EDUQAS-MEDIA STUDIES A-LEVEL- Newpapers

The Times and The Daily Mirror

Who owns the Times newspaper?

The Times newspaper was bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1981 and is now part of News UK (formally known as the large conglomerate group ‘Newscorp’)

Who owns The Daily Mirror?

The Mirror is owned by Reach PLC

Reach PLC is horizontally integrated and is the leader of the newspaper industry.

It allows them to save money by sharing journalists

What Political spectrum is the Times on?

The times does not openly support any political party but is considered to be right wing. The paper often rights positively about the Conservative party.

What political spectrum is the Daily Mirror on?

Again, the daily mirror does not openly specify which political party they support but are considered to be left-wing. They often write negatively about the conservative party.

How does the times target a specific audience?

Times readers are considered to be older and more traditional.

-The times offer a £15-£26 monthly subscription that gives audiences access to offers, competitions, events (statistics as of May 2024)

-educated/ formal writing style

-advertisements for affluent readers (Rolex adverts)

-events (wine-tasting, talks by previous prime ministers/ MP’s)

How does the Daily Mirror target specific audiences?

What affect did the phone hacking scandal have on NewsCorp?

The conglomerates involvement in the newspaper scandal caused a huge amount of bad publicity. They shut down one of their biggest newspapers ‘news of the world’.

Who regulates the times and the mirror?

IPSO- Independent press standards organisation. It controls what a newspaper can do in-terms of bad language, ethics or libel (damaging someone’s reputation)

IPSO is considered to be bias due to the fact that it is run by the newspaper industry. It also doesn’t follow the regulations made by the Leveson Inquiry.

Why might audiences not choose to buy physical copies of newspapers?

Online newspapers or companies like the BBC offer up-to-date, live news whereas physical copies of a paper are yesterdays news.

What is the impact of Technology on the daily mirror?

The circulation of the mirror newspapers has gone down significantly. In december 2016, the company sold 716,900 papers and in 2017 they sold 580,000

What is the impact of technology on the times newspaper?

In 2016, the papers circulation increased after generally staying the same for many years. This could be mainly because the times audiences are slightly older, more educated and are less likely to have moved online.

Recently, the times have stopped publishing their circulation statistics. Is this because they aren’t doing well?

What theories could be applied to a newspaper question?

Stuart Hall-reception theory -many audiences will take a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading. A left-wing audience would take a preferred reading to the mirror and an oppositional reading towards the times.

It entirely depends on what kind of person is reading it.

A younger person may take an oppositional reading towards both newspapers because they are hard to read or unagreeable.