Newspapers: The Guardian and the Daily Mail

Daily Mail= right wing

Guardian= left wing
Some still call news media the fourth estate because of their ability to exert political and
social influence: estate one (religion- mainly a society based on Christian values) estate two
(the monarchy) estate 3 (the wealthy business/upper middle classes- They uphold the
aspirational people others look up to, there is a hierarchy triangle and people who
make/own newspapers are the rich and wealthy people.)
Why are Newspapers Declining? Print newspapers are in decline because everything is
online and easier to access there. National daily newspapers in the UK lost half a million in
average daily sales over the past year (in April 2015.) Also being online, it means you can
look back at past stories, see more variety and also personalise it (get to see only the kind of
news you are interested in to make it easier for the viewer.) They are also declining because
of an increase in price and it may be more inconvenient if prints happen to sell out.
Newspapers are seen by younger audiences as ‘old media’ and with social media, online
news platforms and 24hr news on radio results in challenging the relevance of newspapers.
British Newspaper Industry under Technological Changes- Print to Digital
The way news is reported and distributed has changed significantly over time. ‘From the
printed page to television cameras and to the internet, technology has transformed news-
gathering, as well as the news itself.’ From around the 1920’s news was still very slow to be
published and received, but with the invention of the radio and then in 1950’s the
television, this greatly improved people’s way of accessing the media. By the 1920’s, radio
had matched newspapers as the most important source of news. The BBC led the rise of
news radio, following its motto to ‘inform, educate and entertain’. Instead of waiting for a
morning newspaper, people now only had to turn on their radio for instant information. The
BBC began broadcasting in 1936 but very few homes had televisions at the time. Technical
problems and high costs kept them from being widespread until the 1950’s. It was the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 that encouraged people to purchase televisions.
In the late 1900’s and 200’s the internet was introduced, providing websites, blogs and
social networking services. News is now available all the time and anyone with access to the
internet can be connected to an almost unlimited source of news. More than 50 US
newspapers went bankrupt from 2008-2009 and circulation fell in 13 European nations
(2009). To tackle this issue many newspapers now have their own websites, 75 million
people visit these websites. However, most newspapers still have the issue of the online
versions being completely free and some have begun working out a format (like the times)
to charge their readers to see more content on the website.
 Typical features of the Daily Mail: Daily Mail often talks about celebrities/royal people, uses
serif font, old fashioned text and all uppercase headlines, usually talking
against/complaining about the NHS and immigrants, very opinion based and often political
(don’t support Corbyn), mid-market tabloid. (Established in 1896 + The Mail on Sunday in
1982- sister paper.) It is loyal to the conservative party, with outspoken right wing political
ideology and a binary opposite of the Daily Mirror (e.g. their opinions on Margaret Thatcher)
Daily Mail Target Audience: Female/male gender split but slightly more towards females,
stereotypes are middle aged, middle class, middle England, traditionally British. 35+ with
significant 55+ print readership but younger age online, supporters of Brexit (pro-leave.)
Daily Mail owned by Genral Trust- a wealthy British multinational organisation, Daily Mail is
2nd highest to The Sun.
Newspaper Genres: (different types of newspapers)
Broadsheets (Quality Tabloids) - The Guardian
Tabloids- The Sun
Mid-Market Tabloids- Daily Mail
Local Newspaper- e.g. South London Press
Free sheets- The Metro
Sunday Newspapers- The Observer (The Guardian)

Conventions of a Mid-
Topography: dramatic headlines in large, bold upper case font.
Market Tabloid:
Sometimes called a ‘black top’ and covers a lot of the page.
Layout: They have some paragraphs underneath to give more context
to the story. It often includes traditional British news values and
often talk about the British royal family, politics etc.
Headlines can explore moral panics- (NHS, Brexit, knife crime,
weather which exaggerate the fear factor.)
They still use high impact tabloid style headlines but higher ratio of
text to photography than a tabloid. Quite big balance of text and
photos.
Tone: Use of the pronouns ‘we’ and ‘you’ to imply shared beliefs and
values. Direct, informal mode of address, very persuasive with strong
opinions. More subjective than objective epistemologies (the tabloids
are more opinion based than looking at straight facts.) They tend to
look at representing emotion a lot (Emotive representation.)
Tabloid Type: Cross between a broadsheet and a tabloid- soft news
(gossip/not really news/less important- such as sports, art and
culture, fashion, films, entertainment news.) Whereas, hard news
includes more factual and informative topics. (Related to society,
politics and economics, business, industry and technology, war and
conflict, education and health, science.) Mid-Market tabloids tend to
be a mix of both of these types.
Conventions of
Broadsheets

Higher ratio of text than photos.

Narrative content split into clear block
sections.
More hard news but does include some
opinions or reflections on events. Formal
mode of address, factual and informative
(objective epistemologies- less opinionated.)
They try to be fairly impartial and central.
Elaborate and sophisticated use of language
reflecting target audience. More serious
tone-not being as bias.
Less variations in typography, more columns
of text with not huge punctual headlines
filling the page. They have more consistent
and balanced reporting, expecting their
readers to make up their own mind on what
the story is.

Some examples of Daily Mail and Mirror comparisons

with the same topics.
Positioning the audience using Stuart Hall (Theorist): Daily Mail readers often have shared
cultural or situated capital. They are often positioned into a preferred reading by reference
to tradition and history. Frequent use of the words ‘we’ or ‘us’ connote a mythical shared
identity- direct mode of address anchor these representations.
Bandura Theory: Simple theory suggesting audiences are victims to passive consumption.
The Daily Mail, through use of language, juxtaposition, typography and choice of image
implants, or reinforces right wing beliefs and values. The key with Bandura theory is that it
affects ‘behaviour’ e.g. ‘The BBC sacked me for being a white man’ headline could
encourage racism.
Gerbner Theory: The Daily Mail reflects news values that are continually reinforced as
‘common sense’- A hegemonic assumption. Gerbner argues that repeated similar headlines,
repeated positive representations of the royal family for example, establishes a ‘World
View’ that is hard to challenge. It literally cultivates a right wing ideology and reinforces
traditional values.
Van Zoonen’s Feminist Theory: We get our ideas about gender through discourse (through
media/information/media you consume and receive.) She believes we learn what it is to be
female or male from the products we consume. From media we may learn what it ‘should
be like’ to be a male or female. Such as, through repeated representations in films for
example, the audience may develop particular beliefs of what women are like and believe in
these interpretations. Also, we may be influenced by the expectations of women that are
created through media or how they are portrayed overall in how the media wants us to see
them. Stereotypical interpretations women may be viewed as include; being vulnerable,
relying on men, being maternal, domestic, caring, sexy, damsels in distress, always cooking
and cleaning etc. This also includes men, where they are typically portrayed as masculine,
individual, strong, brave, not showing emotions, being more powerful and dominant etc.
Our ideas about gender have to be looked at through the different contexts too. The
opinions on these genders may change due to these contexts (cultural and historical). Our
ideas about what it is like to be female and male in England may be very different to what it
may be viewed in other countries based on traditions, beliefs and culture. The same goes for
different time periods, in the 1900’s, views on what makes someone female or male and the
expectations of them were also very different as of what it might be like now in 2019. The
next part of the theory is that women are often objectified through media, e.g. in music
videos, perfume and aftershave adverts. She believes we are in a patriarchal, male
dominated society where these behaviours have been encouraged until recently where it is
now more commonly challenged. This suggests the reason for why this is still very common,
as it became quite normal for people to be portrayed in this way. She often believes men
and women’s bodies are represented in different ways- men’s bodies are presented as a
spectacle, they are seen as something spectacular, with their bodies showing how they have
worked hard to achieve this look, making them admirable and are congratulated for it.
Whereas women’s bodies are to lust over, they can be portrayed as something people don’t
appreciate and just see those parts of women’s bodies as something to desire and have
Examples of how
women have been or
are used in adverts.
These show examples
from different time
periods.
UK Press Regulation and PCC

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary self-regulatory body (management of
complex systems according to a set of rules) for British printed newspapers and magazines,
consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC closed on Monday 8 September 2014,
and was replaced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). The PCC received
extensive criticism for its lack of action in the News World hacking affair, including from MPs and
Prime Minister David Cameron, who called for it to be replaced with a new system in July 2011.The
Leveson Inquiry was set up in response to the PCC’s failure and reported in November 2012 but
there has since been deadlock over its proposals for self-regulation.

News World Scandal:

News World- a newspaper read by 5million people

It was later exposed that the newspaper hacked a murdered school girls phone to make it seem she
was still alive to get a bigger story (4000 illegal phone hacking was discovered across several
newspapers.) The Royal Family was suspicious that someone was hacking or listening into their voice
mails which caused people to finally investigate it, however it still continued. In 2010 David Cameron
became president and his assistant was one of the editors of News World (Andrew Coulson) because
of all the drama over News World, he had to resign his position with the prime minister. Celebrities
and political figures as well as crime victims were targeted, jeopardising police investigations, giving
false hope and abusing privacy which resulted in the public’s trust of the newspapers being
destroyed. This was followed by inquiries issued about these events to control them. The Leveson
inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press
following the News International phone hacking scandal, conducted by Lord Justice Leveson, who
was appointed in July 2011. A series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012 to
discuss the issues. However, the media was powerful and it was hard to prevent them from doing
whatever it takes to get a story, which is what they seen to only care about. The Guardian described
the UK media industry as a ‘rabid, immoral machine’

Rupert Murdoch: Owns news international, which includes many other newspapers. He has a lot of
control and influence over the media, he inherited his father's papers, the Sunday Mail and the
News, and continued to purchase other media outlets over the years. In the 1970s, he started buying
American newspapers.

Some Key Points and Findings of the Leveson Inquiry:

It reviewed the general culture and ethics of the British media, and made recommendations for a
new, independent body to replace the existing PCC which was unfit for its purpose.

They wanted to include broadcasters and social media too

One option for Lord Justice Leveson is to recommend a stronger PCC with extra powers and
resources to carry out inquiries and punish breaches.

Those who complain of press harassment have said the inquiry must produce a system that tackles
invasions of privacy, damaging inaccuracies and the culture that resulted in the phone-hacking
scandal. But journalists and editors warn that freedom of expression will be threatened if the
current Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is replaced by a regulator with wide-ranging powers to
clamp down on newspapers.
It should be free of any influence from industry and government, and governed by an independent
board. Leveson says it "should also place an explicit duty on the government to uphold and protect
the freedom of the press".

Increase powers to watch and monitor any breaches, as well as have a strong fine. Privacy of
celebrities, victims of cases, footballers and more should be ensured.

"There has been a recklessness in prioritising sensational stories, almost irrespective of the harm the
stories may cause and the rights of those who would be affected." The damage done to people was
unfair and cruel, and Leveson wanted to make sure the media wouldn’t ignore those who would
suffer due to their actions anymore. Leveson wanted to stop this way of controlling and reporting
news.

IMPRESS- IMPRESS is an independent press regulator in the UK. It was the first to be recognised by
the Press Recognition Panel. Unlike the Independent Press Standards Organisation, IMPRESS is fully
compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry.

IPSO- IPSO is the largest independent regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK
and exists to promote and uphold the highest professional standards of journalism in the UK, and to
support members of the public in seeking redress where they believe that the Editors' Code of
Practice has been breached. The Editors' Code deals with issues such as accuracy, invasion of
privacy, intrusion into grief or shock and harassment. IPSO is able to consider concerns about
editorial content in newspapers and magazines, and about the conduct of journalists. (Not very
reliable because it’s self-regulated and is controlled by the newspapers meaning they can be bias)

Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced, influences their
ownership and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and The Daily Mail newspapers you have
studied.
The political context in which newspapers are produced has a significant impact on press ownership
and regulation. As a democracy, anyone in the UK can run a newspaper (although as a majority it
tends to be wealthier, higher class people, which is likely to influence what kind of information is
released onto the newspapers.) We also have ‘free press’ meaning that newspapers are free from
government control or regulation, and people are free to express the opinions they want. There are
independent press regulation bodies, although these are mostly advisory and have no legal power
over the press. Therefore, free press can also create some problems with newspaper owners being
able to dictate on their own terms what they write about, and how supportive of political parties or
ideologies they are, which can influence the amount of bias that is involved. This can be seen in two
newspapers with differing styles, The Daily Mail and The Guardian.

The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust Ltd, involving a group of people and funded by Alex
Graham Chair since 2016. It was established in 1936 by John Scott, owner of the Manchester
Guardian, in order to protect the newspaper from being influenced by a sole private owner or editor.
It has a readership of 0.9 million people (0.15 million printed.) Its audience is predominately male
(51%), with 62% of its readers being middle class and 22-31% lower working class. Interestingly it has
a younger demographic compared to the Daily Mail, with 59% of readers being under 55 and 27% of
those being 15-34.
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle market newspaper published in tabloid form. Founded in
1896, it’s the UK’s second biggest selling newspaper after The Sun with a readership of 2.9 million
people (online and printed.) The Daily Mail is part-owned by Johnathon Harmsworth, 4th Viscount
Rothermere. He is also the chairman of The Daily Mail and General Trust, which co-owns The Daily
Mail. Its general audience is fairly balanced in gender, although it’s slightly higher in female readers
with 52%. It also has a much older age group with 70% of readers being from 45-65 years and 56% of
the readers are working class.

The Daily Mail has fairly conservative views which can be seen in their support of a hard Brexit, fairly
strong anti-immigrant rhetoric, and their disdain for left-wing politicians like Jeremy Corbyn. They
also support traditional values which can be seen in their adoration of the Royal family and their use
of traditional serif fonts, both of which tie into the idea of ‘good old-fashioned’ Britain.
Stereotypically it includes a middle aged, middle class and middle England audience.

The Guardian, on the other hand, is traditionally a more left/central publication, supporting labour,
as well as occasionally the liberal democrats. In opposition to The Daily Mail they tend to be in
favour of remaining in the EU, although they tend to be more likely to represent both sides of an
issue to some extent. (Equal, less bias, fair and accurate info that shows either side of the story)

The fact that both newspapers are able to openly criticise the Prime Minister of the UK, the country
in which they are published, demonstrates that the ‘free press’ in the UK is not dictated to by the
government, and newspaper owners can represent their views without fear of prosecution.

The Leveson enquiry was an investigation in response to the News of The World’s phone hacking
scandal and also the wider issues of how newspapers investigate and report their stories. However
the recommendations of the enquiry were never made into legal requirements. PCC was closed in
2014 because it was deemed ineffective. Ipso is self-regulating- set up by the newspapers. Impress is
independent and follows the recommendations of the Leveson enquiry (but has no legal powers.)
Neither of the new regulatory bodies have a legal mandate, the government don’t want to get too
involved with the press regulation because…newspaper will attack the back

Supporters of Brexit (pro-leave and don’t support corbyn) Right wing conservative newspaper, strong opinions on
NHS, politics, immigrants and Brexit. Daily Mail often talks about celebrities/royal people, uses serif font, old
fashioned text and all uppercase headlines, It is loyal to the conservative party, with outspoken right wing political
ideology and a binary opposite of the Daily Mirror.

The Guardian: Higher ratio of text than photos. Narrative content split into clear block sections.
More hard news but does include some opinions or reflections on events. Formal mode of address, factual and
informative (objective epistemologies- less opinionated.) They try to be fairly impartial and central.
Elaborate and sophisticated use of language reflecting target audience. More serious tone-not being as bias.
Less variations in typography, more columns of text with not huge punctual headlines filling the page. They have
more consistent and balanced reporting, expecting their readers to make up their own mind on what the story is.
Left wing, founded in 1821, target an educated, middle-class, left-leaning/centre, 18+ audience. Pro remain,
supports labour. For and against bias- it can be good to have an opinion but sometimes bias goes too far,
compare the different ways guardian and mail present their information. Supports liberal democrats