The Guardian and The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail

The Guardian

Newspaper Construction Task

What was the task you were assigned?

We were assigned to create/ mimic a Daily Mail front cover based on various headlines and stories that we were given- elaborated on current news that is happening in the world at the moment- e.g. Im A Celebrity/ Brexit e.t.c.

We had to have a balance of headline, subheadings, body text and pictures- without leaving too much white space. 

What programme did you use to complete this task?

I used Publisher to create my daily mail front page, this is so I could add pictures, text and titles easily, and to adapt them to look like a realistic daily mail front page.

Using publisher was simple and easy to create this page due to using templates that are available, however next time I would probably use a more professional programme such as photoshop. 

What tools did you use to create this task?

I used a variety of tools to create this front cover, such as;  cropping, editing of pictures, (removing backgrounds of pictures to make the photo look more professional ), I also used a variety of fonts to match the daily mails common front cover.

What were the biggest obstacles to completing the task?

I believe that the biggest obstacle was finding the most accurate font to  the daily mails ones. 

I also found it difficult fitting my headline and picture on the page without leaving too much white space 

Millennials VS Boomers

Millennial's VS Boomers 

News Readers- 

Millennial :   The younger generation (under 30), that get they news from twitter and social media platforms online.

Boomers:  The older generation (above 30) , that traditionally watch BBC news at 6pm where the main focus is formal news on politics , weather and world issue. Or Channel 4 for catch up.

News Addicts- Types of readers/ people :

・ Fix- access news constantly, prompted by a general need and state of distraction.
・Track- access news regularly throughout the day to keep up to date with breaking stories. 
・Fill-  access news to pass the time when moving from one place to another.
・Indulge- make time to enjoy the news as a break from everything else in the day. 
・Invest- read the news regularly to get an in depth perspective on stories. 

Examples of when stories are posted online before they are published as proper news on tv: 

- Ariana Grande Manchester terrorist attack
- Bitcoin
- Harry Potter filming scenes being leaked before the film was in screening
- Terrorism attacks
- Natural disasters

The Pros and Cons of social media news:

Pros:

- Immediacy 

- Everyone can report on it 

- Stories spread very quickly 

- Phones can be where Tv filming isn't 

Cons:

- 140 characters to write a story/post on twitter 

- False news

- Facts missing/inaccuracy 

- Biased/one sided 

- Amateur reporters putting others in danger in order to get news

TOP 4 NEWSPAPERS-

1. Metro

2. The Guardian

3. The Sunday Times

4. The Daily Mail

Newspapers

The Guardian:  Is the 4th famous in the world but 2nd most read. It is known for being a well-written, interesting, informative, intelligent and good for politics.

The Daily Mail:  Is the most famous newspaper today, however contrasts to the amount of readers making it the 4th most read newspaper. The Daily Mail is known for standing up for ordinary people, interesting, informative.

The Sun: The Sun has a reputation for being entertaining, amusing, good for sport and read by ordinary people. However, the false and exaggerated news makes this newspaper 13th most popular.

Top Newspapers

Overall-
・ Metro
・The Guardian
・The Sunday times
・Daily mail
・The Times

Millennials- 
・ Meters
・ The Guardian
・The Times
・ The independent
・ Daily mail

Generation X - 
・ Metro
・ The Sun
・ The Guardian
・ The Sun on Sunday
・ The Sunday times

Baby Boomers- 
・ Metr
・Daily Mail
・Mail on Sunday's 
・The Daily Telegraph
・The Independent

Men- 
・ Metro
・ The guardian
・ The Sunday times
・ Financial Times
・The Times

Women-
・Metro
・Daily Mail
・The guardian
・The Times
・ The Sunday Times

Analysis of newspapers

Financial Times 
- pictures to engage the reader - significant people on the front cover to illustrate what/who the stories are based on - does not feature the remembrance poppy

The Guardian

- the content is formal and shows the proper news - the positive and negative stories going on in the world.  - displayed in neat columns with a myriad of text - less colour than the tabloids, text and titles are in black and white

Daily Mail 
- Less text, therefore a large title covering over half of the front cover. - More colour - Inclusive - the poppy - symbolic - Spice Girls, a well known pop group that is likely to engage fans and those interested in celebrity gossip.

The Daily Telegraph
- Contrasts from the Daily Mail because it focuses on higher social classes as opposed to lower ones; such as The Sun where it discusses celebrity stories and drama, based on false news. - Politics - upper classes - intellectual readers - Small text, to fit more stories/more content 

Daily Mirror
- big story of a hate crime - celebrity drama of Ant and court - large title - advertising of a tv programme 

Daily Star 
- offers and compares itself to The Sun on the front cover - '10p cheaper than The Sun' - celebrity stories - informal language - pun/word play - entertaining factors to engage the audience - bold/capital letters 

Daily Express
- large titles covering the front cover - presented as a lower social group newspaper - deals included - suggests the lower social classes also, so they can afford - not as educated to understand complex vocabulary
The Independent 
- politics and talks of the environment and parliament - less colour - only in image of Donald Trump - Donald Trump symbolises politics and connects countries because he is the president of America 
The Times 
- significant logo between the title symbolises politics and old history - little chnages have been made - shows target audience can be for the older generation and those interested in Brexit and other polititions. - statistics and figures - controversial topics such as cancer, Donald Trump
Metro 
- Newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Metro include something 'free' in order to make it more appealing to customers, so they want to purchase or read the article. - offers at the bottom of the page to show its unformal - it promotes deals and discounts. - minimal text 
The Sun 
- larger images than newspapers such as The Guardian and The Independent - uses less factual text - main focus on celebrities lives as opposed to the day to day people

Guardian Case Study

→ First published in 1921
→ Not profiting driven, not a commercial- Scott Trust 
→ Hoping to break even this year for the first time ever
→ Have reached one million online subscribers this year
→ Created positive actions scheme to encourage ethnic minorities to break down barriers as the decision makers are white male, oxbridge homes countries types.
→ Proud of their wind rush coverage which was initially just one story and then grew to the extent that- Amber Rudd had to redesign. 
→ Osama Bin Laden wrote column in The Guardian as a one off
→ Wiki leaks and Ed Snowden story gained recognition abroad. 

Why have print newspapers sales declined?

Throughout the years there has been a major decline in print newspaper sales, due to many factors. 

One main explanation for this is the growth of the more easy, accessible way of reading the news, which is on the internet. The sudden rise in technology and social media has resulted in a thorough decline of printed newspapers. However, a majority of popular newspaper companies such as the Guardian and The Daily Mail post all of their daily stories on their websites, to stay relevant and an interest to the public. Since 2005, 55% of the public said that they'd prefer to use mobile devices and the internet to access the news, rather than a printed newspaper, therefore, having these websites would make it more convenient and easier for the public. 

Most mobile phones have applications which would have the daily news stories on them, with live updates so everyone is aware of what is going on constantly. 

This factor would have led to a decline in the newspaper print, because buying one consists of physical activity so therefore wouldn't fit everyone’s life-styles and routines. Supporting the reason why the average group to get newspapers is 50+, as well as this a lot of the older generation aren't accessible to an iPhone, iPad or any sort of tablet, therefore wouldn't be able to access the news online only by hard copy. 

Using the internet as your news source is a positive, due to readers commenting on various articles to comment their views and opinions, making the article more accurate and to look at the story from all points of views. 

According to studies, The Daily Mail had a decrease of 55% of papers sold during 2000 since 1960.

However, a negative of using the internet as your news source, is that it has to require a internet connection in order to access the papers, so you could lose stories as more stories over write them. 

Another factor that has contributed to the decline in newspapers sales, was Television's arrival in the 1950's. The exposure of this increased the range of media choices available to the public, while further into newspapers dominance as the source of news. 

Television and internet both bring news to the consumer faster and in a more visual style than newspapers, which are constrained by their physical format, manufacturing and distribution. 

In contrast, free newspaper is available to read for those who commute on the train and tube, often on the way to work. The newspaper is usually a mid-market paper, for example Metro or The Independence meaning the public have a variety of hard and soft news to read. The idea of reading a printed copy of a newspaper on the train would sound more appealing than on a mobile devise, to some people. 

Overall, the major decline of print newspaper sales has been due to the advancements in technology by making some peoples daily routine of buying a newspaper, more convenient and favourable as it is all online. It has benefited the public because of the efficiency, making online newspapers more popular than ever.