News

 Monday 8th January 2024

What is the purpose of news?

Educate, inform, profit, persuade, entertain

Tabloid: features, names of newspapers, colourful red tabloid (box), lots of images

Broadsheet: lots of writing, not many images, no colour, serious

Hybrid: a medium amount of images and writing, some colour

Ownership

LO: To explore the nature of ownership

5 companies...

Rupert Murdoch built a media empire that includes cable channel Fox News, The Times of London and The Wall Street Journal, The Sun

The Guardian is owned by Guardian Media Group, which has only one shareholder - the Scott Trust

Lord Rothermere owns the Daily Mail and General Trust, formerly "Associated Newspapers", a media conglomerate which includes the Daily Mail

The main aim for newspapers is money

Doesn't cover all of the actual news

The audience are left with the decision to believe or disbelieve about the news

Lord Rothermere

Rupert Murdoch

Reach

Barclay Family

GMG

Nikkei

Monday 15th January 2024

1. Scotts Trust

2. Rupert Murdoch

3. Cross Media

4. Lord Rothermere

5. 71%

How does the media ownership contribute to new bias?

Commercial advertising ties

Political opinion of owner

Business interests of owners/friends

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

Newspapers The Guardian, The Observer, The Economist and The Independent have all advocated the abolition of the monarchy

Background and early years: 1918–1939. The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that is typically placed on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It has been characterised as a broad church with a wide range of competing political factions, parliamentary groups and ideologies

Political allegiance. The Mirror has consistently supported the Labour Party since the 1945 general election. On 3 May 1979, the day of the general election, the Daily Mirror urged its readers to vote for the governing Labour Party led by James Callaghan

How do newspapers make money?

Circulation (sales)

Advertising

Paywalls and membership

Events and other sales

Sponsored content

- Subscription

- Paying to access online content

- Protecting free online content

- Boost print advertising

- Brands supplying content

- Frequently run courses

- Sell holidays and books

Monday 5th February 2024

Ways that newspapers are funded is by a combination of subscriptions, digital advertising, and other revenue streams

A way that the Observer is funded is by reader funded

Media Language

LO: To investigate how print newspapers use media language to create meaning

Advantages and disadvantages of using the internet to find out the news. An advantage is that you don't have to go out so it is easier to see the news also the people that own it can publish it and they don't have to pay for the factories etc. A disadvantage is that for the people who own it, they lose money because people aren't buying their papers. People might not have access to technology.

Representation:

Ideologies - liberalism, internationalism, patriarchy/anti-sexism, racism

Consumerism - buying things

Celeb culture - watching celebs/influencers

Multiculturalism - appreciating different cultures

Attitudes to gender + sexuality

The masthead is "The Observer" and is in a bold serif font in black

The date line is Sunday 4th February 2024

The by line is Carole Cadwalladr

The headline is "Labour draws up ultra-safe 'bombproof' manifesto"

The subhead is "Patients tell of trauma at rehab linked to Scientology"

The caption is "Sinn feins Michelle O'niel takes her place

Monday 19th February 2024

An advantage is that it is more authoritative and reliable than digital sources

A disadvantage is that it can be expensive to produce

Lexis - words

- Political bias

- Owned by Guardian

- Represents people, cultures, races etc

- Variety of features

- Choice of text/image and size

- Shows him asking for help

- Supporting Ukraine

- Left wing

- Lexis in the headline 'pleads' - begging for help

Being equal

Monday 4th March 2024

1.) A link to appropriate sections

2.) A heading or advertisement appearing on a web page

3.) Made up of text that is pulled from the text that is duplicated and presented on the page

4.) The first summary paragraph of text in a newspaper article

5.) The title of a newspaper

Lawyers will urge by consent

The cold war was conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union is known as the Cold War because neither country ever directly attacked each other. This was because each country had nuclear weapons. Both the United States and the Soviet Union feared neither country would survive a war with nuclear weapons

Jackie: "We're very happy" - reflects a patriarchy society

Monday 11th March 2024

Historical case studies

LO: To evaluate the impact of social, cultural, political and historic contexts on 1960s newspapers

- Gender equality

- War

- Vietnam war

- Espionage

- Nuclear war

- Racism

- Homophobia

- Patriarchy

- Cold war

Explain how broadsheet newspapers reflect the time and historic contexts in which they were published. Refer to the Observer front page from October 20th 1966 that you have studied to support your answer.

The Observer cover from the 1960s reflect on patriarchy. An example of this is in the advert of the Marshall and Snelgrove "Wolsey" lingerie for women. This shows us how the adverts were all made by men and how the lingerie advert was especially made by a man because it links to the sexual pleasure they have for women. The advert is aimed at men to make them buy something for their women to wear, this is for the sexual pleasure of men. This shows patriarchy because it tells us how men are in charge of all the adverts and what the adverts are about and how they should be bought for their wives. The gender equality was not great.

Another point that this newspaper reflects is racism, we see a sub-headline of proof, it says "Spain can have the apes" showing us how racism was apparent in society. Another piece of proof in this text is when they say the word "negro", this proves that the racism back then was far more common. It has escalated a lot since then. They show racism in this text by them saying that a white boy would not need as much skill to pass a running race as much as a black person, they say that a white boy has the money to pass. Whereas a black person would have to work harder as they did not have the wealth. An example is in the headline "Britain shoots for gold". This turned to civil rights protests ending in suspension. 

Another major issue in the 1960s was by war, a headline to prove this is "So polite, this North Sea spy game". This made them very scared, as they then knew there were spies. This made the people worried and the newspapers reflect the time of their production and the contextual issues are were in that time. The Russian aircraft flew into NATO radar network, this made everyone scared for the plot. The more they heard, the worse the readers and audience got. All the wars that were included made the audience that read the newspapers more and more worried by the day. The newspapers would update the audience on the wars and make them get more scared.

Monday 18th March 2024

Exam Format

LO: To explore the exam format and content for the News Unit

1 mark question: industry and terminology

Could be on terminology or specific industry based questions:

- How The observer is funded?

- Owned by Scott Trust

- Regulated by IPSO (or IMPRESS)

- Globalisation

- Diversification

- Convergence

6 - Globalisation and broadsheet

7 - Hard vs soft news

Print attracts older audience - might not have access to internet and technology

7 - Print newspapers survive despite the growth of online news because of the certain people that still read it. For example the older audience usually prefer the papers because it's traditional like the older days. Another reason is that they might not have technology or internet access.

Q8

In the Observer front page we see the representation of different racial backgrounds. We see an image of people of different races protesting for BLM. They are holding up signs saying things like "silence is violence".

The guardian represent under looked representations on the cover of the Observer. In the skybox, a woman "has shamed the BBC". This is a powerful outcome as the BBC is a big corporation so if one person is able to bring shame over them then they're powerful and strong. Another representation on the Observer is on the main cover. There is rep of a multi cultures all in one space.

Q9

L - (Media) Language

I - Industry

A - Audience

R - Representation

Genre - type of newspaper

The media language of the Observer reflects the genre conventions of a broadsheet

Monday 25th March 2024

- Red, white masthead

- 5 or 2

- Broadsheet

Guided Practise Q9

LO: To explore the exam format for Q9 for the News Unit and apply analysis skills and exam writing technique

Media language reflects genre conventions and it shows us how it is a broadsheet. We can see how and why this is a broadsheet including reasons like how it is about politics which is usually in a broadsheet and how it looks professional with the colours and font. We see many other reasons to back this up.

It has lots of writing/copy. There is a masthead and only one main image. The headline is political and the masthead is bold and serif. The colours are black and white while being capitals and lower case. The only other colours are the images and adverts/skybox. The colours and certain capitals make the newspaper more smart and professional. They are shaking hands to show the country that we stand together and never back down or give up.

We can see that the image is positive as they are in formal suits while smiling and shaking hands. This shows staged photography. This is hard news because it is politics and it is also expected in the industry for a broadsheet. The body language they use shows us positive effects. The UK and USA work as a team and always have. The flags put together tells us that they stand strong together throughout history and forever more. They use capitals to prove how professional this paper really is. It makes it more formal and better for people to understand.

It looks like a broadsheet because all the things about it describe what a broadsheet actually is. The things like politics, font, colour palette and images. They all tell us that this paper is a broadsheet newspaper. There are many reasons to back this statement up.

Monday 15th April 2024

In the news image of the woman and the man, we see how The Observer shows us equality in the paper. There is a man and a woman of different races. This shows us how there is an equal amount of people, they are shown as equal even though one is a man and one is a woman and also how they are different races. This is typical of an Observer paper because they often have a fair share of things.

- Poor printing quality

- Poor photography

- More columns

- Black and white

Monday 22nd April 2024

- honesty, integrity, courage, fairness, and a sense of duty to the reader and the community

- black masthead, one main image, lots of writing/copy

Left wing - change progress, equality, supporting others

Q9: Judgement (LIAR) Contexts

C

- Gender roles

- Multiculturalism

- Lifestyles

- Democracy/liberal viewpoint

- Consumerism

- Celeb culture

ML

- Colour palette

- Lexis

- Typography

- Font choice

- Masthead

- Main image(s)

- Overall layout

Overall looks like a broadsheet

The Observer reflects the conventions of a broadsheet newspaper by using one main image, which although is large does not dominate or cover the whole of the front cover, which is what we would expect from a broadsheet, and the main area being covered with text. This image is clearly showing how they have an equal amount of gender roles. They also have a use of multiculturalism by using a black female. By using this, we know The Observer is left-wing. It fits to being a broadsheet by meeting the context and media language. As we know The Observer sits on more of the left side of the political spectrum and as a result concerns themselves with values and beliefs that are more socially liberal.

An example of these is in the image as the person as the main image is not only black but she is also a female. This shows a fair amount of equality and left-wing. The Observer focuses on representing diversity. It is also known for the overall layout, they have one main image but the rest of the front page is text. The font choice for this broadsheet is typical as it is the most common font to use (Serif). The front page has quite an ethnicity representation of people on it. This mix of different cultures and ethnicities reinforces The Observer's focus and interest in representing diversity. 

The fact that the skybox features celebrities and lifestyle content such as fashion shows that this appeals to the typical Observer audience who  are interested in culture and fashion as well as reinforcing the celebrity culture that is evident today.

In conclusion, this looks like a broadsheet.

Monday 29th April 2024

1.) They write short stories using simple language and they have more pictures than other newspapers

2.) Have a higher news content than the 'red tops', cost more to buy and have a lower circulation

Modern analysis

LO: To explore the contextual issues of news in a modern newspaper

Context is the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood

1.) Wars - Russia/Ukraine, Palestine/Israel

2.) Technology - more advanced, phones, internet, laptops

3.) Consumerism - buying things like clothes

4.) Racism - lifestyle/equality

5.) Fame and celebrity

6.) Less patriarchy

7.) Online news

TheObserver cover from today depicts the contextual issue of being less patriarchal. An example of this is seen in the Observer front cover from when a woman shows gender roles by almost showing peace. Another thing we can talk about is equality in races. An example of this is once again the front page of the Observer showing a BLM protest from 2020-2021 when it was popular. This shows the struggle of for racial equality still being present to this day.

Therefore in conclusion, it is clear to see that the contextual issues today such as celebrity and the strive for racial equality are reflected in the cover of the Observer newspaper.