Daily Mail and Mail Online CSP

Daily Mail and Mail Online analysis 

Use your own purchased copy or our scanned copy of the Brexit edition from January 2020 plus the notable front pages above to answer the following questions - bullet points/note form is fine.

1) What are the most significant front page headlines seen in the Daily Mail in recent years?

Will a British divorcee cost Wolfie his job?

Oh no, not January 24th!

Shocking video evidence of American brutality

Charlie Dimmock's mum lost in floods

Bargains spark chaos at Ikea store launch

Violent past of US Army's torturer-in-chief

Kimberly saga: Was there a fourth man?

Grateful boss surprises staff with Caribbean holiday

Man held knife to son's throat in Abigail attack

By George, he's done it again

Store withdraws video game after brutal killing

2) Ideology and audience: What ideologies are present in the Daily Mail? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?

It seen as a right wing news paper endorsing the conservative party so they're readers are seen to agree with any news they put out or views they have on political discussions. The readers are positioned to always back to the Daily Mail as they're views will always align.

3) How do the Daily Mail stories you have studied reflect British culture and society?

They're is a lot of reinforcement of British culture through the placements of the British flag on the front cover, main news most of the time covering any political viewpoints and even lots of smaller stories to do with British tradition.

Now visit Mail Online and look at a few stories before answering these questions:

1) What are the top five stories? Are they examples of soft news or hard news? Are there any examples of ‘clickbait’ can you find?

The top stories are JFK's assassination, NASA astronaut health check, 'Sam will NEVER be forgiven for his snide remarks', Truth about drug that killed Vivienne and major banks shut. These are both a mix of soft and hard news and I feel as if the break up story on Sam is seen as clickbait.

2) To what extent do the stories you have found on MailOnline reflect the values and ideologies of the Daily Mail newspaper?

The Daily Mail is right wing in support of the conservative party and focuses on brining news events to its audience. Most of the stories are things seen as gossip and information people should be aware of which does support their readers who are mostly female middle aged.

3) Think about audience appeal and gratifications: why is MailOnline the most-read English language newspaper website in the world? How does it keep you on the site?

There's this aspect of endless scrolling or on social media known as 'doom' scrolling where initially the idea of having so many stories compacted on one page as it influences readers to scroll for more similar content. The idea of clickbait is also used where big bold headlines and images attract a reader through preference. Another way is through how top stories are positioned by the amount of clicked they receive by readers instead of what publishers/editors feel would appeal to a wide audience.


Factsheet 175 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1)

Read Media Factsheet 175: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) What news content generally features in the Daily Mail?

It includes a mixture of of serious journalism and entertainment.

2) What is the Daily Mail’s mode of address? 

They create a relationship between the producer and the audience through the use of textual features.

3) What techniques of persuasion does the Daily Mail use to attract and retain readers?

Using the technique of persuasion they of serious journalism and entertainment as this tends to stir emotions within readers. There are three parts to the techniques:

Practical- bribery, newness, longevity

Emotional-exaggeration or hyperbole

Association- celebrity endorsement

4) What is the Daily Mail’s editorial stance?

They traditionally have a conservative stance as seen supporting the party in recent election. The newspaper has seen to criticise the labour party especially its new leader Jeremy Corbyn.

5) Read this brilliant YouGov article on British newspapers and their political stance. Where does the Daily Mail fit in the overall picture of UK newspapers? 

Its shown as the most right wing English written newspaper as its considered 81% right wing.


Factsheet 177 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2)

Now read Media Factsheet 177: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) How did the launch of the Daily Mail change the UK newspaper industry?

The introduction of the Daily Mail where Hamsworth He raised revenue from carefully targeted marketing and developed national distribution on a larger scale than previously existed. They uses shorter bite-size boxes of information as news was presented in shorter articles with clear

headlines.

2) What company owns the Daily Mail? What other newspapers, websites and brands do they own?

It is owned by the British Media company: Daily Mail and General Trust. They also own Mail on Sunday, Mail Online, Jobsite and This is Money.

3) Between 1992 and 2018 the Daily Mail editor was Paul Dacre. What is Dacre’s ideological position and his view on the BBC?

He describes it effectively as effectively a dominant state-sponsored news service empathising how he would 'die in a ditch for the BBC'. However he does talk about how the corporation controlling it is too big and powerful, destroying media plurality in Britain and imposing a liberal, leftish.

4) Why did Guardian journalist Tim Adams describe Dacre as the most dangerous man in Britain? What example stories does Adams refer to?

He was seen as pushing dangerous ideas and thoughts onto the public through the newspaper.

5) How does the Daily Mail cover the issue of immigration? What representations are created in this coverage?

They are seen to be presenting a negative representation on immigration through labelling them as illegal or positions them to be behind all crimes.

Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context

Finally, read Media Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login).

1) What do Curran and Seaton suggest regarding the newspaper industry and society?

They consider that anyone is able to set up a newspaper and that this industry should maintain a liberal ideology. They do take into account that newspapers can be used for propaganda in order to influence readers . This does also apply to anyone free to publish as this is not only aimed at publishers.

2) What does the factsheet suggest regarding newspaper ownership and influence over society?

The growth of the press as a mass medium was accompanied by increased concentration of ownership. This can exaggerate their  influence over society however it also highlights how these press magnates were limited and not as far reaching.

3) Why did the Daily Mail invest heavily in developing MailOnline in the 2000s?

With this introduction of tech having the newspapers online on a website allowed more younger people to read it branching out their target audience whilst also addressing their decline in readership. MainOnline became the most visited English-language website as it was able to reach people across the world or those who have access to internet.

4) How does MailOnline reflect the idea of newspapers ‘as conversation’?

The newspaper is seen to provide a communal voice as many other papers are adapting their language in order to compete for this voice.

5) How many stories and pictures are published on MailOnline?

It has published 1000 stories, but 10,000 pictures.

6) How does original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke explain the success of the website?

He explains its all waterfront, just news people want to know. He explains how your just competing for people time.

7) How is the priority for stories on the homepage established on MailOnline?

They let readers decide what is seen as priority on the home page where the amount of clicks establish how high up it should be placed.

8) What is your view of ‘clicks’ driving the news agenda? Should we be worried that readers are now ‘in control of digital content’?

I feel like the readers has more control in what they want to read or be seeing in the news, having control helps them break free of passively reading. Its also a smart technique to attract a wider audience as not everyone's interests align.