Stop the press! Trinity Mirror has now acquired several UK newspapers and is now known as Reach! Media Studies moves so fast even your teacher has no clue what's going on!
The 'industry style' questions that you'll answer in
component one, section B are different in that you will focus on
facts, figures and examples rather than straightforward textual analysis. So, you need to know your stuff. There is no substitute for research, and you must use resources like Wikipedia to find about the newspapers we are studying. In order to answer a question like this, you will need to be familiar with the key terminology it uses. Below are the approved definitions that you will need to refer to.
Production -
the process of making a media product. Every industry has its own forms of production.
Distribution -
the process of making a media product available to audiences so that they can consume it, which includes aspects of marketing such as creating an advertising campaign.
Circulation -
a count of how many copies of a media product are distributed. This can include physical distribution and subscription.
In order to explore this topic, it is essential to have a broader knowledge of what technology is used in the newspaper industry, what companies own different newspapers, regulatory issues, and facts and figures for both
The Daily Mirror and
The Times.
In a nutshell - production,distribution and circulation have shaped the UK newspaper industry in a variety of ways. Production, distribution and circulation are primarily influenced by ownership, regulation, and digital technological advances.
Ownership
Check out this video, which briefly explores the ownership of the media. There are many potential issues with conglomeration, not least that it leads to massive inequality, and a
lack of different voices. Curran and Seaton argue that we need a diverse range of voices in media.
The newspaper industry is
heavily conglomerated, and utilizes both
horizontal and vertical integration. Unlike other countries, for example The US, UK newspapers are able to demonstrate considerable
political bias, which reflects the political views of it's owners.
You will need to write about the
ideological implications of this in your exam, along with your own point of view.
Technological advances
Print readership has been in steady decline in the UK. This is for a number of reasons. Both
broadcast news and online news sources have eaten in to the circulation of print media. Online media offers
audiences many
advantages, such as easier access, the ability to comment on news stories, and the ability to share them via social media. But there are
advantages for
producers too. Stories can be instantly published after being written, and can be targeted at specific audiences through social media. Additionally, producers can create apps, which optimise the functionality of news on users' mobile phones, creating a potentially more immersive experience. Hesmondhalgh suggests
there are many ways that media conglomerates can minimise risks, such as focusing on tried and tested aspects of audience appeal such as genre conventions and celebrity appeal.
Regulation
As Livingstone and Lunt suggest,
technological changes have lead to regulation proving ineffective for UK news media.
The infringements leading up to the Leveson inquiry are an excellent example of this, and is required reading for all media students.
Circulation figures
The Daily Mirror - 626,541 (as of September 2017. Read this link for stats on the significant losses in readership the Trinity Mirror Reach group have incurred)
The Times - 448,533
Red tops and broadsheets
Both the Mirror and The Times appeal to different audiences.
The Daily Mirror is a
tabloid newspaper that appeals to a
working class audience. This is reflected through it's informal mode of address, it's cover price of 50p (still significantly more expensive than many other UK tabloids), and it's focus on sport and 'soft' news. Unusually for a red top, the
Mirror has a
left of center ideological perspective, and tends to favour the Labour party. The Labour party have traditionally been a party associated with the working class in the UK, though this association has changed significantly since the 1980's. By appealing to working class, left wing audiences,
The Daily Mirror's news agenda is more likely to focus on human interest stories, soft news such as celebrity gossip, and articles critical of the current right wing government.
The Times is a
broadsheet, and offer's it's
middle class target audience a formal mode of address and a focus on 'hard' political stories. This is reflected further in the cover price, which is currently £1. This is cheaper than other broadsheets, for example
The Financial Times and
The Guardian, but significantly more expensive that most tabloids. By appealing to
right wing, middle class audiences,
The Times' news agenda is more likely to focus on stories critical of left wing governments and social change.
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