Newspaper Masthead Logo

A logo is the graphic element of a brand which is set in a particular typeface, or arranged in a particluar, yet legible way, designed specifically for that brand. The logo should have elements in it which are defined by the content of the newspaper. For example, The Independent, a left wing paper, has a bird flying away and a serious looking font. This connotes freedom, intelligence and suggests some of the brand's ideology. The Scotsman has a picture of a thistle, which is Scotland's national symblol. Another (and a more local) example is the ship on the Evening Post. This is integral to the brand's identity as it is based in the Bristol area, a place famous for its docks and trade ships. Furthermore, the title also contributes to what people associate with that paper, some are more abstracted and others are more simple and straightfoward. If the logo is distinct and unique then the audience will be able to recognise it more eaily, and the brand's identity will come to mind more readily.

Here, the logo is fairly simple. The font is serif and thus, easy to read. However, it is slightly bolded, creating a friendlier look and appeals to a mass audience. This is appropriate as the Mercury is distrubuted across Somerset, as shown in a smaller font size above, leaving the main focus on the name. The red is reminicent of tabloid papers, perhaps connoting that it has some similarites with this type of paper, for example, the size of the paper or aspects of 'tabloid journalism'. Mercury is also a planet and a chemical, suggesting that it is 'foreseeing' or suggesting that the news in inevitable. This then suggests that the paper's publishers views their paper highly.

This paper looks slightly more serious than the above due to the less rounded serif font. The red, again, is reminisent of tabloid papers. The title here is farily straightfoward as it is often picked up by commuters.

The title is logical as this paper is often picked up on trains or buses by its readers, suggesting that they are busy and are partaking in the metropolitan lifestyle. The text used is fairly bold, simple and in capitals to catch the reader's eye. Blue and white combined are often associated with the Metropolitan police force, suggesting that the ideology of the paper includes a large moral standing.

This paper is a tabloid and so the red is appropriate and easily catches the eye of a potential audience member, this can be associated with its sensationalist stories as they are often used to make a noisy statement. The font is bold and easy to read, connoting simple content. The title suggests that the publsihers belive their paper is integral to their readers lives, that they need it to live, worship it perhaps, like the actual Sun.

The font here is narrow serif and suggests that the paper has more intelligent content. The black is simple, sleek and modern, connoting that the paper does not conform to traditionalist/authroitarian views. The bird suggests freedom and the title itself suggests the importance of the individual.

This font is rather elaborate, yet formal at the same time. The lack of colour adds modernity and minimalism, which is perhaps what the readers want, along with some more traditional values. It stands out because of this.

Conventions of Newspaper Articles

Usually, articles are laid out in order of importance, for example, crime stories are often at the front as they may affect more people and they need to be known about, whereas school stories are often more towards the middle/back as less people are likely to care about them. This is also the same within the article, more important information is toward the start of the story and the less important pieces of information towards the end. This is often known as the inverted pyramid, a metaphor often used by journalists/writers. Other ways of writing articles are also used, including the anecdotal lead and the question & answer.

The headline is designed to be eye catching (in formatting) and summarise the story in a few words, for example 'Crazed Killer Caught.' It normally is in present tense and leaves a few words out so that it is not a complete sentence. In more lighthearted pieces, a pun is often used to intrigue and amuse the reader.

The byline is the name and sometimes the title of the reporter. In most publications, the byline is awarded only if the reporter has done a substantial amount of the preparation. The byline either comes at the start or the end of the article, this is usually determined by the layout. If in another country, then the byline will also include the reporters location.

 

The lead paragraph provides another summary of the article so the reader can decide whether they want to read it, or if they do not have enough time to read the entire thing. It will usually attempt to answer 5 key questions; Who, What, When, Where, Why and How? Usually, lead paragraphs are written in bold or have a larger letter on the first word.

Body of the article is basically, the rest of the article. This is normally presented in short paragraphs. Even here, more vital information will come first, it is assumed that many readers will abandon the piece before they finish reading it. Direct and indirect quotations are often used so the reader can hear the 'voice of the witness', this is because people are more likely to enjoy the article if they can identify with one of the personas. Sometimes an article may just be an entire interview with somebody, usually they are successful or famous.

The tail of the article is often included toward the end of an article to add extra, general information.

Additions are often used to provide context/background for the readers to understand the story more fully. This can be shown in a pull, which is information given in a box or frame, often formatted differently from the rest of the article. Despite being useful, these are more commonly used in magazines. In contrast to this, however, with the availability of modern technology, newspapers are beginning to use more features of magazines.

Page Analysis

This page analysis will help me to decide the main conventions of a local newspaper and which I will use and which I will subvert in the practical production of my paper.

Interview Questions For those who don't read newspapers

1. Why don't you read newspapers?

2. If you did read them, what would you tend to read?

3. Again, if you were a reader, what would you definitely not read?

4. What would make you buy and read a newspaper? For example, would it be layout, price or a headline?

5. What do you think the ideal price would be for a newspaper if you were to read one?

6. What would you want to see included in a newspaper?

7. What kind of ideology (views) would you want the newspaper's producers to have? E.g - right wing politics, morals et.c.

8. Do you feel there is a newspaper that would appeal to you by having the same ideology as you

9. What sort of layout would you prefer? For example, traditional and simple or modern and bright.

10. What are your views? e.g - politics

Interview Questions

The following will be my basis for the interviews I will be carrying out with my potential target audience/ the local newspaper readers;

1. Which local newspaper would you say you buy/read the most? Why?
2. How much of the content do you read?
3. Which stories do you read first, for example, crime stories?
4. What features do you never read?
5. Do you look at the supplements, for example, the job supplement or Bristol's next top model?
6. Which advertisements interest you?
7. Have you ever written a letter to the newspaper and if yes what was it about?
8. Would you ever write to the newspaper and what would you write about?
9. Have you ever acted upon anything in the newspaper, for example, a promotion for a charity event or a protest?
10. How often do you buy or read newspapers?
11. Have you ever sent a photo to a newspaper?
12. Have you ever been in the newspaper or involved in one of the stories?
13. What do you think the ideal price of a newspaper should be?
14. What sort of layout would you prefer? For example, traditional and simple or modern and bright.
15. Do you think that the readers should be able to interact or have a say in what the newspaper puts into the content?
16. If so, how?
17. What would you want to see included in a newspaper?

18. What kind of ideology (views) would you want the newspaper's producers to have? E.g - right wing politics, morals et.c.

19. Do you feel there is a newspaper that would appeal to you by having the same ideology as you?

20. What are your views? e.g - politics

 

I may not include some of these questions due to time/ relevance and I may ask their ages and genders. I will also be changing some of the questions, or perhaps creating a new set of questions for those who do not read newspapers in order to gauge how some new readers of a publication would be gained. In the evaluation I will be using some of the same people to look at my products and comment on them.

Note - The audience research is due in on the 11th July.

Newspaper Audience

The audience of a newspaper would be specific to what newspaper it is and the content, generally. More specifically, the audience depends on what story it is, for example, if a sports story, then the audience will probably be niche, defined by their gender or interest. For a school related story it would niche again, probbably a parent or governor, and so on... Therefore, if a newspaper is made up of lots of different niche stories and features, then on a whole, an entire, general newspaper would appeal to a mass audience.

But how do the mass audience choose a specific paper to read, a favourite?

Well, it is normally based on the newspapers' publishers' ideology and political views, as this generally affects the content, for example, a broadsheet, such as The Independent is more likely to be left wing, although they may not have assigned themselves to a particular party. A local newspaper would be more bias towards the smaller representatives of a party, for example, Liam Fox, a member of the Conservative party. If the paper has similar views to themselves, the individual will tend to buy and read that newspaper as opposed to one that has opinions they disagree with. Age will also affect the audience of a newspaper. Young people and children would generally feel more at home with magazines and wouldn't think about touching a newspaper, whereas those in their late teens and early 20s will be beginning to read papers,  i, a compact paper would be ideal for this. The emergence of new technology has also has an impact on the younger audiences nhot reading newspapers as much as older audiences, instead they turn to the internet or the television for news.

Papers such as The Spark or The Big Issue tend to attract more of an alternative audience, mainly because of the human rights/ eco friendly type vibe, more commonly associated with left wing politics or perhaps, no politics. These papers, The Big Issue in particular, tend to be shunned by the more conventional adult, as the way it works (street vendors, usually immigrants, buy copies of the paper off of the publishers and sell them back to the public) may not be understood, or may be thought of as 'cheap' or 'charity'. Perhaps they cannot be considered a paper to some individuals, due to their subversions of newspaper conventions.A middle-aged conventional adult would be more likley to go for something like The Mercury or The Evening Post. Of course, many people may just need an update, and choose a random paper on the go, not thinking about its publisher's ideology at all.




The Big Issue



Weekly and Daily Newspapers et. cetera

Daily newspapers are issued every day, occasionally with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday and Sunday editions of daily newspapers are often larger, include specialized sections, inserts, and always cost more. Usually, most of these newspapers' staff work on weekdays, so the Sunday and Monday editions depend on either content done in advance or that is syndicated. Almost all daily newspapers are published in the morning, whilst evening papers are aimed at commuters. 

Weekly newspapers are much more common and are often smaller than daily papers. There also are some newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the US, such newspapers are classified as weeklies anyway.

Most nations have at least one national newspaper. In the UK, there are many national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun and The Daily Mirror. In the US and Canada, there are few national newspapers, the exceptions are The Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US and The National Post in Canada. 

Many newspapers formerly published only in non-English languages have also developed English-language editions in order to appeal to a wider audience. In places such as Jerusalem and Bombay, newspapers are printed to English-speaking public, for both local and national. The Internet has allowed non-English papers to give out smaller English version to give their newspaper a global reach. There is also a minuscule group of papers which might be described as international newspapers.

Job titles in the newspaper industry vary. In the US, the overall manager of the paper — sometimes also the owner — may be termed the publisher. This much less common outside of the U.S, where the person responsible for content is usually referred to as the editor. Variations on this title are common.

Although most newspapers are aimed at a mass audience, often geographically defined, some focus on  readers defined by their interests. More specialist papers are usually monthly or weekly, usually free and are distributed throughout limited areas.

Papers usually refine ads and news stories using zoning and editioning. Zoning is when advertising and editorial content change to reflect the area to which the product is delivered. The editorial content often may change merely to reflect changes in advertising or may contain region-specific news. In instances, the advertising may not change from one zone to another, but there will be region-specific editorial content.