This is the final set of targeted CSPs - we will be studying the Audience and Industry key concepts plus all relevant contexts for the Daily Mail and the Guardian newspapers. This means newspapers will come up in Paper 1, Section B of the exams. Here's one Daily Mail front page we may want to reference:
Notes from the lesson
In the lesson, we looked at the history of the newspaper and some key terminology we need to learn:
Newspapers: hard and soft news
In the lesson, we looked at the history of the newspaper and some key terminology we need to learn:
Newspapers: hard and soft news
Newspapers cover a range of stories that are generally divided into two categories:
Hard news: stories related to current affairs, politics, economics, wars and other serious news.
Soft news: stories related to entertainment, sport, celebrities, gossip, scandal and human interest/lifestyle topics.
Newspapers: tabloid and broadsheet
Newspapers were traditionally available in two sizes: tabloid and broadsheet. Today, most newspapers are in the smaller broadsheet size but the terms are still used to describe the style of paper:
Tabloid: focusing largely on soft news, famous examples include the Sun and the Mirror. Generally read by more working class audience. Mid-market tabloids are a middle ground between tabloid and broadsheet and include the Daily Mail.
Broadsheet: serious newspapers that focus more on hard news. The Times, Guardian and Telegraph are all examples.
Newspapers: sources of news
Newspapers tend to get their news content from two sources:
Journalists: newspapers employ reporters and photographers to attend events, interview people and write stories.
News agencies: Reuters and Associated Press are examples of global news agencies that are independent institutions that employ journalists to write stories that newspapers and other media organisations can pay to use.
Increasingly in the digital age, newspapers are sourcing news from their audiences using citizen journalism. This is sometimes criticised as creating clickbait – an example of soft news aimed simply to attract online readers.
The decline of newspapers
In the last 20 years, the newspaper industry has faced a sharp decline due to the rise of the internet.
In 2003, almost 30 million newspapers were sold in the UK every day. By 2017 that was down to 12.4 million (source: Ofcom).
Newspapers have traditionally made their money in two ways: through the cover price and by selling advertising. With so much news available for free online, audiences are not buying newspapers so both these sources of income have been decimated.
The Wall Street Journal produced a short video demonstrating how the industry has changed in the last 100 years:
Once you've learned the key terminology, watched the video and considered the decline in the industry, work through the blog tasks below.
Part 1: Ofcom report into news consumption 2022
Read this Ofcom 2022 report on the consumption of news in the UK and answer the following questions (bullet points/short answers are fine):
1) Look at the headlines from the report on page 6. Pick three that you think are interesting and bullet point them here. Why did you pick those three in particular?
2) Look at the overall summary for adults on pages 7-8. What are the key points on newspapers?
3) Look at the statistics on page 13. What do you notice about newspapers and how has it changed in recent years?
4) Now look at the age demographics for news consumption on page 16. What age demographic groups are most and least likely to read newspapers and what are the percentages?
5) Look at the newspaper-specific data on page 36. Which are the most popular newspaper titles?
6) Now look at the total newspaper reach of print and online on page 39. How has this decreased over the last three years?
Part 2: Factsheet - The death of print media
Go to our Media Factsheet archive and open Factsheet 165: The death of print media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login.
Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks (bullet points/short answers are fine):
1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?
2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?
3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?
4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?
5) How do online newspapers make money?
6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?
7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?
8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?
Due date: on Google Classroom.
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