News

Friday 6th March 2020

What is News?

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


What is the purpose of news?

• Inform- provides information about a certain topic
• Entertain
• Educate
• to make money (profit)
• influence/ persuade

'News was not a spectators sport'- What does Stephens mean by this?

• News used to come from people in the street and then you would pass on that news to others.

What developments 150 years ago made it possible for people to make a business selling news?

1. Printing press
2. Telegraphs 

Stephens says this is "mostly a wonderful thing". Why?

• Because of the difference between professional journalists to just normal people makes it hard to believe what is true and what isn't.

Newspaper ownership

• Newspapers are not PSB (like the BBC) they are commercial publications.
• Over three quarters (77.8%) of the British press is owned by a handful of billionaires. Over a quarter (27.3%) of the press is owned by Lord Rothermere and 24.9% by Rupert Murdoch- between them these two men have over 50% of the printed press. 
• Newspapers and their online publications (example of synergy/ convergence) are not legally obliged to provide an un-bias public information service.
• There are ethical and moral codes of press conduct but the press is a self regulated industry. 

Newspaper funding

• There are 3 ownership models:

1. 'Media Barons'- owned by wealthy individuals or proprietors. 
2. Trusts- A legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a 'trustee' to manage and control the running of the paper.
3. Cross- Media converged conglomerates- global institutions that own numerous media outlets. These may be owned by media barons. E.G. DMG & Lord Rothermere. 

Questions

What is news?

• News is a source of information that can be spread worldwide through different social media forms. News is not always true which is why some news is more difficult to believe and not all news is made by professional Journalists. 

What are the disadvantages to news being a commercial industry?

• May not always be accurate and not for the public interest.
• Profit is more important.

What are the advantages to news being a commercial industry?

• creates more competition between newspapers and the quality may be better because of the competition.

What are the disadvantages of newspapers/ online newspapers being self regulated?

• They have no one checking up on them and gives them more power to print whatever they want. The information might also not be true.
• (Biased, inaccurate)

What are the advantages of newspapers being self regulated?

• Newspapers being self regulated are able to post different opinions and information about things which show opposite views from other newspapers. 
• freedom of the press- No government influence.

Why is ownership important?

• Ownership is important as it keeps order within a lot of things and keeps things controlled. Knowing who owns the newspapers is important as it shows power and influence from a few people who own the news paper over a big group of people. 

What is fake news?

• Fake news is news that has been published which is inaccurate and not in anyway true.

How cam you spot/ Check fake news? 

• One way to check for fake news is too see if anywhere else has published it. It can also been seen if there are small minor pieces of information missing. 

Why is there more fake news now then there was thirty years ago? 

• Theres in more fake news as more people nowadays are more gullible to what they read but also there may be a lot of information that can be proven to be true. There has also been an improvement in softwares which help to develop ideas and photoshop which can help to develop the different images shown in the news article. 

Friday 13th March 2020

Newspaper ownership, funding and regulation.

L/O: to explore the impact of newspaper ownership, funding and regulation on the printed press.

Tabloid-

• Daily Star
• The Sun 
• The Mirror 

Hybrid-

• Daily Mail
• Daily Express

Broadsheet- 

• The Guardian
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Times
• Financial Times
• The Independent
• The Observer

What category of newspaper was the observer in the 1960s?

• Broadsheet

What category of newspaper is it now?

• Broadsheet in compact format. it has taken on some tabloid feature with the more compact size and the larger images as well as it being printed in colour. They have different sections now that would have been classed as tabloid. 

How do newspapers make money?

1. Adverts/ Advertising
2. Circulation Sales
3. Subscriptions/
4. Paywalls & Memberships
5. Donations
6. events & other sales
7. Sponsored Content

Rupert Murdoch/News UK-

The sun, times, Sunday times, sun on Sunday

Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT)-

The Mail, Mail on Sunday

Reach plc-

Express, Express on Sunday, Star, Mirror, Sunday People, Daily Record

Telegraph Media Group (TMG) (Barclay brothers)-

Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph

Guardian Media Group (GMG) (Scott Trust)-

Guardian, Observer

Nikkei Inc-

Financial Times

How does media ownership contribute to news bias?

1. commercial advertising ties
2. political opinion of owner
3. business interests of owners/friends
4. Profit: Newspapers are not PSB- News is not 'non fiction' it is stories designed to sell.

Ownership and Bias

The political bias of the Uk's national newspapers:

The Guardian- Centre/ slightly/fairly left wing.

The Mirror-slightly/ Fairly left wing

The Independent- Centre (liberal democrats)

The Times- slightly/fairly Right wing (conservatives)

The Telegraph- fairly Right wing (conservatives)

The Sun- fairly/ very Right wing (conservatives)

The Daily Express- very right wing

The Daily Mail- very right wing

Friday 27th March 2020

Newspaper audiences

L/O: To investigate how newspapers target specific audiences.

The Sun- Mostly 16-45 years old; More males; working class (C2DE); mainly white; right-wing; mainstreamers.
'The Sun' looks more towards the younger side of an audience with the 16 years old audience to do with being a tabloid newspaper as it has a lot to do with celebrities and 'The Sun' is right-wing.

the guardian- Mostly 35+ years old; equal gender; upper middle-class (ABC1); educated and cultured; left-wing; progressives.
'the guardian is the only left wing newspaper out of the 3 options and 'the guardian' is a broadsheet newspaper which makes it more formal and more factual and for spreading information rather than for entertainment purposes.

Daily Mail- Mostly 45-65 years old; more females than male; middle-class (C1 & C2); mainly white; right-wing; traditionalists.

Convergence
1. define what 'convergence' means.
Convergence is the merging of mass communication outlets – print, television, radio, the Internet along with portable and interactive technologies through various digital media platforms.
2. Explain how it applies to the Observer.
This applies to the observer as they have a print as well as an online newspaper. Which each use the same media language, headlines, copy and photography and many more similarities.
3. Explain how digital convergence helps the observer to appeal to a wider audience.
The digital convergence helps the observer appeal to a wider audience as the observer online follows the same structure of the print edition but with greater prominence for the lifestyle, food and sport sections which are not kept within the main sections of the print newspaper. And on the online version there are much more photos and headlines to copy on the home page.
4.Explain how the newspaper and online version are similar.
The newspaper and online version of the observer are similar as the online version uses the same photography, media language and structure as the print edition.
5.Explain how online newspapers have changed the relationship between the audience and the producer.
Online newspapers have changed the relationship between the audience and the producer as a comment section of an online article it givers the readers a chance to say their opinion on the matter.

Tuesday 14th April 2020

Media Language

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

Advantages and disadvantages of online newspapers
Advantages

• Gives the audience a way to connect and voice their opinions on what they have read.
• Brings in more views/reads as its more accessible which gives it it's wider audience.
• More convenient.
• More up-to-date and current.

Disadvantages

• Requires the internet which may not always be accessible.
• Requires certain devices of technology that is less likely to be in the hand of elderly people so they require printed news as it is more accessible to them.