Revising for KA2: the newspaper mock

In this session you will be using the blog to revise for the KA2 newspaper mock. This lesson will also help you practice using the blog as a revision resource. 

Basic information

There are two questions in the mock.

1 - Comparing an unseen newspaper front page to a newspaper front page that you have studied - approx 45 mins - media language or representation

The unseen newspaper could be anything. The 'seen' newspaper will either be the Boris Johnson cover of the Mirror or The Times 

2 - A question asking you to refer to a 'print edition' of either The Times or The Mirror. The 'print edition' we looked at was the Pele edition - approx 15 minutes - industry or audience

Practice unseen newspapers

Start with this Wikipedia list of UK newspapers. Pick one at random, and then google it looking for a front page. Analyse it using the textual analysis toolkit. 

Revise the set newspapers

Here they are! You can use the textual analysis toolkit to analyse these too. 

Revise the 'print editions'

You can find these here

Check out the newspaper posts already on the blog

There's lots of information about newspapers already on the blog. As long as you remember that current first year's are revising the Johnson covers, then you shouldn't get confused. There's nothing wrong with checking out older stuff too, as long as you don't get confused and talk about Teresa May in your exam...

Revise key theories

This post has every theory you NEED to know for A-level media. If you look carefully, you will see that under the theorist is a list of industries where you may be expected to talk about this theory. So go through this post, and either make notes or flashcards for every theory that has 'newpapers' under it!

Do even more theory revision

This video I made goes through every key theory in half an hour! Some of the theories are not applicable to newspapers, maybe, but it's a great use of your time if you want to zone out and watch a video

Check out past papers

Not every past paper is focused on newspapers, but check out this page for examples

Use the revision checklist to make your own questions

The revision checklist contains every single question that could EVER come up. So check out the two newspaper sections on it and start trying to work out what will come up in KA2!

Keep digging through the blog!

These are the most important revision resources. However, there's lots more information to find on the blog if you dig around, including stuff on how to write and structure a perfrct response, and lots more AMAZING videos...

T block newspaper - 'The Seen'

For this practical, whole class assessment, first year students had to construct an entire newspaper as a class, in only a week, with no guidance from their teacher beyond news prompts. Please note that the views and opinions in this post do not necessarily reflect that of this blog, the institution, or even the students! 

P block newspaper - Insider News

For this practical, whole class assessment, first year students had to construct an entire newspaper as a class, in only a week, with no guidance from their teacher beyond news prompts. Please note that the views and opinions in this post do not necessarily reflect that of this blog, the institution, or even the students! 

First year: THREE HOURS OF POWER

Rules

1. You can do these questions in ANY ORDER
2. You might do a few in significant detail, or you might complete them all in brief detail
3. There are no 'right answers' to these questions, but you should all use examples from the print edition of these newspapers
4. For each and every heading, you must find EXPLICIT EXAMPLES from the print editions of The Mirror and The Times you have been set. Basically, you could get a question like

(b) Explain how social and cultural circumstances affect audience interpretations of newspaper content. Refer to a print edition of the Daily Mirror to support your points. [10] 

or

a) Explore how newspapers are shaped by the financial implications that surround the producer. Refer to a print edition of the Times to support your points. [12] 

 

You can find the print editions by clicking here.

Questions and study prompts

Bias through selection, bias through omission 

• Outline examples of bias in the two newspapers. 
• How does the selection or omission of stories reflect the ideological perspective of the producer? 
• And why?

Specialised forms of production

• Newspapers are a specialised medium. They do one thing, and they do it differently to every other media product. 
• So find examples of how this newspaper is most definitely a newspaper, and not, for example, a magazine! 
• HINT: check out the layout...

The Mirror is a product of a horizontally integrated organisation

• What are some examples of The Mirror being produced and published by an organisation that essentially just makes loads and loads of newspapers?

The Times is a product of a vertically and horizontally integrated conglomerate 

• Same question again, but The Times is also vertically integrated. 
• Any examples?

Issues with regulation

IPSO specifically STRONGLY SUGGEST that newspapers should not do the following: 

1. intrude in to the private lives of private citizens
2. intrude in to grief
3. cause harm and/or offense through their reporting

what examples can you find which might go against IPSO's guidelines?

Aspects of digital convergence

• If print is dead, no one told the newspaper industry. 
• However, what references to digital media are their in these newspapers? 
• How and why could they get the audience to explore the website, for example?

How does the Mirror appeal to a working class, left leaning audience?

• Remember: left wing BROADLY means collectivistic policies such as higher taxation, a focus on public ownership, the support of a welfare state etc. 
• However, remember that these ideas might be very broadly or vaguely alluded to in the newspaper you are studying!

How does the Times appeal to a middle class, right wing audience?

• Remember: right wing BROADLY means individualistic policies that favour personal freedoms, lower taxation, a focus on private ownership, and less government intervention etc. 
• However, remember that these ideas might be very broadly or vaguely alluded to in the newspaper you are studying!

Ideologies, and how they are encoded and cultivated

• Ideologies are the messages and values of the producer. 
• So what are the beliefs of the newspapers in front of you? 
• And how do you know? 
• Here's a TOP TIP: if in doubt, just guess! This entire subject (and, by extension, life) is all about educated guesses!

Uses and gratifications

How do audiences use or take pleasure form the news stories in front of you? Here are some suggestions:

1. SOCIAL INTERACTION - audience can use the newspaper to make friends 'in real life', for example having a chat at the office (so-called 'watercooler moments'...)
2. INFORMATION - the newspaper tells us things we didn't know about previously. We can then use this information in a variety of circumstances
3. PERSONAL IDENTITY - we identify a viewpoint we already have. For example, you may find right leaning ideologies in the Times, which may reinforce the audience's viewpoints, and make them feel safe. Or angry. This is pretty similar to Gauntlet's theory of identity 
4. SEXUAL GRATIFICATION - we find people attractive. This is a creepier way of saying 'sex sells'
5. SIMILAR LIFESTYLE - We identify with people who are just like us, FR. For example, what working class identities do we see in The Mirror?

Bonus - alternatives to mainstream news

• Clearly, physical print newspapers are not how a lot of people get their news. In fact, you lot get your news in an increasingly digitally convergent hodgepodge of different sources.
• Find and research some 'alternative news' sources. This is really broad, and given that you may be using social media, it can be accomplished on your phone, maybe
• What issues and complications are bought up by using digitally convergent distribution practices to distribute news media?

Example newspaper for 2022 - 2024 cohort - The Daily Mirror and The Times 30/12/22

 The Daily Mirror

The Times

The difference between tabloid and broadsheet newspapers

Regulating newspapers: researching case studies

Today's task involves clicking on lots of links and researching. Please make sure that you make notes: you don't need to write a million words, but this information will be essential for a question on regulation of newspapers, which is frankly very likely to come up in your upcoming KA2 mock!

Introduction - starting with the conclusion

Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt argue that by and large, the regulation of all UK media is largely ineffective for a variety of reasons:

• Powerful media industries are motivated by maximising profit and securing power (Curran & Seaton), and are able to use their power and influence to bypass regulations
• Digitally convergent media technologies, for example streaming, internet piracy and difficult to regulate social media sites mean that traditional regulation is now essentially impossible
• The regulatory bodies that have been set up to regulate media are hands-off and ineffective at doing their jobs
  
  

Essentially, when writing about regulation, your conclusion will usually be that the regulation of the [x] industry is largely ineffective.

IPSO - the Independent Press Standards Organisation 

Click here to find resources appropriate to IPSO. 

(only the link to IPSO's code of practice still works, so don't worry about the other link)

Task 1 - Make notes on the IPSO code of conduct. What do newspaper editors have to think about when including stories? The following headings may help you

• Invasion of privacy
• Grief
• Self-harm and suicide
• Racist and discriminatory language
• Crime
• Reporting on children

Regulation in context: the News Of The World phone hacking scandal

First, watch this short (five minute) news broadcast that concisely explains what the phone hacking scandal was all about

Then watch this one, which goes in to more detail, several years on

Task 2 - make as many notes as possible on the News Of The World hacking scandal. What happened, who did it, where did it happen, why did it happen?

As a result of this incident, IPSO was formed to replaced the PCC. However, IPSO's guidelines are almost identical to the guidelines set out by the PCC. Why would so little change?

Criticisms of IPSO

Click here to find a link to a valid criticism of IPSO

Check out this short article by Mark Dixon which outlines some more issues and criticisms of IPSO's regulation of The Daily Mirror, as well as the hands-off method of regulation that IPSO operate.

Task 3 - in your notes, online the criticisms that exist about IPSO, and the regulation of newspapers in the UK. Why is it so hard to regulate the UK news industry?

Looking for trouble 

Now you know a little bit about IPSO, pick an online newspaper (eg The Sun, The Mirror, The Star, The Express... frankly tabloids will work better for this task) and complete the following task

Task 4 - make screenshots of articles that may breach IPSO's guidelines. Invasion of privacy is the easiest one to find here. How and WHY does this article breach IPSO guidelines? See how many you can find!

Bonus tasks

Here are some more tasks you may or may not have already completed. They're all importnant, so check them out!

Political ideology

UK newspapers: how representations reconstruct reality

If you are NOT in P block, or you just missed the lesson, then check out THIS post on a time when the Daily Mirror broke IPSO guidelines so significantly, IPSO had to step in! And... ask them to print a very small apology...

Demonising the working class for a working class audience

Click here to read the article as it was published in the Mirror's online edition before reading any further

Back to basics: the four types of media question

Industry - how a media product makes money 

Representation - how a group is re-presented by the producer to demonstrate their ideology

Audience - how the audience uses or interacts with a media product

Media language - how shot types, camera angles, MES etc make meaning for the audience

Representation

Which group is being represented in this article?

Working class people, specifically lower working class, the struggling working class. 

Who is the target audience for this article?

The target audience for the Daily Mirror is working class people, and it targets a left wing audience through it's political bias. 

What ideological perspective about this group is being constructed for the target audience? How?

That this family are unlikable, lazy, and bad with money. Therefore, it's their fault that they're poor. This ideological perspective is reinforced through the selection of images and the anchorage of MES

• Setting of a car boot sale is a sterotypically a working class environment, which has connotations of poverty and finacnial desperation
• The mother is wearing a handbag, which may suggest that far from being actually poor, she is spending money on hereself. This reinforces the narrative of the article. 
• Additionally, she is wearing the bag round the front, which functions as a proairetic code, suggesting that she is showing off her wealth 
• However, a polysemic interpretation is that the mother is vulnerable, and that she is taking care and control of her money, looking after it by keeping it in plain sight
• The man is wearing an Adidas tracksuit, which is a potentially expesive tracksuit. Once more the inclusion of this image constructs a representation of a family that have made poor finacial descisions
• The MES of the objects of the table further connote wealth. This includes a sterero, a keyboard, football shoes, and protien powder. However, the fact thayt they are selling these things constructs a narrative where the family have realised that these are not necesities, and must do things to make ends meet
• The family are clean, and are wearing nice clothes
• The Addidas trancksuit suggests stereotypical connotations of a working class lifestyle, involving council houses, being bad with money, and even crime
• Sterotypes are a widely held belief about a certain group of people, and they must be reinforced by being repeated multiple times in multiple situatuins
• The MES of the man's balding head and severe features further reinforces his status as a stereoypical working class person
• The MES of the cigarette in the woman's hand yet again further reinforces a stereotype that the working class are uncultured and bad with moeny
• The families car is small, modest and non-descript, which could be connotative of poverty

This entire article takes a highly voyeuristic mode of address which positions the audience in a judgemental position. 

Regulatory issues

• IPSO are the regulatory organisation for UK newspapers
• The Daily Mirror is owned by Reach PLC, a horizontally integrated distributor of hundreds of UK newspapers 
• However, despite being factually incorrect to a level that legally means that the newspaper has to apologise for it, the story is still being hosted, for financial reasons.

Why does the Daily Mirror encourage hatred of working class people?

• If the working class hate other working class people, does it make them feel better about themselves? Yes potentially! But it also means that working class people are more likely to blame other working class people for their issues. However, it is the ruling class, i.e. the government, the rich and those in power who actually cause widespread societal issues. If working class people are blaming the working class, then they are not blaming the people in power for their issues.

Does the Daily Mirror force the working class to fight against each other rather than facing their own issues? Does it reinforce hegemony?

• Marxist ideology - there are two types of people: the working class, and the ruling class. Everything in our society is based on the domination of the working class by the ruling class. 
• George Gerbner: cultivation theory
• Intertextuality: where one media product makes reference to another media product

An analysis of the Daily Mirror set edition double page spread

This article has been compiled from the responses of three separate classes, and therefore contains some repetition. Repeat, revise, remember!

Headline, centre spread image etc

• Front line workers are constructed through the MES of the hospital setting and the MES of surgical masks. These elements of media language construct the enormous pressure that frontline workers are under, and constructs a message that frontline workers are heroic and hard working
• However, a binary opposition is constructed between the heroic frontline workers and Boris Johnson. Johnson is pictured with the MES of a glass of prosecco in his hands, which has connotations of wealth, fun, and relaxation. This damning representation is further anchored through the lack of MES of a mask, the MES of his suit and his smug facial expression
• The lexis of the headline reinforces an ideology that Boris Johnson does not care about Britain or frontline workers. The word ‘shame’ in particular has connotations of not caring, but it also accuses Johnson of being guilty of something, in this case a potentially serious crime 
• This story would resonate with nurses and other medical professionals, as well as the general public, who would be aware of viral campaigns by NHS workers discussing the pain and discomfort of wearing masks for long shifts 
• Caption: rule breaking Boris Johnson took us for fools’. Caption reinforces the ideology that Johnson has fooled the public. The use of the term ‘us’ is more intimate, and it allows the audience to identify not only as those being exploited, but also it reinforces the ideology that the Mirror is ‘one of us’ 
• A binary opposition is formed between the picture of Johnson and the picture of the NHS workers. 
• The Mis en scene of Johnson’s alcoholic beverage as connotations of wealth and status. Champagne is a stereotypically wealthy drink, and it has symbolic connotations of celebration
• However, immediately to the left of this picture, the surgical setting and the MES of surgical masks and eye shield has connotations of suffering, death and danger. Clealry, these two images are a strong contradiction
• The facemasks present a highly relatable mode of address to the target audience, as the vast majority of the audience would have experience of wearing a a facemask. 
• However, Johnson is not wearing a mask, which could be symbolic of carelessness, superiority and a sense of social hierarchy. Johnson is wearing a suit, which is symbolic of superiority. The tone of his shirt is similar to that of the key workers, yet they are clearly from different parts of society. The use of a mis shot here does not create intimacy, but instead positions him too close to the audience, indicating that he is not ‘social distancing’ 
• Lexis: ‘man’ connotes that Johnson is a human like anyone else, and it is highly hypocritical that he is getting special treatment. ‘Man’ here suggests he is a man like any other, and should bare responsibility for his crime.
• Man with no shame is a (weak) pun, and symbolically encodes that johnsons crimes are a joke and ridiculous. The word ‘shame’ clearly has significant negative connotation. The shadows on his face, along with his smug and sarcastic facial expression even have connotations of villainy and ‘evil’
• Lexis of headline, in particular the word ‘shame’ has connotations of a negative nature. It heavily insinuates that Boris Jophnson is guilty of something
• The layout is busy and exciting with a big emphaiss of the colour blue. This has connotations of cold, death, misery and a hospital setting
• The mise en scene of Johnson’s cheeky smirk forms a symbolic code of villainy and guilt. This is confirmed and anchored through the lexis of the enormous word ‘shame’ hanging above his head. This combination of media language confirms a negative perspective of Johnson. 
• The caption immediately beneath Johnson reinforces the ideological perspective that Johnson’s presence is negative. “rule- breaker”, which clearly demonstrates the newspaper’s opinion
• The MES of the champagne flute has symbolic connotations, parties, wealth, and celebration. It’s presence forms a powerful binary opposition with the hospital setting immediately to the left, where the MES of machinery, the chaotic arrangement of people, and the MES of surgical masks all construct a stressful and exhausting mode of address
• The chaotic and frantic nature of the hospital scene positions us in an up close and personal mode of address
• An unflattering image of Johnson holding a champagne flute is selected, which constructs a highly biased representation of the former PM. By constructing him almost as a Bind villain, the producer is making intertextual reference to James Bond films

Body text - Keir Starmer addresses Mirror readers

• The ‘dear mirror readers’ first sentence is in larger font, and is in italic, which has connotations of handwriting, and has the connotation of it being more personal and relatable to the target audience
• Use of emotive language, including lexis such as ‘missing funerals’ has the effect of remind the target audience of what they suffered. Sacrifices…
• An informal mode of address is adopted, which might be surprising given the status of ‘sir kier starmer’. He uses contractions such as i’ts’, and uses emotive speech, a direct mode of address, and the use of the word ‘we’ suggests a collective response that both we (the audience) and he (stramer) were involved in. His language heavily infers that we all (he included) were as affected as one another!
• Letter singed off as ‘yours, Kier Starmer’ 
• The mug shot of Starmer’s face leaning over and directly addressing the audience has connotations aof a friendly pub like setting, where he is enjoying a pint with us. His lack of tie has connotations of infomrality, which allow the audience to relate to him more effectively
• The colour red has connotations of love, affection, power, and is also the colour of the labour party, and therefore the colour of revolution
• Use f ‘the British people’ evokes patriotism, pride in Britain. The use of the lexis ‘we’ symbolically constructs a sense of togetherness, the country 
• Missing off the ‘sir’ is more informal, but makes him more relatable
• The italic (comic sans?) font has connotations of handwriting, constructing an informal mode of address
• Starmer’s mugshot seems candid, caught off guard, and relatable for the target audience. He is slouched, and directly addressing the audience in an informal and welcoming way. 
• By referring to the audience’s intelligence, he is flattering the audience, and the use of the term sacrifice infers that the target audience have followed the rules. this is highly emotive language, and infers that the entire audience (and British public) are all in this together
• Italic, serif font of ‘Dear Mirror Readers has connotations of being handwritten. This clearly presents a relatable mode of address to the target audience of working class labour voters. 
• Starmer’s serious facial expression is further anchored through his relaxed yet firm body language,that positions us in a serious, yet friendly mode of address. His lack of tie is symbolic of his casual laid back nature
• Use of definite language constructs a mode of address which is clear and precise to the target audience. The use of language is appropriate to an audience with little or no education.
• “He insulted your intelligence” suggests the target audience are intelligent, and presents a flattering mode of address
• The word ‘sacrafice’ is highly emotive, and constructs a sense of unity and togetherness

Editorial: voice of the Daily Mirror

• Lexis ‘voice of the’ suggests that this newspaper is a spokesperson for ‘the people’ the general public, which heavily infers a sense of consent from the general public. If we disagree with the ideology of the daily mirror, then we are clearly on the same level as Johnson, the ‘villain’ of this narrative
• The use of patriotic language ‘our great nation positions the audience as British and proud and powerful. However, Boris Johnson is represented as an other, as different, and as destructive to the British way of life
• The word stain has connotations of being messy, disgusting, corrupt, and hard to get out. This reinforces the ideological perspective that essentially Boris Johnson is less than human. He is a traitor to our country. Clearly the Mirror does not say this explicitly, but it heavily infers this
• The lexis ‘charlatan’ is an old fashioned word with connotations of being upper class and well spoken, which presents an authentic and compelling mode of address
• Patriotic mode of address is constructed through the lexis ‘our great nation’ that positions the working class target audience as British, proud, and patriotic
• The symbolic connotations of the word stain include being dirty, and less than human. This is an aggressive and insulting mode of address

Political cartoon

• A satirical joke is one that criticises stupidity of those in power 
• Political cartoon humorously infers than Johnson is actually worse than Putin. Satirical comedy is often very harsh, and draws attention to public figures and political figure’s idiocy 
• The joke is heavy handed, and clearly argues that Boris Johnson is worse than Vladimir Putin!

UK newspapers: how representations reconstruct reality

Introduction: the sticky relationship between UK newspapers and UK political parties

As you leaned in the last session (and if you didn't do the last lesson, click here to do it now!), UK newspapers are EXTREMELY biased. This is for a number of reasons:

1 - Demonstrating a clear and biased political ideology allows the newspaper to target audience members who share the same ideology

So The Guardian is broadly a centrist newspaper. Not too left, not too right. Audience members who have a similar political ideology will feel right at home with this kind of newspaper. And a clear audience allows the newspaper to minimise risk and maximise profit!

2 -  Demonstrating a clear and biased political ideology allows the newspaper to manipulate the ideology of the target audience

This one is a bit trickier. As we saw with George Gerbner's cultivation theory,. audience members are not just sheep. But, if they see the same thing over and over and over again, the audience may agree with this ideology! So, if the newspaper tells the audience over and over again that there is mass immigration in this country, and we are running out of space, then they are more likely to believe this, and therefore buy the newspaper that tells them this 

3 - Demonstrating a clear and biased political ideology allows the newspaper to manipulate who the audience will vote for

This is closely related to the last point, and it works along the same principal. If a 'Labour Voter' feels at home reading the Daily Mirror, then they are more likely to buy it. And if a Conservative voter feels more at home with the Daily Mail, then they are more likely to buy this one. 

Additionally, if a newspaper sides with a particular political party, then the newspaper themselves gets certain benefits and privileges. For example, access to exclusive interviews, articles, editorial byline and 'off the record' gossip.

This might seem like a wild conspiracy theory, but the relationship between the UK media industry and politicians is well documented. An excellent example is former UK prime minister Boris Johnson, who started his career writing for The Times, The Telegraph and The Spectator, where he wrote often politically incorrect articles about ethnic minorities. He then became a conservative MP, arguably utilising the same ideological perspectives he previously 'sowed' (see Gerbner) to garner public support.

You can check out this Wikipedia page and the pages it links to for more information. It's surprising what information is sitting out there in the open!

Constructing reality

Nothing in a media product is 'real'. It is a representation. This means a 're-presentation' of pre-existing concepts by the producer. So, if for example you see 'an old white man' in a music video, this person doesn't exist. However, the producer has chosen (casted) an actor, and has used shot types, camera angles, editing, colour grading, soundtrack and so on to 're-present' this old white man, according to their own ideology. 

Basically, this makes whoever makes media products extremely powerful, because the producer gets to argue what is 'really real'.

Task 1 - How is Boris Johnson represented in both the front page of the Daily Mirror and the front page of The Times set editions?

Access the front pages by clicking on this link and then pasting them in to your blog post.

Now answer these questions, first for the Mirror, then for the Times. Yes, this is a little repetitive! That's the point!: 

• Who is Boris Johnson? What groups does he represent? I'll get you started: he is white, he is middle aged... 
• How is the representation of Boris Johnson constructed through media language? You can and should run through the following points for both newspapers:

• Point of view and ideology 
• Codes and conventions of news products/newspapers/type of newspaper
• Layout and design 
• Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of stories
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up
• Graphics, logos 
• Language – headline, sub-headings, captions
• Copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

• What elements of political bias are evident in both front pages? Remember, The Mirror generally favours a left wing/labour audience, but The Times generally favours a right wing, conservative audience... So what is going on here?

Exploring the representation of women in The Mail Online's 'sidebar of shame'

The 'sidebar of shame' is officially called the 'Don't Miss' bar, and can be found by scrolling down a bit on the main page and looking to the right.

I'm going to be frank with you: this next task makes me uncomfortable. But it's an important one. The Mail Online is the most read online English language news source in the world. It is absolutely massive. The Daily Mail (the newspaper) is a newspaper with a significant right wing ideology, that targets an older, right wing UK audience. The Mail Online targets a similar audience, but it targets a significantly larger female audience than many news sources. The Mail Online has a significant focus on gossip, which is generally crammed in to the 'don't miss' bar to the right of the website. This is sometimes refered to as 'the sidebar of shame' (obviously not by the paper!) for reasons which may become apparent as you read it!

Task 2 - Analyse the representation of women in The Mail Online 'don't miss' bar

Go to The Daily Mail website which can be found by Google searching for 'daily mail' (or save time by using the images below!)

Find the 'don't miss' bar (scroll down, two the right)

Find three stories on this bar featuring sexualised representations of women. This may sound like a subjective task, but you may quickly realise it's rather straightforward. Scroll down a bit to find stories and representations that you may find striking. 

Click on the story, and make screencaps. 

• What language is used to represent women? 
• What images are selected to represent women?
• What anchorage is constructed through the se of captions?
• Why are these images included?
• How do these images appeal to a heterosexual female target audience?
• What information is included about these women?
• Where have the images been sourced from?
• In what ways do these stories utilise stereotypes?
• What messages about women are constructed through the combination of images and copy (text)?
• What values and ideologies are reinforced through the representation of women in these stories?
• And (this is the most important question) why is the producer expressing these ideological perspectives?

Note: since a few students have mentioned that they are uncomfortable with accessing the Mail Online, and to save time for students who just wish to jump in to the analysis, I have included a range of highly selective and leading images found on The Mail Online on 01/12/22. You can use these to complete the questions above

Criticisms of tabloid newspapers

The Daily <ail presents it's audience with a highly compelling and clearly successful mix of highly sexualised representations of women in the public sphere, and often scandalous, high impact news stories from around the world. We will be investigating this mode of address on audiences as we progress through this unit, but in the meantime, check out this cartoon, published in UK adult comic Viz and made by Lee Healy and Barney Farmer.

Task 3 - Read this comic

This comic contains 'adult themes which may offend some audiences'. But then so does the Mail Online I guess. 

What are some criticisms of tabloid newspapers as raised by this comic?