News and Online Media Industries, Theories and Contexts

News and On line Media
Media Industries, Theories and Contexts
Media Audiences Theories and Contexts
Y1 From 19/11/2019
Y2 from 29/01/2020

What do I need to know?
• how news is shaped by how it is produced, distributed and circulated
• the ownership and control of news
• economic factors such as funding for news
• how news industries maintain audiences nationally and globally (covered below under audiences)
• the impact of technological change, especially digitally convergent media platforms, on news
• the role of regulation in news and the impact of digital technologies on regulation
• the effect of individual producers on news
Theory
• use and evaluation of the ideas of Curran and Seaton, Livingstone and Lunt, and Hesmondhalgh on media industries
The Influence of Contexts
• Political contexts: the political systems and forces within which the news media industries operate and which they influence, particularly the effect of
these on ownership and control and regulation
• Economic contexts: the influence of the economic system on news media industries, including on funding, the profit motive and competition between
producers
• Historical contexts: how news industries reflect historical changes across the other contexts

w.c. 19/11/2019
Aim: recognise how News and Online media have evolved.
Know
how news industries maintain audiences nationally and globally (covered below under audiences)
• use and evaluation of the ideas of Curran and Seaton, Livingstone and Lunt, and Hesmondhalgh on media industries
the effect of individual producers on news
Do:
Create a Word document and then post it onto blogger here you will record notes as follows
• Analyse news readership for a range of news papers (Print and On-line)
• Determine the main organisations who own the news (in the UK)
• Determine how news organisations are funded.
Show.
Show evidence of findings in a Word document and upload to slideshare or direct upload to blogger.

News and On line Media - ownership
• the effect of individual producers on news
The notion of political bias should be considered in relation to ownership and regulation of the press.
It can be seen also in the influence of political thinking and political outcomes and therefore affect democracy.
Cultivation theory suggests that
exposure to media, over time, subtly
"cultivates" viewers' perceptions of
reality. Gerbner and Gross assert:
"Television is a medium of the
socialization of most people into
standardized roles and behaviors. Its
function is in a word, enculturation"

News and On line Media - Audience
Print News Audience:
An audience can be defined as a group of people or the market that a product or message is aimed at.
The OCR specification identifies that for the print news and media audiences, learners must study:
• The content and appeal of products
• How content is used to target, reach and address different audiences
• How audiences may use and interpret the same media in different ways
Before studying these issues it is necessary for students to develop their understanding of audiences for
print news

Market Segments
Audiences can be divided up by statistical data such as age, gender (socio-economic) or by bahviour (uses
and gratification) and experiences such attitudes to social issues. Segmenting audiences in such a way ins
such a way helps newspapers understand audiences better.
Audiences can be segmented
• Demographically
• psychrometrically

Demographics
This groups a population into specific categories such as
Age
Gender
Social class
Ethnicity
Religion income level
Geographical location and so on…
Demographic profiling focusses mostly on age, gender, income and occupation
Students have previously been introduced to the acronym
GEARS.

Social demographic grades correlated with social class and occupation
Social demographic
grade
Social Class Household chief income earners occupation
A Upper middle Elite, high managerial professional, e.g. banker, director of public
company, judge, hospital consultant
B Middle Intermediate managerial professional, e.g. GP, consultant, architect.
C1 Lower middle Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, or professional, e.g. office
worker, IT professional, secretary.
C2 Skilled working class Skilled manual workers, e.g. electrician, plumber, builder.
D Working class Semi skilled, unskilled manual workers, e.g. shop assistant, factory
worker, labourer, telesales
E Non-working Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on
the welfare state for their income
News companies focus on ABC grades:
• These groups are likely to have the highest disposable income
• They are more attractive to advertisers

Psychrometrics
Psychrometrics is another way of categorizing audiences. One way is to use VAL’s typology which consists
of
• Values
• Attitudes
• Lifestyle or behavior

Psychrometrics
Psychrometric types and their Val characteristics
Psychrometric type VALcharacteristics
Aspirer • Seeks Status
Explorer • Discovers New things
Mainstreamer • Likes to be part of a larger group of like minded people
• Seeks security
Reformer • Not impressed by status and materialism
• Socially aware
Resigned • Has built up attitudes over time
• Believes in institutions and traditions they can trust
Struggler • Has a live for the day attitude
• Seeks themselves as a victim
• Seeks escape
Succeeder • High social Status
• Deserves the best

Psychrometrics
VAL can lead to stereotyping different audience groups.
Different News outlets appeal to different VAL groups
Identify the Val Groups that appeal to the
Sun
• 1
• 2
• 3
Times
• 1
• 2
• 3

Audience types
• Target Audience: a specific group of people targeted by the newspaper made of different
demographics and psychometrics
• Mass Audience: a very large audience including a large a wide range of people made of different
demographics and psychometrics. Print traditionally attracts a mass audience
• Niche audience: a small select group who have a unique interest.

The content and appeal of products.
Newspapers must appeal to audiences and advertisers to stay profitable. They do his through the content
they offer to their audiences.
News Stories selected .
The stories featured in a paper reflect the viewpoint of the owner and editor of the paper, they must also
reinforce the values and interest of the target audience
Harcup’s news values (2001) address the importance and appeal of sensationalism and attracting
audiences

Harcups news values…
News Values Applies to stories concerning
1 The power elite Powerful individuals, organisations and institutions
2 Celebrity People who are already famous
3 Entertainment Sex , show business, human interest, animals, unfolding dramas,
humorous treatment, entertaining photographs, witty headlines
4 Surprise An element of surprise or contrast, the unexpected
5 Bad news Conflict, tragedy, death, negative topics
6 Good news Rescues, cures, miracles
7 Magnitude Large numbers of people, or the size of a potential impact of a story on
people
8 Relevance Issues, groups and nations relevant for the target audience
9 Follow up Subjects already or recently in the news
10 News agenda The newspapers own agenda regarding political and social issues they
choose to report on and the ideological values they express.

• Applying Harcup’s news values
Good news:
Cheap holidays
Prince Louis
Bad News
Johnson
resigning from
post
Surprise
Johnson
resigning from
post
Follow up
Ongoing factions
in Conservative
Party over
BREXIT
Celebrity
Kate: Duchess of
Cambridge
Relevance
Disputes within
the Conservative
party; England’s
success in the
World Cup
Entertainment
Football, World
cup, holidays,
witty headliness
Magnitude
Impact of Brexit,
World cup and
global reach of
Royal family
News agenda
political agenda with focus on the
Conservative party: sport is given
priority along with current affairs.

• apply Harcup’s values to the following Front cover Group A (18/11/2019)
Good news:
Bad News
Surprise
Follow up
Celebrity
Relevance
Entertainment
Magnitude
News agenda
.

• Apply Harcup’s values to the following Front cover Group B (18/11/2019)
Good news:
Bad News
Surprise
Follow up
Celebrity
Relevance
Entertainment
Magnitude
News agenda
.

News and On line Media – Target Audience
How do Newspapers target and reach their audiences? (further detail on page 33 OCR notes).
1. Price.
• Set to appeal to the audiences socio demographic profile
• A redtop tabloid costs between 40 p and75p, a broadsheet newspaper ranges from £1.60 -
£2.70
2. Cross platform advertising
3. Promotional offers
• Offers such as free give away’s, posters, discounts on holidays shopping vouchers appeal to
and reach the target audience
4. Subscriptions
5. Sponsorship
6. Partnership marketing

News and On line Media – Audiences and
interpreting media
How Audiences use and interpret media
Blumler, McQuail and Katz identified the “Uses and gratification theory (1974).. This
theory is useful when identifying audiences use of print news…

News and On line Media – Audiences and interpreting media
Blumler, McQuail and Katz applied to Print news…
Need or use of
the media
product
Explanation of the need Examples of print news to illustrate how the need could be satisfied.
Entertainment
and Diversion
The reader will look to be entertained
by the content of the newspaper,
which they will see as amusing or a
diversion from their everyday life or
serious events
• The stories in popular tabloids feature celebrities or entertainment news value
• Arts and culture reviews in broadsheets or serious newspapers divert audiences
from serious news, current affairs or social issues.
• Entertaining language in headlines
Information
and education
The reader will look to be educated
by the content. They may also rely on
the newspaper to help them to
develop a viewpoint or opinion of
different news stories.
• The stories in quality tabloids or broadsheets provide composition and balance
to help educate the reader through objective journalism.
• The use of hyperbole or rhetoric and political bias in popular tabloid news
stories may influence the reader in how to think about social and political
issues.
Social
interaction
The reader will look for opportunities
to be informed on issues that can
enhance their social understanding or
lead to social interaction with other
people in some way.
• The reporting of social issues helps readers to develop their social
understanding
• Celebrity stories and gossip columns emulate chatting friends socially and/or
can reinforce current popular culture discussions that the readers might have
socially
Personal
Identity
The reader will look to personally
identify with the content through the
language used, the images selected
and the stories featured
The selection of news stories and application of values reinforces the ideology of
the reader so they can personally identify with the content

News and On line Media – Audiences and interpreting media
These categories show that the Guardian
readership is much younger, more upmarket
(more middle class), much more London-based
and slightly more male than the Daily Mail
readership. The Mail’s middle market bias is
shown in the high proportion of C1/C2 readers
and its reach into both the AB and E categories,
making its audience more evenly spread than
the Guardian’s.
However, although the differences in the
audiences for the print newspaper are huge,
data shows that the differences are much less
for the online editions. The Mail Online’s
audience is, compared to the Guardian’s, only
very slightly less upmarket, only slightly older,
only slightly more female, and slightly less
London-based.
Influence of contexts
The historical decline in the social significance of
social class.
The increasing significance of psychographics
over demographics

Comparison of Pint News front Covers
• Compare the front covers of the Daily Mail and the Guardian 19/11/2019
• Analyse the front covers using Harcups Values
• Identify content for each of the two papers where the print news is targeted towards a
social demographic (explain how the articles link to the target audience)
• Using data on page 18 (power point) and page 33 OCR booklet Media messages discuss
how the news content including sell line, offers etc meets the target demographic
• Download screen online content of the news for the Mail and the Guardian using screen
prints highlight how the layout and features differ compared to the Print version…

News paper analysis and
target audience
Harcup’s news values
Socio economic
Uses and gratification
GEARS

Audience and the Guardian
Audience:
• The Guardian has a mass audience of around 100,000 for print, whilst numbers are low
the readership is loyal. The demographics of the newspaper are approximately
• 44.2 % aged 55 and over
• 51:49 % male and female
• Approximately 75% ABC social demographic
• The Guardian Reader is interested in culture lifestyle and sport.
• The Guardian defines its audience as progressives (explorers, reformers, succeeders)

Audience and the Guardian
How content is used to target , reach and address their audience. :
Marketing tools used by the Guardian to target and reach it s audience
Price £2.20 75% of the Guardian’s audience is ABC
Promotional offers Provides offers for its readers that supports some of its content in its
supplements papers such as Review, Culture and Travel.
Subscriptions Offers a range of subscriptions to reach and attract its audience.
Sponsorship The Guardian has had sponsorship deals with Unicef, Unilever and
phillips
The Guardian also sponsors Glastonbury Festival to appeal to their
younger audience and millennials
Partnership marketing The Guardian has a content partnership so they can distribute selected
content across the UK, US, Canada , etc. This helps secure a global
reach and target mobile consumers

Audience and the Dailey Mail
Audience:
The Daily Mail is the second best national daily newspaper after the Sun.
The daily Mail has a mass audience and readership has a mass audience of
around 100,000 for print, whilst numbers are low the readership is loyal. The
demographics of the newspaper are approximately
• 52% are women
• 75% of the readership is 55+
• Approximately 62% are ABC1 social demographic The largest group are C1

Audience and the Daily Mail
How content is used to target , reach and address their audience. :
Marketing tools used by the Guardian to target and reach it s audience
Price 70p Daily mail readers are predominantly ABC and can afford this
price.
Promotional offers The newspaper offers a range of promotional offers with companies
such as weight watchers.
Subscriptions Offers a range of subscriptions to reach and attract its audience.
Sponsorship Readers can subscribe to the mail brand with subscription offers of
£10.99 per month for the on-line version.
Partnership marketing The Daily mail offers a range of discounts on groceries, clothing,
holidays, technology and services and popular brands such as Gap.
* Given the Val characteristic for the Daily mail is Mainstreamer,
Succeeder and resigned how do these brands/ offers attract the target
audience?

Additional learning material contrasting Tabloids
and and Broadsheet style newspapers

News and Online Media Industries, Theories and Contexts

News and Online Media Industries, Theories and Contexts

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