NEWS PAPERS SECTION B: GOOGLE SLIDE
In this component you will study newspapers in relation to industry and audience.
Introduction to the Newspaper Industry:
A range of different newspapers are every day in the UK, these include national, local and Sunday editions. In the past, newspapers were mainly categorised by their size – tabloids and broadsheets – however, although these terms are still used, they are no longer accurate, as newspapers over the years have experimented with different sizes and designs in order to attract a diminishing readership and to address’ needs.
Tabloid newspapers used to be the popular press and broadsheets were quality newspapers – referring to the style of news they carried. Newspapers can now be divided into three groups:
Quality newspapers, previously known as broadsheets, for example the Guardian and The Times,
Middle market tabloids made up of the Daily Mail and the Express.
Red tops named such as their mastheads are presented in red – for example the Sun.
Who owns the Press?
The biggest player in the newspaper industry is News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch. His media empire owns the Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, and the Sun on Sunday. Other main newspapers are owned by:
- The i: Alexander Lebedev’s Independent Print Limited
- The Guardian and the Observer: Scott Trust Limited
- The Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People: Trinity Mirror
- Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Daily Star on Sunday: Richard Desmond’s Northern and Shell
- Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph: Press Holdings owned by the Barclay Brothers
- The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday: Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail and General Trust plc
The newspaper industry is very powerful and as you can see, is largely in the hands of a few powerful media groups and individuals. Although sales of print newspapers are falling, the front page of a newspaper is still an important vehicle to target messages to audiences.
The political associations of a newspaper will affect how they present particular stories and in turn will influence what their readers think and believe. YouGov conducted a survey into readers’ perceptions of the political leaning of specific newspapers. Out of eight newspapers, five were seen to be predominantly right wing and two, including the Daily Mirror were perceived to be centre to left wing.
For the Daily Mirror, 76% of those asked thought it was to the left of centre, 11% thought it was ‘very left wing’, second to the Guardian in being the most left wing. The Daily Mail was perceived to be the most right wing newspaper. As this is the best selling daily newspaper, it may be influential in how their readers perceive events and issues.
Newspapers and Technological Change:
Newspapers have had to adapt to to changes in technology and the needs of their readers. All national and many local newspapers now have an online presence and their news content is also available on other social media platforms and through apps. This allows newspapers to broaden their audience reach in terms of production, distribution and circulation.
Just like the magazine industry, the newspaper industry is facing a drop in circulation figures as the readership diminishes. This reflects sociological changes changes related to to the ways in which readers want to access their news. With advances in digital technology, news can be more immediate and a new generation of consumers who are used to receiving information in bite sized chunks, are much less likely to pick up a newspaper.
Newspapers have downsized and begun to produce online versions in order to target a new audience.
The digital revolution has also had an impact on how news is gathered. Frequently, news channels use citizen journalism, information from the general public rather than their own journalists, as the advances in technology mean that they now have the means to record images and send information immediately. This is particularly true when the story is unexpected such as a terrorist attack.
Advantages of Online Newspaper Sites:
They are immediate and up to date. When something happens users can access the news and get regular updates.
They offer more immediate interactive opportunities, for example, there is access to audio visual clips and opportunities to blog their opinions. The Daily Mail, which has a high percentage of female readers, has had particular success with its online version of ‘Femail’ with its diet of fashion and gossip.
Apps for several newspapers are available for mobile phones and ipads.
Archive facilities so that readers can access back issues.
The navigation tool allows users to quickly select the news and features that interest them.
NEWS VALUES:
News values are the criteria that will influence the decisions made by those who run the newspaper industry, including the owners, editors and journalists, about which stories will appear in their newspaper. These decisions are made everyday by gatekeepers who decide how the news is selected and constructed for the audience.
NEWS TERMINOLOGY:
Threshold: the bigger the story the more likely it is to get onto the news agenda.
Negativity: bad news is more exciting and interesting than good news.
Unexpectedness: an event that is a shock or out of the ordinary for example ‘Lockdown’ of ‘Brexit’. These types of events will push other news stories off the news agenda and changes to the front page may be made at the last minute.
Unambiguity: events that are easy to report and not too complex will be higher up the agenda of some newspapers. Modern wars are often too difficult and are avoided by tabloid newspapers.
Personalisation: News stories that have a human interest angle are more likely to appear in some newspapers. Readers are interested in celebrities, and news stories have more meaning if they are personalised.
Proximity: The closer to home the story is, the more interested the reader. Tabloid and local newspapers tend to be more ethnocentric than quality newspapers.
Elite nations/People: stories about important people and powerful nations for example the USA will be further up the news agenda.
Continuity/currency: Stories that are already in the news continue to run and are updated as new aspects of the story appear. For example Donald trump
Molly Goldthorpe Media 