Media Studies
Media Analysis:
Print
Higher and Intermediate 2
5622
August 1999
HIGHER STILL
Media Studies
Media Analysis - Print
Higher and Intermediate 2
Support Materials
CONTENTS
Section 1:
Analysing newspapers in general
• Steps 1-6
• Assessment
• Steps 7-11
• Assessment
Section 2:
Analysing magazines in general
• Steps 1-9
• Assessment
Section 3:
Analysing newspapers: the Daily Record and The Guardian 6/4/98
• Steps 1-6
• Assessment
• Steps 7-11
• Assessment
Section 4:
Analysing magazines: Total Sport and Red May 1998
• Steps 1-9
• Assessment
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Media Studies Media Analysis: Print (Higher and Intermediate 2)
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Section 1
Newspapers
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SECTION 1
Summary: newspapers
The following is offered as a way of teaching Print media to the level required for Media Studies at
Higher and Intermediate 2.
As news stories run from day to day, the teacher should plan to handle news stories over a number
of days or weeks, rather than concentrating on the newspapers of one day only. The whole
package is built on newspapers of specified days. This is exemplar material. A teacher could follow
the work using newspapers of other days.
Step 1 - Deconstruction of a newspaper: front page
This begins with students in groups. Each group should have a broadsheet and a tabloid for the
same day.
The teacher should draw from the students the differences between the two papers, using the front
page as the focus. The differences which the teacher should elicit are:
• colour
• size of headlines
• number of stories
• range of stories
• length of sentences
• pictures
• adverts
• banners and logos.
There is also of course the difference in the size of the paper.
Step 2 - Deconstruction of a newspaper: inside a tabloid
This focuses on the news stories inside a paper. Working with the tabloid first the students should
look at:
• the type of stories
• the amount of column inches per story
• the placing in the papers of the stories
• the amount and use of advertising
• the pictures.
Students should be led to conclusions about audience, a profile of which will be emerging.
Turning to the back of the tabloid the sport section should be tackled next. Students should look at
whether or not their findings on layout, headlines etc. and audience are also true of the sports pages.
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Step 3 - Comparison of newspapers for the same day
This should focus on the broadsheet for the same day.
The students should comb the paper to identify the similarities and differences in the codes they have
so far studied. They can then begin to build up an audience profile of the broadsheet.
Step 4 - Features, articles and the editorial
Students should examine the placing of these elements in the papers, their language and their
purpose. This should lead to further development of the audience profile.
Step 5 - Pictures and anchorage
Students should learn the importance of action pictures to attract an audience and to slant a news
piece.
Step 6 - News stories over a number of days
At this point it is necessary to look at how a news story is handled as it develops over a number of
days. Students should be led to an understanding of how each paper carries a story on, through its
location in the paper, the amount of column inches, the pictures, the size of the headlines, the
language etc.
It is also necessary to look at how the story spawns features and articles, and how this differs from
broadsheet to tabloid.
Assessment
Students should now be assessed by structured questions on two newspapers of the same title for
two successive days. The questions should focus on one paper only except for the development of
the narrative question, which, by definition, requires looking at the follow-on story.
Step 7 - Representation
Once the layout, languages and photos of the press have been studied, the student should turn to
Representation. Again using two or more papers, in groups the students should be able to identify
the representation of:
• race
• gender
• class.
By examining the layout, language and photo codes. They should also go on to identify other
discourses e.g. law and order, monarchy or whatever are the current issues.
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It is also important to examine the representation of the target audience through the representation of
race, gender and class inside the paper. How for example is Scottishness handled in Scottish
papers, and differently in English based papers?
This has to be dealt with in both tabloid and broadsheet.
Step 8 - The text in context
Representation should lead on to looking at how this fits with the wider cultural codes of our society,
and again the broadsheet/tabloid differences need to be explored in depth. This of course is tied to
a deeper understanding of audience which in turn makes the intertextual links much easier to grasp.
From this the student should see that a newspaper does not exist in a vacuum, but is a product of
cultural codes and financial decisions.
Step 9 - The press industry
The technical codes of the print industry need to be tackled. This can best be achieved by a visit to
a newspaper, but if this is not possible, books are available which explain the process. Newspaper
offices are generally helpful in explaining over the phone the process from reporter on the street to
newspapers on the doorstep, and indeed, the Daily Record made a video for schools explaining
the process. This of course requires explanation of the personnel involved, the decision making
process and the constraints both internal and external, as well as the technical process itself.
Step 10 - Ownership and control
This should round off the students’ understanding of newspapers being a part of the wider world as
it requires the teacher to handle the ownership and control of the Press and the growth of media
conglomerates.
Step 11 - Not the morning papers
Before completing an analysis of newspapers, the Sunday papers and local papers (evening and
weekly) need to be explored. This step should not be a lengthy process as students should by then
have the knowledge of how to analyse these papers quickly. The essence of the work is for the
students to understand the differences between these types of newspaper and national dailies.
Assessment
Assessment should take the form of a detailed analysis on any newspaper other than the titles which
have been taught. Assessing an unfamiliar newspaper e.g. the Washington Post or a local
newspaper from an environment very different from the candidate’s own e.g. ‘The Oban Times’,
for an Edinburgh student would be particularly demanding and would test depth of understanding.
This could be considered as an assessment tool for the very competent student.
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Section 2
Magazines
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SECTION 2
Summary: magazines
Step 1 - Front covers
Students need to be taught about the construction of a magazine cover. They do not intuitively
know that the front cover is an advert, hailing the potential buyer from the news stands. That needs
to be explained. The teacher should concentrate on eliciting from the students the market of the
magazine by considering the:
• name of the magazine
• content of the cover
• straplines
• colour
• design and layout
• price.
The age, class and gender of the target market should be explicit. The students should then analyse
another magazine cover to ascertain that they can apply the analytical tools.
Step 2 - Inside a magazine
Students should now look inside the magazine and establish how the promise of the cover is borne
out inside. They need to look at:
• adverts
• articles
• stories
• features
• colour
• layout.
Step 3 - ‘Mapping’ the magazine - the narrative of the publication
Students should examine the index of the magazine to elicit editorial decisions on how it has been put
together and follow through their ideas by finding a coherence in the running order of the pieces. Do
all the 'heavy' articles come together? Are adverts placed beside articles which are linked to the
products in the adverts? Is there a significant difference between left and right hand pages in
magazines as well as in newspapers?
Step 4 - Language and discourse
This necessitates a close look at the language of the magazine. Is it aggressive, informal, raunchy?
From this it is a simple step to the discourses of the magazine.
What are the concerns of the reader? This leads to representation.
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Step 5 - Representation
In groups students should look at magazines for different markets, and identify the representation of
gender, race and class by close examination of:
• language
• content
• colour
• layout
• adverts
• editorial.
Step 6 - Adverts
This takes a close look at the adverts. It is important that a technical breakdown of an ad is
undertaken. Students need to learn about:
• lighting
• denotation/ connotation
• shot style
• ideology.
This has to be tied to the content of the advert and its selling style.
Step 7 - Target and non-target audiences
It is interesting at this point to consider the reaction of both the target and the non-target audiences.
Does the magazine wash over them? Or is the reaction more antagonistic? Some form of research
could be undertaken by the class here.
Step 8 - Production process
Students need to be taught the personnel and the processes of magazine production. Up-to-date
information is not difficult to acquire - most magazines are happy to explain the process to teachers
seeking information.
Step 9 - The text in context
Lastly students should consider how the magazine they have studied fits into the spectrum of the
magazine industry. A simple trip to a newsagent will provide answers to this. How many titles for
example belong to the same market? It is important that students grasp how magazines fit into the
wider cultural currency of our society.
A discussion of films, TV etc. which keys into the values of the magazine should provide answers to
this question.
Assessment should take the form of a detailed analysis of a magazine which has not been studied. It
is important that students can apply the analytical tools, and not simply rewrite lesson notes or
discussion.
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Section 3
Analysing Newspapers
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Section 3
Analysing newspapers
The most valuable method of analysing newspapers is to sustain study of them over a period of time.
Studying one particular event across a range of newspapers over a period of time is the best way for
students to come to grips with the Press.
To do this students have to learn to deconstruct a newspaper.
Once they have understood this, they can then see how a story rolls over from one edition to the
next, and how it is handled.
They need to consider:
• on which page the story is placed and how/why this is changed
• the language in which the story has been written. What is the preferred reading?
the use of pictures:
- their content
- their placing on the page
- their size
- their anchorage
• links between the language of the story and the leader
• how a major news story spawns:
• -articles
- letters
- cartoons
• how it is balanced against other stories, on an on-going basis
• how it is balanced against a major sporting event.
They then need to compare all this between newspapers. How, for example, do the tabloids handle
a story differently from the broadsheet press? Is there a difference in the handling of stories between
the London based press and the Scottish press?
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Step 1 - Deconstruction of a newspaper: the front page
Texts: The Daily Record and The Guardian - 6 April 1998.
By the end of Step 1 the student should be able to deconstruct a newspaper front page.
Learning and teaching
One approach to this would be to divide the class into groups and ask them just to list their first
impressions of the differences between the two papers. The obvious differences the students will
identify will be the size of the paper (tabloid and broadsheet) and that The Guardian has three
sections while the Daily Record is self-contained.
They should notice also, the different use of colour. The Guardian uses the colour picture of
monks retracing Christ's steps to Gethsemane, the Daily Record features Posh Spice in concert
mode. Both newspapers use colour across the top to attract readers to the contents. The red of the
Daily Record is much more strident than the more subdued Guardian colours.
The front page of the Daily Record has one story, The Guardian has three. The story common
to both is about the impending release of sex criminal Sidney Cooke. The story is handled very
differently in both papers. The headlines introduce the difference.
'Perverts will stay in Prison for Life' says the Record.
'Child Killer Frightened' says The Guardian.
The Record's version of the story uses highly emotive language 'perverts', keep our kids safe',
'would be locked up' and as the story continues to page five Cooke is called 'evil' and 'Britains' most
hated man'.
The Guardian however approaches the story differently by locating it in the revised laws regarding
releasing such offenders, and by describing Cooke as having been transferred to a secure unit for his
own protection. Had he walked out of Wandsworth Prison, we are told, he would have been
‘pulverised’. The entire balance of the story is different. In the Record he is evil, in The
Guardian frightened and hunted by persons seeking to keep him in prison ‘to rot’.
The position of this story in The Guardian is different also. It is not the main story. The
newspaper has led on a political story on mining. The third story in The Guardian provides a third
dimension - international economics.
Thus in the stories, and in the pictures there is a distinct difference in the two papers. The
Guardian has a wider range of articles than the Record, and altogether operates from a position
more political than personal.
The Record's headlines are huge, The Guardian's are more restrained and this is in keeping with
tabloid and broadsheet styles.
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Both newspapers employ the one sentence paragraph, but The Guardian's sentences (and
therefore paragraphs) are longer. The Guardian front page is not exclusively one sentence
paragraphs.
The overall look of the papers is different. The logo of the Daily Record is the lion rampant and
the paper announces itself to its readers as Scotland's Champion. The Guardian sidesteps the
logo but claims to be Newspaper of the Year. Both slogans are eye-catching. The Guardian
front page has an advert for the internet, a cartoon and indexes both top and bottom. One refers to
an interview with Kelvin Mackenzie - Guardian readers are assumed to know who he is. This is
accompanied by a photograph. The Record index also has a photo - of Ally McCoist.
From all of this, it is clear that the newspapers have two very different and distinct target markets.
The Record attracts the reader who has a more punitive approach to child killers, and who is also
aware of the who's who of Posh Spice and McCoist. The Guardian is looking to an audience
with a wider world view, and whose interests are not considered to be primarily pop music and
football. Guardian readers however are interested in football - there is even a 12 page pull-out on
sport and a Newcastle United figure on the front page. The overall look of the front page of the
Record is easier to define. It is in three simple bands, one horizontal (the red top) and two vertical.
Teaching method
This is probably best done for students who have no prior knowledge of the Press, by a question
and answer session or group discussion. The teacher should lead the group to seeing the differences
in:
• colour
• size of headlines
• number of stories
• range of stories
• length of sentences
• pictures
• adverts
• banners and logos
as well as the physical shape of the paper.
Assessment
There need not be formal assessment here, but rather employ best practice where the teacher is
aware of the student who is failing to grasp the points.
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Step 2 -Deconstruction of a newspaper: inside a tabloid
Texts: As above. Daily Record and The Guardian - 6 April 1998.
By the end of Step 2, the student should be able to analyse tabloid news stories, throughout the
whole paper. This should lead to the beginning of an audience profile of a Daily Record reader.
Learning and teaching
The Daily Record
Concentrating now on the tabloid only, the student should analyse the range and style of the news
stories inside the paper considering carefully whether or not they follow from the construction of
page one.
Page two contains political news, but none of it is in any great depth, and most of it favours Tony
Blair. Page two is a less important page than page three. All the even number pages are less
important than the odd numbered pages because of the way people hold newspapers as they read
them. Page three has a story on Baby Spice, another on a woman who is sea sick watching Titanic
and a hard luck story about a student who cannot take his python to university halls of residence.
These stories are deemed to be more important to Record readers by their prominent position on
page three.
Page four and five are a colour spread on Sidney Cooke, continued from page one. All the
language indicates Cooke to be evil and this ‘sicko’ is being aided by the governor of Wandsworth
and the Home Secretary. The attempt is to foreground the moral outrage of the little man against the
useless do-gooders! The cousin of the murdered boy tells us that ‘Cooke will do it again. He's got
the urge. He's been locked away and it's been building up’ - she is quoted as someone with priority
knowledge, which is of course not the case. The net result is to allow Record readers to campaign
against such criminals being released.
Page seven carries the Britannia news. Because the Record is a Scottish paper, Britannia is
prominently placed with accompanying picture. This is picked up in the editorial, which does not
carry a piece on crime, because it has an article on the same page about child protection. There
then follows a variety of love related stories, activity stories, and two death related stories. The
winner section is in the centre. It focuses on sport and live television and uses a sub-porn image at
its centre. The centrefold is on the Spice Girls concert. The newspaper continues with the television
news, cartoons, adverts and more sport.
There is no foreign news, no serious political comment. The newspaper is insular in its content. It
reads like a magazine. None of the stories are very long. Colour is used on the sport and cartoons.
The adverts are mainly for cars, but there are ads for Woolworths, Whyte and Mackay Whisky,
holiday accommodation and loan services. The limited buying power of the Record reader is
obvious.
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Huge headlines are used for the sports section and here the left hand page (even numbers) is more
important. This is because people read the sports section from the back. The best pictures and the
colour picture (page 36) is on a left hand page.
The student should have a fairly clear profile of a Record reader:
• interested in sport
• interested in human stories
• interested in pop stars
• angry at those who are soft on criminals
• with a limited income
• prefers simply written pieces
• lacking in interest of major political or foreign concerns.
Methods of teaching and assessment
The teacher should be aware of students who are finding certain aspects of the analysis difficult.
Extra help may be required for these students to grasp the ideas. The assessment on this Step will
be done along with the assessment of Step 3.
Step 3 - Comparison of the broadsheet newspaper for 6 April 1998
Texts: As above the Daily Record and The Guardian 6 April 1998.
By the end of Step 3 the students should have a clear understanding of how stories are handled
differently in different newspapers. They should also be able to begin to build a profile of a
Guardian Reader.
Learning and teaching
The Guardian
Page two leads on a piece on Indonesia, followed by news about a shake-up at the BBC - and the
Spice Girls concert, which has no picture. The article focuses on the impact of the Spices on eight
year olds.
Page three carries an article on bootleg albums beside Ireland news (much larger piece than the
Record's on page two) and Harriet Harman's struggle for survival. (Eight column inches against the
Record's thinner and smaller column).
Page 4-9 carry home news, (a huge range of news stories) and pages 10, 11, 13 deal with
international news. Prominently placed among this is an advert for Amnesty International which
focuses on abuse of children in Uganda. This highlights Guardian readers' left-of-centre
sympathies, as well as their spare cash to donate to Amnesty International. Page 14 rounds off on
political and economic news on Europe, and then the newspaper continues with obituaries, articles,
and interviews. Sport has a section on it own, and then there follows the tabloid-sized Guardian
media section.
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The adverts are for investment banking, cars and other items of high finance, as well as jobs. The
news section shows The Guardian to be much more wide-ranging than the Record. Its readers
are:
• interested in world issues
• not particularly interested in the Spice Girls except in reference to trying to understand their
appeal to readers’ own children
• able to handle complex language and ideas
• more interested in home news than foreign (it comes first)
• interested in sport
• interested in media and culture
• comfortably enough off to give to charity
• concerned and have a conscience (Voluntary Service Overseas and Amnesty International).
Method of teaching and assessment
The students should analyse The Guardian in pairs or groups and the teacher should thus be able
to identify those who have grasped the concepts and those who need further help. Again the
assessment is formative, so need not be formal.
Step 4 - Features, articles and the editorial
Texts: As above, Daily Record and The Guardian - 6 April 1998.
By the end of this Step, the students should understand the purpose of feature articles and editorials,
and how they relate to news stories. The study of language is necessary for this. This will lead to a
development of the audience profiles.
Learning and teaching
The students should locate the features, and the editorial by searching the papers for what are not
news stories. Once they have located everything that is not a news story, they can divide the
material into articles, features and the editorial.
The Guardian has more articles and features than the Daily Record, so it would be best to begin
there. Page 16 has articles and Page 17 the editorial and letters. They should be examined for their
concerns. What do the article writers and the editor think concern Guardian readers? The
financial pieces on Page 18 and 19 and the interview on Page 20 have to be examined in the same
light; as does The Guardian media section. Once this has been covered, the students should
search the Daily Record for articles, features and the editorial. The editorial of 8 April reinforces the
idea of common sense - justice of the ordinary person. They should then deduce further details on
the concerns of Record readers and add to their profiles of the two readerships.
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Teaching method
This could be done singly, in pairs or in groups. Students should make notes under headings:
• Concerns of Readers
• Profile of Readers
and back their observations by evidence.
Assessment
This should be done on the written material generated from the exercise above. Diagnostic teaching
to remedy weaknesses should now be inserted as required, prior to a summative assessment after
Step 6.
Step 5 - Pictures and anchorage
Texts: As above. The Daily Record and The Guardian 6 April 1998.
By the end of this step the student should understand the importance of pictures to a news story, and
the importance to pictures of anchorage.
Learning and teaching
Neither newspaper carries very dramatic pictures, but it is possible nevertheless to study pictures
and anchorage. It is important that students learn how pictures can slant a news story.
Daily Record pp 4 and 5.
This is the Sidney Cooke story. He is pictured as a grim-faced determined man, not a frightened
figure as he is described in The Guardian. The shadow behind him increases the unpleasantness of
the picture. His victim faces the camera and looks in pain. The pictures are placed as they are to
suggest Cooke looking at the young boy. Both pictures are underneath a picture of protesters
outside the jail. Grim-faced they carry a banner.
The anchorage sums it up:
Rage.... protesters hit out over the release of Cooke, jailed for the sex killing of Jason
Smith.
The connotation is of outraged decent people protecting children against evil.
Teaching method
Once the pictures and anchorage of the Daily Record have been explained to the students, they
should examine The Guardian for pictures which, with anchorage, provide a connotation attractive
to Guardian readers as the student has defined them in the profile.
Assessment
This would be done by assessing the work as outlined above.
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Step 6 - News stories over a number of days
Texts: The Guardian and The Daily Record 7 April 1998
By the end of this step the students should understand how a story is developed and 'rolled on' from
day to day. To fully grasp this the student will follow a story in terms of:
• its location in the paper
• the amount of column inches
• the pictures
• the headlines
• the language
• the features/articles/editorials
• the difference between broadsheet and tabloid.
Learning and teaching
The Guardian
The main story which has been continued is the Sidney Cooke story. It has been moved from page
one to page three. Ireland has moved from page three to page nine. On the International news
pages, Israel continues to feature as part of The Guardian's series marking the anniversary of
Israel.
The Cooke photo is the one used in yesterday's Record, but in black and white. The Guardian
did not use a photo on its first story.
The Guardian front page has three stories, but is laid out differently. Its tabloid section is on a
range of different themes, but all of interest to the audience identified in the profile.
The headlines of the Cooke story continue to be sympathetic. 'Child killer frightened' becomes
'Cooke under media siege'. The language of the piece continues in the same vein. The article paves
the way for the news.
Polly Toynbee's article on page sixteen moves to page one news, on day two.
Method of teaching
Students should examine both editions of one title in order to reach the findings outlined above.
Stories may run for days in which case, it would be good educational practice to watch how a story
develops, peaks and closes.
Assessment
This should focus on the deductions rather than on just the findings. Is a story becoming increasingly
important, or less important? Students should be able to work this out from the changing locations
of a story in the paper, and the amount of writing apportioned to it.
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SECTION 3
Assessment
Texts
Any two copies of a newspaper for successive days, in which at least one story continues from one
day to the next.
Structured questions
Students should answer the following questions on either newspaper.
1. To which category does this newspaper belong? (Give evidence to support your answer)
2. Analyse the front page paying particular attention to:
• the content of the stories
• the number of stories
• the range of stories
• the size of the headlines
• the use of colour
• the design of the front page
• the use of pictures.
3. Analyse the news stories inside the paper focusing on:
• content of the stories
• their placing within the paper
• their accompanying pictures
• the use of advertising.
4. Look carefully at the features and the editorial. What are they concerned with?
5. Build an audience profile of the newspaper drawing heavily on answers to questions 1- 4.
6. From your knowledge of a different group of readers, take one of the stories in the paper, and
consider how it would be handled differently for that other group. Begin by defining the group,
and then identify the story. Identify three ways in which the story would be handled differently.
7. Look at the two newspapers and analyse how any of the stories have been ‘rolled over’ from one
day to the next. Identify:
• similarities/differences in language
• similarities/differences in the position in the paper
• accompanying photos
• underpinning ideology.
The level should be determined by the quality of the answer. Higher level students will show insight,
Intermediate 2 students will mention the more obvious features.
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Step 7 - Representation
Texts: Daily Record, The Guardian for 6 April 1998
or
Daily Record, The Guardian for 7 or 8 April 1998
It is essential to use one tabloid and one broadsheet.
By the end of this Step the student will understand the concept of Representation and how it is
constructed in the newspapers through examining:
• layout
• language
• photo codes.
The student should also be able to understand the representation of the target audience. A very
sophisticated reading of the text is required if the student is to see ‘ through’ the text to not only a
construction but also a representation of audience. How is the target audience represented back to
itself in the stories?
Learning and teaching
Representation is a concept in Media Studies which defines the idea that when something is
presented over and over again in a particular way, it comes to take on that image of truth.
In the Daily Record pedophiles are evil and sick - not frightened, damaged and disturbed. Women
are mothers, and defenders of small children (the protesters outside the jail and the Spice Girls). If
they are young they are often constructed as sexy.
The Guardian on the other hand sees pedophiles as in need of help and a risk to society, but not
intrinsically evil. Women have a less stereotyped rôle partly in the stories, but also in the prominence
of Polly Toynbee's article. The representation of class is particularly interesting. The Daily Record
seems to hold up its own working class readers as the voice of reason against middle class prison
wardens and home secretaries. Thus the paper targets the working class and then represents that
class back to itself as Right. Thus it continues to attract readers.
Method of teaching
1. The students should look at The Guardian to establish how class is constructed there. How is
the middle class presented to middle class readers?
2. Look for further examples of Representation in both papers e.g. Scottishness/Britishness e.g.
Tuesday 7 April (Record) middle page spread on Bravehearts.
Assessment
This would be done informally by the teacher being aware of how the student is managing the work.
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Step 8 - The text in context
Texts: The text in context.
The Daily Record and The Guardian for 6 April 1998
or
The Daily Record and The Guardian for 7 or 8 April 1998
Other broadsheets and tabloids.
By the end of this Step the student should have grasped that newspapers do not exist in a vacuum,
but are part of the wider context of the society in which they are produced.
Learning and teaching
Newspapers are manufacturers of meaning. They also need to be sold to justify their existence.
Therefore they have to key into the desires and needs of the target market in order to sell.
Using a range of broadsheets and tabloids for the same day would make the students aware of the
attitudes across the Press to a particular story. There will also be variations in facts. Thus the
readers of different newspapers have different information and different attitudes.
Newspapers refer to singers, film, television etc. Thus they key into these cultural artefacts, and
affect the audience's attitude. They make meaning in this area also. The Wednesday 8 April
Record carries what appears to be a news story about freeing Deirdre Rachid of ‘Coronation
Street’. The meshing of television drama and hard news is explicit here.
Method of teaching
Students should look for examples of how the newspaper makes meaning in the wider context of
society, rather than just reports news. Obvious examples are the Sidney Cooke story and the
adulation of the Spice Girls wanting to follow the stereotyped path.
Assessment
As Step 7.
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Step 9 - The press industry
Texts:
None
By the end of this Step, the student should have understood the production process of the industry.
Learning and teaching
The best way to do this is to visit a newspaper office. This is not always possible, and books are
available which explain the process. The newspapers themselves are very helpful in giving up-todate technological information about their processes.
The personnel involved in making editorial decisions also requires to be studied. Again the Press
relations department tends to be helpful in this regard.
Method of teaching
A visit to a newspaper, or failing that, didactic/lecture style teaching.
Step 10 - Ownership and control
Texts: None
By the end of this Step, the student should understand the ownership and control of the Press, and
how this influences decisions about the content of the individual newspapers.
Learning and teaching
Who owns what changes so rapidly that listing it here would be pointless.
The finances underpinning the media conglomerates need to be explained to students. News
International's vast range of financial interests outwith the Press, as well as the amount of titles in its
domain needs to be explained. It is important that students understand the effect of this on freedom
of the Press.
The links to other broadcasting media and the net effect of this also needs to be explained.
Method of teaching
This needs to be didactic, but can develop into discussion.
Assessment
None.
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Step 11 - Not the morning papers
Texts: Any evening newspaper
Any Sunday paper
Any local paper.
By the end of this Step, the student should understand how these strands of the Press differ from
mainstream dailies.
Learning and teaching
Evening papers publish two main strands - firstly the main events of the day, and secondly they tend
to be regional and concentrate on local news also.
The Sunday papers provide Saturday's news especially the sport, and they also function as a
summary and a comment on the week's news. They also have their colour supplements.
Local papers tend to focus on local news. 'The Cornishman' of 2 April 1998 led on the design of
a mural by a local artist, with a second story on a jobs boost. Local news has a vital role in a
community and tends to be very widely read.
Method of teaching
Once the students have understood the roles of these three types of newspaper, they should
examine one example for each and find examples which demonstrate its function.
Assessment
Their findings should be written up and assessed.
Summative Assessment
Texts: Any newspaper other than the titles studied.
Detailed analysis
This should take the form of a series of proformas under the headings categories, language,
narrative, representation, audience, institutional contexts, technologies.
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Section 4
Analysing Magazines
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SECTION 4
Magazines
To analyse a magazine the student has to reach an understanding of:
• the content
• the audience
• the purpose
• the narrative structure
• representation
• the layout and design
• print styles
• the use of pictures
• the place within the industry
of the magazine, and its relationship to society.
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Step 1 - Front covers
Texts: Total Sport. May 1998
Red
May 1998.
Aim
By the end of this Step the student should be able to analyse the design of a cover in terms of the
significance of the:
• name of the magazine
• content
• strap lines
• design and layout
• colour
• price.
Learning and teaching
The front cover of a magazine has two functions. It is an advert for the magazine itself, and hails
potential buyers from the news stands. It also provides information to the potential buyer of its
contents.
Denotation
Total Sport for May 1998 has been designed in white, black and gold. The words ‘Total Sport’
across the top parallel the horizontal band at the bottom of the page. The strap lines on the left of
the cover are balanced by the model on the right. The cover girl’s clothing is essential to the black
and white look, as her blonde hair is to the gold. As part of her head covers the O and R of sport,
she seems to be rising off the page. The language highlights sport in large type, and the use of 'Total'
is continued by the list in the straps: cricket, football etc. Emphasis on the star is delivered through
the picture and the interviewees. - Boycott, Branson et al. Notwithstanding the picture and the
interview with Allison Curbishley the magazine is male in its address. This is conveyed through the
stark font and colours, and the cover girl look of Anna Kournikova.
Connotation
The cover keys into traditional male interests - football, cricket as well as the sub-porn of the cover
girl. There is also a suggestion that sport is more important than anything else in the line at the
bottom of the page - how the world cup will wreck your marriage. This is heralded as PLUS and
set up as a reasonable notion, by its being used as part of the pull to attract the reader. The use of
gold has echoes of Olympic success.
Denotation
Red for May 1998 - is a name which determines the colour of the cover and the powerful lifestyle of
the reader. The vibrant colour gives the magazine a powerful presence on a magazine rack. It draws
the eye.
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The model's dress is lilac which would not look so strident against a different background.
The contrasting writing is in white.
The strap lines on the left balance the model on the right whose head projects off the top of the
page. She seems to be rising out of the page. She is windswept and vibrant. The strap lines define
the audience - women who are not poor (food, gardening, interiors and health). They may be
mothers but they need not be. Certainly they are interested in life beyond, as well as, in the home
(Travolta piece - it also sets the age of the reader as thirty plus (Saturday Night Fever teenagers
twenty years on), and the Louis Theroux piece).
Audience and categories
Both magazines retail at £2.50. This puts both audiences firmly into the middle class. The paper is
expensive, and glossy which also attracts the middle class. Total Sport fits into the genre of male
sports magazines (sport and the model look ), while Red fits into a bracket with New Woman and
Elle.
Both magazines imply (Red states) that their readers know what are the best things in life, and that
the magazine is the key to attaining that success. The age group is twenty plus, as that age group has
the lifestyle and the buying power of the magazine.
Teaching method
The teacher/lecturer may choose to teach one cover didactically and then let the students singly, or
in groups, analyse the other. If the students already have considerable knowledge, the
teacher/lecturer may choose to let them work without prior input. Either way if the students
understand the points made above, they will have covered all that is necessary to know about
covers.
Assessment
This will simply be by their analysis of the magazine along the lines outlined above. This may be
done orally or in writing. The assessment should be formative and allow the corrective teaching
prior to the summative assessment at the end of Step 9.
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Step 2 - Inside a magazine
Texts:
Inside a magazine.
Red
Total Sport May 1998
May 1998.
By the end of this Step the student should understand the link between the cover of the magazine
and its interior both in terms of content and style. The work will focus on:
• adverts
• articles
• stories
• features
• colour
• layout.
Learning and teaching
As with Step 1, this can be undertaken by didactic teaching from one magazine, and then formative
assessment on the other.
Total Sport
Adverts
The adverts are, as you would expect, for sporting goods, but not exclusively so. On page 29 there
is an advert for Calvin Klein featuring a male and a female model. This clearly defines the audience:
young, rich and both genders. This is continued on page 33 with a Molson beer advert. The
advertising is selling a lifestyle encoded in the commodities. By page 39, the advert is for the holiday
version of the lifestyle: Club Med. There follows a series of car adverts: ,Volvo, Audi and Rover,
which lead into a PlayStation advert featuring cars and a larger than life bikini clad model. Sony
primarily markets PlayStation to the 8-25 year old market - this advert fits the top end, and the
spillover, of the market. It also links electronic games to speed and sport. On page 109 Total
Sport advertises 'Q' thereby boosting the sales of a magazine in its own genre.
The magazine needs advertising to keep its price down to £2.50, so clearly the adverts are essential
to the publishers. The advertisers wish to reach the right audience and they see the readers of Total
Sport as the market they want to target. Why? Because of the articles in the magazine.
Articles, features, stories
The articles are heavily weighted towards sports personalities. There is also an article entitled ‘Can
England Win?’ (This article indicates a shift from the days when such a question was unthinkable).
The emphasis of the articles is on success, not training and hard work - or losing. This fits with the
lifestyle emphasised in the adverts. Moreover most of the articles are short, and superficial. There
are no stories. Facts are more important to the target market than fiction.
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Colour and layout
The adverts are very bright and aggressive in their design (page 22-23). This fits the maleness of the
feel of the magazine. The adverts are predominantly placed on the right hand page as this catches
the eye on a flick of the magazine.
The emphasis on design and layout is of a fast, slick lifestyle.
Red
Adverts
The adverts are, as in most women's magazines, for cosmetics, clothing and household goods.
There are other adverts also which define the audience. Page 20-21 has a double page spread of
an advert for a Rover, page 58-59 Land Rover, page 76-77. Audi and page 51 has a fascinating
advert for Startrite sandals. Aimed at the mother as buyer of children's shoes, the advert features an
androgynous figure with visibly displayed jewellery including silver/platinum wedding ring fondly
holding a child's sandal and weeping. Is this a new man weeping over his lost childhood? Has it
echoes of endless females in pictures weeping over their lost loves? The colours of the sandal are
echoed in the colours of the clothing and suggest something about the loss of innocence. There is a
vast difference in design between the adverts for expensive and less expensive clothes.
The adverts are essential to holding the price at £2.50. The advertisers see the readers of Red as
their target market because of the articles in the magazine.
Articles, features and stories
These are underpinned by the word ‘lifestyle’. Pages 22 and 23 explicitly makes this clear. Thirtysomething women are examining their roles in life. This is off-set by the analysis of the difference
between a woman's love for her sons and for her daughter on pages 60, 61 and 62. The Travolta
article provides background to a film which will be a feature in conversation at gatherings of Redstyle readers.
This is followed by three other articles based on personalities, and an article on debs. It purports to
be an analysis of the difference between UK and US debs but in fact serves to underpin the rich,
success-laden ideology of the whole magazine.
The breast cancer article is a serious piece which admits that not everything in the Red world is
perfect. There are also food, drink and holidays features for the comfortably heeled.
There are NO stories. Again fact is more important than fiction.
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Colour and layout
The magazine is glossy, and comfortable on the eye. The strident first page is not maintained
although the design never becomes soft. The strong colours used in some of the adverts do not
dominate. Most of the adverts are on the right hand page. According to the editorial, the magazine
prides itself on using models who look like real women. The laugh lines are there, but so are the
perfect figures! The look of the magazine attracts the women labelled on the cover as bright and
sexy.
Teaching method
As in Step 1.
Assessment
As in Step 1.
Step 3 - 'mapping' the magazine - the narrative of a publication
Texts:
Total Sport May 1998
Red
May 1998
By the end of this Step the student should understand that the contents of a magazine are not placed
randomly, but that there is a planned, deliberate order to their placing.
Learning and teaching
The order in which magazine contents are put together is not random. Students will have already
noted that the adverts are on the right hand pages, because that position is most noticeable.
Total Sport opens with adverts, and then moves through snippets of information, and news flashes
into the longer pieces. The reader is thus led through the visuals to easy reading, and then to more
concentrated reading. Within the ‘Month in Pictures’ section, it moves from an overview through
events to personalities and tragedy rounding off with a long shot of St Moritz Ski Marathon. The
magazine concludes with an easy reference section of what's-on -where, advertises its June edition
and reviews books and running shoes. While there are no specific and explicit links between
adverts and articles the link is implicit e.g. - page 75 carries an advert for Caffrey's Irish Ale after a
piece on the social side of the snooker circuit.
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Red
Red also opens with adverts and snippets. There is only one two page piece before the heavier
articles begin on page 49. These are all grouped together, and the reader is led through them to, the
article on debs, which focuses on the vast wealth there is in the life of these society girls. That leads
directly into clothes adverts which are in a different financial bracket from those advertised earlier.
There is a narrative in the use of colour, the reds and the oranges followed by the blues. The earlier
cheaper clothes are not featured in these bold colours or so dramatically photographed. That in turn
leads into articles on holiday homes and gardens, food, drink and water therapy, all of which are
impossible without money. The magazine concludes with the second shopping guide, and an easy
reference section on books, music etc. The narrative of this magazine is underpinned by money.
Teaching method
As Step 1.
Assessment
As Step 1.
Step 4 - language and discourse
Texts:
Total Sport May 1998
Red
May 1998
By the end of this Step the student should have a grasp of how word choice and style are crucial to
the success of a magazine. This leads on to an understanding of the discourses of the publication.
Learning and teaching
Total Sport
The language of this magazine relies heavily on winning and success. 'The Brits are coming back'
Aussie's 'Renaissance Man' 'England expects'. This keys into the discourse of success. The two
articles on women leans towards the other aspect of the magazine. The opening line of the article is
'First she took Martina Hinges to three sets in the Australian Open' and now you've voted her 'best
body' in the Total Sport reader's poll'. The quote on the page beside Allison Curbishley is ‘I'm a
nightmare with relationships. It sounds awful but, as an athlete, you need to be selfish’. Articles on
female athletes and tennis stars are written differently form their male counterparts. The language of
Scotched Dreams is virulently anti-Scottish. The language of the adverts is punchy and aggressive
eg 'Rubber, Chains and Pain: You'll Love It'. The overlap of sex and success is explicit here.
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Red
Much of the magazine focuses on how the rich and successful relax. The language builds the reader
into the notion that she shares their stresses and their joys. Family life is celebrated throughout (note
especially the last paragraph on page 62). The accent on money is very clear in the adverts ‘The
teak bathroom is my own small luxury’. Houses here are full of exotic woods that sailors brought
back form overseas). The discourses of money, family and the Good Life are clear through the
language.
Teaching method
As Step 1.
Assessment
As Step 1.
Step 5 - Representation
Texts:
Total Sport May 1998
Red
May 1998
Plus a range of other magazines.
By the end of this Step the student should have a clear understanding of how representation works
in magazines. To reach this understanding it is necessary to study:
• language
• content
• colour
• layout
• adverts
• the editorial
in the magazine.
Learning and teaching
This Step of the work draws together everything the student has learned so far. Representation is a
concept in Media Studies which defines the idea that when something is presented over and over
again in a particular way, it comes to take on that image as truth. This is best understood by
example. The representation of Spain is bullfighting and flamenco, of Italy pasta and machismo, of
Scotland tartan and heather.
By drawing together all the findings in Steps 1-4, students should be able to identify the
representation of gender in Total Sport and Red.
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Total sport
Men are represented as winners in sport and in areas other than sport. On page 92 we are told
Tony Adams has beaten alcoholism and an injury that almost ended his career. Women are
represented both visually and in the writing as sexual beings as well as successful. The photos of the
Russian tennis star focus on her in casual clothing with only two small photos in her tennis wear. The
editorial sums up the attitude of this magazine to women.
It is also worth considering whether or not there is a national representation issue in the magazine. Is
the England article being balanced against Scotland's 1978 World Cup failure? Why is 1978
featuring in a 1998 magazine other than to point up the England/Scotland divide?
Red
Women are fulfilled as mothers who are also stars. This magazine is not dealing with female lawyers
and doctors. It features film and music stars.
These women of course look beautiful and live the wealthy lifestyle their money can buy – this is
reinforced by the editorial. Men are adjuncts to their lifestyle. Scotland features well in this
magazine. Luskentyre beach on Harris is put in the same bracket as Ipanema. Glasgow also is a
world away from its rough stereotype of the past. (page 140)
Teaching method and assessment
Once the students have established the representation of gender in these magazines it would be
advantageous for them to look through a range of magazines for different audience to identify
representation. Assessment of this would best be done through discussion.
Step 6 - adverts
Texts: Adverts.
By the end of this Step the student should be able to analyse an advert in terms of its:
• content
• lighting
• denotation/connotation
• shot style
• ideology.
This Step focuses on the technical breakdown of a single advert.
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Learning and teaching
Total Sport and Red both contain adverts for Rover cars. Total Sport has two adverts on
successive right hand pages, followed by a double page spread thus creating an advertising
narrative. Red has one Rover advert, which also appears in Total Sport. Thus we can deduce that
one of the adverts has been designed to appeal to men and women in the same financial bracket and
of a specific lifestyle.
By doing a thorough advert breakdown, students can verify their earlier findings about the market
and reinforce what they have already learned.
Total sport page 56.
This picture is in colour and highlights a car at speed on a corner. The shot has been taken at an
angle to reinforce the power of the car. The background has been blurred to emphasise the speed
of the car. The car is a strong blue and is driven by a man. The wealth is obvious from the nonmainstream number plate. The caption further defines the audience. Not only is it wealthy, it has
certain cultural tastes. Max Bygraves is referred to as 'dreadful'. The word RELAX is in Red and
stands out, thus further reinforcing the quality of the car. The technical details of the car and the
price are along the bottom of the page.
This is continued on page 59. The car is being driven away from the camera around a corner, and
the brown background is again blurred to indicate speed. The car is silver (connotation again of
wealth), and once more the number plate is specialised. Relax appears in Red, and this time the
writing indicates the importance to the driver of a table for two for lunch. Relationships come into
play. Lastly we are told that the car will deliver the driver on time despite a difficult road. The car's
sporty suspension is featured, again indicating comfort as well as being attractive to readers of a
magazine called Total Sport.
The last of the adverts on pages 60-61 is the one which appears in Red also (pages 20-21). The
evening lighting of the shot is black fading to blue and silver. Again the car is positioned at an angle,
and again the number plate is specialised. The driver is not clear. It could be male or female which
allows for the anchorage. Relax features in red again, but the sexual undertones of giving your ‘ex’
a good night kiss could belong to either men or women. The Red women readers would be
assertive enough to do precisely this. The blurring of the background is also part of the look.
The connotation of the Rover adverts is success, wealth and sexual power (not romance).
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Method of teaching
This would best be done in groups. The students could bounce ideas off each other to reach their
own conclusions about the adverts.
Assessments
This could be covered by the group discussion above, or by analysis of another car advert.
Step 7 - target and non-target audiences
Texts: Target and non-target audiences.
By the end of this Step the students should have an awareness of audience, and how a magazine is
targeted at a particular audience. It is not enough to identify the target audience. It is important to
look at the non-target audience and consider the effect of the magazine on these people.
Learning and teaching
The student will know by now the audience of Total Sport and Red.
They should now construct an audience profile of a different group of people and discuss how these
magazines might affect this group. It is not possible to define the answers here as students will come
up with original ideas and the teacher's/lecturers task is to lead the students through the discussion.
They should also be encouraged to consider the notion that if a magazine and its adverts are
intended to affect its target market positively, there may be a negative affect on its non-target
market. Perhaps these people are antagonistic to the ideology of the magazine or perhaps they
aspire to it. This opens up the idea that the magazine is not produced in a vacuum, but is part of the
broader attitudes of society.
Teaching method
Group work. Students should build a range of different audience profiles taking into consideration
gender, race, sexual orientation, age and class. They should then consider how Total Sport and
Red fit their profiles.
Assessment
This would most fruitfully be done by the reader listening to the discussions, with corrective teaching
as required.
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Step 8 - Production processes
Texts: Production Processes.
By the end of this Step students should have an understanding of the magazine industry.
Learning and teaching
Both magazines are produced by EMAP, which subdivides its work into sections depending on the
market of the magazine. Up-to-date information can be gained by contacting the magazine
personnel department. Pictures and stories may be written by staff or commissioned. Stories are
subbed, revamped into the house style and have headlines added.
Method of teaching
Didactic.
No assessment
Step 9 - The text in context
Texts: The text in context.
By the end of this Step the students should understand the magazine in its context as a producer of
meaning to a specific audience, and the interaction of this with society.
Learning and teaching
The work should now focus on the magazine industry and then the broader picture of the leisure
industry. Students should find out by a trip to a newsagent the balance of the different consumer
groups magazines: where is the most buying power?
By looking at the sports section on the news stands the difference between Total Sport and other
sport magazines e.g. Climbing and Running magazines should be apparent. Red has to be looked at
beside other women's magazines of its market.
From there the student has to consider how the magazine as a producer of meaning fits society.
Links with films, television and the music industry need to be explored.
Method of teaching
Group work discussion.
Assessment
Assessment of the discussion and corrective teaching as required.
Summative Assessment
Assessment should take the form of a detailed analysis of a magazine which has not been studied. It
is important that students apply the analytical rules and not simply lesson notes or discussion.
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The assessment at Intermediate 2 level should take the form of STRUCTURED QUESTIONS
AND AT HIGHER AS AN ESSAY.
The questions should require the student to break down the text into analysis of:
• the cover
• inside the magazine
• the narrative of the magazine
• language and discourse
• representation
• adverts
• audience
• production processes
• the text in content.
This follows the steps above. They can then provide knowledge of these concepts under the step
by step breakdown of structured questions, or reorganise the material into answers on categories,
language, narrative, representation audience, institutional contexts and technologies.
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