Newspapers: Daily Mirror - Language and Audience

Our first Newspapers CSP is the Daily Mirror.

Remember, this is an in-depth CSP and needs to be studied with reference to all four key concepts: Language, Representation, Industries and Audience.

Daily Mirror notes

Language

AQA has selected the following pages as our Daily Mirror CSP pages:

Analyse these pages and look at which stories have been selected for the newspaper and how they are constructed for their audience.

Audience

The Daily Mirror audience is older with almost half the audience aged 65+. In terms of social class, most are in the C1, C2 DE social classes. They are likely to be in the Struggler, Resigned or Mainstream psychographic groups.

Blog tasks: Daily Mirror case study

Work through the following questions to cover the Language and Audience key concepts for the Daily Mirror.

Language

1) Write the definition of the following key language for newspaper front pages (you may want to add an example for each from our Daily Mirror CSP):

Masthead:
Pug:
Splash Head:
Slogan:
Dateline:
Kicker:
Byline:
Standfirst:

2) How much does a copy of the Daily Mirror cost? (Note: the current cost is different to the CSP edition - I recommend learning both).

3) What are the main stories on the CSP edition of the Daily Mirror (see above)? Make sure you learn the headline and what the stories are about.

4) Why is the choice of news stories on the Mirror CSP front page typical of a tabloid newspaper?

5) What is the balance on the Daily Mirror front page between images, headlines and text?


Audience

1) What is the target audience for the Daily Mirror?

2) Why does the Mirror front page story appeal to the Daily Mirror audience?

3) Why might a reader enjoy the Daily Mirror? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory to add detail to your answer.

4) Why are print newspapers generally read by older audiences?

5) How is the 'Wills and Harry royal rift' story on the double page spread constructed to appeal to Daily Mirror readers? 


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?

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.

You will get some lesson time to work on this case study but will need to complete it at home - due date on Google Classroom.