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I N P R I N T

A CRITIC L E Y EAnalysing N ew spapers

HE critical reading ofnewspapers is by nomeans a new or radicalteaching strategy. Whanusing newspapers as asource, it is vital for a

media scholar to recognize that the newsmust be understood within its contextand for a historian to question theauthority of a particular paper. A criticalanalysis of both the context and thecontent is necessary to make the most ofthe printed news media. Moreover, aconsideration of the technologicallimitations that have shaped and contin-ue to shape how newspapers areconstructed is necessary to make senseof how events become news .Many commentators have noted theseemingly inevitable decline of thenewspaper in the twenty-first century,arguing that the pressures of radio,television and the Internet are simply toogreat for the dinosaurs of the newsmedia industry. Yet the newspaperremains a powerful force for the gather-Ing and consumption of news, politicalanalysis and public opinion, despitereduced circulations, increased concen-trations of ownership, the move onlineand decreasing advertising revenue.As a source for teaching about the past,and understanding and interpreting thepresent, the newspaper remains invalua-ble,allowing the history and mediastudent access to the world of publicopinion in an immediate and explicitmanner. However, like all texts, newspa-pers require interpretation and criticalexamination. By combining the skill setof both the historian and madia scholar,we gain a deeper understanding of both

M RI NNE HICKS

the printed press and the societies inwhich it functions. So how then do weequip our students to besf understandnawspapars? It seems to me that there isa series of issues that require examina-tion and attention when attempting touse newspapers as a source.

Firstly, we must understand the societythat is producing the newspaper. Mostpapers exist within the context of a townor city, state or province, and thenation-state. Political questions of localmedia and libel laws, censorship andeconomic stability, as well as the context

How does the t im e lag b e tw eenthe occurrence of events andthe pr in t ing of the new spa peraf fect reportage? Has the natureof jou rna lism changed asaconsequence?

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of national and international politics, playa large role in what, how and when newsis published.

Secondly, we must know about thenewspaper in question:

Who owns it (public trust, an individu-al 'press baron', a company, family orpolitical party}?

What format is it in (broadsheet ortabloid, daily or weekly)?

Where is it based (the capital city,regional metropolis, town or village)?

Who is its target audience (thebourgeois elite, women, workers,business people, the nation, the state,the city, the town)?

How large is its circulation (both inhard copy and online)? Who advertises in it (radical organiza-

tions, multinational corporations,government agencies)?

What is its political and ideologicalbias (rightwing, leftwing, conserva-tive, religious, socialist, liberal, radical,pro status quo, anti status quo orsome combination)?

Then,when examining a particular newsevent, we must ask further questionsabout the relevant articles:

Who reported it? Look both in termsof which publications (the nationaldaily, the political weekly, the religiousmonthly) and which journalists (thewire agencies like Associated Pressand Reuters, the staff journalist orguest writer - always read the'byline' ).

Where is it reported (front page, insidenews, editorial, sports pages, lettersto the editor, features, foreign news)?

How is it reported (splash headlines,pictures, commentary, feature,advertising)?

Finally, questions must be posed abouthow the limitations of technology haveinfluenced reportage. The printing anddelivery of newspapers is a mechanicalprocess which takes time (even withimproved automated design and produc-tion tools), unlike the immediacy of digitaleCtitions. So how does the time lagbetween the occurrence of events andthe printing of the newspaper affect

changed as a consequence? Can thenewspaper still 'break' news?

The pol i t ical contextNational contexts are of obvious impor-tance in the publication of news in theprinted press. The familiarity of nationalpolitics, particular local concerns andchallenges, shapes how news is present-ed and what is considered news in thefirst place. Both the transmission andreception of news stories depend, tosome extent, on the environment inwhich they are produced.

ABOVE: AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER.KEVIN RUDDThe landscape of Australian politicsmeans that certain fissures, concernsand issues are emphasized while othersare ignored; the tone, emphasis and biasreflects the national context. The recentconcentration on indigenous affairs isparticular to Australia's colonial past andcomes after a long period of denial,exclusion and racism. The release of thaLittle Children are Sacred report, whichresulted in the Coalition federal govern-ment's intervention in the NorthernTerritory,^ and the current Labor federalgovernment's apology to the StolenGeneration have attracted a great deal ofmedia attention.

Equally, reactions to the revelation ofKevin Rudd's 2003 visit to Manhattanstrip club Scores reveal something about

media coverage led to a predictable boutof confessions from other politicians,^followed by an increase in Rudd'spopularity^ and then tha naming of thenow Prime Minister as 'Un-Australian ofthe Year' 2008 for 'acting as a perfectgentleman' without staying long enoughto 'get his round [of drinks] in'.' Thedenigration of Rudd's 'gentlemanly'behaviour, even with tongue firmly incheek, exposes the 'blokey' aspects ofAustralian culture, where Rudd's esca-pades led to him being seen as more'human', although not 'btokey' enoughforZoo Weekly

Ownership and edi tor ia l pol icyAt this point we should turn to questionsof ownership and editorial policies. Overthe course of the nineteenth and twenti-eth centuries, historians have tracedbroad movements in the perceivedpurpose of the press, beginning with tharadical, educational and liberatingmotives of the early popular press, to thereflective 'voice of the people' mode ofthe mid twentieth century," to the adventof 'new long journalism' in more recentyears.^

A number of individuals and companiesseem to command the current medialandscape. Media moguls like RupertMurdoch, of News Corporation, have fargreater power than even the 'pressbarons' of the early twentieth century.The control of the proprietor over thepolicy cf the newspaper is often lessstraightforward than it may seem. Thereare a number of factors that shape thapolicy of a newspaper. The bottom line isoften a more pressing concern fornewspaper owners than the ideologicaland political line, and these two factors re of course, interrelated.

A more popular paper can make greaterclaims of "representation", as well ashaving a bigger budget, which allows fora greater number cf staff (for example,foreign correspondents, rather thanrelying on the press agencies for foreignnews) and, arguably, better qualityjournalists, editors and printers. Alterna-tively, a small paper can claim the title ofadversary to the line-toeing editors of thelarger papers, and its staff can be more

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I N P R I N T

P N I C T T H EP E T R O L P U M P

ABO VE: A N EXAMPLE OF THE VARIETY OF NEWSPAPER FORMATS IN BRITAIN, GETTYIMAGES

Readers of new spap ers often do n ta c tu a lly r e a d th e p a p e r . . . ina m ethodical and c lose m anner.Rather, they scan the pa ge , startingfrom the top lef t -ha nd corner,across the pag e to the bottom righ t ,w ith leas t at ten t ion paid to thebottom lef t -hand corner.resulting in national or internationalsignificance which far exceeds thepaper's relative ca pacity. In the UK,across much of the twentieth centurythe Manchester uardian operated withtewer staff and resources than its maincompetition, T he Timesor the DailyTelegraph.^The circulation of a paper can beignored if the readers are part of aparticular elite which allows for greaterimportance to be placed on the news-paper's policies than the numberswould suggest. The A ustralian, despite

has greater prestige in terms of itseditorial policy than a popular paperlike the H erald Sun. Equally, thedemographic on which the particularnewspaper wishes to focus influencesthe policies and concerns presentedwithin the pages of the paper. TheHerald Sunaims at reaching the vastbreadth of the Victorian audience,rather than the p oiiticai or intellectualelite,with the claim that on 'any givenday, forty-five per cent of the adultpopulation of Victoria reads the news-paper and , in the course of a week,seventy-five per cent of Victorians will

e h n o lo g yAchieving the best understanding ofnewspapers requires more than a simpleround-up of the historical, political andsocial context of the newspaper, or evenof its individual circulation, readershipand demographic. The tools of visualcommunication and journalism studiesare also necessary. The layout anddesign of a newspaper reflect not onlythe social and political assumptions thataccompany page size, for example, orthe use of splash headlines across thefront page, but also of technologicallimitations.Readers of newspapers often don'tactually 'read'the paper, at ieast in thefirst instance, in a methodical and closemanner. Rather, they scan the page,starting from the top left-hand corner,across the page to the bottom right, withleast attention paid to the bottomleft-hand corner.'*' Editors consequentlyposition material in order that it reflectthe reading habits of their audiences.Importance is largely measured by wordlimit, although headline size, placementand supplementary materials (images,infographics. maps, etc.) also play a rolein highlighting the importance of anarticle.Moreover, many broadsheet newspapers(with the larger page size) also distin -guish between important political stories'above the fold line', the section of thefront page that would appear to thebuyer at a news vendor when it is foldedin half, and less important human interesor other stories positioned below the foldline.A hierarchy exists within thenewspaper itself asweli.A small piece athe bottom of the page in the left-handcorner on page one may be important interms of 'spot' news value but mattersless than a detailed analysis of fargreater length on the news pages or theeditorial page.'' Each page of a new spa-per has a purpose, with the front pageoperating as more of an enticement tolook inside than a significant representa-tion of the paper itself.

Now that graphic artistsv ithcomputersare used to design and format newspa-pers,much of the mechanical nature of

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streaml ined. Even wi th these ef f ic iencies,other news media have simply movedfaster - the increasing popularity ofonl ine news si tes and 24-hour cabletelevision news channels has meant thatnewspapers have lost much of thei rabil i ty to 'break' news. Rather, the role ofthe newspaper seems to be moving f romthe 'scoop' to providing in-depth analysisand background in format ion.

The layout of many newspapers nowreflects this tendency to provide longer,in-depth art ic les rather than act ing as the'paper of record ' . The f ront page of eventhe most t radi t ional 'qual i ty ' broadsheet ,likeThe Times in Britain, regularlyfeatures only a single story and a seriesof news briefs, designed to be absorbedin a single glance. The design may havemore in common wi th the supermarkettabloids than i ts own t radi t ions. '^ TheAustral ian broadsheet press retains alayout that al lows for mult iple front pagestories, al though the eventual t ransi t ionofThe Age and The Sydney MorningHerald f rom broadsheet to 'narrowbroadsheet ' suggests that other t rendsseen across Bri tain and the Uni ted Statesmay wel l eventual ly be adopted here.

The aim of this art icle has been to pointto some of the ways in which thenewspaper as a medium can be cri t iquedand analysed . There are, of course, manyother quest ions that could be askedabout how 'events' become 'news' andwhat meaningwe take away f rom thereading of the printed press. Newspapersremain an accessible, engaging andrel iable form of new s med ia. Al thoughthe newspaper may no longer be able toclaim the mant le of the ' fourth esta te' ,teaching our students the cri t ical ski l lsrequired to pul l apart a new spapercreates a student body, and hopeful ly asociety, that is more engaged civically,polit ical ly, social ly and cultural ly in theworld around us.

Dr Marianne Hicks is a lecturer at MonashUniversity and is currently teaching acourse on the history of twentieth-centurynev/s media. Endnotes' A cursory search uncovered an artic le

by Wil l iam W. Wattenberg published in1937. However, a more exhaust ivereview of the l i terature may discoverother earl ier proponents for the crit icalexaminat ion of the printed press.Wi l l iam W. Wattenberg, 'Get t ing Truth

from Your Newspaper' , The EnglishJournal 2 .no. 5 . 1937. pp.363-3 68.

^ Neal Boortz, 'Newspap er Circulat ion inthe Toi let ' , 3 May 200 5, boor tz.com ,, ac-cessed 11 February 2008.

James Curran, 'The Press in the Age ofGlobal izat ion' in James Curran andJean Sea ton (eds),Power WithoutRespon sibility: The Press, Broadca st-ing, and New Media in Britain.Rout ledge, London, 2003, p.92.

' There was a great deai of debateconducted in the pages of the Austral -ian press (and some at tent ion inoverseas publ icat ions). Some exam-ples from the f irst days of the debateinclude 'PM Acts on Abuse Crisis -Children Exp osed to the Most TerribleAbuse f rom the Time of Their Bi rth ' ,The Canben-a Times.22 June 2007;'Sex Abuse Report Only the First Step',The Canberra Times,20 June 2007;Malcolm Farr, 'Radical Plan to ProtectChildren - Howard's Bid to HaltAboriginal Abu se' , Daily Telegraph. 22June 2007, p.2; Malcolm Farr, 'War onChild Abuse - Howard Intervenes toEnd a National Disgrace',DailyTelegraph. 22 June 2007, p.5; CathHart, 'Doctor Crisis to Hit NT Health

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ABOVE: GLOBAL MEDIA TYCOON RUPERT MURDOCH, CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF NEWS CORPORATION

N PR NT

Plan - Tackling Abuse',The Australian.22 June 2007. p.5; Peter Hartcher, 'TheGuts to Confront a Brutal Truth',TheSydney Morning Herald,22 June 2007,p.15; Mark Kenny, 'Save the Children',TheAdvertiser.22 June 2007, p.1;Gerard McManus & Ben Packham,'Grog Ban Aboriginal Child Abuse is aNational Emergency, Says PM',HeraldSun,22 June 2007, p.1; ClintonPorteous, 'Abuse Response Reeks ofPolities',The CourierMail,22 June2007,p.5; Nicolas Rothwell, 'Nation'sChild Abuse Shame',WeekendAustralian, 16 June 2007, p.i ; MishaSchubert, Katharine Murphy, LindsayMurdoch, Sarah Smiles & David Rood,'National Emergency: PM Acts',The/Age, 22 June 2007, p,1.'Casting the First (Election) Stone',TheCanberra Times,21 August 2007;Larissa Dubecki, Liz Minchin & BarneyZwartz, 'Dirty Polities',The Age.21August 2007, p.11; Michelle Grattan &Peter Ker, 'Strip Club Visits: RuddRegrets, Whitlam Regales',The Age,21 August 2007, p.1; 'I'm Not Perfect:Rudd Sorry for Blokey Strip Trip',TheCairnsPost.21 August 2007, p.2;Maria Hawthorne, 'MPs Stripped Barea Seamy Side to Leaders',TheCourierMail,21 August 2007, p.4;Clinton Porteous Sam Strutt, 'MPsStripped Bare - Downer Quiet on StoryLeak',The CourierMail.21 August2007, p.4; Sue Dunlevy & Alison Rehn,'MPs Coy When the Question isAsked',Daily Telegraph.21 August2007, p.5; Suzanne Lappeman, GeoffChambers & Peter Gleeson, 'Strips:Some Lapped 'Em Up',The GoldCoast Bulletin.21 August 2007, p.9.Clinton Porteous, 'Poll Blow forHoward - Unfazed by Strip Club andCynical About Budget Surplus', TheCourierMail,27 August 2007, p.4: JoeHildebrand, 'Rudd Strip Club Visit NoTurn-Qff',Daily Telegraph,22 August2007,p,2; Gerard McManus, 'RuddHeading for a Landslide'.Herald Sun.27 August 2007, p.3; Gerard Mc-Manus, 'Just Bend It Like Kevin',Herald Sun.27 August 2007, p.16.'PM named Un-Australian of theYear ',The Age,21 Januat7 2008., accessed 11

February 2008; 'PM Rudd Is Un-Aus-tralian',Townsvilte Bulletin.21 January2008, p,3,Mark Hampton,Visions of the Press InBritain. 1850-1950,University of IllinoisPress,Urbana & Chicago, 2004,pp.8-15.Kevin G. Barnhurst,Seeing theNewspaper,St. Martin's Press, NewYork, 1994, pp.14-17.'History of the Guardian', , accessed 11February 2008,Roy Morgan & ABC, 'Demographics:Newsmedia net', December 2006,,accessed 8 February 2008. NewsLimited claims thatThe Australianhasa circulation of 129,000 and a reader-ship of 437,000.ibid.TheHerald Sunhas a circulation of535,000 on weekdays and 509,000 onSaturdays and a readership of1,469,000on weekdays and1,396,000on Saturdays, according to Roy Morganand ABC, December 2006. TheHeraldSunhas four times the circulation ofTheAustralian,and yetThe Australianis byfar the more important paper in mattersof politics or national significance,'About Us',Herald Sun, ,accessed 11 February 2008,Eye scanning tests have shown thatreaders are often attracted first to a

large photograph on the front page,rather than the headlines. Given that alarge photo is often not connected tothe major headline, editors make theirown work of creating a cohesive frontpage for the reader more difficult. SeeKen Smith, 'Perception and theNewspaper Page: A Critical Analysis'in Ken Smith, Sandra Moriarty,Gretchen Barbatsis & Keith Kenney(eds).Handbook of VisualCommunication: Theory.Methods, and Media,Lawrence Eribaum Associates,Mahwah, 2005,pp.81-95.'Spot' news is that which is significantin the moment, but of less importanceover a longer period. A fire or robberyis good spot news, but unless a royalcommission into building standards orinto organized crime is undertaken, theevent is only significant in the shortterm.British newspapers in particular haveadopted the tabloid-style front page,where a single story dominates thefront page. See, for example.TheTimes. The Independentand to alesser extent.The Guardian,29January 2008.Jesse Hogan, 'Narrow Broadsheet Sizon Hold for Fairfax Papers',The Age,21 September 2007, p.3.

ABOVE: ABORIGINAL ELDERS FROM THE NORTHERN TERRITORY TALK TO THE MEDIAAFTER A MEETING WITH THE FEDERAL MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS, 6 JULY 2007, GETTY IMAGES,

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