the times/ the mirror industry and audience context

a-level media studies revision

what is The Times’ target demographic?

ABC1 (upper-class to lower middle-class)

well-educated

over 35s

central or right-wing political stance

what is The Mirror’s target demographic?

C2DE (working class to unemployed)

over 35s

left-wing political stance (particularly Labour party supporters)

what companies/ company is The Mirror owned and published by, what kind of organisation(s) are they and what are they known for?

Reach PLC (horizontally integrated conglomerate, formerly known as Trinity Mirror)

> they publish over 150 newspapers (.e.g. The Daily Express, OK! magazine) and have bought out competing companies (allows them to reduce competition and share resources like journalists to reduce costs)

> they published national newspapers but diversified to produce local ones as well, which helps them to make more money and continue to be successful

what companies/ company is The Times owned and published by, what kind of organisation(s) are they and what are they known for?

published by The Times Newspapers which is owned by News UK, which is a subsidiary (owned by) the global conglomerate News Corp

> News Corp is vertically and horizontally integrated

> it produces hundreds of newspapers, magazines, TV programmes (.e.g. Fox News, National Geographic Channel) and is involved in TV and Film studios

> subsidiary companies can be used to promote/ distribute The Times globally

> having access to a lot of money and resources allows The Times to take risks such as having a paywall on their website

> News Corp is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a billionaire who lives in the US and supports the Republican party and Donald Trump (this could impact the political ideologies in the newspaper, although News Corp claims they try to be politically neutral and embrace all views)

how are The Times and The Mirror regulated (both online and print), what controversies are there around this and why is newspaper regulation difficult?

IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) regulates both The Times and The Mirror

> IPSO is run by the newspaper industry (some argue that this makes it biased as regulations can more easily be ignored) and does not follow all the recommendations of the Leveson report

> it sets out regulations/ rules about what content newspapers can produce (in terms of ethics, the law, offensive language etc.)

> IPSO is responsible for regulating newspapers that are both print and online (technology makes regulation difficult as articles and comments can be released immediately and are easily shared online)

> comment sections on The Times and The Mirror’s websites sometimes are regulated by bots and algorithms (which is fast but not always accurate at detecting and easy to get around); sometimes they use human moderators (which may be more accurate but cannot check over as much content)

what was the phone hacking scandal, what did it lead to and how does it relate to The Times and The Mirror?

-newspapers hacked into phones and accessed celebrities’ voicemails and a missing teenage girl’s phone (who was then thought to be alive because of the phone line being picked up)

-led to the Leveson inquiry (investigation) into the newspaper industry which then led to IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) being founded to improve regulation (both The Mirror and The Times are regulated by IPSO now)

-News Corp owned News of the World (company that was heavily involved in the phone hacking scandal) and after very bad publicity decided to shut it down (motivated by a need to preserve profit and reputation)

-other companies owned by News Corp were also involved (including The Times) and some people argued that with News Corp being such a large and powerful conglomerate, it was able to escape convictions

how has the internet/ technological advancements impacted print circulation in The Times and The Mirror and how have the newspapers responded?

-print figures for both The Mirror and The Times have rapidly declined likely due to their target audiences going online and being able to get their news instantly, rather than needing to access it through a physical paper

-in the 2000s, The Mirror’s circulation was around 1 to 2 million, but it is now around 200,000

-in 2020, The Times circulation was around 360,000 (compared to 600 to 700 thousand in the 2000s), but they stopped releasing print circulation figures after 2020 (possibly they decided it was having a bad impact on their reputation)

> the times circulation has not declined as quickly or significantly as the mirror’s possibly because their target demographic tends to be slightly older and more educated, so possibly less likely to move to online

-to keep up with the change in audience interests (from physical print to digital news) both newspapers now have website where articles can be uploaded immediately

> The Times website has a paywall whereas The Mirror’s is free to access; the paywall may encourage readers to keep buying the print version rather than paying for the online subscription; The Times can afford to do this because of their wealthier audience, unlike The Mirror

how does The Mirror gain profit from their website?

-businesses can pay to advertise digitally on The Mirror website (some examples were linked to dieting/ health targeted at middle-aged people: “Is This The Easiest Way Women 40+ Are Losing Weight?”)

-they have a betting section which you can sign up to with your card details and bet on things like digital scratch cards, bingo and slot games

-they also have a dating section (‘MirrorDating’) on their website which you have to pay for

-though access to the main website is free, you have to pay ‘£1.99 per month’ if you want to reject cookies (use of personal data for advertising purposes)

-you can pay £1.25 per week for a digital subscription where you can “Download to your smartphone or tablet or view our webreader online”

how does The Times gain profit from their website?

-paywall > if you click on the website, you can see the layout and headlines of the articles but you cannot ‘continue reading’ without paying for a subscription

> The Times are able to take this risk with a wealthier audience

They have different types of subscription available:

• ‘Basic’ £15 a month: ‘Smartphone-only access, on one device.’ - can’t comment, share or save articles so access and interaction is quite limited

• ‘Digital’ £26 a month: ‘Unlimited access across all devices.’ - can comment, save and share articles and get ‘Exclusive subscriber rewards with Times+’

• ‘Weekend Print + Digital’ £39 a month: ‘Weekend papers, plus full digital access’ - encourages interaction with print version as well as digital

- businesses can pay to advertise digitally on The Times website (a lot of their adverts are usually more expensive brands or products to target their wealthier audience- some examples are SUV cars and Next)

What social media is used by The Times and The Mirror and how (or how much) can audiences interact?

The Mirror have Facebook, Twitter/ X, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat linked clearly at the top of their website home page.

The Times also has social media accounts on all these same sites, but it is not linked clearly on their website. Possibly because it is generally more formal than The Mirror and already has restricted access in other aspects (digital subscribers only comment sections).

- social media allows content to be shared and commented on easily; readers/ audience can express their own views on content and discuss with others, also creating a sense of community

-The Times TikTok usually has comment section turned on but occasionally it has turned off for example, on news video: “Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assaults” (possibly this is to restrict/ regulate offensive responses); whereas, when The Mirror put the same news out on their TikTok account, comments were enabled and some people commented offensive things justifying assault (difficult to regulate so many comments)

what sections/ content is available on The Mirror website?

On the home page there are section headers that you can click on:

• News

• Politics

• Football

• Celebs

• TV

• Shopping

• Royals

Then there is a much larger drop down menu that covers other sections like different sports, lifestyle and travel.

- there are entertainment elements (rather than educational) with links to bingo, cartoons, competitions, crosswords and a betting section

- The Mirror also have a ‘horoscopes’ section and a dating site that may set them apart from other newspapers (sense of novelty)

what sections/ content is available on The Times website?

On the home page, the section headers are:

• UK

• World

• Comment

• Business & Money

• Life & Style

• Culture

• Puzzles

• Magazines

They also have a drop down menu where you can navigate to more specific categories under those sections.

- they don’t specifically have a celebrity section like The Mirror, (although they do have ‘Culture’ and sub-categories for Film, TV and Radio etc.) which suggests more of a focus on serious and non-gossipy topics (in the interest rather than of the interest)

- they are quite well-known for their crosswords (in the puzzles section) and this provides entertainment