Basic Research

At this point of my research I have began to gather the local newspapers from my area, these are...'Thanet Extra', 'Thanet Times' and 'The Thanet Gazette'. I haven't actually began to look deeply into the codes and conventions of these newspapers, but there are aspects that you are able to notice quickly that define the newspaper that is. By this I mean whether it's a broadsheet or a tabloid, the easiest way to define the difference is by the size of the paper, as a broadsheet will be a noticeably amount larger then a tabloid paper, and this is as a tabloid paper was made for the working-class, therefore, the size allowed them to fit it in their pockets. A newspaper that I've looked at for my research that's a broadsheet is 'The Daily Mail' and I've looked at this paper, as I believe that a mixture of certain aspects would make a good paper, yet I haven't looked into this with enough detail yet, I also haven't asked my focus group on their opinions yet, but when I do, I'll get back to you on it. Another large difference between tabloids and broadsheets is the news-value of the newspapers stories, a broadsheet will have high news-value, which will include political news and international news. Where as a tabloid will have low news-value, including stories of the latest celebrities antics. The news-value is due to the target audience of the papers, as a tabloid is aimed at the working class and a broadsheet at the middle class. It is very popular for local newspapers to be tabloids, using a red masthead, for example, 'Thanet Times', although, 'Thanet Gazette' uses a navy masthead which is linked to a broadsheet, as broadsheet papers use dark or black and white mastheads. I am going to be following the works of the 'Thanet Gazette' in the use of the masthead.

Another noticeable code and convention that is used with newspapers (global/local) is that they also place the 'bad' news on the front page as the main story. This is a way in which the editors gain the audiences attention. If we go back to Galtung and Ruge's work, they stated a model called 'gatekeeping', this is a model of the way in which events are selected as being newsworthy and their importance relative to each other, first passing through the media gatekeeping filter, the the analysis of their news value. Basically, it's selecting the most important pieces of information based on experience and then the news-value.

The front page of newspaper have their own specific layout, and they use this layout for each paper produced, this gives the newspaper a house-style, along with this they'll have a house colour. The most basic way to notice a local newspaper is the adverts which they will be showing, on the front page and throughout. Local newspapers advertise numerous local business's as this is the way in which they fund the paper, as the business' pay to have their adverts in the paper. Local newspapers have to get their funds this way as they are mainly free, however, I can see you wondering about the ones that you buy in news-agents. Well the thing there is that local newspapers are most often posted through people's doors, the main paper to do this is the 'Thanet Adscene', however, it has now become that the papers are also able to be sold in news-agents, therefore, there is a mixture of whether they're free or not.

So, these were just a few of the basic codes and conventions for newspapers in general, next I will analyse the front pages, second pages and posters for local newspapers, and then I will draw my conclusion for the codes and conventions of these papers.