Introduction to the times and constructing representations

What advantages are there to a newspaper demonstrating a particular political/ ideological bias?

• To control people and change their political beliefs.
• Ideologies will attract more audience.
• Gain support from a political party.

Why would a newspaper wish to manipulate the ideology of it's target audience?

Tabloid vs broadsheet newspapers

• Traditionally, newspapers were split between tabloids and broadsheets, broadsheets being the larger, more serious papers that you had to fold to read.
•  Now most newspapers are printed at the same size, but the broadsheet and tabloid values remain in place. 
• Tabloid is more gossip whereas a broadsheet is "actual news".
• A tabloid focuses more on the "silly" stuff like celebrity gossip.
• Broadsheet focuses on the news that people need to know (more political and worldwide issues).
• The tabloid is quicker to read because its smaller- this shows that it mights be aimed at the working class because, in general, they have less time to read.
• The guardian (tabloid) has less pictures.
• A tabloid is more colourful.
• The headlines are bigger on a broadsheet than on a tabloid, to show importance of the news.
• The broadsheet uses fancier words and longer paragraphs showing that theres a higher level of literacy needed in order to read the paper, showing that there could be a target audience of well educated people.
• The tabloid has a story on the front page.
• Broadsheets are more expensive (considering that some newspapers are 20p or less and some are even free).
• Broadsheets have serious headlines.
• Tabloids have a bold layout, making it easier to read.
• Tabloids consist more of games (like crosswords), competitions (like winning free holiday tickets) and cartoons.

Polysemy- Not everything has a single meaning. One of the best ways of applying media theory, is through suggesting two or more possible meanings.

In creating a newspaper, producers typically attempt to avoid polysemic readings. The process of forcing an audience into a particular reading is called anchoring. 

Anchorage- The "fixing" of a particular meaning to a media text, often through the use of captions.

What possible readings can there be for a group protesting?

• Power.
• Strength.
• Hope.
• Unity.
• Happiness.
• Despair.
• Hatred.
• Binary opposition.
• Anger.

                                                      Representation constructs reality.

• The sun are against Corbin as they are representing him as trash in the rubbish bin.
• The morning star aren't against Corbin because they have a positive picture of him on the front page. 
• In the sun, the mise-en-scene shows that Corbin is rubbish (literally), to make the audience feel grossed out by him.
• In the sun, the use of the word "we've" is a way to position the audience. 
• There is a use of stock images in the sun, showing a poor use of photoshop.
• In the sun, they use a lot of negative text. Words like "terrorists friend," gives the audience a negative idea about Corbin. 
• In the sun, the picture use of Jeremy Corbin makes him look shifty.
• The sun is trying hard to represent Corbin in a brutally negative way (a hatchet job).
• In the sun, theres a bias through the use of names used for Corbin this is because they call him "Jezza."

Bias- Favouring one opinion over another.

Agenda- Trying to bring up a specific topic.