Newspapers: Daily Mirror - Audience and Industries

Our final tasks for the Daily Mirror involve studying Audience and Industry.

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

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. 

Active or passive?

Traditionally, newspapers were seen as more passive. Audiences had to write to the editors to communicate their opinions and views on news content.

With the increase in technology, the Daily Mirror now offers its audience opportunities to engage with the stories on a much more personal level as well as watching video content. The newspaper is speaking directly to the reader and allows them to comment or share their views on social media.  

Blumler & Katz: Uses and Gratifications theory

Surveillance – the main reason we read newspapers is to find out what is going on in the world around us.  We find out news, different opinions and catch up with the latest gossip and scandal. 

Diversion/Entertainment – One of the main reasons we read newspapers is for entertainment.  Whether it’s enjoying reading the opinions of others, reading the cartoons or completing crosswords.  We want to be entertained. 

Personal Identity – the newspaper you read reflects what type of person are.  A Daily Mirror reader will probably think very differently from a Times reader. Even if a reader does not always agree with a viewpoint the newspaper puts forward, they may still be agreeing with the values being shared and thus reinforcing their own values.

Becoming an active participant – increasingly newspapers, especially online editions, encourage audiences to get involved through comments and social media. This contributes to a sense of personal identity for audiences.

Daily Mirror advertising campaign

What do these adverts tell us about the target audience and audience pleasures for the Daily Mirror?

Industries

The Daily Mirror is owned by Reach, which used to be called Trinity Mirror. Reach publishes over 240 regional titles in addition to the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror - including our local newspaper website getwestlondon.

The Daily Mirror's circulation has fallen drastically over the years from over 3 million a day in 1990 down to around 250,000 a day in 2023. Recent falls have been due to the rise of the internet which is why the Mirror's audience is much older now.

To combat falling print revenues, the The Daily Mirror has:

• Created the mirror.co.uk website and social media accounts on all the major sites.
• The move towards a multi-platform landscape means that it publishes and synchronises across its print, desktop and mobile platforms. The Daily Mirror provides this online content for free. Some newspapers (e.g. The Times) have a paywall on their online content which means that they charge subscription fees to read articles. Free providers make money from advertising but this is usually a very small amount of money.
• Create news based content that updates regularly, is shared on social media channels, includes a range of video content and encourages audience involvement.
• Reach's social media strategy backfired when Facebook changed its algorithm to deprioritise news content from sites like the Mirror and its revenue dropped sharply.

Daily Mirror editor

The Daily Mirror recently announced its editor Alison Phillips will be leaving the newspaper after more budget cuts at Reach. Phillips was the Mirror's first female editor since 1903 and was loved by the staff at the paper. While Phillips was editor, the Mirror ran major investigations including into special advisor Dominic Cummings and Barnard Castle (one of the biggest stories from the first Covid lockdown) and later the Partygate scandal that brought down Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

News values

Media theorists Galtung and Ruge defined a set of news values to explain how journalists and editors decided that certain stories and photographs were accepted as newsworthy, while others were not. The following list is adapted from their work:

• Immediacy: has it happened recently?
• Familiarity: is it culturally close to us in Britain?
• Amplitude: is it a big event or one which involves large numbers of people?
• Frequency: does the event happen fairly regularly?
• Unambiguity: is it clear and definite? 
• Predictability: did we expect it to happen?
• Surprise: is it a rare or unexpected event?
• Continuity: has this story already been defined as news?
• Elite nations and people: which country has the event happened in? Does the story concern well-known people?
• Negativity: Is it bad news? Bad news tends to get more focus as it’s more sensational/ attention grabbing. 
• Balance: the story may be selected to balance other news, such as a human survival story to balance a number of stories concerning death.

Blog tasks: Daily Mirror - Audience and Industries

Work through the following questions to complete your work on the Daily Mirror.

Audience

1) What is the Daily Mirror's audience? List the key statistics here.

2) Why do the Mirror stories on the CSP pages 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 inside-page story on our CSP pages constructed to appeal to Daily Mirror readers? Think about text and selection of images.


Industries

1) What company owns the Daily Mirror and why are they struggling? 

2) Who was the Daily Mirror editor between 2018 and 2024 and what was the Partygate scandal that the Daily Mirror exposed?  

3) What is the Daily Mirror's circulation in 2023? How many papers did the Daily Mirror used to sell back in the 1990s?

4) How has the Daily Mirror reacted to the decline in print sales and the growth of the internet?

5) List five of Galtung & Ruge's News Values and explain how they link to the stories in our CSP edition of the Daily Mirror.


Grade 8/9 extension task

There have been plenty of articles about Reach's decline recently as print newspapers struggle to survive - this Guardian story on Reach boss Jim Mullen is particularly good. What statistics and quotes can you pick out from this article to further you understanding of the industry contexts? 

Read this analysis of Mirror owner Reach and its struggle to survive. Do you think there is a future for local and national newspapers like those owned by Reach? 

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 for 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.

Newspapers: Daily Mirror - Language and Representations

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

Background

The Daily Mirror was first published in 1903 as a newspaper for women ‘to act as a mirror on feminine life’.

Sales for this demographic were limiting, so the newspaper was re-designed to appeal to a broader audience. Initially to middle-class but later during WW2 changed to target C1-C2-DE skilled and semi-skilled working classes who were affiliated with the Labour party.

Hugely popular in the 1990s, it has now significantly declined and only sells around 250,000 copies a day.

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.

Representations

The Daily Mirror supports the Labour Party and is against the Conservative Party. Generally, the newspaper will act as a voice for normal people (like NHS heroes) and go against the rich and powerful (like Conservative politicians or big corporations like Amazon).

Here's a graph of the most left-wing and right-wing newspapers: 

You need to study the selected CSP pages for the Daily Mirror to see how the newspaper represents different people, groups, issues and events. Remember: CAGE - class, age, gender, ethnicity.

Blog tasks: Daily Mirror case study

Work through the following questions to cover the Language and Representations 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 - we 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 and content 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?


Representations

1) What political party does the Daily Mirror support? Is there any evidence to support this in the CSP pages we have studied?

2) How does the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards represent ordinary British people?

3) How is climate change as an issue represented in the Daily Mirror? What evidence can you provide from the CSP pages to support this?

4) How are environmental protesters like Greta Thunberg represented in the Daily Mirror? Look at the inside pages to answer this.

5) Read the main articles on the inside pages. How are different countries, political leaders and Royals represented in the Daily Mirror? Does this reinforce or subvert the stereotypes we usually see in the media?  

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? What does this tell us about social class in Britain in recent years?


You will get some lesson time to work on this case study but will need to complete it at home if it isn't finished - due date on Google Classroom.

Newspapers: Introduction

Our next in-depth exam topic is Newspapers.

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

Introduction to newspapers - notes

GLow Words

• Left-wing (Socialist): in favour of social equality and reform. The Labour Party is considered left-wing and the Daily Mirror generally supports Labour and left-wing causes.
• Right-wing (Conservative): prefer the traditional way things are and in favour of low taxes. The Conservative Party is considered right-wing and the Times generally supports the Conservatives and right-wing causes.
• Agenda: issues brought to the attention of the people through news.
• Elitist: for the good of a few people, usually the upper classes or most educated.
• Political Bias: when an industry or media product supports a certain political view.
• Hard news: information on topics like business, politics and international affairs.
• Soft news: blurs line between information and entertainment so may be centred more on gossip, celebrities or lifestyle issues.
• Tabloid: smaller, popular and tends to focus on sensational stories and softer news. 
• Broadsheet: larger, more niche and tends to focus on serious, harder news.

Historical, social and cultural context

The ‘Press’ is a collective term for the newspaper industry.  The name comes from printing presses. 

Newspapers are still popular media products for audiences to get their news, be entertained and informed.  There are a range of national (Daily Mail), regional (Birmingham Mail) and specialist newspapers (The Racing  Post). 

Whilst still popular, since the 1950s, there has been a gradual decline in newspaper sales due to TV news programmes and, more recently, the growth of digital news through websites and social media.

The importance of a free press

A free press implies that journalists (those that write for newspapers) and newspaper editors can edit content free of intervention from Government influence.  

More than a third of the world’s population live in countries where there is no press freedom. Journalists are often imprisoned if they disagree with the Government, social media channels are not allowed, non-democratic countries often control access to information and employ state-run news organizations.

Recently, democracy has been challenged by the decline in trusted news sources and the rise of 'fake news' or misinformation. Here's a good video highlighting the dangers of a 'post-truth' society:

Tabloids and broadsheets

There are generally two classifications of newspapers – tabloids and broadsheets.

Tabloids tend to be easier to read, feature shorter articles and include more photographs. They report on major news, but also include a lot of showbiz gossip, entertainment and sport. They tend to be the better sellers. Examples include The Sun and the Daily Mirror.

Broadsheet newspapers traditionally used to be larger (printed on ‘broad sheets’) although most are the same size as tabloids now. They tend to be more serious, have smaller fonts, more advanced use of language and less photography (although they have included more over the last 20 years to be more popular). They tend to have lower circulation figures than tabloids. Examples include the Times and the Daily Telegraph.

Newspapers and politics

Most newspapers have some sort of political bias. Unlike TV news, this is allowed in UK media – newspapers can tell us who we should vote for or criticise one political party. This bias is based on their history and the demands of their target audience.

The relevance of the bias is that it impacts on the way news is interpreted and can have significant influence on the audience and how they vote / think. Learn and remember the following:

Left-wing = Labour = Daily Mirror

Right-wing = Conservative = The Times

Introduction to Newspapers: blog task

Create a new blogpost called 'Introduction to Newspapers' and answer the following questions:

1) What type of news can you typically find in a tabloid newspaper?

2) What type of news can you typically find in a broadsheet newspaper?

3) If someone is left-wing, which political party are they likely to support? Which newspaper would they be likely to read?

4) If someone is right-wing, which political party are they likely to support? Which newspaper would they be likely to read?

5) Why has there been a decline in newspaper sales in the last 20 years?

6) Why is a free press important in a democracy like the UK?

Extension task: Read this BBC website report on the impact of coronavirus on the newspaper industry. 

Which newspapers were worst hit by Covid-19? 

Which newspapers are trying to move their readers from print to digital? Why is the switch to digital attractive for newspaper companies?

Do you think most newspapers will survive the next 10 years? Why?

You should have lesson time to work on this but will need to finish for homework - due date on Google Classroom. 

December mock exam: Learner response

The December mock was an excellent opportunity to test our knowledge of the CSPs in a full 90-minute exam.

Your overall grade for the December mock exam may or may not be something you're happy with but the main thing is that we learn from the process and make sure we put it into practice in the upcoming February/March full mock exams.

We'll work through the paper question-by-question in class but you also need to complete the learner response tasks below.

December mock exam: Learner Response blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'December mock exam: Learner Response'. Then work through the following tasks:

1) Type up any feedback on your paper (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential). If you only have marks and a grade on the paper, write a WWW/EBI yourself based on your scores.

2) Use the mark scheme for this Paper 2 mock to read the answers AQA were looking for. First, write down a definition and example of non-diegetic sound (Q1.1 and 1.2). 

3) Next, identify three points you could have made in Q1.3 - camerawork and the extract. Look for the indicative content in the mark scheme - these are the suggested answers from AQA.

4) Now look at Q1.4 in the mark scheme - pick out two points from the mark scheme that you could have included in your answer.

5) Focus on Q2 - the 20-mark essay on representations of age and social and cultural contexts. Pick out three points from the mark scheme that you didn't include in your answer.

6) Turning your attention to Section B, write a definition and example of user-generated content - use the mark scheme to check it.

7) Look at Q4 - the 20-mark essay on the power of influencers. Pick out three points from the mark scheme that you didn't include in your own answer. 

8) Now look at Q5 - the 20-mark essay on regulation and the internet. Again, pick out three points from the mark scheme that you didn't include in your own answer.

9) On a scale of 1-10 (1 = low, 10 = high), how much revision and preparation did you do for your Media mock exam? Be honest here - it's a good chance to think about how to approach the next set of mock exams.

10) List three key things you want to revise before the next mock exams in February (e.g. particular CSPs, terminology, exam technique etc.)

Complete for homework if you don't finish this in the lesson - due date on Google Classroom.