Analysis of the set edition ('partygate' front page) of The Daily Mirror

Revising the analytical thinkers

Roland Barthes

• Everything has a deeper meaning. The world is built from codes, anything which has meaning
• Proairetic code - action code. Something that suggests that something is going to happen. 
• Hermeneutic code - mystery, suspense, enigma. Asks a question. E.g. a ghost, dark setting, a dark ally…
• Symbolic code - the deeper meaning
• Referential code - intertextuality: where something refers to something else
• Myths: stories help to shape the world
• Myths - a story that isn’t necessarily true, yet helps us to make sense of the world.
• Codes contain deeper meanings. Anything can be a code, including shot types, MES, colour, haircuts, soundtrack…

Claude Levi-Strauss

• Binary oppositions - when our understanding of something is defined through what it is not. Examples include day &night, good & evil, sad & happy, right & wrong, student & teacher. We understand the world through binary oppositions.
•  Binary oppositions. Two contrasting concepts, including day and night, teacher and student, mother and child… binary oppositions help us to see differences in the world, to identify what is what and to actually make sense of the world. 

Exploring how media language constructs complex ideological perspectives in the Mirror front page

• Hermeneutic code - the lexis of the headline refers to parties, police probes and so on. Yet it is not shown, constructing a sense of mystery for the target audience. It encourages and anchors the reading that the Daily Mirror will provide these answers, which constructs this newspaper as being made by reliable journalists. 
• The font for the lexis ZERO is significantly larger than the other numbers. It constructs a reality where it is a proven fact that Boris Johnson lacks shame. 
• To infer that Johnson has no shame is to infer symbolically that he is a bad person, and even less than human. This extremely biased mode of address will appeal to the working class and left wing target audience of the daily mirror. 
• Rather than convincing an audience, the Daily Mirror cultivates an ideology that Johnson is a bad and negative person. By attracting a specific and presold audience, it allows the newspaper to maximise profit. 
• The main image of Boris Johnson functions as a proairetic code, with the MES of his facial expression suggesting that he will make a bad decision. The image is both unflatter, and constructs Johnson as conniving, scheming and hateful. Within the narrative that the mirror has constructed, Boris Johnson is a villain. This simple and straightforward narrative will appeal not only to the left wing audience, but also a working class audience. The Mirror has therefore made a discriminative, othering and stereotypical assumption about it’s working class audience. 
• A narrative is constructed where Johnson is hypocritical. He broke the laws that he set, a clear example of a binary opposition.
• The colour yellow is vibrant, stands out, and symbolically encodes danger and hazards. This bright shade of yellow is symbolically associated with extreme danger, constructing a reality where Johnson is dangerous. 
• Johnson is wearing a suit, which is connotative of his status and importance. However, this contrasts with the narrative constructed surrounding Johnson's immaturity and incapability to rule. This binary opposition helps us to understand that Johnson is a terrible person. 
• In spite of his issues, Johnson is still constructed as the most important person  in the country. This reading is anchored through his role as PM, being featured as front page news, and his suit, which is connotative of power. This reinforces and constructs a myth where our country is ruled by powerful yet irresponsible people. This encourages the preferred reading of being critical of the conservative party. 
• The only other front page story is a colourful puff piece of the Queen being sad about her father’s death. This soft news story reinforces the myth of the importance of the royal family, and will appeal to working class audiences who love the royal family. 
• Boris Johnson forms a binary opposition with Kier Starmer. While Johnson is constructed as being more important/dangerous, Starmer here take the role of the left-wing protagonist, solving this problem. The caption beneath Starmer reads CRUSING, anchoring a reality where Starmer is powerful, profession, and physically strong.  
• The main image presents Boris Johnson in an unflattering light. He is not posing, suggesting the image was taken candidly. Johnson’s facial expression appears to be smug, constructing a reality where Boris Johnson, in a position of power is able to flaunt the law. This image therefore works as a symbolic code, symbolising his contempt for the nation.
• A reality is constructed where Johnson is incompetent. However, the mid shot includes the MES of his suit, constructing a reality that although he is incompetent and unliked, he is still in a position of authority. Johnson was a controversial Prime Minister for routinely breaking protocol during the pandemic, constructing a narrative where Johnson is above the law while normal working class people are suffering. The readership of the Mirror are working class and left wing, which positions the target audience as one of the people who have suffered. Therefore Johnson is constructed as a supervillain. This example of a referential code helps the working class audience to understand a complex political situation
• The headline ZERO SHAME suggests Johnson not only lacks morality but also lacks accountability, through the abuse of his power. 
• The word ZERO is in yellow which has connotations of fear and terror. This anchors the meaning that the audience must be afraid, as the man running the country is an incompetent and amoral monster. Additionally, the colour yellow is used in warning signs, functioning as a powerful proairetic code for the audience. Things will now get very bad
• By constructing an alarmist and threatening mode of address, the Mirror constructs a reality where the world that we live in is cruel and unfair world. By making the audience pessimistic, it ensures the audience will buy the newspaper day after day. 
• Johnson is universally negatively represented in this paper, which aligns with the left wing ideologies of the institution 
• The lexis of the headline features a countdown from 12 to zero that resembles a timer on a bomb. This referential code to videogames and action movies constructs an exciting mode of address about a scandalous yet also straightforward story. 
• The use of numbers gives a sense of factual seriousness which potentially overwhelms readers. 
• The ellipsis symbolically suggests that the scandal is still ongoing and that there will be more to the story later
• The small, inset secondary image of Kier Starmer constructs a binary opposition between the lazy, confused, smug Johnson, and the superior, focused, and professional Kier Starmer. This reinforces the ideology that Starmer is in charge, and that the labour party is morally superior.
• The secondary story is a puff piece about the 75th anniversary of the King’s death and the Queen’s inauguration. This story is significant because it features the royal family, which reinforces the ideology that not only are the royal family at the top of the social hierarchy, but that this is a good thing. 

Symbolic connotations of The Mirror masthead

• The masthead is always presented at the top of the newspaper, and above the fold, allowing it to appeal to and to address the target audience
• The font is sans serif, which has connotations of class. It is simple and stereotypically appeals to a working class audience 
• The lexis ‘the heart of Britain’ suggests that this is the number one newspaper in the country. The word heart has connotations of popularity, and avoiding controversy. Additionally, a polysemic array of meanings are constructed, including tone of love, caring and respect. Finally., the heart of Britain suggests that this newspaper is the centre of British life 
• The colour red is connotative of many things: pride, the colours of the British flag, with the red and white symbolic of either English flag, blood and a sense of togetherness, passion.
• The Heart of Britain is in a gold font, which has connotations of royalty, which is popular with the working class target audience 
• A warm colour palette, but also bold and confident 
• The red topped logo connotes a simple and straightforward tabloid audience. It is cliched, simple and straightforward
• 95p is affordable for the working class target audience. The cover price has doubled in the last three years due to mismanagement and also rising costs of production and dwindling readership
• The anchorage of the mastheads helps the audience to understand that the colour red is not symbolic of death or ladybirds
• Instead, the colour red symbolises a beating heart, the shared blood of it’s readers, urgency, passion, love, and a vibrant and attention drawing mode of address
• Mode of address – the way a media product greets or talks to it’s audience. The Mirror masthead is friendly and optimistic!
• The colour white stands out effectively against the red, forming a binary opposition
• The masthead resembles a stop sign, asking the audience to stop and read the important information inside. It appeals to a driving audience, yet it is not subtle
• The ‘heart of Britain’ functions as patriotic propaganda. It encourages and positions the target audience to agree that they are important, and Britain is important. The anchorage of the word ‘heart’ reinforces the symbolism of blood established by the colour red
• The masthead must efficiently show the target and devoted audience exactly what paper this is. 
• The masthead cannot change. The only information that can change is the date and sometimes the slogan 
• The font is sans serif. It is normalised, and appeals to a mass audience and a working class target audience!
• 95p is a reasonable cover price which targets a working class audience
• The word ‘Daily’ is at a 45 degree angle, which is less formal, typical of a tabloid newspaper
• The red top instantly identifies this as a tabloid newspaper, minimising risk and maximising profit