Mass Media Law

&
Ethics Media

Course Code: BAC323

Names: Sophie Staufenbiel
Sarah Duysan
Word Count: 2125
 I. Introduction

In this comparative analysis of 4 newspaper outlets and the events they portray and highlight,
we chose to discuss and compare the four top UK newspaper outlets with their publication
date being the 2nd of March 2020:

1. The Independent
This particular news outlet is a British online new publisher which was founded in 11986 and
started off as a political independent newspaper in London and now is solely available as an
online version.
The main topics discussed in “The Independent” are 2economic issues, UK as well as US
politics but also sports and culture.

2. The Telegraph
The Telegraph was established in 1855 and was the first newspaper outlet to introduce an
online platform to their production aspects.
In 2016, they decided to launch their newspaper as a mobile and tablet app in order to help
readers to keep up to date with the news and in 2017 they became the number 1 quality news
brand in the United Kingdom. 3
Topics such as 4politics, sports, business, money, tech and lifestyle for example are all
discusses in this outlet.

3. The Guardian
The Manchester Guardian was first created in 1819, with the first publication in the year of
1821. In 2009, they introduced an app for iPhone and iPod Touch and has recently published
a statement regarding them still being committed to the EU even though with Britain leaving
in order to stay true to their journalism in regard to informing Europe about Britain and visa
versa.5
6
The main topics discussed in this outlet are topics such as sport, culture, lifestyle and the
general news – each sub categorized in smaller sub topics in order to keep everything
organized and clearer for the reader.

4. The Daily Mail

1
The Independent. (2020, February 22). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent
2
US. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://www.independent.co.uk/?CMP=ILC-refresh
3
Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://corporate.telegraph.co.uk/about-us/
4
Telegraph. (2014, November 14). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/#source=refresh
5
Key moments in the Guardian's history: a timeline. (2017, November 16). Retrieved March
3, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/11/1
6
News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's global edition. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.theguardian.com/international
 The tabloid formatted paper was founded in 71896 and finds itself being the third highest-
circulation daily newspaper in the UK. Their readers are of the ages over 50 however, the
newspaper outlet has majority of its readers being females.
8
News, U.S. politics, sports, TV & Showbiz, Health Science and lots of other topics are the
main fields that the Daily Mail goes into all sub-categorized into smaller categories in order to
get a better overview of everything.

II. Spotlighted Events

7
Daily Mail. (2020, February 27). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Mail
8
Home. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
In this section we will be talking about the main events spotlighted in the four newspaper
outlets we chose.

Starting with “The Guardian”, the events highlighted in this specific outlet for example was
the focus on the Corona Virus and the global situation regarding the outbreak. This event was
the most spotlighted one given its importance however, “The Guardian” also spotlighted the
event of the Brexit specifically the trade agreement with the United states and how much it
would or wouldn’t impact Britain’s growth rate since this topic is especially important to the
UK and their people.

Additionally, when reading “The Telegraph” the first spotlighted event that will catch one’s
attention is also regarding the Corona virus but more focused on the situation in the United
Kingdom than worldwide. The event is covered with a red background signaling the
significance of reading the article as well as having several sub-topics underneath regarding
the outbreak. The other event that is discussed in “The Telegraph” has to do with the war on
terror spreading in Africa with British troops being back on the front fighting against jihadists.

“The Independent”, like the other 2 newspaper outlets before, discussed the virus outbreak
with the main focus on England and a possible battle plan in order to fight the possible
pandemic. The other event discussed in this specific outlet was the refugee crisis, specifically
the controversial event of Turkey openings its boarder to Europe, more specifically Greece.

Lastlty, “The Daily Mail” portrays the ongoing battle regarding the virus and the UK wanting
and needing to find the carriers of corona in the UK and discussing the rise of the increasing
cases. Also, the event of Britain’s Prime Minister becoming a new baby was discussed since
there is a whole lot of controversy behind I regarding his new partner and how they got
together.

Summarizing, one can see that the global health aspect regarding the virus is discussed in all
four outlets, putting it on the front page in order to signify its importance. The other events
discussed had mostly to do with politics either locally or internationally, giving their readers
an update on what else is happening around the world or within the country.

III. Breaking news

Breaking news are defined or seen as a special report regarding a topic that has recently
happened in an unexpected manner and needs to be seen/heard by the readers in order to keep
them informed.
When looking at breaking news, one will find such at the very first page of the outlet
signifying its importance to the public.

Currently, as it stands on the 2nd of March 2020, all breaking news related topics of all the
four outlets are regarding the Corona virus – news that hit us out of nowhere and need to be
constantly updated regarding any progressions being made or further information about the
spread.
Other topics such as politics or economic situations of countries also made “Breaking News”
either independently from the possible corona pandemic or regarding the virus outbreak and
what could happen is this were to continue like it is right now.

IV. Event comparison

The event that is discussed in all four outlets, as briefly mentioned above, is the outbreak of
the corona virus.

In the “Daily Mail” the focus of the outbreak, at first glance, is on the UK and what the virus
has done to the country, the number of people infected including an info graphic of the places
where the infected people are coming from.
When opening the article at full view, it first talks about the rising number of infected people
in the United Kingdom but then goes on to talk about the worldwide situation, giving
information about leaders worldwide and their doing in order to bring the situation under
control.
Regarding the look and outline of the article, it is the biggest one in size on the outlet and
possesses the most images as well as colors in order to make it eye catching to catch the
attention of the readers directly to that event.

When comparing the way, it was portrayed in “The Daily Mail” the “Guardian” portrays the
news or the event in a more decent way regarding the looks of it but like the first outlet has it
put on the very first page. Instead of focusing on the UK solely, “The Guardian” expresses the
news in a worldwide manner starting with the global death toll and the infection rate
worldwide. Also, “The Guardian” made it a live feature on their site in order to be up to date
with all the information that is incoming regarding infections, deaths, spreading, etc.

“The Telegraph”, like the other two outlets done already, has put the news as breaking news
at the very top of the website in order to direct readers directly to that article.
Like “The Daily Mail”, “The Telegraph” has made the article a live article but it focuses
more, at first glance, on the UK and what the Prime Minister has to say to this crisis but also
gives a timeline of the past 24h when opening the article describing what happened
worldwide in the last couple of hours which is very similar to what “The Daily Mail” did in
their article.

Lastly, when looking at “The Independent” newspaper outlet, the article is also found, like all
the others, at the very top but in a decent manner like the ones in “the Daily Mail” as well as
in “The Guardian”.
The article in this specific outlet discusses the Prime Ministers statement and the spread of the
virus in the UK which is very similar to “The Telegraph” however it also contains a clip of a
short interview discussing the current situation and scientific opinions about the virus.
Towards the end of the article, one can find a timeline again about world events regarding the
corona outbreak which is very similar to what we’ve seen in “The Guardian” and in “The
Telegraph”.

Summarizing this, one could suggest that they are presented in a very similar way given the
reoccurring timeline of world events but also the looks of the article and what they discuss in
it. The only major difference we’ve seen was from “the Daily Mail” to all the others since
they didn’t have a timeline and focused mainly on what is happening in the United Kingdom
rather than worldwide.

V. “Should read” vs. “Want to read”

In our team’s opinion, the front page or home page of a newspaper outlet should reflect stories
regarding what people “should read” rather than what they want to read.
Global news or news in general are very important and can give readers valuable insight
information on what is currently going on.

We realize that everyone’s interested, and values are different regarding what they want to
read but we think that in a general sense, the front page should include the most important
topics from a global and local view in order to keep everyone up to date and informed.

The questions of “should read” vs. “want to read” obviously also depends on which news
outlet one is purchasing and reading since most newspapers have a political direction that they
are going in – either more towards the left wing or more towards the right wing.

Depending on what newspapers is bought, the topics may slightly differ especially in tone,
style and the way it’s portrayed however, there should always be balance of what the users
should read and what they want to read. Through this they will gain insights on topics that
they should be informed of but also insights into the topics that they specifically want to know
about.

VI. Agenda-Setting Function

 The Agenda setting theory, developed by 9Maxwell McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, is said to
occur when our cognitive process, the accessibility, kicks in meaning that the media is
providing the most relevant information which consequently portraits the major issues of
society but also the reflection of people’s minds.

The function has 2 levels with the first level being used by the researchers in order to study
the media use, the objectives and influence that media has on people and the second level
being focused on how people or the readers should think about the issue. This means that the
second level focused on how to properly grab people’s attention and on how to manifest
certain thoughts into the reader’s minds about particular headlines or situations.10

The main concept behind this theory is called 11“gatekeeping” meaning being in charge and
having control over the content that will be selected and discussed in the media outlets.
Gatekeeping is of quite the importance since it gives authority to make sure that the right
material is released into the media mass in an ethical manner.

In our opinion, it is important to have the agenda-setting function implemented in the media
outlets since it gives one an overview over what news are most important and of the highest
relevance to read and get informed by. However, there are also issues involved within this
theory and one being that if a reader’s mind is already made up and put in stone it will be very
difficult to change their mind no matter how much influence it may hold on other readers.
The second issue found in this theory stands in regard to the “gatekeeping”. Even though it
states that the editors have to ensure that the right material is published to the public in an
ethical manner, one never knows the true intentions behind this specific gatekeeper and could
result in “fake news” being published which will result to an unethical concept in the sense of
informing the public or the readers about a wrong idea or influencing them in the wrong way.

VII. References

9
Advertising. (2019, October 27). Agenda Setting Theory. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.communicationtheory.org/agenda-setting-theory/
10
Advertising. (2019, October 27). Agenda Setting Theory. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.communicationtheory.org/agenda-setting-theory/
11
Advertising. (2019, October 27). Agenda Setting Theory. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.communicationtheory.org/agenda-setting-theory/
The Independent. (2020, February 22). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent

US. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://www.independent.co.uk/?CMP=ILC-refresh

Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://corporate.telegraph.co.uk/about-us/

Telegraph. (2014, November 14). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/#source=refresh

Key moments in the Guardian's history: a timeline. (2017, November 16). Retrieved March 3,
2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/11/1

News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's global edition. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.theguardian.com/international

Daily Mail. (2020, February 27). Retrieved March 3, 2020, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_Mail

Home. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

Advertising. (2019, October 27). Agenda Setting Theory. Retrieved March 3, 2020, from
https://www.communicationtheory.org/agenda-setting-theory/