News

Thursday 14th March 
LO: Critically evaluate the nature of news and news sources

What is the purpose of news?

• To receive information about the world around us the whole world. 
• To educate people
• To make money and profits
• To entertain people, especially funny news stories
• To influence or persuade

Newspapers are NOT PSB like the BBC, they are all commercial publications. Over three quarters of British press is owned by a handful of billionaires. Over half of the printed press is owned by two men, Lord Rothermere and Rupert Murdoch.

Newspapers and their online publications are not legally obliged to provide an un bias source of news. There are ethical and moral codes around it, but nothing legal says they can't. They are self regulated.

Due to all of this, how do we work out what is fake or not. Fake news is news which tells a fake story, which could be completely made up or adjusted to portray the story in a different light. To spot fake news you can question yourself once you have read it, who wrote it? When was it written? Are their any similar stories? Research the story and see if it is real.

Their is more fake news now than thirty years ago due to the fact their is more technology to edit photos, you can easily think of a story and publish it on social media and people are people don't question whether the story is fake or not. 

Examples of fake news:

"News was not a spectator sport"- What does this mean?

Everyone contributed to the news, we all told news to each other 

What developments 150 years ago made it possible to make a business out of selling news?

The invention of the steam press print and the telegraph 

"We can now watch news directly and form our own ideas  and opinions - through CNN and the internet we see the events, hear at first hand the witnesses"

Stephens says this is "mostly a wonderful thing" - Why? Do you agree?

I do agree, everyone can now access the news no matter who they are. We are all informed about what is going on around us and we can make are own judgements, no one should be at a disadvantage where they aren't aware of the world around them. However it could be a negative as we have to be able to work out whether news is fake or not.

Monday 18th March

LO: Critically evaluate the impact of technology in the newspaper industry

News is to inform people about current affairs in the world and keep people up to date with news around them. The disadvantages of news being a commercial industry is because they make the news to make money, their main goal isn't to inform people. Therefore there are more adverts in the newspapers or news shows which takes up time for other news to be included make more money. Also there will be more fake news as if a story shocks it will sell more, so fake news is made up to shock people. An advantage is that it becomes competitive to make more money, so people are kept up to date with the latest news stories. A disadvantage of newspapers/online newspapers being self regulatory is that they can put whatever they want in the magazines, there are no outside regulators which are 100% un biased when regulating magazines. They also would want to protect themselves. And advantage is that they won't be influenced by government bodies.

News Context

• The biggest impact was the invention of the printing press
• Early newspapers in the 1600s were controlled by the government, you had to have a license to buy them and there was a tax making them quite expensive 
• The French revolution and the freedom of the American press speed the ideas that newspapers could contain opinion
• During the first half of the 1800s there were a rise in specialist newspapers containing a new type of data, statistics 
• The development of the electric telegraph meant that news was available quickly from distant locations. This led to the development of news agencies, which gathered news and sold it to the press.
• Competition form radio began in the early 1920s, the BBC was formed and licensed by the British government during the 1926 national strike
• Newspapers and radio remained the only sources of news until the mid 1950s and the introduction and spread of television.
• This meant that newspapers had to meet the challenge of radio and TV news as people would hear of watch the news and not buy a newspapers, so they gave more background to news.
• The development of the internet into homes in the 2000s onwards has had a similar dramatic impact on how audience receive news. Newspapers have been forced to evolve and produce online newspaper and news websites.

Questions

Q1) I think that newspapers won't survive a lot longer, as the internet and phones allow people to easily access news now. They do not have to go out and buy a newspapers, also most of the news is mainly free. 

Q2) The invention of the TV and allowed us to access news a lot quickly. Before, people has to go outside, buy the newspaper and read it to access the news. When the TV and radio were invented people did't have to outside and buy a newspaper, they could simply watch the news in the morning before school or work. The invention of the internet and mobile phones allowed us to access news even quicker, we could access news whenever and wherever we wanted. The invention influenced our access to news more as we could access it wherever and whenever quickly, not just at home.

Q3) The first invention was the invention of the radio in the early 1920s. People could easily access the news from home, they could just tune in whenever the radio was airing news. This was very helpful during the 1926 general strike when newspapers stopped printing for a few days, people could just tune into the radio. However as disadvantage of the radio is that they couldn't access it whenever, whereas they could always go and buy and newspaper. The next invention that challenged newspaper was TV, and TVs being introduced to households in the 1950s. People could now easily watch TV shows before school or work in the morning instead of having to buy a newspaper everyday. This challenged newspapers as people would just watch TV in the morning and not buy any newspapers. However like radio, you have to watch at the time news was shown. Lastly there were two more inventions that challenged newspapers, the invention of the internet and mobile phones. The invention of the internet meant people could always access news, no matter what time in the day it was always online. Mobile phones allowed you to access it anywhere, especially with things like data. This challenged newspapers as people are now more accustomed to simply searching the news on their phone rather than going to the shop and buying a newspaper.

The ways newspapers could tackle all of these challenged is by making more shocking stories, ones that will sell more. However this could lead to fake news if there are no shocking stories, if so one will be altered or made up. If they are tackling the challenge of phones and the internet they could set up online websites to access the news.

In conclusion, I think the invention that challenged newspapers the most was the invention of mobile phones as people could access the news anywhere and anytime and not have to go and buy a newspaper from the shop.

Monday 25th March
LO: Critically evaluate the impact of social, cultural, political and historic contexts on newspapers (in particular 1960s newspapers). Then identify examples of 1960s political segmentation

1960s Newspaper Case Studies

Tabloids

• Softer news agendas
• Less formal language 
• Dominated by headlines and images
• Targeted a lower market, less educated audience 
• Offers news as entertainment 
• Examples are The Sun, The Mirror, Daily Star

Broadsheet

• Harder news agendas
• More formal language 
• Pages dominated by text
• Target a more higher market, more educated audience 
• Offers news as information 
• Examples are The Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times

A hybrid newspaper is a mix between the two. Examples are The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The I.

The Observer

What are the main differences between a tabloid and a broadsheet?

A tabloid newspaper features softer more lighter news, like celebrity stories, aimed to entertain. It is aimed towards a less educated audience with less formal language. A broadsheet newspaper features more harsher news, like political news, aimed to inform. It is aimed towards a more educated audience with more formal language.

What category of newspaper was the Observer in the 1960s?

Broadsheet 

What category of newspaper is it now? Why? How has it changed?

It is still a broadsheet newspaper, but it now has a smaller size in compact form. The compact size is more popular to buy due to it being easier to read, it is also cheaper.

What threatened newspaper in the 1960s?

Television being introduce to households 

What percentage had Sunday Newspaper circulation figures fallen by 1965?

From 2 per household in the 1950s to 1.4 per households or 25 million, 30% less

By comparison, what percentage were figures down to in 2010?

0.4 per household, 10 million or 80%

1960s political segmentation

Thursday 28th March

1960s Case Study

"Lawyers will urge divorce by consent" - An example of the social reform of the 1960s, the law commission is recommending divorce by consent. This meant it was easier for people, especially women, to get divorced 

"Wilson-Brown market clash" - Shows that relations with Europe were contentious in the 1960s

"So polite, this North Sea Spy Game" - Reflects the prevalence of spy stories in the 1960s Cold War

"Jackie: We're very happy" - Shows the patriarchal society where women were defined by their relationship with a man

"Unions postpone strike" - Strikes were very prevalent in the 1960s, reflecting greater power in unions

"Briton shoots a gold" - Mentions the Black Power protest at the Mexico olympics, showing the anti racism movements 

"Stephen Pollock...with Elizabeth Vambe, 21, a Rhodesian born African, after their marriage yesterday" - Shows it was unusual for 'mixed marriages' to be newsworthy 

Explain how broadsheet newspapers reflect the time and historic contexts in which they were published. Refer to The Observer front page from October 20th 1968.

Firstly in the story headlined "Hopes rise for cease fire in Vietnam", it shows that the war between the US and Vietnam was coming to a close. This shows that many wars were still ongoing during the 1960s, in particular Vietnam and the Cold War. This adds to the threat of invasion by Russians and other countries which was particularly big in the 1960s, but other front pages from The Observer, for example the 6th November 1966 front page, the story headlined "So polite, this North sea spy game" tries to reassure the public about invasion by referring to it as a game.

Next, In the story headlined "Briton shoots a Gold", it separates the black people and white people into the different medals they have won. This shows that racial segregation was still a problem in the 1960s as different races are being separated into different groups.

Monday 29th April
LOs: Critically evaluate how the online content (Observer website, Facebook and Twitter) reflects the values and beliefs of the newspaper and the audience. Evaluate the importance of convergence (to newspapers and audiences) in the digital age.

Online newspapers

Pros:

• Can be accessed anywhere 
• Social media is free
• Cheaper to produce
• Environmentally friendly 
• Can be updated immediately 
• Journalists, reporters and readers can be anywhere in the world

Cons:

• Can be easily faked
• Have to have internet connection to access it
• Not as detailed 

Analysis:

• Political bias - Labour 
• Owned by Guardian Media Group
• Representations:

- People, everyone is equal

- Cultures, mainly shows stories involved in British culture

- Places, most of the stories are from Britain

- Race, stories are mainly on white people

- Gender, both genders are equal

- Sexuality, no stories on sexuality 

- Class, classes are equal

Observer brand values and beliefs:

• Politically - Liberal/Left
• Culture is as valuable as political and hard news
• Variety of viewpoints 
• Positive towards internationalism and different ethnicities 
• Discusses difficult issues and has a lot of social conscience 
• Generally middle class

Practice question

The political bias of The Observer can been easily seen in the main story on the homepage,  where Jeremy Corbyn is portrayed in a good light for making a bid to declare a national emergency. It shows it has Liberal/left beliefs. Its believes are shared by The Guardian, which can easily be seen due to a similar colour scheme and the masthead being 'The Guardian"

Firstly, the the values of The Observer include women being equal, this can be seen with the story portraying the Women's Equality Party in a good light showing how they suffered 

Monday 13th May
LO: Critically evaluate the impact of social, cultural and political and historic contexts on newspapers Explain the appeal to the specific target audience

Target Audience

• Affluent - There are sections dedicated to travel and cash on page 58 and 59 showing they are affluent as they have a lot of disposable income to spend on travel and and have to worry about who they store their money 
• Progressive thinkers - There is a story headlined "signs of the apocalypse" on page 28, this shows they are progressive thinkers as they are worrying about climate change and how it can stopped
• Left wing/centre politically - The front cover has a story headlined "Poll surge for Farage sparks panic in Tories and Labour", it shows that they are left wing/politically centred as they are showing stories related to their parties 
• Art and culture lovers - There is a section dedicated to photography on page 16 showing they are art and culture lovers as they are fans of photography.
• Food and culture lovers - Starting page 24 of the Observer magazine there are stories on different foods and how to make the, showing they are food lovers and the read about how to make different foods
• Digitally savvy - The story headlined "How Microsoft reinvented itself as a master of the tech universe" on page 25 shows they are digitally savvy as they are aware of different technology companies 
• Embrace change and technology - On page 24 there is a section dedicated to astrophysics they embrace changes in science and the story about Microsoft shows they embrace changes in technology 
• Enjoy travelling - There is a whole section dedicated to travel on page 59 showing they enjoy travelling as they like to read about different places to travel
• Fashionable - Pages 33 and 31 of the Observer magazine have stories on beauty and style showing they are fashionable as they like to read about new clothes and make up
• Have a social conscience - The story on page 3 headlined "Threat from organised crime reaches record level on UK" shows they have a social conscience as they are aware of problems in their country 

Representations

• Age - On the front page there is a story about 90 year old Dr Ruth talking about pornography, showing the Observer believes age doesn't matter and define who you are, very anti stereotypical. 
• Gender - All throughout the paper there are a range of genders represented, so they believe men and women are both equal
• Ethnicity - Ethnicities are equal, a high profile royal couple of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry which is interracial showing ethnicities are equal. Also Dr Ruth is Jewish
• Class - Predominantly middle class, and there are stories looking down on lower classes, this could be influenced by the fact the audience is mainly ABC1
• Disability - Physical disabilities are under represented and there are only a few section on mental ones
• Sexuality - Different sexualities are under represented in the newspaper
• Nationality - Stories on immigration and the US show that the audience is interested in stories from different countries and that other nationalities are represented the same