A-Level News

 

Wednesday 11th September 2024

Do Now

1. Industry

2. Language

3. Audience

4. Representation

5. Social, Political, Historical, Economic, Cultural

Print News

LO: To explore printed news and the theoretical framework.

Newspapers first thoughts:

Varied Subjects

Different moods for each

Very contextually relevant, quickly cover whats happening at the time with accuracy

Images mostly contain people

People in images are predominantly white

Many advertisements across all for a very large variety of things around the corners of the cover, surrounding the always central main image

Very similar fonts across them all, Large bolder fonts for titles and smaller serif fonts for text.

Same textual attitude across them all, maintain very serious and formal text when discussing a serious topic, equally informal and unserious when covering an unserious topic.

Tabloid Newspaper

 a small-sized newspaper also known as half broadsheet, lots more sensationalist and gossipy.

Expect more light hearted and less serious topics and soft news aswell as far more celebrity news and latest celebrity/ reality tv events. More image based, far less likely to cover serious topics.

E.g The Sun and The Mirror

Mid Market Tabloid

They may include some conventions of both tabloid or broadsheet and tend to reflect a mid-point between the two genres.

An even image to text split, speak about a variety of topics changing attitudes depending on the seriousness of said topic.

E.g The Daily Express and The Daily Mail

Broadsheet

Broadsheet usually refers to large sheets of paper designed with columns which comprise a standard format newspaper. A broadsheet follows a formalized journalistic approach to news coverage with a serious editorial voice and in-depth news stories. Very formal and serious approach, very little colour etc.

Expect a very formal and serious attitude in covering far more serious topics and much harder news, aswell as giving a lot more information and thorough explanation. More text based, far less colour.

E.g: I Newspaper, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Times

The Sun- Audience

Appeals to an audience that likes to be entertained, uses brighter colours and more images to emit a more informal, more cheerful attitude, Covers very soft, unserious news that entertains and interests its audience. Audience likely far more interested in celebrity news coverage, likely to cover very gossipy and scandalous, entertaining that is very often funny.

Thursday 12th September 2024

Do Now

1. Smaller, more sensationalist and gossipy newspaper more image based

2. Has conventions of both broadsheet and tabloid newspapers.

3. Larger, very informative and formal newspaper, more text based

4. Barthes Semiology

5. Neale

Purpose And Process

LO: To explore the purpose and process of the printed news industry

Production

Newspapers- 

Require a lot of material

require many highly trained staff]

New technology changes the traditional approach

Print in colour

Satellite and Internet- very quick stories from everywhere

Distribution

Very expensive

Require physical transport

Need to be in outlets from early morning

Could lessen the cost by printing locally and favoring online news

Free paper e.g Metro

Marketing

Advertised on TV and online

Sister Papers- ownership of multiple papers, advertise each other

Newspaper Exclusives

Synergy deals with other companies

Circulation

Number of copies distributed, not sold, shared amongst households

Ownership

Daily Mail- The Daily Mail and General Trust- Trust

The Guardian- The Scott Trust- Trust

Media Barons- Owned by wealthy individuals or proprietors

Trusts- Legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a trustee o manage and control the running of the paper 

Cross-Media-Converged Conglomerates- Global institutions that own numerous media outlets. These may be owned by Media Barons

All newspapers in the UK are owned by 7 Companies. 60% of the market share owned by just 2, News UK and DMG Media.

How do you think newspapers make money?

Direct sales from outlets, advertising, selling and owning shares, subscription

What problems is the news industry facing?

Technological advancements, extremely easy to access and free online news make print news obsolete and unpopular.

How are they tackling this?

conversion to digital and online platforms.

News industry contributes massively to the uk economy despite falling sales

Alternative methods of funding-

Subscriptions

Memberships

Reader Donations

Technological Developments

Since the 1980's the rapid development of technology has significantly changed to relationship between owners and audiences.

1980's

Computers, Printers & DTP programs

Computers and printers becoming widespread in everyones home allowed a massive majority of people to access DTP programs which allowed them to create their own news, it was no longer an exclusive of newspaper companies, meaning companies had to become a lot more legitimate and secure in order to express themselves as the newspaper of choice. These advancements also caused a huge increase in fake news being created.

1990's

The Internet

The internet allowed the public to use their already widespread home computers to access free online news, this was leagues more convenient than having to physically obtain a newspaper, so newspaper sales tanked massively, requiring companies to adapt

2000's

Broadband, Web 2.0, Smartphones, Tablets, HD Digital camera, Apps

The extremely efficient and quick advancement of technological devices and the internet made accessing online and digital news even more convenient, being able to read news anywhere you are as long as you have a phone. This further massively tanked physical newspaper sales.

Advantages of internet news

Circulation- allows for a global audience, far more popularity, allows interaction between audience and owner

Distribution- Reduces cost while maintaining a global reach

Wednesday 18th September 2024

1. Daily Mail and General Trust (Lord Rothermere DMG)

2. The Scott Trust

3. Trust

4. Media Barons, Conglomerates

5. Social, Historical, Political, Economic, Cultural

4/5

News Values

LO: To explore the news values of printed news

Newspapers may spin a story differently depending on opinion or bias of that newspaper.

Daily mail And The Times

Both covering the exploding pagers attacks.

Daily mail covers political consequences, while the times depicts the people directly affected by the attacks.

The editor of a newspaper acts as a gatekeeper, controlling what is shown and what is not, what they decide to show is based on importance and appeal.

Protective Coverage is when certain information is withheld in order to avoid removing anything that would be harmful to the public, powerful people or impede an investigation.

News Values

Guidelines used to identify which is considered to be most valuable, appealing, and newsworthy for audiences.

Threshold

Consonance

Reference to Elite persons

Meaningfulness

Composition

Negativity

Frequency

Continuity

Unambiguity

Composition- Discusses multiple serious topics in front page, then has much lighter topics at the top

 

Personalisation

Reference to Elite Nations

Lexis- "Stares Down' make him seem very powerful, fearless, brave

Image- close up of him staring at something, directly related to image, as if he is directly staring at a physical mutiny.

Text- Words such as "Frenzied", emphasises the intensity of the situation

 Juxtaposition on the word "WONT" suggesting power and loyalty and dedication to his opinions.

 

Thursday 19th September 2024

Do Now

1. Organisation that collects and sells news to outlets.

2. Composition

3. Meaningfulness

4. Trusts

5. Historical, Political, Economical, Social, Cultural

5/5

Political Bias

LO: To explore the political bias of printed news.

Free Press- News industry that isn't regulated or censored by the government

The Fourth Estate- News a role in safeguarding the public from decisions made by wealthy or politicians which could influence policy or outcome.

Political bias is very evident on these covers as The Daily Mail clearly views him as a positive change or atleast are extremely optimistic about his rise to power. While the guardian clearly questions his authority and choices, while also attempting to call him out about potentially false promises.

Homogenous View- Singular, Similar & undistinguishable

Plurality- That more than one viewpoint is maintained in the news, that owners cant reduce the polarity.

Political allegiance is clear in theses covers through the media language, The Daily Mirror is very clearly Left Wing orientated, actively insulting and negatively representing a conservative political icon. This is clear through the main image being an intentionally ugly picture, taken while she was talking and making her seem unserious and silly. The layout of the cover also placing the masthead around her face, clearly emphasising it further clearly suggests the reason this image was used.  Aswell as the Lexis in the text "Lies, Damned Lies and Theresa May" clearly stating the political orientation of The Mirror by accusing her of lying. While the Daily Mail is just as clearly Right Wing, The Mis-En-Scene in the image used clearly shows her being supported and an icon for those around here, while the text "Lets Reignite the british spirit" suggests she is the one to help improve Britain and move it forward. 

We can apply Levi Strauss Structuralism to these covers by analysing the opposing representations of the same person with extremely different political bias. The respected target audience of each newspaper are given the ideology and bias that the Left/Right wing politician is good/bad or the hero/villain of current political context. The target audience who intentionally buy either of these newspapers clearly define their opinions and place in politics by buying the newspaper that most accurately reflects their own personal opinions. This idolisation and demonisation of the same political icon matches the newspaper audience expectations as a person who actively likes or dislikes Theresa May would expect this sort of representation.

We can also apply Barthes theory of semiology to the Media language used in these covers, in The Mirror an intentionally chosen poor image is the denotation and the connotation is the suggestion that the use of this image mean that she herself is undeserving of respect and should not be taken seriously. This is equally applicable to the Daily Mail cover, an image of her clearly being respected and idolised being the denotation, while the connotation is that this means she is a respected person who should be seen as a revolutionary political icon.

We can link these covers to contextual issues at the time of the newspapers release, in the case of these 2 covers, there was clearly a very heated rivalry between Left and Right wing politicians, evident through the literally slandering and accusations towards Right Wing politicians by the Daily Mirror, a very left wing biased newspaper and clear and equally heated response from The Daily Mail.

Homework

Eve works at British intelligence agency, wants to do more, conducts illegal investigation on a recent assassination involves family and friends, is assigned to protect potential victim, victim dies, eve is “fired” then rehired by agency boss

Eve- intelligent, brave, wants to do more and obsessed with assassinations

Villanelle- Skilled, Cold, Assassin, is controlled by big boss 

Bill- Lazier, Friendly, warns eve not to do more she should, concerned for eve, cares for her, friend  

Niko- Eves husband, not a very strong connection between them, doesn’t have an interest in her job, fulfils stereotypically female gender roles.

Context- Modern production, more inclusive and accepting audience, expresses ideas about sexuality, subverting gender roles and sexist stereotypes, challenges “old fashioned” ideologies. Defines itself as modern, all female production team.

Wednesday 25th September 2024

1. What historical event or generally accepted ideologies were relevant at the time, what time period was it, what was happening. Reflects a time period

2. What was happening politically at the time, who was in power, what were the policies. Financial, technological opportunities and constraints

3. What the state of/ what was happening with the economy at the time, were people struggling or comfortable depending on were they were. National identity vs Global perspective

4. What was socially acceptable, ideologies etc at the time. How is society influenced by the current media

5. What was the culture of a person or place at the time. Religion, Gender, Race, Age

Print News Regulation

LO: To explore issues of regulation of printed news

What is regulation?

The filter for raw news to withhold or add information in order to protect the public.

Arguments for Regulation

The public needs protection from news that isn't appropriate for public view, if not protected, radical opinions and unwanted or dangerous suggestions or images shown to people.

Arguments Against

News should be shown entirely and unchanged, should be honestly represented and withholding info is lying to people. Information can be censored motivated by bias.

Regulation is concerned with maintaining the need for press and the function off the fourth estate to protect the people and democracy.

The British press is self regulated

regulates itself within an accepted code of conduct

Punitive rather than a preventive

Breach could lead to fine or printed apology.

Requires the public and regulatory agencies to trust the news to maintain their accepted regulation rules.

Revealed how bad and extreme the press was, revealed that agencies were undeserving of trust and that regular members of public aswell as popular figures were being harassed constantly in order for the news to operate and make its next big story. In response, new press standards were created and the public was assured that complaints would be addressed.

Created in response to the 2011 inquiry into self regulation in the press, Independant from the press and Monitors all press and ensures the protection of members of the public and influential figures such as celebrity from harassment from the press. Wasn't well received as was seen as a ploy for control from the government.

Thursday 26th September 2024

1. IMPRESS IPSO

2. IPSO IMPRESS

3. 2011 leveson inquiry into self regulation of news

4. Semiology. Things have denotations and connotations, literal meanings and what is suggested by this

5. Daily Mail- Right Wing      Guardian- Left Wing

Regulation and Theory

LO: To explore theories of regulation of the printed news.

Curran And Seaton

Capitalist desires motivate Increasingly shrinking concentration of ownership, large companies owned by fewer and fewer people, reduces variety and creates repetitio. These patterns of ownership are important in understanding media, This increasing concentration severely affects plurality as having such a narrow and small variety of opinions creates bias in what is covered by that news agency, so much so that laws have been introduced to stop a singular agency to own over a specified percent of news outlets to ensure their are a varied amount of viewpoints in news.

Owners strive for profit over creativity and quality, this can make the news seem less spirited or unique as they prioritise using repetition of formulas and ways of covering story that are successful.

Applicable to news through the extremely concentrated ownership of newspaper companies, allowing for next to no varying opinions and very secure political bias.

For the daily mail, the idea of the repetition of ownership pattern is confirmed, since the release of the paper in 1896 there has been a very clear and defined ownership pattern.

Relies upon populist reporting, sensationnel and personalized stories.

The Guardian- Subverts this theory, Historical ownership patters do not affect journalistic values.

Tries to offer a voice from all sorts of different perspectives. Goes against controlling agencies creating bias in their papers.

Hesmondhalgh

Minimising risk of profit loss through use of repetition of successful formulas and actors. Risk is defined as potential loss of money. These cultural industries rely on capitalist patterns to increase profit and strive for it over everything else.

Cultural industries rely upon big hits to earn profit 

Modern technological advancements such as the internet create risk for print media, so mass conversion to online news reduces risk.

Newspapers do strive to earn profit more than they seek to inform, this drives them to harass influential figures and members of the public in order for a good story to cover.

Livingstone And Lunt

Media should be regulated in order to protect the public from harmful ideas. Traditional regulation is put at risk by globalised media industries, Media convergence and the rise of digital media.

Consumers desire private benefits and wants from media, regulation is required to protect them 

Traditional regulation for newspapers needs to be revised and monitored to ensure newspapers are operating appropriately and not endangering the public.

Regulation is required to defend the public from News conglomerates, if not regulated, newspapers could publish stories and incite almost anything in their readers, giving them far to much power over the British public.

The British Press is self-regulated

Evaluate the effectiveness of one Curran And Seaton in understanding regulation in news.

Curran and Seatons theory claims that large media conglomerates aim for increasing concentration of ownership, prioritise profit above all and have repeating ownership patterns.

Curran and Seatons theory claims that capitalist media industries aim for a smaller and smaller concentration of ownership, this increasingly concentrated ownership creates very narrow and biased opinions in what is published, in cases, severely affecting plurality in the british news. This theory is easily applicable to The Daily Mail news agency as they are a very large, very capitalist media conglomerate that have over the years had an extremely concentrated ownership, the daily mail own the largest percentage of news coverage in Britain, this creates an extreme bias in what is covered. Such a large and powerful news agency existing is why regulation is so important in media. If gone unregulated and allowed to cover anything it wants. The Daily Mail would have an incredible amount of power over the British public, able to release any biased and opinionated news they want and be able to control the majority of what the public can see and from opinions from. But regulation and laws limit this power, Regulation protects the public by ensuring all released news is unbiased and unchanged enough so that the public is not in danger of indoctrination. There is also a law that prevents a singular agency from owning more than a specified percent of news coverage, further ensuring the safety of the public. This theory is also applicable to The Guardian, but for different reasons, The Guardian strives to go against this idea of increasing concentration and strives to allow for different viewpoints, its values directly subverting this theory and encouraging the public to understand a story from all perspectives.

Curran and Seaton also suggest that large capitalist media conglomerates such as The Daily Mail strive for profit above all else. the Daily Mail, being a tabloid newspaper, relies upon more gossipy info and trends, but since profit is so sought after over anything else, this can result in the endangerment of the public for the sake of the next "big hit'. The 2011 Leveson Inquiry shows this, calling out news agencies for directly interfering and harassing members of the general public and influential figures such as celebrities and political icons. This is why regulation is so important to protect the public from endangerment. and harassment from agencies seeking to dig up dirt and new info.

In conclusion, Curran and Seatons theory is very effective of understanding regulation in News and media in general by clearly highlighting the dangers of not regulating these large media conglomerates and the massive amount of power this would grant them.

Wednesday 2nd October 2024

Do Now

1. Owners strive for profit over creativity and quality and ownership concentration is shrinking.

2. Risk is minimised through repetition of successful formulas. 

3. Media should be regulated to protect the public from harm.

4. Leveson Inquiry

5. IPSO and IMPRESS

5/5

Economic factors that influence print news

LO: To explore the economic factors which influence print news.

10 marks-17 minutes

Economic context, Commercial Non- Profit, and the distribution of newspapers

Whether the newspaper is owned by a non-profit or commercial conglomerate

The success and amount of adverts in the newspaper

what has been done to preserve the company or increase profits

The transition to online news and reduction in physical paper sales

The public opinion on the newspaper, therefor its success 

Distribution of the newspaper

Ownership

Saving Money

Statistics

The economic contexts for Newspapers vary, firstly the Guardian. A non profit organisation, producing news for the sake of informing people, gaining profit from Subscriptions, Donations, Physical paper purchases, advertisements etc/ That profit is then directly recycled back into the newspaper. Funding for the Guardian has changed significantly in recent years with the growing popularity of online news, this has caused newspaper sales to falter and decrease massively, forcing the Guardian to join other newspapers in transitioning to online news. This has made distribution for the guardian much easier as the majority of the population is online and can easily access this news from anywhere, Desktops, tablets and phones being the most popular, Mobile viewers of the Guardian have risen to 15.8 million viewers in recent years, showing the increasing success of online news for the Guardian. Online news also makes it easier for advertisements to be shown, further increasing profit. Due to the decline of paper news, the Guardian has also made changes to attempt to save money including reducing the actual size of the physical newspapers from a typical broadsheet size to a tabloid size. Technological advancements have significantly affected the economic context of newspapers and how newspapers successfully distribute their newspaper to a large audience, forcing non profit newspapers like the Guardian to change and adapt.

In comparison, the economic contexts of the Daily Mail are attempt to maximise profit as it is a commercial, conglomerate owned, capitalist newspaper, this means the newspaper creates news for the sake of profit for the owner and not for the sake of informing the public. The daily mail has made similar changes to the Guardian in order to increase profit but has done so in a way that maximises profit gained, even to the detriment of the newspaper. The Daily Mail has adapted to modern technological advancements and also transitioned online,  but compared to the Guardian has a lot more focus on making money, this is done by implementing a large amount of advertisements in their online news and neglecting quality and/or creativity in their newspaper for the sake of profit. The transition to online news has been very successful for the Daily Mail aswell as hundreds of other newspapers as online media has become more and more popular, the Daily Mail, having 22.7 million mobile readers and 7.7 million online readers, Outperforming their physical newspaper sales massively, has had massive success with their online news, encouraging the newspaper to focus and prioritise on their online news rather than their physical print news. The Daily Mail has also made attempts to save money by closing one of its printing factories in Didcot, further emphasizing the decline of print news in modern day society. We can apply Curran and Seatons theory here as they state that large media conglomerates like the one that owns The Daily Mail aswell as 25% of the market share prioritise profit in their products over creativity and quality aswell as having an continuously shrinking concentration of ownership.

I feel i would be working in mark band 2 5/10

Homework:

Scene: Frank confronting Eve about her illegal investigation after the person in the hospital is killed

Frank is shown to conform to typical male stereotypes and gender roles of being powerful and confident over women. Frank is shown to be powerful and intimidating in this scene through the use of emotive language and Mis-En-Scene. Frank is constantly shouting in this scene clearly expressing his anger while maintains direct eye contact with eve and barely moving, clearly depicting his confidence and maintains a level of calm that makes him seem collected and almost calm. This is all in comparison to eve who is staying fairly silent and looking down, acting very submissively, this emphasises franks power and confidence in this scene.

Scene: Villanelle killing her target in Tuscany

Villanelle subverts typical gender stereotypes through the use of Mis-En-Scene and camerawork. Throughout this scene Villanelle is shown to be extremely confident and casual while assassinating her target. This is done through her calm and collected expressions and body language even after killing this man. In this scene she uses the man’s stereotypical expectations of her to surprise him and kill him, this suggests she is intelligent and skilled in her work, subverting stereotypical female stereotypes in media. The camerawork in this scene commonly uses a low angle to have the viewer look up at her, suggesting she is powerful, there is also a shot of her next to the man, while he is on his knees dying from being stabbed in the eye with poison while she is standing up straight looking at him, this suggests she is superior to him.

Thursday 3rd October 2024

Do Now

1. Prioritising Profit for themself over offering a public service

2. Prioritising the public best interest and information availability over personal gain

3. Daily Mail is commercial DMGT, Advertsing

4. Guardian is non profit Scotts Trust

5. Economic

Ownership & Funding- The Guardian

History Summary

Founded by John Edward Taylor in 1821 and first published on May 5th in that year

The Guardian achieved national and international recognition under the editorship of CP Scott, who held the post for 57 years from 1872. Scott bought the paper in 1907 following the death of Taylor’s son, and pledged that the principles laid down in the founder’s will would be upheld by retaining the independence of the newspaper.

In June 1936, JR Scott formally passed ownership of the paper to the trustees of The Scott Trust

In 1994-95 the Guardian began developing online publication. The paper’s technology section OnLine was launched in late 1995, and sites for jobs, certain sports, and news events followed through 1996-1998. The Guardian Unlimited network of websites was launched as a unified whole in January 1999 (in 2008 it was to become guardian.co.uk and in 2013 theguardian.com). By March 2001 GU had over 2.4 million unique users, making it the most popular UK newspaper website.

In recent years the Guardian has significantly developed and expanded its digital operations. Between 2009-2010 the Guardian launched a range of new digital products and services, including apps for iPhone

Owners/Trusts & Funding Model

The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust is a non profit newspaper, meaning it strives to offer a public service rather than earn profit, all profit is recycled back into the newspaper to improve it.

States that their journalism has no commercial or political interference 

Funding

Circulation and advertising main source of funding, also depend on reader donations

Reduce costs by shrinking paper size and reducing paper cost, focusing largely on online brand

Tech Developments

Online presence hit them the hardest, print sales dropped massively  

Circulation Figures

 In july 2021 the Guardians Print newspaper circulation was 105,134 newspapers per day, the guardian has then since stopped allowing its circulation figures to be public but we can assume this daily circulation has decreased as online news becomes increasingly popular.

Advertising Costs

The guardian makes around 120 million from advertising revenue each year.

The Guardian charges from 6000 to 32,400 for advertising depending on the size of the ad compared to the page.

Sales Figures in last 5 years

Alternative revenue options

Advertising, donations, subscriptions and print news are the main way the Guardian creates revenue

Online Options: Revenue

Cookies- the Guardian tracks user data and sells it to advertising companies

Changes in last 10 years

Large focus on the online aspect, reduction of print news to save money to combat the decline of it.

Political bias

The Guardian has always been an explicitly left wing newspaper

Reporting Style

The Guardian is a Tabloid and naturally has a more lighthearted and slightly informal tone when speaking about non serious topics.

Regulation

Opted out of being regulated by IPSO and iMPRESS as believe both impact the freedom of the press and investigative journalism

Self regulates

Has faced government prosecution

Principles and values

inform the public of global and local news, works in the best interest of the public, non-profit organisation

Prioritise composition over negativity, threshold, Personalisation

Historically Left and Centre wing

Editor describes values as as agenda setting

States need to report on different cultures and perspectives

The Daily Mail

Ownership

Media Barons- DMGT, controlling shareholder rothermere for over 100 years

Funding

Circulation and Advertising

owns 25% of the market share

Save money by focusing on online brand, increasing cover prices and closing print factories as online is more popular

Tech Development

Known to recognise and adapt to new tech- online presence is thriving

Mail Online growth with online and mobile readers.

Stated to reach over 70% of the UK.

Principles and values

Commercial, desire private benefits and profit, seek to make money

Likely to prioritise negativity and personalization while referencing elite nations and people

Historically right wing

Political Bias

Right wing

Reporting Style

Tabloid newspaper, so naturally lighthearted but does seems to be more serious and less sensationalist than other tabloids

Regulation

Regulated by IPSO since its creation, paying member

Between 2016-2018, IPSO was required to investigate 17 cases of breaches of accuracy, privacy and intrusion.

Apologies and correction printed on page 2

Ownership & Funding- The Daily Mail

History Summary

Owners/Trusts & Funding Model

Circulation Figures

Advertising Costs

Sales Figures in last 5 years

Alternative revenue options

Online Options: Revenue

Changes in last 10 years

Wednesday 9th October 2024

Do Now

1. Media barons- Commercial

2. Trust- Non Profit

3. Smaller size, closed print factory, online transition

4. Website, Apps, Tablet

5. DM- Owned by rothermere for 100 years, G- 15.8 Million Mobile viewers.

Case Studies

Ownership- The Guardian

Ownership- The Daily Mail

Funding & Revenue- Daily Mail

Clear advertising of service, TalkTalk, main form of income/funding

Funding & Revenue- The Guardian

Advertising modern reality TV show, funding

Tech Development- Daily Mail

Advertising an online, invisible service suggests that acceptance of modern developments.

Tech Development- The Guardian

Advertising modern reality TV Show. suggests understanding of modern media and tech advancements

Barcode on front cover, leading to website, advertising online presence. 

Values & Bias- The Daily Mail

Right Wing newspaper, glorifies the "surrender" of a left wing political figure.

Tabloid newspaper, does cover political issue but its placed under completely different, less serious topic.

Values & Bias- The Guardian

Regulation- The daily mail

Regulation- The Guardian

Thursday 10th October 2024

1. 25%

2. Around 2%

3.  Making profit, want to make money, report for the sake of profting themself. Negativity, personalisation

4. Strive to inform the public without profiting themself, reporting for the sake of the public. composition over negative

5. IPSO

Explain how the cultural context of how the news is produced influences the content offered to audiences.

The cultural context of how news is produced influences the content offered to audiences by overall being more accessible to a far wider audience. Culturally, online news is now preferred over print. It is more convenient, available anywhere and is usually free. This means that an extremely large amount of people read the news constantly, meaning more viewership, more disagreements with what's been covered etc. This requires news stations to be very careful about what and how they publish a story, any sort of mistake or negative prejudiced opinion will be very quickly online and the reputation of a news outlet can very quickly diminish due to the capabilities of information spreading on the internet. This means that stories are likely heavily researched and censored until it is safe for public consumption. We can apply Livingstone & Lunts theory that regulation is required to protect the public from the news as online news spreads so quickly that one negative or poorly covered story can affect millions of people, so regulation and censorship of certain parts is required.

It is also culturally accepted to have a number of advertisements on news, both print and online but definitely more evident in online news. Online news makes advertising extremely easy as not only can you advertise a product, but you can link it so a person can see it, become interested and buy it in a very short amount of time. Meaning people have less time to think about it and more likely to buy whatever is being advertised in the moment. This means that audiences are constantly exposed and offered thousands of products and services when simply reading the news. We can apply Curran & Seatons theory that companies prioritise profit over creativity and quality. Advertisements are placed all over a news website even if it makes the website look less appealing and depending on the amount and size of the advertisements can make the company seem greedy and money hungry.

The cultural context of how news is produced influences the content offered to audiences by overall being more accessible to a far wider audience. Culturally, online news is now preferred over print. It is more convenient, available anywhere and is usually free. This means that an extremely large amount of people read the news constantly, meaning more viewership, more disagreements with what's been covered etc. This requires newspapers to be very careful about what and how they publish a story, any sort of mistake or negative prejudiced opinion will be very quickly online and the reputation of a newspaper can very quickly diminish due to the capabilities of information spreading on the internet. This means that stories are likely heavily researched and censored until it is safe for public consumption. We can apply Livingstone & Lunts theory that regulation is required to protect the public from the news as online news spreads so quickly that one negative or poorly covered story can affect millions of people, so regulation and censorship of certain parts is required. 

Additionally, there is very clear support of a one dimensional view of british values by concentrated news ownership such as The Daily Mail, the Mail support this cultural context through its ownership model, DMG privately owns the Mail and is very capitalist. While the Guardian subverts and critiques this one dimensional view as it uses a less influenced, not money driven and non profit ownership, The Scott Trust.

It is also culturally accepted to have a number of advertisements on news, both print and online but definitely more evident in online news. Online news makes advertising extremely easy as not only can you advertise a product, but you can link it so a person can see it, become interested and buy it in a very short amount of time. Meaning people have less time to think about it and more likely to buy whatever is being advertised in the moment. This means that audiences are constantly exposed and offered thousands of products and services when simply reading the news. We can apply Curran & Seatons theory that companies prioritise profit over creativity and quality. Advertisements are placed all over a news website even if it makes the website look less appealing and depending on the amount and size of the advertisements can make the company seem greedy and money hungry.

Case Studies and industry theory

LO: To explore how industry theory can be applied to the ownership, funding and regulation in set products.

Curran & Seaton- Daily Mail

Very confident in their right wing political affiliation, directly 

insulting Left wing politicians, concentrated ownership, no differ in opinion.

Covering populist and sensational news, discussing celebrity drama, describes is as chaotic to further increase interest.

Curran & Seaton- The Guardian

Instead of choosing a viewpoint of a story, The Guardian reports it in such a way that there is no clear bias, it simply reports all known info and allow audiences to form their own opinions.

The guardian subverts the idea that large companies prioritize profit by not reporting much non important celebrity drama, mostly reporting the most relevant and serious global issues. Seeking to inform people of what is happening than try and maximise their own viewership. They feature a very standard amount of advertising that allows them to keep their newspaper financially comfortable while not disrupting the audiences reading.

Hesmondhalgh- Daily Mail

Very clear right wing opinions, small concentration of ownership very little differ in opinions. Daily mail also own 25% of the market share while only being owned by a very few select people.

Daily Mail minimises risk by having a large online presence, advertising their website on their print cover via link and barcode aswell as advertising a reality tv show only available online, minimising risk and increasing profit by being online successfully

Hesmondhalgh- The Guardian

The Guardian struggles to survive and thrive in a competitive market owned by so few conglomerates, competition is extremely powerful and owns such large percentages of market share.

Livingstone & Lunt- The Daily Mail

Wednesday 16th October 2024

1. Hesmondhalgh

2. Curran & Seaton

3. Livingstone & Lunt

4. What the culture is, whether that be in a specific area or globally, what is accepted, what is not etc.

5. Online News

5/5

Target Audience

LO: To investigate audiences of printed news and audience appeal.

The Daily Mail

Demographic- Older, 45+ majority female, Upper and Middle class

Psychometrics- Aspirers/Explorers

Hobbies/Interests

Foreign News

Celebrity News

Political Context

Spend income on entertainment

Older audience more likely to prefer print, younger of the audience may use online

Entertaining stories, Funny, interesting.

The Guardian

Demographic- 35+ Majority Male, Educated Upper Class

Psychometrics- Mainstreamers/Reformers

Hobbies/Interests

Purchase useful products, increase comfort, furniture, art

Political issues

Global occurrences

War News

Older audience, likely to prefer print but the younger side may use online

Celebrity- Simon Cowell

Good News- Simon's Son "Saved Him"

Follow Up- Exclusive interview in magazine

Entertainment- Football advertising

Power Elite- Liz & Putin

Headline/Cover Line/Layout-Elite powers, talking about russia, britain, MI5, Headline in centre, first thing seen.

Lexis- Bad News, "Plotting, Threat, Mayhem"

Cover Line- Celebrity/Bad News "Phils lost the plot", bad news about a celebrity

Bad News, Magnitude, Power Elite, Relevance- Headline, Lexis. "Pain" "Attack". Near top of page

Power Elite- Cover line bottom left

Good News- Marina Abramovic, Cover line 

Thursday 17th October 2024

Do Now:

1. Class, Gender, Age- Physical attributes

2. A type of person from a list- mental attributes, attitude, interests, hobbies etc

3. Power Elite- People who have power over the world, political figures, country leader, hyper famous celebrities

4.  Good News- Positivity, someone's been rescued, someone won something.

5. Surprise- Startling story, unexpected, interesting

Target Audience

LO: To explore audience theory. To apply audience theory to newspaper example

Gerbner: Cultivation Theory-

Prolonged exposure to similar types of media can change our behaviour and attitude. Repetition of very negative media can create "mean world syndrome", the mistrust of society due to what has been seen in the media.

Bandura-

The media can directly influence people for better or for worse. Influencing can happen directly or indirectly, we don't need to see media to be exposed to it, people talking about it in person or online.

Bandura-

People reading the news are directly influenced by the right wing views

People who haven't read the news will still be influenced due to social media and word of mouth.

Similar with the "Tax rises for all", people reading the news will immediately know but people who don't are still affected by it.

Gerbner-

Continuously being exposed to right wing views and negative comments about immigrants might shape a viewer's own attitude towards them.

Constantly seeing negativity in the news can make your thought of the rest of the world and society in general be fearful and mistrusting.

Dominant Reading- Should feel sympathetic, refugees should be freed and allowed to leave.

Negotiated- Should feel sympathetic and let them in but they need space, proper authentication to enter a country, can't just let everyone in

Oppositional- Shouldn't let them in, they are supposedly safe and should be fine.

Bandura

Cover Directly influences anyone with children, makes them feel fear for them, sympathy for the girl 

Indirectly influences anyone who sees the story on social media or is told about it, feel sympathy, fear for their family etc.

Very aggressive and brutal Lexis "Broken" "Burned" "Bitten" etc. 

Gerbner

May cause audiences to act differently, feel protective over their children, be kinder to their children etc.

Consistent exposure to negative news such as this can make a reader believe the world is a terrible place and place fear and mistrust in society, developing mean world syndrome.

Very sensationalist headline, emotional, intense. Targets an audience that likes reading about drama and popular topics.

Hall

Dominant Meaning-

Audience should feel very sympathetic for the girl and highly dislike and blame the family.

Negotiated Meaning-

Feel very sympathetic for the girl but also consider that the family was likely suffering from severe mental illness, still dislike them.

Oppositional Meaning-

Blame the entire incident on the family's very poor mental health, feel sympathy for the girl and th family.

Gerbner: Cultivation Theory-

Prolonged exposure to similar types of media can change our behaviour and attitude. Repetition of very negative media can create "mean world syndrome", the mistrust of society due to what has been seen in the media.

Wednesday 6th November 2024

Do Now

1. Media can directly influence people Audiences mimic behaviour in media

2. Media has an indirect influence on people. Media can create mean world syndrome

3. Dominated, Negotiated, Oppositional

4. Gossipy, Sensationalist, Informal.

5. Formal, Intelligent, sophisticated.

Evaluate the usefulness of Gerber

Gerbner's theory states that exposure to media can affect an audiences attitude and behaviour depending on the repetition of ideologies or opinions shown, for example someone who only reads the daily mail may develop a right wing opinion and preference.

This theory is helpful in understanding how newspapers cover stories and attempt to dramatise certain elements in order to influence you to create the same opinion as them. For example, the Daily Mail will slander and point out weaknesses of left wing politicians to attempt to further emphasise their right wing opinions as superior. If someone were to only read the Daily Mail they may develop opinions and attitude corresponding with the Daily Mail's opinions and viewpoints. This theory is also equally applicable to the Guardian except they attempt to create left wing viewpoints and opinions while the Daily Mail does the same with right wing viewpoints and opinions.

Gerbner's theory also suggests that there is a "mean world syndrome" that so much of media is negative that people develop a generally violent, argumentative and negative viewpoint of the world. Gerbner suggests that audiences are passive and will consume and agree with any media presented to them instead of being active and understanding and deconstructing multiple representations to develop their own personal opinion.

You need to apply the element of the theory you are covering to specific examples from both newspapers. Try to pick an example of where each newspaper does what you are stating in your argument, e.g. view on migrants/refugees

Media Language

LO: To explore the genre codes and conventions in print news

Technical- Camerawork, Editing, Shot type, Layout

Symbolic- Meaning made from technical elements

Convention- Generally accepted way of doing something

Tabloid

Size- Small

Lexis- Informal

Mode of Address- Direct

Headline Size- Large, Brief

Image to text layout- Image based

Broadsheet

Size- Large

Lexis- Formal

Mode of Address- Formal, General

Headline Size- Small, Detailed

Image to text layout- Text based

Barthes-

Denotations and Connotations are organised into myths, a denotation is a literal meaning of something while a connotation is a suggested meaning off the connotation. These created myths create ideology and help them feel natural.

Headline- Connotation is that the king is good for the countries economy, Denotation- Daily Mail greatly supports the king.

Connotation- Both pictures showing both candidates in the same position

Denotation- Both are fairly equal and either could win

Soft News- Gossipy, entertaining, Celebrity, Positive

Hard News- Politics, war, Power elites etc

Thursday 7th November 2024

Do Now

1. Smaller, informal, image based, sensationalist, soft news

2. Large, formal, text based, informative, hard news

3. Camerawork, Editing, Shot Type, Layout

4. Meaning created from technical elements, shot type-low angle, person is powerful.

5. Neale- Genre Theory, genres change and evolve all the time, repetition creates a genre, hybrid genres are created.

Neale- Genre Theory

Genres's popularity changes over time depending on context, trends etc.

Typical codes and conventions are shared in media via repetition in media products.

Genres are always changing, becoming hybrids and playing codes and conventions from other genres.

LO: Explore terminology of media language and codes & conventions in print news.

Editing

Layout:

Main image- Direct address, looking directly at camera, confident. Place on right side of page so Main Cover Line can get equal attention. Large image, typical of tabloid

Text to image- More images than text, not much text but text is large, typical of tabloid.

Typography

Main Cover Line- Left side of page, equal size of image, just as important, conveys how strong their opinion is. Large text but not much text, typical of tabloid

Mode of address

Lexis- Informal, outraged, shocked, worried "Again?" "Uncertainty" "fear"

Mis-En-Scene

Locations

Global- Election took place in America, this is global news

Lighting- High key, make sure image is clear, people can see trump

Camera

Camera Shot

Medium close up- Clearly shows his face, expression, confident, proud etc

Camera Angle

Eye Level- Looking directly at him, clearly see him, show his confidence etc.

Editing

Layout

Main Image- Centre of page, main part of cover, shows trump looking happy, suggests and displays his victory. Typical for broadsheet

Text to image- Main image is surrounded by text, more text than image overall, typical for broadsheet

Typography

Main Cover Line- Near top of page, looked at after main image and masthead, very important. Text is large but not massive as to not take up to much space so there can be more text

Mode of Address

Lexis- very formal, very calm, main cover line makes them seem indifferent and neutral, typical of broadsheet

Hyperbole- None, calmly covers the election with little prejudice for a specific side.

Mis-En-Scene

Locations

Election was in America, this is global news

Image Lighting

High key- in order to clearly see trump and how confident he seems, conveying and clearly showing he won the election.

Thursday 14th November 2024

Do Now

1. Small shape of colour, usually an advertisement.

2. First paragraph of article.

3. Top of page, block of colour, placed behind masthead, usually has some form of advertisement

4. Large text, name of newspaper, usually at the top of page, title

5. Large text, shows main story covered, usually below masthead

LO: Analyse impact of media language and codes & conventions in set products.

The Daily Mail has hybridised the 2 genres by incorporating major media language from both, The hard news comes form the political nature of the story being covered, trump meeting the queen and a left winged mob rioting and "shaming Britain". However this hard news is made soft by the use of the headline lexis "The Pomp and The Pygmy" is poking fun at a previously very serious topic by calling then names and using insults. The Main image and Headline are very significant and important parts of media language used in newspaper covers to establish their "genre".

Genre

Masthead- Genre follows broadsheet, serif font, bold, black & white, logo- Traditional.

Main Image- Smaller image, more text than image ratio, typical of broadsheet genre

Headline/Standfirst- Lots of text, headline is in bold, sans serif font. Typical for broadsheet genre.

Colour- colour is only on skybox and main image. Rest of cover is completely black and white. Colour used to attract attention to those parts of cover, suggesting importance. Typical of broadsheet genre to lack much colour.

Viewpoints & Ideologies

Masthead- image shows traditional British values, monarchy, crown- trusted, reliable. Logo in masthead shows traditional British image.

Headline/Standfirst- Lots of formal text, standfirst is concentrated, audience of a broadsheet are intelligent and desire informative and thorough info. Typical of broadsheet genre. Bold connects it to masthead, suggesting importance but sans serif font makes it less formal.

Liberal-.

willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas. Progressive.

Levi-Strauss

Definition is created by opposites, able to shape myths and ideologies. We can understand things based on binary oppositions, If it is not night is is day etc.

Masthead- Genre follows broadsheet, serif font is traditional. Block colour behind Masthead is more tabloid style, borrowed. But being blue is an opposite to tabloid's typical red

Blue & White colour palette- Suggests progression, not typical, different, liberal.

Skyline/Puff- More colour, focuses on softer more fun news in contrast to the very hard and serious news in the rest of the cover.

Typical of a newspaper to try and contrast more serious elements with softer news.

Wednesday 20th November 2024

Do Now:

1. Editing

2. Meaning created by technical elements

3. Tabloid- Smaller, Image based, sensationalist, gossipy. Broadsheet- Larger, text based, informative, formal Mid Market Tabloid- Elements from both broadsheet and tabloid

4. Fake representations can become more real than actual representations, Simulacra.

5. The new world of hyperreality- media simulations

Media Language Q2 Practise

LO: To analyse the use of media language and codes & conventions in set products.

Baudrillard: Postmodernism

Originally important social distinctions evaporate as differences and new gender, class politics and culture meld into a simulation where people construct their identities.

There is a new world of hyper reality, fake representations are more real than actual representations.

Society has moved beyond modernism, in art and culture as-well as modernism in the sense of belief in progress.

Modern society is based around the play of signs and simulation,

The use of conventions ensures that the 3 Genres of newspaper are clear and easy to identify. Tabloids tend to be colourful, image based newspapers that generally cover softer news such as celebrity drama etc. While Broadsheets, an almost opposite are larger, more text based newspapers that cover much more serious and hard news that generally lack colour and maintain a formal and serious attitude. And finally, a Middle Market Tabloid is a balanced hybrid of the 2 genres, taking elements from broadsheets and tabloids.

The Daily Mirror falls under a Tabloid newspaper due to the conventions it follows, having a large amount of colour on the cover, especially the redtop, very typical for tabloid newspapers, the masthead is also in a sans serif font. Additionally the headline is very expressive, using very large text that is also coloured. The use of the rhetorical question suggests genuine disbelief from the newspaper, such informality and expression of emotion can also be seen as typical of a broadsheet. The main image used has been intentionally saturated to make trump seem more orange, a common conception and insult being that Trump is unusually orange. This emphasises and explains the Daily Mirrors viewpoint and opinion of Trump and the outcome of the election and that the Daily Mirror reinforces the conventions of a typical Tabloid newspaper.

The use of the main image in both newspapers is the same but creates different ideologies. As previously mentioned, The Daily Mirror heavily saturated their main image the try and show trump as more orange, this idea of Trump being bizarrely orange emphasises peoples dislike of him, picking up on smaller, more insignificant things just to find a way to insult him further clearly shows a large distain for him. The idea of calling trump orange also dehumanises him to an extent, further emphasising the Daily Mirrors viewpoint of him. While on the cover of the Daily Mail, A middle market tabloid, the same main image is used but completely unedited, pairing this with the positive Headline showing his victory as an impressive and admirable comeback with several comments almost making fun of those who dont approve of his victory. This clearly displays the Daily Mails viewpoint and opinion.

Its evident in the provided examples that conventions can be effectively used to clearly represent and construct viewpoints, through the use of technical elements such as editing, viewpoints can be clearly made apparent and obvious.

Wednesday 27th November 2024

Do Now:

1. Bullet points in question

2. Baudrillard

3. Fake representations become more real than actual representations

4. Copy of the real thats indistinguishable from real.

5. Tabloid, Broadsheet, Middle Market 

Print News: Representation

LO: to explore the constructions of representations in papers and the impact of contexts on these representations.

Dominant group- Holds positions of power within social institutions, members of this group generally have the following characteristics.

Dominant Ideology: Social experience, values and beliefs of the dominant group

People who dont fit the characteristics of the dominant group they are seen as being from a subordinate group.

This suggests that the representation of individuals and social group will always involve bias towards the dominant group.

Dominant Group ideology

Main mention is Biden, who falls into all of the main characteristics of The dominant group, a very stereotypical and accurate example of someone who would be classed as part of this dominant social group.

Dominant Group Ideology

Main image of woman, falls into some characteristics of the dominant social group such as white, likely middle class, abled bodied but would still be classed as a subordinate group as she does not match other characteristics such as Male, Middle Aged. Other characteristics are not applicable as they are not shown and cannot be interpreted but from the characteristics we can identify she would placed in the subordinate group 

Dominant Group ideology

Main image features male that fits into most characteristics. Such as male, likely middle class, White, Able bodies. Seeing as he matches most of the characteristics from what we can interpret from the image, he would be placed in the dominant social group.

News Values & Politcal bias can influence representation as having a political bias can alter what is shown on a newspaper. for example a left wing newspaper could create a negative and poor representation of a right wing politician that is different than other representations, their representation is influenced directly by their political bias. News values may also influence representation as they could represent a story or issue differently due to their own opinion.

2 Stories covered in large detail on cover

Issues covered include hard and serious news such as technology news and major event interests.

The main image on the cover stars a male that matches most of the characteristics of the "dominant social group", being white, male, likely middle class, able bodied etc 

The only other social group represented are the women at the top who are white, female, middle aged, able bodied. A social group that is often represented on newspaper covers and is very common generally in media. 

Zero representation of other social groups or characteristics such as people who are disabled, non white, not middle class, educated etc.

3 Stories covered briefly on cover

Issues covered are very soft and mostly unserious.

Social groups-

All people that feature on cover do not match the characteristics of the "Dominant social group" the 3 women on the cover match some but not all or enough characteristics to be placed in the dominant social group. And the male on the cover, Chuti Gatwa, does not match the characteristics at all, being upper class, non-white, homosexual he almost opposes a large portion of the characteristics of the "Dominant social group"

To summarise, The mirror has a far more diverse and not typical representations and variety of social groups while the Daily Telegraph has very commonly represented social groups that mostly fit into the dominant social group of being white, able bodied, middle class people.

Thursday 28th November 2024

Do Now

1. People who match the characteristics, White, Male, Able Bodied, Heterosexual, Capitalist, Middle class, Christian

2. Ownership, Economical Factors, Regulation, News values/ Political Bias

3. Witholding certain information in the news to change a representation. Information is filtered before publication

4. Someone opinion that they believe is correct despite any other differing opinions, The beliefs that are promoted through newspapers.

5. expectations of the content and layout

LO: To explore the use of stereotypes in representations in papers and to explore relevant representation theory.

Class: Suggested middle class, fairly standard looking car, casual clothing

Age: Younger people, shown doing an informal pose, sitting out of a car window. suggests youth is chaotic and unruly, reinforces typical stereotypes and ideologies. 

Gender: Woman in dress, talking about big night out, typical stereotype of a "girls night out" reinforces and supports typical gender stereotypes.

Ethnicity:

Disability: No representation of disability, supports the stereotype that disabled people are not represented in news .

Class: Higher & Middle Class, working middle class mother, succesful show runner, political leader.

Age: Older, middle aged- Dominant social group representation.

Gender: Women being mothers, dislike of idea of a role reversal were a man stays at home. Done to reinforce stereotypical and old fashioned values.

Ethnicity: All people featured in image are white, representation of dominant social group

Disability: Representation of dementia, her husband immediately quits to help her, suggests disability makes people helpless and reliant on others. 

Class:

Age: Older person is shorter, has poor posture, looks weaker, reinforces stereotype of older people being helpless or reliant.

Gender: Majority of people in image are male, important person (Pope) is male. Stereotype of men in power, Reinforces typical gender ideologies and values.

Ethnicity: Majority of people in main image are white, older males, reinforces the idea of a dominant social group, Done to support this idea of a dominant social group.

Disability: No representation of disability, stereotype of disabled being not being represented in the news, reinforces very stereotypical stereotypes of ableism.

Realism

Constructed Realism-

Way in which a media product uses technical elements of media language to create a product that looks real but is: A version of reality constructed through a series of choices made by the editor/journalist.

Audiences accept these versions as real the repetition of the same thing reinforce it as real.

The ideology within these representations are then also accepted.

Critiques on gender in media, specifically the representation of women focus on challenging patriarchal and sexist representations in media.

Intersectionality is the way that an individual identity is created via gender, race, sexuality.

Intersectionality suggests the importance of identities interacting and how that can result in oppression. hook argues that alot of media representations reflect and natural display these oppressive ideologies. 

Feminism directly challenges patriarchy, hooks argues that an intersectional approach that considers how identities such as race, class and sexuality also contribute to oppression as-well as gender.

Feminism is a movement that strives to oppose and end patriarchy. She argues that minority groups such as black women should develop an oppositional gaze that refuse to identify with pre determined characters created by society. This gaze is politcal for black Americans as slaves were punished for looking at their white owners.

Thursday 5th December 2024

Do Now:

1. Gender Performativity 

2. Heteronormative ideologies naturalised create gender trouble.

3. Post Colonialism

4. White western supremacy due to older land arrangements.

5. Neither can be specifically applied to TV Dramas, just generally to media. Focusing on just one area of someone loses relevance of other areas.

Wednesday 11th December 2024

Do Now

1. Feminist Theory, Intersectionality 

2. Class, Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Disability

3. Representation- created through what is present and what is absent.

4. Gauntlet- Identity in media isn't fixed

5. Feminist Theory- Women are objectified in media, masculinity and femininity are created through performance.

LO: To analyse the construction of representations in case studies and the impact of these contexts on these representations.

"Hot Assassin" Sensationalist, emotive

Minority group- Syria, but is represented negatively, demonises Russia 

Absence of any other minority groups

Holiday Drinking- Woman drinking in image, negative representation.

Negative representation of Russia- represents British Culture.

Minority Group- represented very negatively, aggressive, guns, standing on smashed statue.

Women- On prozac, medical mysogyny. Stereotype, women need to be taken care of 

Right Wing- GP's paid for by taxes, capitalist state,

Hot Assassin- Sensationalised, men represented positively, despite being literal criminal

Shooting suspect "Hot Assassin"- Represents men positively despite crimes, suggests Daily Mail sensationalist and gossipy attitude rather than taking it very seriously.

Headline, "Syria Chaos is a chronic threat to our security". Demonises Russia, represents British values, rejection and fear of foreign powers etc. shows and suggests Daily Mails older fashioned and formed attitude & ideologies.

Supports stereotypes, "Hot Assassin" very physically fit man, shirtless, smooth, handsome, clean. Conforms to typical stereotypes. Man shown is also part of the dominant social group. Also female stereotypes, holiday drinking. Drinking wine, stereotypically feminine alcoholic drink. Shows Daily Mail conforming to typical stereotypes, not progressive etc.

Ideology creates by using very typical representation and stereotypes, only representing the dominant social group in images, speaking negatively of minority groups and foreign powers.  

Minority group represented, but very negatively, violent, holding gun, standing on statue. Suggests Daily Mails stereotypical older fashioned ideologies 

Gilroy: Ethnicity & Post Colonialism

Colonial history continues to influence the attitude toward ethnicity. With a large assumption of the superiority of white western cultures.

Post colonialism- Loss of the British empire.

Applicable to vast majority of media products, especially representations of race, ethnicity and the modern world in general.

Applicable to this cover as only ethnicity and groups are white western ethnicity, lack of any representation of any other ethnicity or race. Emphasises how Post colonial attitudes influence what ethnicities and races are represented in newspapers as white western cultures are seen as superior due to colonial history. 

Thursday 12th December 2024

1. Lots of representation of the Dominant social group, mostly positive.

2. Demonisation or negative representation of anyone not in the dominant social group.

3. Stereotypical ideologies of gender, race etc .

4. Gender Performativity- gender performed in roles, repeated and naturalised

5. Post-colonialism- superiority of white western cultures due to colonial history.

Representation & Case Studies

LO: To analyse the constructions of representations in case studies and the impact of contexts on these representation.

Global affairs- discusses news in Syria at the moment

National affairs- UK killing suspect court case

Objective representations- Insight into both sides of a story, vodafone story discusses customers and owners. positive representations of non DG

All facts given, no personal bias interfering with reality.

Critical of DG- Minority groups represented positively

Global Affairs- Syrian story coverage, Assad slaughterhouse story coverage.

National Affairs- Minor coverage of Healthcare CEO killing

Objective Representations- Minority groups represented not positively but not demonised. Shows two sides of Assad story, how those who lived were saved and how the prisoners were treated.

Critical of the DG- Minimal representation of DG, no attempt to create an absence of representation of minority groups.

In this cover there is only a small amount of coverage of the DG, the main image including exclusively minority groups who do not match all the typical characteristics of the dominant social group. While there is representation of minority groups, applying CAGED there is still a large lack of representation of groups such as Disabled people and any major representation of women, the only one being Taylor Swift. A huge celebrity who does not accurately represent the majority of women. 

Global Affairs- Syrian story coverage

National Affairs- UK jobs to be lost story

Objective Representations- Gives actual facts, tells the known perspective of Sara and her parents and the result and consequences.

Minority groups represented positively

Critical of DG- Minimal representation of DG

Discussing both national and global events, The story covering Syria and the story covering Sara Sharif. The story about Syria is covered factually and without bias, the typical idea and ideology that The Guardian strive for. While the story about Sara is covered with extreme bias, repeatably referring to her death as tragic, heartbreaking and has comments like "a daily living hell". This idea of staying neutral and presenting news factually and without bias is ignored her as there is no group of people or person who might find this bias and sympathy for Sara as wrong. the general opinion will be sympathetic and emotional. Meaning that the guardian expressing bias is perfectly okay when covering an issue like this were there cannot be anyone who might disagree,

The social groups represented area not corresponding with the dominant Social group, having positive representations of "the most gigantic gay movie in history". Representing minority groups that do not fit within the DG matches the ideologies and values of The Guardian.

Butler- Sara, wearing makeup, dangly earrings, wearing dress- conforming to typical gender roles and stereotypes.

Gilroy- Demonisation of non white western culture, subversion- covers story about child murder that occurred as a result of the system in the UK. doesn't positively representation of UK.

Wednesday 18th December 2024

1. Tropes and stereotypes of something. Expectations of genre.

2. Masthead, Main image, font, text size, text to image ratio etc

3. Context of politics at the time, candidates of political parties at the time etc.

4.  Butler- Gender Performativity. Gender is created through roles and how they are filled.

5. Multiculturalism- Colonial history continues to influence the attitude toward ethnicity. With a large assumption of the superiority of white western cultures.

Question 1 Print news practise

LO: To analyse the use of representation in newspapers.

Guardian

Political context- call for general election

Image-

Muted colours, blue, sadder more down and negative representation. looking down. Gloomy

Negative representation of Sunak- Critical of and against right wing

Barthes- Denotation from image suggests connotations that critique right wing ideologies.

Signs- Party are "down" and promotes liberal views of The Guardian, Naturalises the liberal views

Patriarchal politcal power naturalised.

Background- Downing street, home of PM. Connotation of power, is contrasted by how weak Sunak is represented

Daily Express

Image- Brighter, represented more positively. Similar image different narrative.

denotations- he looks confrontational, confident. Connotation- He is skilled, confident and should win 

Positive representations of Sunak- Supportive of him and left wing ideologies

 

Analyse the representations in Source A and Source B in relation to politcal contexts. Use Barthes theories around semiology in your answer.

The representations in relation to politcal contexts in both source a and b clearly define and describe the newspapers politcal affiliation and ideologies. Barthes theory off semiology is very applicable and can help further understand and define each newspaper and their affiliation. Barthes states there are denotations that have corresponding connotations that can then lead to signs that then lead to myths, these myths are then naturalised if popular enough and become a set expectation rather than an idea or a myth.

In Source A, the Guardian cover clearly represents and emphasises the Guardian's Left wing ideologies and beliefs. We already know the Guardian is a very left wing newspaper but it is also very clearly represented through media language. For example the image the Guardian uses of Rishi Sunak intentionally uses media language such as muted colours and emphasis of the colour blue to try and show Sunak as down, sad and defeated. Trying to show him as weak and unfit to be Prime minister. The image also utilises an establishing mid shot to make him look smaller and use an image of him looking down to further emphasise their point of him being not capable and defeated, Juxtaposing his sad and negative demeanour with the background of Downing street, the number 10 door. An idea commonly related to power and success. Barthes theory of semiology can make this idea clear and easier to understand. The denotations being the previously mentioned media language in the image and the lexis such as "gamble" in the Headline and the connotations being that he is gloomy, defeated and not fit to be the prime minister. The context of him calling a general election being the reason for such an intensely negative representation. These connotations then lead to signs that the left wing party is "down" and promotes the liberal views of the Guardian as superior. These signs then finally lead to the myth that the left wing liberal party is superior and this myth is then naturalised by the Guardian and the loyal readers who agree with the representations created.

Source B similarly represents Sunak, but opposingly represents him as very positive rather than negative. Already in the image, Sunak is represented as physically brighter and more confident. Contrasting him with a black background that emphasises the idea that he is bright, confident and ready. The utilisation of the mid shot of him being mid sentence further represents him as confident, informed and ready to run for Prime minister. Paired with lexis such as "i am" and "fighting" really emphasises him as Prepared and very fit to be Prime minister. Barthes theory can again help clearly understand this idea. Working the same as it did when applied to the Source A. The denotations being a bright image of him mid sentence with a black background and words in the masthead being "i am fighting". The connotations created are that he is skilled, ready, determined and the right pick for prime minister. This then creates the signs that his party is "up" rather than "down". Like it is represented in Source A. And then finally creates the myth that Rishi Sunak is very confident, impressive skilled and just generally seen very positively. Similarly to The Guardian, the Daily Express's created myth is then naturalised by the newspaper and their readers.

In conclusion, the representation and media language used is both sources do clearly define and describe each newspapers ideologies, beliefs and political affiliation. Emphasised when applying Barthes theory of semiology that clearly helps understand how each newspaper utilises media language to create representations and intensely emphasise their political affiliation and beliefs.