Media Studies - Newspapers (A-Level, Eduqas)

News values - Proximity

News will consist of items that relate to that nation and contains references to 'shared' beliefs, values and attitudes

News values - Negativity

News that disrupts the 'normal'

Set text - Daily Mirror front page

- Strapline 'Fighting for you' implies a class battle between "us" and "them"

- Cheltenham festival advert associated with upper class race-goers. Bigger than the splash so audience more interested in this than the lead story. Sport reporting is a major element

- Graphic betting advert at the bottom with bright colours so stands out

- 'Mayhem' in the headline is a polysemic pun

- Shows a dislike for May with 'key vote' and the word 'again' also the use of 'humiliating' in the stand first

- 'Surrenders', 'defeat', both war-like language, inferring that May is cowardly and evokes an emotional response. Semantic field.

- Small image of Teresa May - Stuart Hall representation: powerless

Terminology - Pull quote

A quote from the story that's enlarged and appears within the text

News Values: Immediacy

Demands that a news worthy event should have happened within the last 24 hours

News values - Threshold

An event must be of a certain size to be newsworthy

News values - Predictability

If the media expect a certain kind of event, it will be reported as having occurred

News values - Unambiguity

Not needing a subtle interpretation even if it fits into a complex situation, like a war

News values - Personalisation

Whenever possible, events are seen as the actions of individuals

Gatekeeping

Some news companies only allows some information to pass through using editing and filtering

What theorists are in this section

Representations and Media Language

- Van Zoonen (Gender)

- Stuart Hall (Reception theory)

- Stuart Hall (Representation Theory)

- George Gerbner

- Roland Barthes

- Levi-Strauss

Terminology - Masthead

The name of the paper, usually at the top of the front page, how it's presented can present the paper's ethos and values

Terminology - Headline

Dominates the front page. Tabloid papers will often use puns, alliterations, colloquialisms and hyperbole. Broadsheets will use more serious and informative headlines to attract their audience

Terminology - Strapline

Either above or below the headline and provides more information/anchors the meaning of the central image

Terminology - Subheadings

Short headlines which break up the main text. Mainly evident in tabloids to encourage the reader to read on

Terminology - Standfirst

A block of text that introduces the story

Terminology - Splash

A prominent or sensational news story, usually used on the front page lead

News values - Unexpectedness

News is thought to consist of the unexpected

News values - Consistency

A dramatic story that's going to 'roll' over an undetermined period of time

News values - Composition

Fit into an editors sense of the balance of the bulletin/page

News values - Narrativisation

Items are called 'stories', unknown facts turned into narratives

News values - Visual imperatives

Stories which have strong visual elements

News values - Elite nations

Focusing on the 'first world' and events there

News values - Elite persons

Famous individuals or those with important jobs/social roles

Set Product - The Times front page

- Uses purple in the puff as well as 'fashion' to appeal to female audiences, also purple connotes rich

- Masthead contains Lion and Unicorn which is patriotic and upholds traditional British values

- Headline matches Theresa May's expression 'driven' because she's in a car, 'despair' because she's crying

- 'Heavy defeat' in strapline connotes a sense of failure

- A lot of black/white text so the story and picture stand out

- News values: personalisation

Set text - Daily Mirror Spread

- In photo, May's arms in a vulnerable position, also looks like she's surrendering so makes her seem weak

- Headline uses horse racing perhaps vulgarly referring to May as a horse but also referencing the sports aspect of the paper again

- Two opposing opinions as columns similar to sports commentary

- 'Odds' at the bottom of the page, referencing sport, but also light-hearted

- Binary opposites - MPs vs the rest of the country

- Pop-culture reference to Gandalf in one of the columns

Still learning (10)

You've begun learning these terms. Keep up the good work!