News, Regulations And Politics

News, Regulations And Politics

Set texts = The Guardian and The Observer

itique it

The Guardian is a daily newspaper published by the Guardian Group and owned by the Scott Trust. 

The Observer is the Sunday newspaper published by the guardian group. It is basically the guardian but released on a Sunday with more of a focus on investigative, long term, journalism. But it will still report on immediate news. It is the oldest running Sunday newspaper and dates back to 1791. The Guardian/ The Observer is a Liberal newspaper however it does slightly subtly favour Labour. 

The Guardian Weekly is a weekly summary of the week published by the Guardian Group which complies articles and pieces from the previous seven days into a weekly summary.

The 5 key principles that The Guardian/The Observer must follow:

1) Develop ideas that help to improve the world, not just cr

2) Collaborate with readers and others to have a greater impact

3) Diversify to have richer reporting from a representative newsroom

4) Be meaningful in all their work

5) Report fairly on people as well as power and find things out. This underpins all of the above

^ It would be good to remember two of these principles.

Newspapers are supposed to provide their readers with:

Objective information - This means it should be free from prejudice caused by personal feelings

Unbiased - Represent people, events and ideas fairly

Reliable information - From trusted resources

Ideology - A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

• However, although the news presents itself as an objective (non biased) form of media, like any other media text it has its own agenda. 

• Newspapers are owned by individuals with their own political and social agendas and these ideologies are reflected in the editorial content of the papers. 

The Daily Mirror is slamming David Cameron - making their front cover of him look like a mugshot - with all his information and rhetorical questions to question his authority.

The Sun is looking at David Cameron as more of an authoritative figure, with bold font expressing possible doom without him. Both articles through this is expressing their political beliefs.

Task - Compare The Daily Mirror with The Daily Express on this political issue. What indicates their different political leanings? Explain the differences.


Daily Express

•  right wing - conservative
• audience has more of a disposable income therefore there is a holiday advertisement at the bottom of the front cover
• there is a lot of blue on the front cover - the conservative general colour
• "Farage wants to silence remainers" puts Farage in a bad light and makes conservatives mad because they feel violated 
• tabloid (little more formal than a tabloid but technically still a tabloid)

Daily Mirror

•  liberal - equal views with both sides included
• uses two main articles to show that they are liberal and do not have a biased opinion
• has a statistic on the front page expressing both sides of political opinion (to leave or stay in the EU - "58% want to remain, 48% want to leave)
• advertisement on pension crisis and how to tackle it clearly targeting the working class as they are the ones who would feel this issue 
• tabloid 

Freedom of the press

Freedom of the press is the right to circulate opinions in print without censorship by the government, they have no say in what is printed.

Most newspapers are part of IPSO so people trust it and so they know on the whole that newspaper has some form of reputation and will not necessarily present fake news to the audience.

The Levenson Inquiry

In July 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron  set up the public, Judge-led Leveson Inquiry to examine the culture of the press in phone-hacking scandal.

It emerged thousands of people had been victims of press intrusion. Many gave evidence to the enquiry - from celebrities such as comic actor Steve Coogan and dinger Charlotte Church, to ordinary people hit by tragedy, including Gerry McCann, father of missing girl Madeleine and the parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. 

The report produced by Lord Justice Levenson in November 2012 found the press had "wreaked havoc" with the lives of innocent people. It made a number of recommendations. 

IPSO 

Ipso (Independent Press Standards Organisation) is a regulator of magazines and newspapers and their online counterparts.

It is funded by magazines and newspapers companies. Any member of the public can make a complaint to IPSO.

IPSO claim it is new, it delivers what the Leveson Inquiry recommended, it is the toughest press regulator in the world and more. 

IPSO is not biased or unfair. It is unlike the PCC who will allow newspapers to bully, lie and twist people's words causing mass suffering to individuals and their friends and family.

OFFCOM

OFFCOM is the broadcasting regulator. If a person sees something on TV that they believe should not have been broadcasted, they can make a complaint to them. This could be about advertising or maybe even something that was said or done which was viewed as offensive.

Broadcasters are regulated by OFFCOM which is backed by law. Other people publishing on the internet such as bloggers and tweeters are not regulated as such - but are covered by laws on issues such as libel and contempt of court. 

Some - including MP's  and peers - have questioned the wisdom of bringing more regulation to the press and not the wider internet. Lord Justice Levenson himself referred to material on the internet as the "elephant in the room".




CENSORSHIP - suppression of materials, publications and thought


MASS MEDIA - communication to a large audience at the same point in time eg tv, radio, newspapers and websites


NEW MEDIA - internet related means of communicating


SOCIAL MEDIA - takes many forums, weblogs, social blogs, podcasts, vlogs etc 


FREEDOM OF THE PRESS - 


OFFCOM - office of the regulator of communications, this is a government established independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communication industry


IPSO - the independent regulator for the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK, replaces PCC

News - Introductory Lesson

News 

News dictionary definition: Newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events.

SET TEXTS - The Guardian ( and The observer which is just The Guardian yet on a Sunday)

News is either about what is happening, what has happened or what could happen.

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly.

Tabloids 

- Informal and colloquial language

- Humour, puns, alliteration in headlines

- Colourful, large and bold front

- Large images

- Stories related to celebrities and popular culture

- Negative storylines, clear bias

- Targets a more downmarket audience

Broadsheets

- Formal mature language, 'quality press' and double size of tabloid

- Longer, more serious and complex headlines

- Black and white, smaller font

- Smaller images, more focus on texts

- Political stories and higher culture

- Some negative storylines, bias not clear

- Targets a more upmarket audience

HARD or SOFT news?

Hard news - This type of news is up to the minute news and events which are reported immediately after it has taken place. It tends to be political based, war based or crime based. It is very serious, it is urgent and it is factual. 

Soft news - This type of news is intended to entertain or inform the reader and refers to stories that are usually of human interest. Subject material may be celebrity gossip, fashion tips, and technology. It is humorous and feel good stories. It is not time sensitive. There is an informal tone of presentation.