NEWS MEDIA & POLITICS • NEWS MEDIA & POLITICS •
II. Quality versus popular papers
• Introductory facts
Indeed, in the U.K., and to a lesser extent in the U.S.A., the two main types of newspapers are quality papers and popular newspapers -also called broadsheets & tabloids due to their format, which differ in form and content. Their competition for readership started in the age of print media but is still raging in today’s digital world.
• Comparing two front pages
Simple example of 2 U.S. front pages to characterise popular and quality papers.
- The New York Times, October 6 2020
- The New York Post, October 6 2020
(see Documents p.1
or Presentation slide 3)
| The New York Times, a quality paper | The New York Post, a popular paper | |
| Visual style | broadsheet format, many long articles with hierarchised (main one in block, capital letters and size) headlines in bold or italics, few small photos with systematic caption & source => text led paper (paper name in masthead in “antique” font) | tabloid format, nearly full page close up photo with only 4 sentences and a short text => image led paper ; headlines in large, bold and capital/block letters (paper name in masthead in modern font) |
| Writing style | descriptive, neutral headlines summing up the main idea of the news & focusing on people but with added context | catchy, sensational headlines using puns (“Face off” & “bomb away”) and colloquial English (“Prez”) & focusing on people (Trump & team) |
| News reporting | one half-page main story on Covid-19 pandemics with 5 reports (1 photo & 4 articles) putting Trump’s action into a wider context and two current affairs article + page bottom announcing 13 more news | two stories one on current affairs focusing on Trump’s provocative action and one on sports with just one “scandalous” headline |
| Targeted readers | older, more educated readers with factual, formal, objective paper | younger, less educated readers with emotional, informal, sensational, lively paper |
• More complex analysis
Using 10 UK front pages from the 30th October 2019 announcing the 12th December 2019 snap election to determine if the papers are broadsheets or tabloids, their political leaning and their position on Brexit whenever possible.
(see Documents p.2 or Presentation slide 4 & following)
Front pages from the 30th October 2019:
- Daily Express: tabloid (middle market), Conservative, for Brexit ✔
- The Financial Times: broadsheet, ?, ? ✔ => unbiased
- The Guardian: broadsheet, maybe Labour, ? ✔ Labour
- The I: apparently tabloid, in fact broadsheet, ?, ? ✔ => unbiased
- Daily Mail: tabloid (middle market), Conservative, maybe for Brexit ? ✔ for Brexit
- Metro: tabloid with broadsheet elements (middle market ?), ?, ? ✔ => unbiased
- Daily Mirror: tabloid (red top), Labour, ? ü
- Daily Telegraph: broadsheet, Conservative, get Brexit done ✔
- The Times: broadsheet, maybe Conservative, for Brexit ??
- The Sun: tabloid (red top), Conservative, for Brexit ✔
Answers: front pages from the 12 December 2019.