Media Studies A Level OCR Paper 1 Newspapers

1. News: In Depth
Study
MEDIA AUDIENCES AND INSTITUTIONS
LINKS IN BLUE AND UNDERLINED

2. PART
ONE
The impact of
technological
change and
digital
convergence on
the production,
distribution and
circulation of
news.
•In the exam you may be expected to discuss how
technological change has affected the news industry and
specifically The Guardian and The Daily Mail.
•One key concept here is digital convergence.
•News organisations have been forced to converge ‘on-line’ in
order for their businesses to remain viable and reach
audiences.

3. Student Tasks
1. RESEARCH. What are the
different ways in which
audiences can consume news
content from The Guardian and
The Daily Mail. Be as specific as
you can.
01
2. DISCUSS AND MAKE NOTES.
How has technology affected
the way in which both
organisations produce,
distribute and circulate news
stories?
02

4. Production
•Need for audio/visual content on websites and YouTube.
•Ability to supply, and demand for 24/7 output.
•Competition to 'break news' via Social Media (principally
Twitter) through official accounts and also by individual
journalists.
•Greater focus upon 'opinion' and lifestyle stories to attract
readers due to additional ‘space.’
•Online content replicates and/or compliments offline
content.

5. Distribution
•As well as physical distribution, news must be
distributed digitally and effectively promoted via social
media as well as through conventional advertising.
•There is a danger that making content easily available online
will only create further problems for print news.
•Need to develop distribution strategies that take into
account the distribution of audio/visual content (embedded
live streams, podcasts, YouTube channels etc).

6. Circulation
•Circulation of news in print has significantly declined. This
has affected both The Guardian and The Daily Mail, although
The Mail has remained more resilient given its older target
audience.
•Both organisations have developed similar strategies by
offering content free online (whilst other newspapers have
adopted a paid subscription model)
•The Mail Online is noticeably different to the Mail in print
and has focused upon ‘clickbait’ type celebrity and lifestyle
driven stories aimed at a younger audience.
•The Guardian has also tried to attract more online
traffic through their ‘Comment is Free’ section which
features regular columnists who comment on various social,
political and cultural issues. Comment from readers is also
encouraged 'below the line' although this has caused some
problems in terms of moderation.

7. Examples
Student Task
•Look through The Guardian and Mail Online websites,
Identifying specific examples of how the production,
distribution and the circulation of news has been
affected by technological change and digital convergence.
•Collate links on a word document and summarise their
significance in relation to the previous points.

8. The future of Journalism?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42858174

9. The black line
represents
the total of all
newspapers
combined
(divided by 3
to fit on the
graph).
Remember printed
newspaper
circulation is
reducing.

10. The future of Newspapers?
• More ‘lifestyle’ content on-line (our obsession with celebrity/
popular culture)
• Click bate / sensational content on-line
• Citizen’s journalism (participatory contented with no Gatekeeper)
• Comment based content
• UK press deemed untrustworthy
• Editorial written by automated software
Baudrillard - the lines between created texts and reality are
becoming blurred

11. Academic Ideas and
Arguments
Student Task
Click on the link above and look through the sections on Media
Industries and Media Audiences.
Q. What ideas could potentially be applied and/or evaluated
when looking at technological change and digital convergence
in the Newspaper Industry?

12. Useful to talk about in the context of
how newspapers have tried to retain
and attract new audiences
through more
marketable content including lifestyle
and celebrity features.
INDUSTR
Y

13. Useful to talk about in the context of'
below the line' comments that might
offer oppositional readings, although
dominant readings still likely given the
way audience is positioned
by online content and the still wide
circulation of newspapers.
Useful to talk about in the context of
how social media and the web has lead
to greater participation in the creation
and sharing of news content and the
threat this represents to the newspaper
industry.
Useful to talk about in the context of
how audiences spread news online via
social media and challenge established
newspapers through alternative content
such as blogs and use of social media
AUDIENC
E

14. https://www.theguardian.com/media/
2019/jan/23/dont-trust-daily-mail-
website-microsoft-browser-warns-
users
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MailOnline

15. Additional Reading
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/20
18/jan/22/distrust-social-media-traditional-
journalism-fake-news

16. PART
TWO: the
significance of
issues of
ownership as
well as political
and economic
contexts.
•In the exam you may be expected to discuss how issues of
ownership and political and economic contexts affect the
news industry and specifically The Guardian and The Daily
Mail.
•The Guardian (Guardian Media Group) is owned by the 'Scott
Trust' and is politically a liberal newspaper.
•The Daily Mail (Daily Mail Media Group)is owned by the
'Daily Mail General Trust' (DGMT) and is politically a
conservative newspaper.

17. Student Task
Research
1
Find out a bit more about the
Scott Trust. What makes it
unusual as
a media corporation? What are
its aims and how does this
influence The Guardian in terms
of its content?
2
Find out a bit more
about DMGT. What makes
DMGT a horizontally integrated
company and what is the
benefit of this to The Daily
Mail?
3

18. Political
Context: ValuesThe Guardian is a Liberal newspaper. Some examples
of Liberal Political Values.
•Support for EU membership.
•Support for Immigration.
•Support for Gender Equality and LGBT rights.
•Hostile to 'Big Business' and support for the less well off.
•Internationalist.
• The Guardian supports the Labour Party although in the
past it has supported the Liberal Democrats and is seen as
hostile to current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

19. The Daily Mail is a Conservative newspaper. Some examples
of Conservative Political Values.
•Anti EU
•Anti Immigration.
•Support for traditional social values such as marriage often
hostile to LGBT rights and Feminism.
•Supports Free Market Economy and interests of Business.
•Nationalist
•The Daily Mail supports the Conservative Party, but has also
at times shown support for UKIP. Under its new editor
the paper has been more supportive of Theresa May, having
been more hostile under its previous editor Paul Dacre.
Political
Context: Values

20. Student Task
Compare and annotate these
two front pages from The
Guardian and The Daily Mail.
1
Can you see any examples of
how the political values of
each newspaper influences
the front pages?
2

22. Concern for poor, international focus. Critical of
Business (Tesco and Marks and Spencer)
Opinion piece by former Labour Prime
Minister arguing that Brexit should be put on
hold.
Older female actor challenging assumptions
about women in Hollywood.

23. Story with British focus, seems
sympathetic to women but also
blames women and... (see above)
'Golden girl', negative portrayal of Holly
Willoughby. Again UK specific story
...Advert assumes female desire to
lose weight and contradicts main story
regarding body image.

24. Economic
Context
•Both The Guardian and The Daily Mail have had to respond to
the economic pressures brought about by technological change
(see previous slides)
•The Daily Mail is more 'populist' in terms of its content and has
a much wider circulation, although as its main audience is those
above 55, this is likely to diminish in future. It still makes money
but revenues and profits are falling. The Daily Mail is also reliant
upon the more profitable businesses within the DGMT group
such as banking and financial services plus education
technology.
•The Guardian has been losing money every year recently
and has only been able to manage these losses due to the
support of the charitable Scott Trust. In 2012 the paper was
losing £100,000 per day.
•Both newspapers rely on advertising rather than subscriptions
to fund their online content, although The Guardian has also
successfully launched a 'membership' scheme which offers
certain benefits in return for donations. The Guardian hopes to
'break even' this year.

25. Student Task
Make notes..
What specific benefits
does The
Guardian membership
scheme offer readers
and for how much
money?

26. Academic Ideas
and Arguments
Student Task
Look carefully at
the academic idea/argument you
have been given and prepare to
explain why this theory might be
useful to apply or evaluate if
discussing issues of ownership
and/or political and economic
context.

27. Useful to discuss in relation to the charitable
Scott Trust versus the more corporate profit
driven DMGT.
Useful to discuss in relation to DMGT's corporate structure
which relies upon income from education technology and
financial services (although significantly these are non
media industries. Scott Trust challenges the assumption
made here.
MEDIA INDUSTRI

28. Useful to discuss how audiences may
accept dominant preferred readings which
reflect political values but also how they might
be resisted depending upon the audience
Useful to discuss extent to which political
values of newspapers are being challenged
by 'participatory' culture via online content
and social media.
AUDIENC
E

29. Evaluation of Academic Ideas and
ArgumentsBoth of these theories in terms of 'media effects' and 'cultivation'
of media audiences have been questioned in recent years. Why is
this do you think? Of the two theories, which is perhaps more
relevant? Think back to the Daily Mail front page.
AUDIEN
E

30. PART THREE:the
content and appeal of each of
the set products and how this is
used to target, reach and
address different audiences and
how audiences can be reached
through different media
technologies and platforms
• Although you wont be asked to analyse examples for the
audience and industry, you should be familiar with the content
of each set product. One way of doing this is by comparing
coverage of the same story.
• For this we will start by looking at examples of the two papers'
coverage of last Summer's Royal Wedding.
Link to Moodle Royal Wedding resources
If you cant access via this link, go to Moodle and click ‘here’ then go to:Set Product
resources/Royal Wedding

31. STUDENT
TASK:
comparison
of content.
1 - Look at the front pages plus examples from inside
each paper.
2 - Look at website and social media content.
Analyse examples and consider the similarities and
differences in terms of content considering issues of
political and economic context, and target audience.

32. Difference
s in terms
of
approach
to online
content.
• Look at the examples on the next slide - the home pages
for the two online editions of the newspaper from the
same day as the previous examples we looked at.
• What is noticeably different in terms of how the Daily Mail
approach their online content compared to The Guardian?
REMEMBER TO MAKE NOTES!!

34. Social Media
Platforms
STUDENT TASK
•What social media platforms are used by The
Daily Mail and The Guardian?
•What role do social media platforms have in
promoting newspapers online and offline as
well as encouraging audience engagement?
Find and screenshot examples and put on a
word document.

35. Academic Ideas and Arguments
DISCUSSION MAKE NOTES!
What ideas could potentially be
applied and/or evaluated when looking at
issues surrounding targeting
audiences within the industry

36. AUDIENC
E

37. MEDIA INDUSTRI

38. PART FOUR: How audiences
may use and interpret the
same media in different ways

39. Useful Theory
AUDIENC
E

40. Referring to Hall,
what types of reading
are these?

41. Oppositional readings

42. Type of reading?

43. Preferred readings

44. Type of reading?

45. Preferred/Negotiated readings

46. Different readings?

47. Different
readings?

48. STUDENTTASK: WRITEA SHORTPARAGRAPHIN RESPONSE TO THEFOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
1.How do the preferred readings here reflect the political values of each newspaper?
2.In the online age, are preferred readings as dominant as they once where? Give reasons for your
answer.

49. Don’t forget – you have
all 19 of these theorists
posters (emailed to you)
AUDIENC
E

50. Useful Theory?
How might Gerbner be
relevant to discuss here?
AUDIENC
E