We need to study the newspaper and website from the perspective of audience and industries, linking what we've already learned about the newspaper industry and journalism.
Notes from the lesson
The Daily Mail is a ‘black top’ or mid-market tabloid newspaper. It is the second most popular daily national newspaper after the Sun.
The Daily Mail was most successful in the early 2000s with more than 2m copies sold daily. It is now down to around 1.2m but still influential.
The paper offers a mix of hard and soft news. It is socially, economically and politically conservative and backs the Conservative Party in politics.
The Daily Mail: ownership and editorial
The Daily Mail is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). Its chairman is Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, whose great-grandfather was a co-founder of the newspaper. From 1992 until Autumn 2018, the editor was Paul Dacre – a hugely controversial and influential voice in the UK newspaper industry. The editor is now Geordie Greig who moved over from the Mail on Sunday.
Even with falling circulation, the front cover of the Daily Mail can set the news agenda and dictate what broadcast media lead on – such as the influential BBC Radio 4 Today programme or Newsnight on BBC2. This is why newspapers are still seen as having a disproportionate influence despite falling sales.
In February 2017, the Daily Mail was labelled ‘generally unreliable’ by Wikipedia editors, discouraging people from using the Mail as a source. The Daily Mail responded by saying it had only been adjudicated ‘inaccurate’ twice by IPSO – but as we know from our newspaper regulations lessons: how effective is IPSO?
Audience
The Daily Mail readership key details:- Average age of 58
- Almost half of its readers are over 65 and only 14% of the paper’s readers are under 34
- The Daily Mail is the only newspaper to have more female readers than male (52% - 48%)
- Two thirds of the readership are ABC1 so middle class. Seen as ‘voice of middle England’
In constrast, the MailOnline website readership details are quite different to the newspaper:
- Average age of 40
- 58% female
- 55% 18-44 year olds
- 68% ABC1
AQA's CSP booklet suggests studying one entire issue of the Daily Mail print edition alongside a selection of stories from Mail Online. You can buy a copy to study for this or alternatively use our scanned copy of the Daily Mail's Brexit edition from 31 January 2020.
Selection of news
How is news selected and presented by editors? Is there an ongoing narrative created by the newspaper to engage an audience?
Audience and ideology
What ideologies are present in the text? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?
Enemies of the People:
Response to Liz Truss's budget:
Asylum seekers / Immigration:
Daily Mail website - Mail Online
MailOnline is the most successful English-language newspaper website in the world and one of the most popular news sources in the UK.
We need to study MailOnline alongside the newspaper version of the Daily Mail, again from the perspective of audience and industries. This is particularly important in terms of the editorial stance, the internet's influence on media power, the clickbait-driven business model and the prevalence of soft news or social-media driven stories.
Pluralism: a brief introduction
A basic symmetry is seen to exist between media institutions and their audiences, since in McQuail's words the 'relationship is generally entered into voluntarily and on apparently equal terms’. Audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media and as having access to what Halloran calls 'the plural values of society' enabling them to 'conform, accommodate, challenge or reject'. (Gurevitch et al. 1982: 1)
Daily Mail and Mail Online CSP: Blog tasks
Work through the following tasks to complete your case study on the Daily Mail and Mail Online
Daily Mail and Mail Online analysis
Use your own purchased copy or our scanned copy of the Brexit edition from January 2020 plus the notable front pages above to answer the following questions - bullet points/note form is fine.
1) What are the most significant front page headlines seen in the Daily Mail in recent years?
2) Ideology and audience: What ideologies are present in the Daily Mail? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?
3) How do the Daily Mail stories you have studied reflect British culture and society?
Pluralists see society as consisting of competing groups and interests, none of them predominant all of the time. Media organizations are seen as enjoying an important degree of autonomy from the state, political parties and institutionalized pressure groups.
A basic symmetry is seen to exist between media institutions and their audiences, since in McQuail's words the 'relationship is generally entered into voluntarily and on apparently equal terms’. Audiences are seen as capable of manipulating the media and as having access to what Halloran calls 'the plural values of society' enabling them to 'conform, accommodate, challenge or reject'. (Gurevitch et al. 1982: 1)
Curran & Seaton: Power Without Responsibility
Curran and Seaton argue that the media should follow the pluralist model and be shaped by audience demand:
“The free market makes the press a representative institution…newspapers and magazines are to respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business.”
However, in practice the newspaper industry is dominated by a small number of powerful owners and this influences newspaper coverage and media influence. In short, the free market doesn’t work.
James Curran on the internet and power in the media
MailOnline: audience-driven news
Curran and Seaton argue audience demand rather than powerful owners should influence news media. But can we trust audience demand?
Original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke said: “We let the readers decide what they’re interested in, that’s why MailOnline is so sticky and why it’s so addictive and why people love it so much.”
The homepage stories are selected by clicks – the most popular stories move to the top of the page. But does this turn news into ‘clickbait infotainment’? Shouldn’t news be about informing the public – not entertaining them?
MailOnline: addictive design
MailOnline is designed to encourage readers to stay on the site: the homepage has (virtually) endless scroll, there are thousands of images, embedded social media posts and promotional features linked to the stories.
Celebrity gossip drives traffic to site (often via social media) with clickbait used heavily to initially attract readers. Then, controversial headlines and opinion columns encourage users to comment, share and engage with the site.
The right-hand bar (‘sidebar of shame’) means an endless supply of celebrity gossip available on every page. This creates clickbait within the site itself.
Daily Mail and Mail Online CSP: Blog tasks
Work through the following tasks to complete your case study on the Daily Mail and Mail Online
Daily Mail and Mail Online analysis
Use your own purchased copy or our scanned copy of the Brexit edition from January 2020 plus the notable front pages above to answer the following questions - bullet points/note form is fine.
1) What are the most significant front page headlines seen in the Daily Mail in recent years?
2) Ideology and audience: What ideologies are present in the Daily Mail? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?
3) How do the Daily Mail stories you have studied reflect British culture and society?
Now visit Mail Online and look at a few stories before answering these questions:
1) What are the top five stories? Are they examples of soft news or hard news? Are there any examples of ‘clickbait’ can you find?
2) To what extent do the stories you have found on MailOnline reflect the values and ideologies of the Daily Mail newspaper?
3) Think about audience appeal and gratifications: why is MailOnline the most-read English language newspaper website in the world? How does it keep you on the site?
Factsheet 175 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1)
Read Media Factsheet 175: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).
1) What news content generally features in the Daily Mail?
2) What is the Daily Mail’s mode of address?
3) What techniques of persuasion does the Daily Mail use to attract and retain readers?
4) What is the Daily Mail’s editorial stance?
5) Read this brilliant YouGov article on British newspapers and their political stance. Where does the Daily Mail fit in the overall picture of UK newspapers?
Factsheet 177 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2)
Now read Media Factsheet 177: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).
1) How did the launch of the Daily Mail change the UK newspaper industry?
2) What company owns the Daily Mail? What other newspapers, websites and brands do they own?
3) Between 1992 and 2018 the Daily Mail editor was Paul Dacre. What is Dacre’s ideological position and his view on the BBC?
2) To what extent do the stories you have found on MailOnline reflect the values and ideologies of the Daily Mail newspaper?
3) Think about audience appeal and gratifications: why is MailOnline the most-read English language newspaper website in the world? How does it keep you on the site?
Factsheet 175 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1)
Read Media Factsheet 175: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).
1) What news content generally features in the Daily Mail?
2) What is the Daily Mail’s mode of address?
3) What techniques of persuasion does the Daily Mail use to attract and retain readers?
4) What is the Daily Mail’s editorial stance?
5) Read this brilliant YouGov article on British newspapers and their political stance. Where does the Daily Mail fit in the overall picture of UK newspapers?
Factsheet 177 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2)
Now read Media Factsheet 177: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).
1) How did the launch of the Daily Mail change the UK newspaper industry?
2) What company owns the Daily Mail? What other newspapers, websites and brands do they own?
3) Between 1992 and 2018 the Daily Mail editor was Paul Dacre. What is Dacre’s ideological position and his view on the BBC?
4) Why did Guardian journalist Tim Adams describe Dacre as the most dangerous man in Britain? What example stories does Adams refer to?
5) How does the Daily Mail cover the issue of immigration? What representations are created in this coverage?
Finally, read Media Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).
1) What do Curran and Seaton suggest regarding the newspaper industry and society?
2) What does the factsheet suggest regarding newspaper ownership and influence over society?
3) Why did the Daily Mail invest heavily in developing MailOnline in the 2000s?
4) How does MailOnline reflect the idea of newspapers ‘as conversation’?
5) How many stories and pictures are published on MailOnline?
6) How does original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke explain the success of the website?
7) How is the priority for stories on the homepage established on MailOnline?
8) What is your view of ‘clicks’ driving the news agenda? Should we be worried that readers are now ‘in control of digital content’?
5) How does the Daily Mail cover the issue of immigration? What representations are created in this coverage?
Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context
Finally, read Media Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).
1) What do Curran and Seaton suggest regarding the newspaper industry and society?
2) What does the factsheet suggest regarding newspaper ownership and influence over society?
3) Why did the Daily Mail invest heavily in developing MailOnline in the 2000s?
4) How does MailOnline reflect the idea of newspapers ‘as conversation’?
5) How many stories and pictures are published on MailOnline?
6) How does original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke explain the success of the website?
7) How is the priority for stories on the homepage established on MailOnline?
8) What is your view of ‘clicks’ driving the news agenda? Should we be worried that readers are now ‘in control of digital content’?
A/A* extension task
Read this Guardian column if you'd like to go the extra mile on this CSP: So Daily Mail and Mail Online are ‘totally separate’? It depends how you look at it by Peter Preston
To further your understanding of the Daily Mail, read this Guardian column by Media veteran Peter Preston on a row between the Guardian and the Mail over the controversial MailOnline (ex-) columnist Katie Hopkins. You could then answer the following questions if you wish:
1) Why does Preston suggest that the Daily Mail and MailOnline should be considered to be basically the same publication?
2) How does Preston summarise other newspaper websites?
3) How many readers does the online-only Independent now boast?
4) Do you feel the Daily Mail and MailOnline have a different ‘world view’?
5) Do you see a future for the paper version of the Daily Mail or will it eventually close like the Independent?
To further your understanding of the Daily Mail, read this Guardian column by Media veteran Peter Preston on a row between the Guardian and the Mail over the controversial MailOnline (ex-) columnist Katie Hopkins. You could then answer the following questions if you wish:
1) Why does Preston suggest that the Daily Mail and MailOnline should be considered to be basically the same publication?
2) How does Preston summarise other newspaper websites?
3) How many readers does the online-only Independent now boast?
4) Do you feel the Daily Mail and MailOnline have a different ‘world view’?
5) Do you see a future for the paper version of the Daily Mail or will it eventually close like the Independent?
Due date: on Google Classroom
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