Newspapers: Daily Mail case study

The Daily Mail is our first newspaper CSP and a hugely influential voice in British media.

We need to study the newspaper 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 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 new editor is Geordie Greig who moved over from the Mail on Sunday. The paper is already showing signs of softening its pro-Brexit position under Greig’s leadership – a significant change for readers.

The Daily Mail: influence and accuracy
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 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’

Daily Mail: Friday 21 September 

Our chosen edition of the Daily Mail to use as our CSP is Friday 21 September. Consider the following in your analysis:

Media language
Page design, font, text, images, conventions, hard news/soft news, news values.

Narrative
Selection of news: is there an ongoing narrative? How is narrative created by the paper to engage an audience?

Representations
Are any stereotypes reinforced? Is the audience positioned to respond to the story in a certain way?



Daily Mail case study: Blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to complete your case study on the Daily Mail and specifically the 21 September edition of the newspaper. 

Daily Mail analysis: Friday 21 September

Use your notes from the lesson to answer the following questions.

1) What are the front page stories on the 21 September edition of the Daily Mail?

2) From your analysis in class, what other stories and topics are covered in this edition of the Daily Mail? You should address the following pages:

• Page 3
• Page 5
• Pages 6-7
• Page 10
• Pages 12-13
• Page 16
• Page 19
• Page 23

3) Media language: Write an analysis of the construction of the Daily Mail front page: Page design, font, text, images, conventions, hard news/soft news, news values etc.

4) Narrative: How is narrative used in this edition of the Daily Mail? Look at the selection of news: is there an ongoing narrative? How is narrative created by the paper to engage an audience?

5) Representations: Are any stereotypes reinforced? Is the audience positioned to respond to the stories in a certain way? You should focus on the Brexit and NHS stories (front page, p6-7, p10) as a minimum here.

Add additional notes from class here for future revision. Remember, you will need to write in detail about specific stories from this edition of the Daily Mail and how these stories are constructed to appeal to the Daily Mail readership.


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

1) What is the history of the Daily Mail?

2) What news content features in the Daily Mail?

3) What is the Daily Mail’s mode of address? 

4) What techniques of persuasion does the Daily Mail use to attract and retain readers?

5) What is the Daily Mail’s editorial stance?

6) Read this YouGov article on British newspapers and their political stance. Where does the Daily Mail fit in the overall picture of UK newspapers? 

7) What is the Daily Mail’s view of the BBC? What are the possible reasons for this?

8) What controversies have followed Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn? You will need to research this beyond the factsheet.



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.

1) How did the launch of the Daily Mail change the UK newspaper industry?

2) What is the inverted pyramid of journalism and why was it important in the way the Daily Mail presented news?

3) What company owns the Daily Mail? What other newspapers, websites and brands do they own?

4) Between 1992 and 2018 the Daily Mail editor was Paul Dacre. What does the extract from Dacre’s speech on the freedom of the press tell us about his ideological position?

5) What is Dacre’s view on BBC news?

6) Look at the right-hand side of page 4. Why is the editor of a newspaper so important?

7) Why did Guardian journalist Tim Adams describe Dacre as the most dangerous man in Britain? What example stories does Adams refer to?

8) How does the Daily Mail cover the issue of immigration? What representations are created in this coverage?

9) How did the Daily Mail cover the murder of MP Jo Cox?

10) What was Dacre’s position on Brexit?

There is a lot of work here - easily 2-3 hours reading and writing. You will be given some lesson time to start this but most of this case study work will need to be completed at home - due date specified by your exam class teacher. Don't forget you also need to keep posting your weekly stories from MailOnline and the i newspaper website too.