Reasons for Front Page Layout

The layout of the newspaper's front page is formal and simple. It gives a sense of being reliable and trustworthy as the simple front page layout has been used for years, and therefore people trust it.


The front page is an advert for the newspaper.

Viewing the Media

Different types of viewing the media.
Primary Media : Pay very close attention to the media text.
Secondary Media: Skim through the media, looking for something to catch your eye.
Tertiary Media: When media is present but we are not consciously awear of it. e.g. Adverts in paper.


The circulation of a paper does not always represent the amount of people reading it. One paper may be bought by a family member then the other family members and visitors to the house may also read it. Also if a paper is in a waiting room or a library several people will read it throughout the day.


Local papers are often kept for the week, so people can refer back to it e.g. to see what the weather forecast or to see cinema times.

Audience

My target audience is a local, but broad audience.
A broad audience can mean different:

• Age
• Socio-economic groups
• Religious beliefs
• Politics
• Jobs
• Family statues

Our newspaper needs to aim at a wide local audience. They keep a neutral prospective on things, to therefore not upset and keep their local mass audience.

Ideology

Ideology is a set of beliefs and ideas which are held by a society and/or individuals.
e.g. The dominant ideology in England is mostly that of white, middle class, middle-aged Conservative men, who hold most of the positions of power in the country.

News Selection

All news involves the selection of information by journalists, because it would be impossible to include every single detail. When photographs are taken, the process also involves choices by the photographer about how they wish to represent the event. Captions underneath the pictures help to lead readers towards a preferred reading of the image.

News Agenda

The news agenda is the list of stories that have been selected for the newspaper, ranked in order of priority; more important stories are longer and are accompanied by more images.
News values are the same for all news organisations and their audience, but some organisations will give priority to different news values than others. e.g. a broadsheet newspaper might give priority to elite nations, but tabloid newspaper will give priority to personalisation. For local newspapers, the most relevant news value will probably be meaningfulness.

Annotated Newspaper Article

Writing news paper articles.

Reporters Triangle

1. Main Points – topic sentence, 5Ws and a hook to keep the audience reading.
2. Additional essential information – Starts to develop story.
3. Less important information – can afford to drop

 without losing stories meaning. 

 Background info or comparable

 stories.

Basic writing skills

·      Headline

·        Accurate/and in the present tense

·        First sentence – 5 Ws, No more than 22 words as a grab line.

·        First paragraph – Made reader curious. Include a hook.

·        Be Accurate – Facts should be correct.

·        Avoid Clichés

·        Search for special ingredients – makes your story stand out.

·        Paragraphs throughout – should consist of only 2 or 3 sentences.

·        Use quotes. (expert opinion or direct witness)

·        Keep language simple.

9 golden rules.

1.       KISS – Keep It Short and Simple.

Local papers normally have shorted sentences of between 16 – 20 words.

Keep to familiar vocabulary which the broadest audience can access.

2.       Read For Speed

Sentences and headlines are short.

Cross heads break the story down into bite size pieces

Columns are narrow and easy to read.

3.       Never Use 3 Words When one will do

You will rarely see the following phrases in newspapers.

“In the near future.” “In the first instance.” “On the subject of.” “In the small hours.” “In continence of.”

4.       Don’t repeat yourself.

Don’t use two words which mean the same thing

e.g.” Uniquely special” “Final Outcome” “Important essentials”

5.       Use active verbs.

e.g.” burglars took the corgi” rather than the “corgi was taken by the burglars.”

6.       Play with language

Use puns – e.g. Chippy gets a battering. Steve Davis arrived on cue.

7.       Make the story personal

People sell papers. – Pictures and stories

8.       Categories people in the news.

 E.g. grey hairs pensioner, secrete lover, mother of two, retires teachers 65.

9.       Things to avoid

Clichés, euphemisms, being too chatty, unnecessary American phrase.

News Values

There are millions of stories which happen every day which could make the news, therefore journalist need a method to decided which stories they should include. They use a set of criteria called news values to help them select the news.


Frequency
The more sudden an event is the more like it is to get reported. e.g. a terrorist attack.

Threshold/amplitude/numbers
The size of an event will govern the amount of attention it will receive. e.g. Race for life.

Unambiguity
The simpler a more appealing it is to a journalist as it is easier to investigate, simpler to right and clear for the audience to understand. e.g. Bin Laden is evil, if you are against him you are good.

Meaningfulness
Culturally and proximate events are more relevant to the news, especially local news. e.g. The sudden increase in robberies in Harrogate.

Consonance
Events which meet our expectations are more likely to become news. e.g. The Royal Wedding.

Unexpectedness/surprise
Events which are surprising and shocking are likely to become news. e.g. Harrogate is the UKs top online porn watchers.

Continuity
Events which have initially been defined by news will continue to carry importance in the news agenda e.g. War.

Composition
News reporters often end with a happy story to balance out the negative news input. e.g. Man from Scarborough wins "So you think you can dance"

Reference to elite nations
Other western nations are more likely to appear in the news e.g. USA

Reference to elite people
Events which contain certain reference to celebrities, Royalty or politicians e.g. The Queen

Personification
If a story includes a person experience are likelier to be reported as they are easier to be related to. e.g. Someone’s experience of the NHS.

Negativist
Good news is bad news... e.g. Car crashes/rape.

Actuality
If there are lots of pictures of an event it is likely to be reported. e.g. Bedrace having a whole page in the Harrogate Advertiser.

What Is News ?

The dictionary definition of news:

• News must be fresh or new or at least have a fresh angle.
• News must be presented as something that is not mundane; must be an event.
• The fresh event must be reported to become news.

News is people

• Mainly celebrities
• Stories often add human interest eg) peoples experiences and comments. This makes it more accessible.

Dog bites man - little interest. Man bites dog - news.

• News is unusual and spontaneous
• Different and unusual stories sell.
• Unique and abnormal.

News is anything that makes the editor saw "wow"

• News is something exciting, shocking and amsing
• Has to be interesting, and exciting to sell to the audience.

News is what someone somewhere wants to suppress all the rest is advertisement.

• Most news is about public figures and celebrities. They contact the news agencies to release a story about themselves, this news is publicity and advertisement.
• The "real" news is what the news have found out on their own, about someone else, which the subject would not want people to know. - Superjunction

Freash events reported

• Up to date
• Current

Production Requirements

My project will include:

1) Front page, and 2nd page of a local newspaper
    Website with two working links
    Poster

2) Blog

3) Evaluation - presentation and speech