the times

Question 1

applying different theorists to the times

Answer 1

• stuart hall: representation -> he is represented subtly negative and the facts are presented impartially, however, there is some hint of political bias
• stuart hall: audience -> target audience is middle class which means they are likely to have a right wing bias
• curran and seaton: power and media industries -> the times is owned by Newscorp which owns many other newspapers, this means there is a capitalist and right wing bias as well as little variety
• hesmondhalgh: cultural industries -> the times had to present him as negative due to overall discontent with him at the time

Question 2

ownership of the times

Answer 2

owned by Newscorp (Rupert Murdoch)

Question 3

stages of production of newspapers

Answer 3

proprietor (owners) -> editorial (produces stories)- layout and news -> what’s in the newspaper- sales, marketing, advertising generates revenue from businesses -> production (putting together the newspaper)

Question 4

the advantages of online media

Answer 4

• it has an active audience of people to like and share, etc
• up to date content that is easy to update
• cheap to run because no production costs
• global audience availible
• younger audience demographic
• funding through adverts, popups and clickbait
• cross media platforms such as mobile devices make it accessible from anywhere
• opens up opportunity for even more revenue

Question 5

ownership

Answer 5

control over something by an individual or organisation

Question 6

horizontally integrated

Answer 6

multiple companies that work together in the same stage of process

Question 7

conglomerate

Answer 7

large company made up of smaller companies

Question 8

subsidiary

Answer 8

smaller companies owned by larger ones

Question 9

IPSO and regulation

Answer 9

independent press standards organisation, an optional regulatory body for newspapers, the largest independent one within the British newspaper and magazine industry.

• owned BY the newspaper industry, the times and the mirror both belong to this
• they have rules about what newspapers can do in terms of offensive language, ethics
• some argue that this is biased because they are making their own rules, it also doesn’t follow the reccomendations of the leverson inquiry
• responsible for website regulation, which has been made more difficult due to technology.
• users can sometimes submit comments which have offesnive language/ don’t follow the rules
• bots/algorithms are used to regulate this which is good because it is fast and cheap, but bad because it is easy to evade as well as not being able to decipher context so it may censor unecessarily

Question 10

circulation

Answer 10

movement of media products as digital and physical forms of media

Question 11

distribution

Answer 11

methods that media products are delivered to audiences/consumers

Question 12

interactivity

Answer 12

method of communication between people and digital media

Question 13

adverts

Answer 13

ads will make people click onto the newspaper which brings in more money

Question 14

the times essential info

Answer 14

• owned by News UK, a subsidiary of the gloabal newscorp
• Rupert Murdoch is chief executive of newscorp
• less about cost more about online, up to date copy
• subscription and paywall prevents audience reading for free
• adverts fit target audience
• “hard news” that is universal

Question 15

subscriptions

Answer 15

people pay a monthly feee to the news websites to be able to access it on any device anywhere

Question 16

clickbait

Answer 16

titles/images that make the reader want to click into the website, used to grasp the attention of the viewer

Question 17

print sales

Answer 17

even though this has declined, people still buy newspapers so there is some profit to be made

Question 18

websites

Answer 18

people can access it anywhere, and keep up to date with it anywhere

Question 19

social media

Answer 19

use of social media is a quick click to the news

Question 20

global audiences

Answer 20

by having it online, anyone who can read the language can access the newspaper, meaning that more people will be able to purchase it

Question 21

paywalls

Answer 21

prevent the newspaper from being read for free by blocking the information so that people would have to pay

Question 22

vertical/horizontal integration

Answer 22

ensures that the money stays in one singular conglomerate, circulating it in one place

Question 23

cross-media platforms

Answer 23

the convergence of multiple media platforms

Question 24

pop-ups

Answer 24

pop ups function to grab the attention of potential readers and provide funding

Question 25

horizontal integration means that

Answer 25

shared journalism, reduced costs, shared target audience

smaller amount of people running the news= more political bias due to less different points of view

Question 26

more people now get their news electronically, so print newspaper circulation is decreasing…

how do newspapers adapt to this?

Answer 26

• to stay current, all print newspapers now have online sites which continue their brand identity.
• the drawbacks of this are that online editions are costly to run and deliver less profit than print editions
• the advantages of this are that readers will maintain their brand alleigance due to the newspaper logo and journalistic style, they can also offer more up-to-date information.

Question 27

the times industry info

Answer 27

• published by a company called times newspapers, owned by news UK (used to be called news international), which is wholly owned by the masive conglomerate Newscorp
• newscorp makes hundreds of TV news, film and newspapers globally.
• thus, the times have a huge amount of money backing them and are not afraid to take risks such as the paywall on their website (which might repel a lot of audiences)
• this also means they have many resources for stories and distribution around the world using subsidiary companies to promote it
• they have been able to break a few rules (phone hacking scandal) because they have so much power and connections globally
• Rupert Murdoch owns newscorp so is very rich, he is also very conservative so this impacts the bias of the news.
• however, newscorp present themselves as having ‘neutral’ views and embracing all political views.
• newspapers must balance exciting stories with reputation damage

Question 28

why might the times’ circulation figured be staying relatively high?

Answer 28

• this might reflect their older audience who are less tech savvy, this is also seen as a cultural product
• or more educated/middle class audience who are less likely to have drifted online
• the paywall on the online content prevents the audience from converting to online news so that they continue to buy the printed paper
• they can afford this risk due to their richer audience who might thave money to access the online subcription
• this way, they can give the illusion that their content is worth paying for, is good quality.

Question 29

how have newspapers (specifically the mirror) tried to encourage interactivity within the audeince?

Answer 29

• social media and the focus on use of their website, commenting liking and sharing
• lots of phone numbers, to call and text
• their own dating site
• competitions
• opportunities to earn more money such as gambling and competitions/win holidays are also used to attract their w/c audience

Question 30

what are some things on the times website that appeal to their target audience?

Answer 30

• personalisation of their news
• crosswords- educated
• wine tasting events and hearing previous prime ministers speak- opportunities to partake in m/c activities