Ben Coldbeck Unit 7 Journalism: January 2018

Sunday, 28 January 2018

P2: Explain the media platforms used for news distribution

Traditional methods

One of the traditional methods that is used to distribute the news is a newspaper these are printed daily and contain many stories about current events. This is a much more reliable source than others such as social media this is because it is regulated by IPSO. This means that newspapers must follow a set of rules when they are publishing a story. If someone thinks that the newspaper company has violated any of these rules they can submit a complaint to IPSO if they have broken the rules action will be brought against them.

Another traditional method used to distribute the news is the radio there are many radio stations that only cover the news an example is Radio 5 live. Just like a newspaper the radio is more reliable than social media as social media isn’t regulated OFCOM is the regulator responsible for radio just like IPSO if you believe rules are being broken you can submit a complaint.

Another traditional method of news is TV news this is a TV channel that is devoted solely to reporting the most recent news as it happens examples of this are SKY news and BBC news these channels can be accessed by anyone. Theses are both reliable sources of news that are regulated by OFCOM they make sure that what they broadcast is truthful if people believe that something is incorrect they can submit a complaint to OFCOM stating what they believe is incorrect.

Journalism has changed in recent years as people are starting to prefer using digital methods instead of traditional methods this is for multiple reasons such as many digital methods are free to access unlike a newspaper that has to be paid for. This means that many traditional news platforms can now be accessed through digital methods. An example of this is The Mirror is a news paper a traditional method however they also have a website were you can read the news and are also on social media.

Digital methods

One digital method that is commonly used to distribute news is online services an example of this is a website many newspaper companies also have a website that allows you to read their stories this allows people to access the news whenever they have access to the internet this can be through many devices like a computer or smartphone. This website will be regulated by IPSO to make sure that all of the content is factually accurate.

Another digital method is Social media unlike a newspaper this is free to use this is why it is commonly used by lots of people as a source of news many News providers are on social media and have official accounts this means that you know what they are posting is accurate as it is being regulated however if you are getting your news from a person or news site that isn’t regulated there is no guarantee that what they post is entirely correct or even true.

Digital methods of distributing media has effected journalism because there are so many online sources that people can use to get their news online that news sources need to hold the readers attention so that they don't go to get their news from an alternative source

Monday, 22 January 2018

P1-Tabloid VS Broadsheet

The same article in different papers

The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/01/15/momentum-founder-jon-lansman-elected-labour-party-nec-jeremy/

Jeremy Corbyn's takeover of Labour gets huge boost as Left-wing trio elected to NEC

The Mirror

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/landslide-election-result-just-strengthened-11854456

This landslide election result just strengthened Jeremy Corbyn's hold on the Labour Party

In the Mirror headline the word “landslide” was used this suggests that he won very easily and that he won by a very large number of votes. This would suggest that The Mirror have a favourable bias towards the Labour party. This is because the word landslide isn’t used in the Telegraph headline no words that suggest he won very easily are used in the Telegraph headline.

The language used in both of the papers is different this is because The Mirror is a tabloid and the Telegraph is a broadsheet newspaper. The Telegraph said “a trio of left-wingers were elected to the party's ruling National Executive Committee.” Whereas the Mirror said “three of his left wing backers won crucial seats on its ruling body.” The mirror uses shorter words this is because it is aimed at people in the C2, D, E category. The Mirror has used shorter words because people that are in the C2, D and E category typically are not as well educated as those in the A, B and C1 category. The Mirror doesn't want to use language that will confuse it readers because then they wouldn't read the articles in the paper.

A lot more images are used in the mirror article than in the Telegraph. The telegraph has only 1 image at the start of the article however the Mirror contains 4 images. This is because the Mirror is aimed at people who are in the C2, D, E category and wouldn’t want to read as much. The use of multiple images breaks up the text for the audience and makes the article easier to read.

In the Mirror they use smaller paragraphs so that there isn’t as much to read and it is easier to read this is because typically readers of the Mirror don’t read as much. In the Telegraph the paragraphs are usually larger and contain more information. The Telegraph is also a larger article and contains more text than the Mirror.

P1-Mirror group vs News Corp

The company structure of the mirror group is a conglomerate they own subsidiaries all over the UK. The current CEO of the Mirror group is Simon Fox.

They have a very large audience reach in the UK as they own newspapers all over the UK in places like Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle. They own 323 newspapers meaning that they have a very large reach.

The Mirror group owns multiple newspaper subsidiaries in the UK some of the largest newspapers that they own are:

The Mirror
Sunday Mirror
Daily Record
Sunday Mail
Western Mail

The People

The company structure of News Corp is a conglomerate that is owned by the Murdoch family with the current CEO as Rupert Murdoch.

They have a very large audience reach as it is an international company The own Dow Jones and company who own the Wall Street Journal, Market watch and Barron’s. They also own News UK that own papers such as The Times, The Sunday Times and the Sun. They also own Wireless Group a broadcasting group in Ireland. They also own Harper Collins a publishing company that operates in USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and China

News Corp owns multiple newspaper subsidiaries from all around the world:

 The Sun
 The Times
 The Sunday Times

They own The own American papers

New York Post

Wall street journal

Pros and Cons of having one company deliver news via different methods

Pros

One of the pros of having one company deliver the news is that it is easy for people to access news as there are many sources that you can choose from. Another pro of the news all being delivered by one company is that they can target their specific audience if the company knows that their audience manly gets their news in print form that will be the main method that company uses to deliver the news. Another pro of one company delivering the news is that they can reach a very large audience. If they own lots of news companies they can distribute the news in lots of different ways examples of this are print, radio, online and social media there are also many other methods that could be used.

Cons

One of the cons of all the news being delivered by one company is that as one company chooses what stories they want to publish all of the subsidiaries will publish the same story this means that all of the news is repetitive. Another con of this is that all of the stories will be biased as they are all being published by the same company that has a certain political view. Another con is that the parent company decides what news gets published by it subsidiaries. Large news companies are called gatekeepers this is because they decide what news stories get published if they want to publish a story they let it through the gate.