1) Write the definition of the following key language for newspaper front pages:
Masthead: Newspaper title at the top of the paper
Incentive: A deal or promotion to make the reader want to buy the newspapers
Pug: Placed to grab attention
Splash Head:Main headline to lead
Slogan:Key phrase to identify paper
Dateline: The line that establishes the date.
Kicker: An article linked to a story inside. Sometimes called an ‘earpiece area'
Byline: A line before the article showing who the article is by.
Standfirst: The first paragraph of an article
2) How much does a copy of the Daily Mirror cost?
A copy of the Daily Mirror costs 70p. Lately, the Mirror's sales have declined due to the internet's role in providing instant, free news which makes newspapers seem redundant.
3) What is the main story on the CSP edition of the Daily Mirror?
The main story is about parking ticket companies issuing unfair tickets to ordinary people. This links to their aim of being a voice for the working class.
4) What promotion takes up a large amount of the front page and why might it appeal to Mirror readers?
The promotion for the Cheltenham Festival bet takes up a large amount of the front page because the Mirror targets a working-class audience and gambling is closely associated with the working class.
5) What is the balance on the Daily Mirror front page between images, headlines and text?
Since the Daily Mirror is a tabloid, it is very heavily image based with small amounts of texts and many large headlines to grasp the audience's attention.
Audience
1) What is the target audience for the Daily Mirror?
The target audience for the Daily Mirror are people in the C1 or C2 social class over 65 years old.
2) Why does the Mirror front page story appeal to the Daily Mirror audience?
The front page story is about large companies trying to get money from the elderly through parking tickets, many Mirror readers could probably relate to feeling hopeless against the might of 'big companies' and the Mirror famously takes the side of ordinary people as they are politically left-wing.
3) Why might the 'Prey and Display' parking story on the double page spread be interesting for Daily Mirror readers?
**answered in previous question
4) Why might a reader enjoy the Daily Mirror? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory to add detail to your answer.
Readers of the Daily Mirror will feel a strong sense of personal identity reading the Mirror because it is very much on the side of the 'ordinary' person who would feel vulnerable to large corporations. This is shown by their 'prey and display' article.
5) Why are print newspapers generally read by older audiences?
In the digital age, the younger generations rely on the immediacy of the internet to recieve the news. The elder generation had the tradition of reading newspapers in their youth so they continue to read the newspaper.
Representation
1) How does the Daily Mirror represent the Conservative Party and its MPs? Look at the main front page story.
The Daily Mirror is notoriously left-wing and affilated with Labour so they informally refer to the Conservatives as "Torys" to make them look less proffesional. They also hand-picked a headline that would make the Conservatives look corrupt.
2) How does the Daily Mirror represent the golf club that is now admitting female members? Read the story 'At last, Muirfield men let women join golf club'.
The Daily Mirror is a left-wing newspaper and so it presents women being admitted into the golf club as a monumental and overdue event.
3) How does the Daily Mirror represent ordinary people? Look at the Prey and Display article to answer this question.
*** Answered in a previous question
4) How does the Daily Mirror represent older people? Look at the Prey and Display article to answer this question.
The Daily Mirror defends older people and demonises companies that target them due to their vulnerability. Since their audience is mostly older, they would agree with this.
5) How does the Daily Mirror represent businesses and people who make a lot of money? Look at the stories on the double page spread to answer this question.
The Daily Mirror shows big corpaorations as manipulative towards vulnerable people. This is shown in the 'Prey and Display' article which is a play on words to make the company seem predatory.
Industries
1) What company owns the Daily Mirror?
Reach, which used to be known as 'Trinity Mirror' owns the Daily Mirror.
2) What is the Daily Mirror's circulation in 2019? How many papers did the Daily Mirror used to sell back in the 1990s?
The Daily Mirror used to sell 3 million copies in the 1990's and in 2018, it sold 500,000 copies.
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3) How has the Daily Mirror reacted to the decline in print sales and the growth of the internet?
The Daily Mirror has launched an internet advertising series to try and gain a more corparate and younger audience. They also have a completley free website so that people can acsess their articles and make profits from advertising. The issue with this is that companies like Google and Facebook recieve a large portion of these profits.
4) What does IPSO stand for and what is IPSO's job?
IPSO stands for the Independent Press Standards Organisation. It is a voluntary newspaper regulating company. The reason the newspaper industry hasn't got a compulsory regulator is because that would be censorship and would impeach Britain's free press it regulates 1500 print and 1100 online titles,listens to the complaints about press behaviour, helps with any unwanted press attention, advises publication editors,provides information to the public and it provides journalists with a 'whistle blowing' hotline where they can talk about any unlawful practices that are taking place.
5) Why do some people want stronger regulation of British newspapers?
There are some newspapers that don't sign up to IPSO and therefore, aren't regulated. This means that they can get away with derogatory language or discrimination. However, an alternative argument suggests that people who are dissatisfied with newspapers can complain online which cannot be ignored. Therefore, the readers have almost become the regulators of newspapers.
Grade 8/9 extension tasks
Read this Guardian column on the Mirror's struggles with covering Brexit. How did the Mirror suggest people vote in the EU referendum and how did many of its working class audience actually vote?
The Daily Mirror's owner, Reach (then Trinity Mirror) bought control of the Express and Daily Star newspapers in 2018. Read this Guardian feature on the deal. Why did Trinity Mirror buy the papers?
Guardian Media critic Roy Greenslade writes about why tabloid newspapers like the Mirror are struggling to attract younger readers in this column. Make a note of some of the key statistics in this article and also what Greenslade thinks tabloids should do to stay relevant in the digital age. This column also has an excellent discussion of the Mirror's political stance which is ideal to grade 9 answers.
