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
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)
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: audience
MailOnline readership key details:
- Average age of 40
- 58% female
- 55% 18-44 year olds
- 68% ABC1
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.
Work through the following tasks to complete your case study on Mail Online.
MailOnline close-textual analysis
Go to MailOnline and analyse the stories currently featured:
1) What are the top five stories? Are they examples of soft news or hard news?
2) What celebrity content is featured?
3) What examples of ‘clickbait’ can you find?
4) To what extent do the stories you have found on MailOnline reflect the values and ideologies of the Daily Mail newspaper?
5) 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?
Guardian column: So Daily Mail and Mail Online are ‘totally separate’? It depends how you look at it by Peter Preston
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. Answer the following questions:
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?
Media Magazine MM55: Media, Publics, Protest and Power
Media Magazine 55 has an excellent feature on power and the media. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM55 and scroll to page 38 to read the article Media, Publics, Protest and Power', a summary of Media academic Natalie Fenton’s talk to the Media Magazine conference in 2015. Answer the following questions:
1) What are the three overlapping fields that have an influence on the relationship between media and democracy?
2) What is ‘churnalism’ and does MailOnline provide examples of this kind of news gathering?
3) Fenton argues that news should serve the public and help democracy. Does MailOnline do this?
4) What is infotainment? Is MailOnline guilty of relying on this kind of content?
5) Has the internet empowered audiences or is it still dominated by the major media conglomerates? How does MailOnline fit into this?
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. You won't be able to access our Factsheet archive now school is closed but you can open this factsheet here if you log in to Google using your School email and password.
1) What do Curran and Seaton suggest regarding the newspaper industry and society?
2) Curran and Seaton acknowledge that media ownership in the UK is dominated by what kind of company?
3) What does the factsheet suggest regarding newspaper ownership and influence over society?
4) Why did the Daily Mail invest heavily in developing MailOnline in the 2000s?
5) How does MailOnline reflect the idea of newspapers ‘as conversation’?
6) How many stories and pictures are published on MailOnline?
7) How does original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke explain the success of the website?
8) What does it mean when it says readers are in control of digital content?
9) How is the priority for stories on the homepage established on MailOnline?
10) What is your view of ‘clicks’ driving the news agenda? Should we be worried that readers are now ‘in control of digital content’?
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