News question 2 practice

Features:

Evaluate with a counter point and how far you agree, always about genre conventions and will always need media language for it, theorists aren't necessary but appreciated, could be asked about online vs print so online news knowledge is also needed

Tabloid vs Broadsheet conventions

Tabloid

  • high image to copy ratio
  • more advertisements
  • soft news
  • sensationalist language
  • more for entertainment
  • informal
  • sans serif is eye catching and bold

Broadsheet

  • low image to copy ratio
  • hard news
  • less advertisements
  • more information
  • formal
  • serif font to seem sophisticated, formal and more serious
  

Example

Broadsheet newspapers such as The Guardian typically feature hard news stories about more serious or important issues. In contrast, tabloids typically feature softer news stories with a celebrity focus. We can see this convention of broadsheet newspapers evidenced in source A. The main headline is about the Archbishop challenging the new immigration laws. This headline follows broadsheet conventions as it is referring to a serious political issue. Likewise, the secondary headlines refer to other hard news stories, such as government 'leaseholds.' however in the skyline, the puff features a soft news story about modern dating.
Additionally, the main image features a soft news story about Eurovision, focusing on the UK's entry. It is also possible that political and industry contexts have influenced the choice to feature soft news stories. British Broadcasting newspapers have tabloidised over time to challenge declining print sales in the industry. perhaps the Guardian would have chosen to feature more public interest stories to combat their declining circulation, which fell to 100,000 in 2021. The main image featuring Eurovision capitalises on the hype surrounding Liverpool as the host city.

Actual answer

Tabloids and broadsheets have very different approaches to how they present news. Broadsheets feature hard news for a more educated ABC1 audience that newspapers like the Guardian have. However the decline in print sales has caused a movement called tabloidisation where broadsheets are now adopting tabloid features such as sensationalist language, less copy and larger images that newspapers like the Daily Mail are now following. This affects how both newspapers will present the same story.

This is highlighted in source A where The Guardian presents the royal family's divide as hard news through the headline 'after 70 years, a new age for the monarchy'. This implies change and progression which links to the left wing ideas of The Guardian who are less concerned with preserving tradition than the right wing. They will also see this as a positive as they won't like the royal family and see this 'new age' as a positive. The Guardian sticking to these broadsheet conventions could be why its circulation is in decline; This is also why it has to ask for donations which its ABC1 audience will pay for because of its high quality journalism. Although it does not always stick to broadsheet conventions as it has a puff for a 'party food special' and '100 ways to have an epic summer on the cheap' which would typically be seen in a tabloid. The decline in print is highlighted here as even a newspaper that sticks to broadsheet conventions like The Guardian is following some tabloid conventions showing how cig tabloidisation is in breaking up the genre.

However in source B the Daily Mail presents the same story as soft news as the headline describes the couples as 'so far apart'. This presents the story more as celebrity gossip than a change in Britain's culture; It also implies that this is a negative as the family is falling apart as opposed to a new era for Britain. The sensationalist language used in the headline is part of the sensationalist language used in the switch from a broadsheet to middle market tabloid as this headline is unconventional for a broadsheet but conventional for a tabloid. The puff at the top shows 'super-glossy Jubilee souvenir magazine' with the queen on it looking happy in front of a regal purple background. The purple specifically has royal connotations, and the queen looks happy despite her children's arguing to show that she is a beacon of hope above all of the drama as the royalist right wing views of the paper will still want to present the royal family in a positive light. This also puts The Guardian's puff into perspective as they'd rather have tabloid puffs than a royalist one showing how devoted they are to their left wing views with 70% of Guardian reader voting labour.

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