2. Brief 01: • Brief 01: Newspaper Conventions
• This first brief is a research and production task aimed at giving you the opportunity to develop research and
production skills needed within the production of print media.
• Task 1:
• Create a PowerPoint in which you present your research into the generic conventions of broadsheet newspaper
covers.
• Begin with slide of covers. The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph
• Slide for each conventions. Slide of masthead (typical/conventional for it, fonts, differences (modern etc. to be
different) (do for every feature: lang of headline, images, news values with examples)
• Task 2:
• Create a PowerPoint in which you present your research into the generic conventions of tabloid newspaper covers.
• Same process as Task 1
• Decide whether daily mail and daily express as more tabloid or more broadsheet
• Task 3:
• Based on your research, produce one broadsheet newspaper front cover and one tabloid newspaper cover.
• Original newspaper or copy format of each.
• Look like existing media or break conventions (need a good reason to break these conventions)
• Think about lessons (signs etc.)
• Both covers should contain at least one original image.
• Further details on how to present your research and productions pending update.
3. • Examples of Tabloid Covers
• Daily Mirror, The Sun, Daily Star
• Within their conventions
4. Masthead: Analysis of style
• Include the date above the title along with
the price. All are located at the top of the
tabloid. The font is inconsistent with "Daily
being in all caps and "Mirror" has a
capitalised first letter.
• Compared to the other logos, there's more
text within it.
• Using star creates the emphasis it is a
people magazine as 'star' can be associated
with celebrities.
• The italic bold of star and the subtlety of
THE in bold creates a focus on the star.
• Having 'THE Sun' in bold italic makes the
logo stand out and makes the logo
recognisable.
Labour Politically neutral Conservative
5. Language of Headlines
These covers show that despite the
humorous nature that tabloids tend to
have, The Sun has headlines that report
on serious political news.
Many of their headlines clearly converse
their conservative opinion.
The Star has much less serious headlines,
these headlines are occasionally
inappropriate as well. Despite the
humorous nature of these, readers are
likely to understand the reference already
or will understand once reading the article.
Similarly to The Sun, the Daily
Mirror has headlines that clearly
convey the story to readers
before reading them.
6. News presented
• All tabloid papers report on gossip, crime scandal all based on popular culture.
These stories are used to create light relief and humour to put
across a serious topic. Allowing the reader to stay update on gossip
and serious issues in a fun twist.
Daily mirror- left
wing leaning
The sun- right wing
leaning
Daily star- politically
neutral
7. Audience of the papers
- Centre left views
The political stance of newspapers tend to influence the audience of their news. Therefore, most readers will
share a political view with the paper. However, we must also understand that some viewers want to expand
their knowledge with different opinions, and some may also try to be unbiased.
- Neutral views
- Right Wing views
The star does not have apolitical bias and reports without the ideogologies of
left or right wing.
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to
promote and to preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The
central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and
civilization in which it appears.
Have sought egalitarian changes in the economic, political, and cultural
institutions of the United Kingdom. Generally, the left wing is
characterized by an emphasis on "ideas such as freedom, equality,
fraternity, rights, progress, reform and internationalism"
Audience
8. Images
The images used display political leaders,
celebrities and a paparazzi picture. These
stay within tabloid conventions being
emotional images being twisted or made
fun of for the story and using pap photos
further shows that they report on softer
news.
The photos in this
paper are clearly
used to make fun
of the people
affected for
example Donald trump has been taken and
photoshopped onto another person to create a
funny image to go along with the story which clearly
isn't real. This helps show the star staying within
tabloid conventions with the softer news such as
dinosaurs.
Again, the photoshopped
photos display the
conventions of the tabloid
paper clearly to the reader.
It shows that the news article is not necessarily
formal and that they don't respect the person
they are turning into birds of other creatures.
Although the sun also uses serious photos to go
along with their more serious articles on the
royal family for example.
9. News agenda Typical tabloids post about celebrities and
softer news
Both these covers show the content that is normal
for tabloid papers. With bold text and photos, the
first thing that catches your eye is speaking about
the NHS saving a celebrity and poking fun at political
happenings. However, the political standpoints are
shown through the wordings of the titles as the
daily mirror reports as a centre left paper.
Again, both these covers show the content that is
normal for tabloid papers. With photos and large,
the first thing that you see is about political parties
although this is not necessarily normal for tabloids
the language of the article keeps it within
convention. However, the political standpoints are
clear because of the language showing the suns
right wing views.
These covers are covered in photos and bold, flashy text which shows
that the star stays within its conventions. The Star is the least political
out of the three with its neutral standpoint in politics meaning the
news is always soft and usually weird articles or the language is semi-
formal.
10. The Sun uses two different ways to present its images in
general, one being with an image and anchoring text
across the majority of the page, the other being multiple
stories spread out almost evenly across the cover.
However, these covers did stick out to me amongst the
general covers of The Sun. The image of Theresa May is
central on the page, this differs from the conventions of The
Sun as they tend to place their images to the side when
they cover the page. This normally allows for the anchoring
text to surround the silhouette on one side. Instead in this
situation, the headline sits below her face whilst the
standfirst and other information cover the space
surrounding her, making the page feel just as intense and
full as it would be if the image was in a conventional
position.
This Daily Mirror cover
stood out to me because of
the unusual, convention-
breaking, amount of
advertisement. The large
number of advertisements
is distracting as it
outweighs the quantity of
news stories on the cover.
This cover stood out to me
due to how large the main
image and anchoring text is.
11. Daily Mirror
conclusion
• The Daily Mirror shows who they are and their
values throughout every paper, through their
content, masthead, and images. They are a left
leaning paper. At times they can be more
serious through their content, this allows them
to attract the right audience as opinions are the
same and readers are looking for soft news such
as celeb gossip.
12. • The star constantly uses their soft news and
funny covers to show they are a true tabloid.
Because The Star is politically neutral, they
don’t take sides in arguments and instead
make fun of the entire story making catchy
covers, this allows them to create fun,
nonsense reports that attract readers who
want to laugh at the situation
The Star
13. THE SUN Conclusion
• The Sun emphasizes who they are and their
values constantly, through their content,
masthead, and images. They are a conservative
paper. At times they can be disrespectful through
their serious content, this allows them to attract
their audience as opinions are the same and
readers are looking for gossip.
