29/01 Newspapers

Section B- Industry & Audience

  • Newspapers come up in both section A & B

  • Section A involves us looking at specific pages & analysing etc…

  • Section B is a general intro to newspapers & industry

The Times & The Daily Mirror

Online News Sources

  1. Al Jazeera

  2. BBC News

  3. CNN

  4. The New York Times

  5. The Guardian

  6. Reuters

  7. HuffPost

  8. Fox News

  9. NBC News

  10. The Washington Post

  11. Middle East Eye

  12. Wall street journal

  13. The Economist

  14. Bloomberg

  15. MSN

Context of some of the main print newspapers

  • The Times: Connotes authority, tradition, and reliability.

  • The Guardian: Suggests a focus on protecting and advocating for the interests of the public.

  • The Daily Telegraph: Implies a conservative or right-leaning perspective.

  • The Independent: Indicates a commitment to unbiased reporting and freedom from external influences.

  • The Sun: Often associated with sensationalism, tabloid-style reporting, and a focus on entertainment.

  • Daily Mail: Known for its conservative stance, emphasis on popular culture, and strong opinions.

  • Daily Express: Similar to the Daily Mail, it tends to have a conservative perspective and focuses on news and entertainment.

  • Financial Times: Suggests a focus on business, finance, and economic news.

  • Daily Mirror: Traditionally associated with working-class readership and tabloid-style reporting.

  • The Mirror: Similar to the Daily Mirror, but dropping the "Daily" may imply a broader appeal.

  • Metro: Indicates a free newspaper with a focus on concise news and commuter readership.

  • The Star: Often associated with celebrity gossip, entertainment news, and a tabloid format.

  • The I: Suggests a concise and accessible newspaper with a focus on news summaries.

  • The Sunday Times: Implies a weekly publication with in-depth analysis and a broad range of topics.

Function of newspapers:

  • to inform audiences as to what is going on in their area/country/world/region

  • to help voting age citizens make voting decisions

  • to act as the fourth estate (to criticise and expose government behaviours or to expose the behaviours of those who wield power)

  • to make money/profit

  • to be engines of social/political change

  • to sell audiences to advertisers

  • to bring their owners power and profit

  • to entertain?

Types of newspaper

Tabloid- Tabloids are image led, 'popular' newspapers and can be subdivided into two groups: 'red tops' and 'middle market' dailies. The 'red tops' are The Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Star and are so-called because they have red mastheads.

e.g. The Star

Mid-market-refers to the target readership of these newspapers, which is somewhere between the 'red tops' and the 'broadsheets'.

e.g. The Daily Mail, Express

Broadsheet- large sheets of paper designed with columns which comprise a standard format newspaper.

e.g. The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times

1979- Controlled by wealth, white middle-aged men = big players of newspaper back then

2023- report find that three UK publishers control 90% of print reach and 40% of online reach

DMG Media - owns Daily Mail, Metro, I etc.

Reach- owns The Daily Mirror

News UK- owns The Times

Olilopoly- when an industry is dominated by a few powerful organisations/conglomerates/companies

Task

Who do you think should be allowed to own newspapers?

Newspapers should be owned by ethical individuals or organizations that support freedom of speech. Editors and writers must be qualified professionals dedicated to accuracy, fairness, and unbiased reporting. Media should include diverse perspectives for comprehensive news coverage.

Do you think a person should be allowed to own more than one newspaper?

If a person owned more than one newspaper, it could be considered bad due to the potential concentration of media power and the risk of bias. This could limit diverse perspectives and independent reporting, potentially impacting public discourse. However, the impact would depend on factors such as media plurality, competition, and the owner's editorial practices. It would bombard people with the same ideological views.

Revenue- total from sales of goods and services before costs etc. are taken out

Profit- how much they had left after all costs (this might go to shareholders, be invested etc

Corporations run both broadsheet newspapers and tabloids to target different audiences, diversify revenue streams, manage branding, and create synergy.

This allows them to reach a wider range of readers, tap into different advertising markets, shape their brand image, cross-promote content, and reduce costs.

Task 2

  • News Corp, the US conglomerate, currently owns several media assets including Fox Corporation, HarperCollins Publishers, and Dow Jones & Company (which includes The Wall Street Journal).

  • As of 2021, Rupert Murdoch's net worth is estimated to be around $22 billion.

Rupert Murdoch and Libel Cases: Explained for 5th Graders

Rupert Murdoch is a very rich and powerful man who owns big media companies like The Sun and The Times. Sometimes, when people say bad things about others that are not true, it can be called libel. Rupert Murdoch has been involved in a few of these cases throughout his career.

One famous case is called the "McLibel" trial. It happened in the United Kingdom, where McDonald's, the fast-food company, sued two activists. These activists were giving out papers called leaflets that said bad things about McDonald's. The leaflets criticized the company for things like how they treat animals and how unhealthy their food is.

Now, even though Rupert Murdoch's media outlets covered the trial a lot, it's important to know that he himself was not directly involved in the libel case. His newspapers, like The Sun and The Times, wrote stories about the trial and what was happening in the courtroom.

So, to sum it up, Rupert Murdoch has been involved in libel cases because his media companies reported on them. But he was not the one being sued or accused of saying bad things.

In 2011, the British tabloid newspaper News of the World was exposed for widespread phone hacking. They illegally accessed voicemails of many people, including celebrities, politicians, and crime victims. The scandal caused the newspaper to shut down and led to investigations and legal actions. This incident raised concerns about phone hacking's ethical and legal implications, as well as privacy rights and media ethics.