NEWS

                                                        What is news?                   07.03.22

LO: to explore the nature and ownership of the news industry.

5 questions:

• 
  online, social & participatory news (observer and guardian)
• media language, representations, industries, audiences & contexts 
• Print newspapers (observer) including contemporary & historical set texts 

1. everyone was participating 

2. invention of steam press, the telegraph, reporting development 

3. I agree that it is 'wonderful' as it is so easy to become aware of the world around us. by just simply going on a website we can find information that shapes our opinions and ideas about the world and topics. we become more educated and therefore, smart about different important subjects. I think it is also good that we can add our own contribution because we can educate others, or learn something new from others' comments. We also have a chance to share our own views and receive others, to make us more open to differing ideas and more thoughtful. However i also agree it is only 'mostly' wonderful, because if we can all create and share news, many will choose to share and profit from fake news, and if we are exposed to this, it can give the wrong opinions and ideas. 

news in the 60s-2010s

• newspapers feared competition from other media (television)
• newspaper circulations were very high
• reached peak in 50s and declined since 
• by 1965, circulation of sunday papers fell to 25 million
• in 2010 the sunday papers were 10 million
• segmentation of newspaper market reflected class and political differences
• labour working class= Mirror
• conservative working class= daily express
• social elite= the times
• conservative middle class= daily telegraph
• labour/liberal middle class= guardian 
• 2010 society is more fragmented, much less loyalty to political parties or class identities
• fragmentation is better serves by online media 
• newspapers were defined by physical size 
• upmarket papers were broadsheet, downmarket were tabloid
  

tabloid: the mirror, the sun, the daily star

hybrid: the daily express, the observer, the daily mail

broadsheet: the times, the financial times, the telegraph ,the independent, the guardian 

ownership models 

• 'Media Barons' wealthy individuals or proprietors 
• Trusts- legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a trustee to manage and control the running of a paper. Less biased.
• cross-media converged conglomerates- global institutions that own numerous media outlets. 

• newspapers are not PSB. they are commercial (to make money) publications
• over 3/4s of British press is owned by a handful of billionaires 
• 27.3% of press is owned by Lord Rothermere 
• 24.9% of press is owned by Rupert Murdoch 
• newspapers and their online publications are not legally obliged to be unbiased 
• ethical and moral codes of press conduct but the printed press is self regulatory industry
• newspaper companies can basically, do anything they want without guidelines. 

• The daily mail 39%-  Viscount Rothermere
• The sune, times 28%-  Rupert Murdoch
• the star, express, mirror, people, daily record 16%-  Reach plc
• telegraph 5%-  Telegraph group
• guardian, observer 2%-  Scott Trust limited
• financial times 2%-  Nikkei

                 Newspaper funding & Regulation                          14.03.22

LO: to explore the impact of newspaper funding and regulation on the printed press.

media ownership & bias - how does ownership contribute to news bias?

• political opinion of owner
• business interests of owners/friends
• profit (newspapers aren't PSB- they sell stories that give more money)
• commercial advertising ties 

• newspapers are not usually profitable, but are seen as ways of gaining political and social influence. 
• owned by rich individuals rather than conglomerates so businesses specialise in newspaper than a range of media
• guardian and observer are owned by a trust set up in the 1930s to protect editorial independence of guardian , safeguard journalistic freedom and the newspaper's liberal values.
• liberal values meant support from the guardian for both labour party and libdems, with the newspaper trying to express a range of views from slightly right of centre to left wing. 
• the guardian media group bought the observer in 1993 after a period where it was used as a weapon in a vendetta against a business rival.
• this is an example of editorial interference that the Scott trust was made to avoid. 

political bias of UK's national newspapers

• the guardian- left wing
• the mirror- left wing
• the independent- centre
• the times- right wing
• the telegraph- right wing
• the sun- right wing
• the daily express- right wing
• the daily mail- right wing

• editors insist in public that the owner never interferes with newspaper's content. Rupert Murdoch, expressed strong views about the European Union, yet his newspapers took different positions in the Brexit referendum.
• direct interference may destroy newspaper's credibility
• The owner, however will appoint the editor so they have a lot of indirect power
• anecdote: journalist was told to write a positive review for an album previously seen on Murdoch's desk. 
• former PM Tony Blair, who visited Murdoch before he was elected, received far more favourable coverage than the PM before John Major (who didn't do a deal with Murdoch)
• Leveson inquiry into press found that politicians of all parties 'developed too close a relationship with the press in a way that has not been in the public interest' and politicians relationships with newspapers were not clear and open.

how do newspapers make money?

• circulation 
• advertising 
• paywalls & membership 
• events & other sales
• sponsored content

funding

• 1960s newspapers depended on circulation and advertising for revenue
• tabloid newspapers had larger circulations but working class audiences that were less attractive to advertisers, so relied on cover price
• broadsheet had reverse

circulation- subscription or over-the-counter sales 
paywalls- paying to access online content, the sun eg has stopped this as it reduces online readership
membership- the guardian/observer are experimenting with his model for protecting free online content; they announced that they had reached 800,000 paying members worldwide in Oct 2017 
print and online advertising- print is traditionally much more lucrative than online advertising but has drastically reduced in recent years, though concerns over advertising being placed next to inappropriate content from google and facebook, for example may boost print advertising. 
sponsored content- brands supplying content and/or paying to be connected to content- this blurs the boundaries between advertising and editorial that journalists prize but advertisers wish to blur. 
events- the guardian/observer frequently run courses, meetings and conferences

freedom & regulation

1. what does the term 'free pass' mean? being able to publish whatever without regulations
2. what did press do to jeopardise freedom of the press that also lost them a lot of credibility/trust with the public? the press were involved with politicians and breaking of privacy (hacking phones). 
3. what was the government response? plans to create a regulatory body
4. What self-regulatory body do most newspapers now use today? IPSO
5. what was the rival regulator called- who uses it? Impress, few, local newspapers

Libel & online news

• Libel law- journalists have to prove what they allege to be true to win a case
• online news isn't regulated unless the newspaper chooses to sign up to a regulator
• 'fake news'  was prominent during 2016 US election (investigating Russian interference caused fake news on social media)
• facebook appointed its first content reviewers in 2017 to address the issue
• some platforms offered 'freedom of speech' as an excuse to ignore journalistic ethics or regulation
• newspapers such as observer/guardian try to show themselves as a trusted brand online by applying the ethics and regulations as print newspapers + filtering out inappropriate comments in the comment section

why is it harder to regulate social media than newspapers, radio and television?

because social media accounts are usually anonymous, a news company would not have the bylines a printed newspaper would have. Social media is also a lot harder to regulate as there is such a vast amount of news, coming from many different places, also, once a social media post is shared, millions of people can access it easily and immediately, and share it, so it spreads before it can be regulated. 

                                                                                             

                                     Newspaper case study                                       21.03.22

LO: to investigate the observer/guardian publications.

paper 2 section B- News

Questions 6,7 & 10: knowledge and understanding 

6- knowledge only, a fact or terminology 1 mark

7- knowledge 7 understanding of print and/or online newspapers as media forms, industries/audiences

10- knowledge & understanding of the influence of contexts on the historical observer/contemporary observer. could ask about Front cover stories or front pages generally

Q8 and 9: analysis 

8- analysis of media language/representations 

9- synoptic extended response, compromising analysis of more than one area of theoretical framework

6. 

who owns the guardian/observer? Scott Trust

what political stance? left

how are they regulated? self-regulated 

how do they make money? subscriptions, print copy sales, advertising, donations 

They don't have a PAYWALL for their online publications, instead they have a subscription/voluntary donation system- why? PAYWALL limits audiences, encourages sharing articles, more people can see it. People that cant afford subscriptions will prefer this. 

Guardian audience 

35+

equal gender

upper middle class (ABC1)

educated & cultured 

left wing progressives (open-minded)

Observer's convergence 

• audience is larger than the circulation suggests because more than 1 person shares each newspaper and many access it online
• online newspapers operating online there is technological and cultural convergence 
• online newspapers will use the traditional media language of newspapers. it has media language of tv by embedded videos and media language of social media through comment sections.
• online versions have more attributes (e.g clickbait and the mail is more gossipy online)
• online observer follows structure of print newspaper but with more lifestyle, food and sport. Higher portion of photography and headlines 

1. convergence- lets audiences use one platform to consume various types of media texts such as the aspects of print papers being included in online newspapers.
2. convergence applies to the observer as it has aspects of tv, social media and print papers on their online newspaper
3. digital convergence helps the observer to appeal to a larger audience as the audience can access much more in an online newspaper than a printed one, this means they can access it easily, quicker and therefore can share it quicker.

                        Media Language                                 4.4.22

LO: to investigate how print & online newspapers use media language to create meaning.

advantages of having online newspapers

• easier to access 
• quicker information 
• can comment, share personal opinion
• can share it online to friends 
• not all companies use paywall (guardian) so can read full articles for free
• potentially broader audience 
• cheaper to produce 
• up to date information

disadvantages of having online newspapers

• paywall 
• can easily be fooled by 'clickbait' or fake news 
• some people do not have access to technology
• companies can lose money because it is accessed for free

active and passive audiences

online uses are more active as they can quickly have a conversation or challenge the newspapers directly by comment sections. an advantage as active audiences can share the paper so will widen the audience. 

print newspapers are more passive as they can't quickly and openly challenge the editor/newspaper.

How the newspaper changes for different versions (website, print, twitter, instagram) 

differences:

social media- different images, different headlines, more relevant/updated news, comments. the headlines are much stronger and shorter, with more graphic design and bolder colours. on social media, posts include tweets from people commenting on the issue, hashtags and a shorter article. this makes it easier to read but also more attractive to read as if there is harsher headings and articles, it condenses everything in the print article into one simple but more detailed.

website- was not on there immediately, this was to make sure people looked at the most recent news and had to look at other articles they might like before they can access this article. 

similarities 

in some articles the words are verbatim of each other. images are reused when introducing the article to social media

typography- the observer and the guardian use serif. this is more traditional, formal, mature and serious, matching their target audience and article stories

Challenge: a symmetrical layout is an equally weighted layout, this may consist of an equal amount of text on either side of an image or an equal width column 

an asymmetrical layout is the opposite of this, this could mean the column sizes are unequal and are not the same both sides. 

you may choose symmetrical as it looks more traditional and formal, or asymmetrical could be chosen because it looks more informal or more editorial (like text surrounding an image's shape) 

                                              Media Language                               25.4.22

LO: to investigate how print & online newspapers use media language to create meaning.

observer: left-wing, layout anchors brand (the same every time) shows equality, and a broad range of topics, the name 'observer' connotes formality and watching the news (in serif). colour- blue line links to the guardian masthead (skybox is bright and weekend, dark blue is weekday) 

other newspapers: nationalist, boastful "the world's greatest newspaper", shows the power elite (the picture's face depends on what they want him to look like e.g silly pic of bojo, want him to look stupid/foolish). 

Skybox: bright, exciting colour palette, suggesting fun topics covered throughout the paper. The inclusion of ”culture” and different representations shows that they appreciate equality and cultural things like art, music, cooking and history. 

Masthead: large and serif. This indicates formality and their stance on worldly affairs due to the fact they are serious and formal. The lowercase is subtle and shows no arrogance that may be shown in other, differing newspapers. The word itself, ‘observer’ is calmer and subtler than other bold mastheads (less strongly opinionated) but connotes they are watching and still giving truth and clarity in an unbiased format). 

Layout: primarily symmetrical, same-sized columns and an equality between colours and text. This promotes uniformity and formality which is shown throughout their stories and text. The inclusion of unsymmetrical features shows that they still are exciting and enlightening to read. 

image: distressing and unfiltered, which again shows their idealism of truth because it is raw and upsetting and true. The image also presents recognition of worldly affairs, realisation of others struggles and wanting to share that with its readers. It opposes the nationalism, patriotism of other newspapers which shows they are straightforward and only value wisdom and awareness, not Britain’s superiority. 

Text/headlines: This is also relative to the text. The inclusivity of the stories show that they care for other countries and give the most realistic, updated news. They show support for the Ukrainians by including words such as “safe haven”. The text also shows the political stance of the Observer; mentioning ‘Patel humiliated’ ‘failure’ ‘risks’, which presents opposition to the Tories, meaning they are opposing right wing and are left wing themselves.

                                Historical case studies                           9.5.22

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

• newspapers were fearing competition from other media, particularly TV
• highest circulation 1950s, still popular in mid 60s
• labour in power

• newspapers in 1960s were starting to be defined by physical size
• upmarket (observer) broadsheet, downmarket tabloid
• broadsheet: hard stories, little self-promotion, relied on loyalty
• tabloid: relied on front covers to attract customers
• observer has many more stories on front page than today , with less space dedicated to photography, more formal register
• main newspapers were monochrome and poorer quality

'lawyers will urge divorce by consent' 

current affairs/religion

shows a change as this juxtaposes the common religion beliefs the vast majority of Britain had at the time. 

'Wilson-Brown market clash' 

politics/class divide/current affairs

suggests a non-friendly relationship with Europe

'So polite, this North Sea Spy Game' 'America accused of sky frame-up' 

war/espionage/current affairs

concerned with the Cold war; losing trust 

'Jackie: we're very happy'

gender/sexism/religion

only showing as she is marrying a famous male with a differing religion. A controversial marriage. 

'Unions postpone strike' 

class divide 

shows the discontentment in workers' lives. Reference to social reform and the power of the labour party. 

'Briton shoots a gold' to 'Africa's negr*** (...) whites have won 8' 

racism/current affairs

begins with Olympics, however swiftly moves on to racism and the movement of civil rights, slowly to Britain from America. How 'maybe a white boy doesn't need to try hard because his parents can afford to send him to school' 

'Stephen Pollock...With Elizabeth Vambe, 21, a Rhodesian-born African'

racism

only included as it is so out of the ordinary to see a differing race couple. Show the growing change of perspective on race.