Intro Task

• Discuss with a neighbour the representation in one of last weeks broadcast shows Goodness Gracious Me, Homeland, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

• Use the grids you completed last Thursday for homework

• Using the post-it notes make one or two brief comments about their answers in relation to either institution, TA, or Positive/Negative representations

• If finished, have a look at the newspaper bio’s on the back wall – we will use later

Institutions and Representationin Print (newspapers)

MEST1

Objectives Recap

News values

Political biasLearn analysis tools

Analyse examples

Understand the political bias and motivation of UK Newspapers and apply knowledge of representation and institutions to examples

Timescale – events closest to us in times are reported in papers. Events which are long-running or long-standing issues are included for comment and analysis usually when a news ‘event’ occurs.

The size of the event – high numbers of casualties increases the newsworthiness of an event

Surprise- the unexpectedness of an event also increases newsworthiness

Predictability – this is the idea that journalist will ‘find’ the news they are looking for. An isolated moment can become the main focus if it is what people expecting

Continuity – as in the case of wars, political campaigns etc.

Reference to nations ‘close’ to UK – this refers to events occurring in places we identify with culturally and politically.

Reference to Important people – think of this as reference to the Gatekeepers

Remember, when it comes to newspapers....

• The text producing institution is very important in ‘shaping’ the text – the preferred reading for the audience.

• The text is carefully constructed to position the audience into accepting analysis and opinion.

• Some texts have high entertainment values and so will prioritise this ‘news’.

• The world of print news has changed forever with online content and the audience’s ability to create content using new technology.

• print news has always had a strong affiliation with advertisers and readers have always been consumers too.

The Sun has the highest daily circulation of any newspaper in the UK.The Sun, as a tabloid, appeals to a wide audience. According to Wikipedia ‘approximately 2.65 million were in the ABC1 demographic and 4.9 million in the C2DE demographic’. The paper has high entertainment value, putting celebrity gossip and sensational stories at the heart of the content.

The Times is roughly 8th in circulation figures. According to Wikipedia it has ‘the highest number of ABC1 25–44yrs readers and the largest numbers of readers in London.

Both newspapers are owned by News International, which is in turn owned by Newscorp, a Murdoch organisation.

The Times has had the most varied political allegiance in History. In 2010 the paper backed the Conservatives again after having supported the former Labour government.

In June 2011 Guardian News and Media revealed increased annual losses of £33m and announced that it was looking to focus on its online edition for news coverage, leaving a physical newspaper that was to contain more comment and features. It was also speculated that the Guardian may become the first British national daily paper to go solely online.Wikipedia

The Guardian has a ’daily circulation of 230,541 in October 2011, behind The Daily Telegraph and The Times’ Wikipedia

The paper has a majority ABC1 readership and define themselves their readers as ‘affluent, young urban consumers’. The Guardian

They are described as having mainstream-left political values

The Independent, although named ‘independent’ is described as leaning towards the left in terms of it’s political stance

The readership profile shows that the audience are largely in the ABC1 categories.

Circulation continues to be stable for the Independent, although it is still one of the smaller papers in the UK in terms of readership.

The i is the sister paper of the Independent. It was set up in 2010 to appeal to lapsed readers of newspapers and commuters costing only 20p, with short ‘bite-sized’ stories. A bold and ingenious move in a climate of declining print news sales, it is now more successful than the Independent.

A ‘British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper’ wikipedia.

The paper has a conservative political view.

It has the second largest circulation of any paper in the UK

The Daily Express is also described as a middle-market tabloid paper.

Both papers were intended to appeal to a middle market – containing a balance of news and comment and entertainment and gossip

“The Daily Express's front page emblem is The Crusader, and we truly are a crusading newspaper. We crusade on the issues that affect our readers and the wider public, such as inheritance tax; more than 350,000 of our readers signed a petition calling for its abolition, the Daily Express believes in traditional values: decency, politeness, personal responsibility and honesty. We are a progressive newspaper, we believe there is a great future for the Daily Express and we are investing in that belief.” from the Daily Express Media pack

‘The Daily Mail is in touch with the hearts and minds of ‘Middle England’. It reflects their concerns, hopes and lifestyles. Top of the agenda is reporting the news and asking the tough questions. With its campaigning stance, it is not afraid to expose the wrongs and shortcomings of people in power and with the vocal backing of its readers can be an effective force for change. This audience forms the economic backbone of the UK and is hugely influential, with the power to make or break brands’ From the Daily Mail Press pack

Metro was launched in March 1999 as a free, colour newspaper for morning commuters. At first it was only available in London, but now commuters in 16 of Britain's major cities can pick up a free copy of the Metro as they travel to work in the morning. Every weekday morning some 1,134,121 copies are distributed across the UK making Metro the world's largest free newspaper and the fourth biggest newspaper in the UK. From the Metro website

The London Evening Standard has posted the highest circulation figures in its 180-year-history, new statistics show. Coming just a few months after the publication moved to become a free title, newly-released figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) show that it boasted an average net circulation of 610,226 for February. This compares with the figure of 256,229 recorded in September of 2009, the final month when it was a paid-for title, with the statistics also suggesting that editorial re-branding, as well as the cost factor, has helped to drive popularity over the past few months. From pfj.co.uk

I-BOP

Institution - state who the Institution is

Brand Values - explain what/how the text communicates the brand values of the product and/or the text producing institution

Ownership - explain how the ownership limits or gives freedom to the institution.

Power - explain the power structures suggested by the text both at a textual level and a social (society) level through theory (gender, class, race, wealth etc.)

WWW. How How What?Who (or what) is being represented? (Teenagers? Doctors? London? Friendship?)

Who created the Representation? (Institution? Evaluate the institutional impact on the representation) Who benefits from the Representation? .....Society? (Does the Representation maintain the Status Quo?) .....Institution? (Does the Representation promote positive Brand Values?)

How is the Representation constructed? (Media Language eg. Shots, Angles, Movement, Mode of address etc.)

How does the Representation fit with Dominant Ideology? (Does it support or challenge Stereotypes? Audience expectations?)

What has been left out of the Representation, and why? (Career? Hobbies? Relationships with others? )

Task

• Find the same story in two politically opposite newspapers

• What is being said and shown that links to their political bias?

• How many news-values can you identify?• Print out the stories, stick on paper and

annotate

Task

• In groups and using one ofthe 8 newspapers talked about, you must find at least 2 stories and identify institutional and representational issuesusing the methods shown

• Illustrate this with images and text from the papers – present back to the class

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B

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Who, how, Who

How, Who, What?

Summary

• While others are presenting back you need to take notes on at least one other paper (one you didn’t do) - You will have one minute to feed that information back to someone you wouldn’t normally speak to