how print newspapers use media language to create meaning. 

There are many advantages and disadvantages for online news. One advantage of online news is interactivity, this means the public are able to share and comment their views and opinions on the newspapers context. On the contrary this maybe a disadvantage for a newspaper as people are able to post inappropriate comments that may cause backlash for the newspaper. 

Media language for newspapers is layout, typography, colour, image, language use and generic conventions. 

Representation

How something is represented.
Why and how the Observer selects and constructs representations to reflect journalist ethics and the liberal message, values and beliefs of the newspaper.
How far it counters historic inequalities in the representation of different social groups. e.g. age, gender, race and ethnicity.
Themes- politics,hard news lifestyle culture and sports. 

 

Tuesday 6th December 2022
               

                                                 Media Language (online)

L/O: to investigate how online newspapers use media language to create meaning.

The masthead is in serif font, using both upper and lower case letters. This gives a formal feel to the newspaper as the capital letters are used correctly. It also gives the newspaper a sophisticated, traditional style showing the news is not over the top and the content is serious and trustworthy.

The image is a closeup of a mother and a child. This shows that the newspaper shares heartfelt news and cares about the public. 

One advantage of print news for the industry is people have to pay. This means they make profit unlike online news. One disadvantage for the audience is they can not comment on the newspaper. This means that if they read something they do not like they will not be able to share their opinion to everyone else or put in a complaint. 

Tuesday 17th January 2023
                

                                         Historical case studies 

L/O:to evaluate the impact of social, cultural, political and historic contexts on 1960s newspapers.

Social Media The Observer

Use O- reflects the masthead- font and colour palette
Uses opposite colours  from print in the logo/profile and also in the masthead
Social Media- (twitter) completely different to the front page of a print version 
Colours are present but not as much as in print- connotes modern news.

Masthead- slightly different with images on either side.
Headline- multiple headlines in 1960s where as modern only has one or two
Sky box - no sky box in the 1960s adverts are just placed on the side, where as in modern they are in the sky box
Colour- black and white in 60s, modern coloured- shows progression in technology
Images- 2+ images in 60s, whereas in modern only 1 

Newspapers headlines reveals that in the 1960s shows life in 1960s was slightly more progressive then before but had seen very little change. Racism was still apparent, Women were only viewed as useful for marriage. There was a massive class divide, and the economy was only getting worse. Despite the numerous wars previously many countries still carried tension and rivalry. Religion was not yet spoken about and only traditional christian views were portrayed.  

Tuesday 31st January 2023

                                          Historical Case Studies Question

L/O: To evaluate the impact of social,cultural, political and historic contexts on 1960s newspapers. 


The Observer cover from the 1960s reflects racism. An example of this is in the headline 'Britain shoots a goal'. This clearly indicates that in society in the 1960's we saw more institutional racism. This was shown in the Mexican olympics article, where they talk about black power protests. Despite showing a positive move towards racial equality the writer unselfconsciously still includes racist terms. This shows that people in the 60s were so used to living in a racist society that they were not even aware of their wrongful use of derogatory language. This was was also shown in an another Observer headline, 'Stephen Pollock with Elizabeth Vambe, 21 a Rhodesian born African, after their marriage yesterday'. An article about interracial marriage made front page showing that it was uncommon. To a white culture a man of royal background marrying a Rhodesian-born women was a shock and often frowned upon.

The Observer cover from the 1960s reflects gender. An example of this is in a headline is 'Jackie: We're happy'. This clearly indicates that in the 1960s a womens main focus was as a wife and not who they were as people. This reinforces that in the 1960s we had a patriarchal society as men were the ones who wrote the article and chose to place men as superior to women. This is also shown in another Observer headline' 'Lawyers will urge divorce by consent'. The article is about the law commission (staffed only by men) were urging to make it easier for people (mainly women) to get divorced. Whilst being a move towards greater gender equality, the decision, made to benefit women was still decided by men, further showing the patriarchal society of the 60s. The adverts also shows the stereotypes directed towards women as they are about lingerie, showing women should be desirable and appealing to the male gaze. 

Tuesday 7th March 2023

Exam Format

6)
globalisation
broadsheet

7)  One advantage of publishing print is people have to pay. Newspapers make more profit through print then online as online you can almost always access it without paying.

Social group = gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexuality, political parties 

The observer presents social groups in the cover, the first social group is politicians. They are presented negatively. The lexis used like 'broke law' and 'porn' conveys the idea that politicians are unprofessional and do not take their job seriously. The use of the slang word 'porn' further supports their unprofessional behaviour as the observer are not usually known to use slang term. 

The observer presents social groups in the cover, the second social group is women. They are presented positively. The two women shown are strong successful women, dressed in suits. This conveys the idea that they are professionals and take their job seriously. 

Theoretical Framework

L - LANGUAGE 
I- INDUSTRY
A- AUDIENCE 
R- REPRESENTATION

In extract 3 the media language reflects broadsheet conventions. For example, the skybox is colourful showing that they do not always discuss harsh news, they have a variation. The sky box includes sections about gardening, racism and women. This fits to a broadsheet audiences interest as they enjoy discussing smaller minority group. 

The media language on the front cover of the Observer clearly reflects a Broadsheet genre of newspaper through the use of text to image ratio. This clearly shows that the audience of the Observer are well educated and would prefer to read about the news than see it. They buy they Observer expecting to see at least 2 articles and pull quotes. 

The media language on the front cover of the Observer clearly reflects a Broadsheet genre of newspaper through the use of images. The image is of a BLM protest,  the image being about a sensitive topic like racism shows that it is still evident in  a modern society. This reflects the liberal views of the audience and shows they fight for equality.  

Tuesday 21st March 2023

                                                    Question 10: Context Analysis

L/O: To explore the structure for Q10 and contextual issues in news. 

In the 1960s there was a fear of war. We can see this in the Observer in the headline 'So polite, this North Sea spy game' from this we can see society feared outsiders and invasion. This influences the government also those of the everyday people and the lack of trust following ww2.

Tuesday 23rd May 2023

                                   Exam Format

L/O: To explore the exam format & content for the News unit.

6) 1 mark question: industry and terminology
7) 4 mark explain: social media & online press industry
8) 5 mark unseen extract short analysis: contemporary print 
9) 15 mark unseen extract long analysis
10) 10 mark analysis 

does look like a broadsheet
liberal view point - left wing - Ukraine fighting/supporting those in need
text to image ratio - more text than image - reflects broadsheet 

Sky box - does not look like a broadsheet - bright colours- lighter topics 

Arts and culture - chelsea flower show
social and liberal viewpoints - shown in feature about MPs

The Observer reflects the the genre conventions of a broadsheet newspaper. For example the main article is about fights in Ukraine and supporting those affected. This follows the typical liberal views of The Observer and the content that would be expected of a broadsheet newspaper covering hard news issues on the front page. The audience for the Observer are predominately left wing supporters therefore the news content would appeal to their values and beliefs. 

Liberal views - left wing, everyone is equal 
consumerism- food 
multiculturalism 
culture and arts

equality- skybox - male subverts stereotypes with bunny ears, feature a food section- context of the time which shows gender equality reinforces the observers values and beliefs

I agree that the representations featured in the observer front cover reflects its values and beliefs. For example in the skybox stereotypes are subverted through the man wearing bunny ears in the kitchen. It subverts the typically female role of women in the kitchen showing a progressive change in attitudes in the terns of gender equality. The colour palette is also bright and colourful which are seen as more stereotypically female colours. 

In conclusion, this cover clearly demonstrates the values and beliefs that the Observer hold. This is shown through the sky box, colour palette and images where gender equality, consumerism and hard new is represented.