NEWS - QUESTIONS 3 & 4 ANSWERS

3. EXPLAIN HOW THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT IN WHICH NEWSPAPERS ARE PRODUCED, INFLUENCES THEIR NEWS CONTENT. REFER TO THE GUARDIAN AND THE DAILY MAIL NEWSPAPERS YOU HAVE STUDIED TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.

[10 MARKS]

The economic context in which newspapers are produced can be seen to influence the news content. The news industry in the UK is under free market capitalism, and so newspapers such as the Daily Mail and The Guardian are driven by the profit motive.

The flight of advertising revenue from print journalism to online media in the mid 2010s starved journalism of funds. This had led to a decline in The Guardian's expensive journalism - such as international news and investigative reporting - and a rise in the Daily Mail's cheaper alternative, be it opinion, reporting celebrities and public relations events, lifestyle journalism and sport. This decline in circulation has effected both papers. Despite this, both organisations have developed similar strategies by offering free online content whilst other newspapers, such as The Times, have adopted a paid subscription model. The Mail Online is noticeably different to the Mail in print and has focused upon 'click-bait' type celebrity and lifestyle driven stories aimed at a younger audience. Similarly, The Guardian has used their 'Comment is Free' section in order to attract more online traffic. It features regular columnists who comment on various social, political and cultural issues.

The Guardian has been losing money annually and has managed these losses due to the support of its owner, Scott Trust. The Scott Trust's core purpose is to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity: as a quality national newspaper without party affiliation; remaining faithful to its liberal tradition; as a profit-seeking enterprise managed in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Alongside this, they are responsible for appointing the editor of the Guardian but, apart from enjoining them to continue the paper's editorial policy on "the same lines and in the same spirit as heretofore", it has a policy of not interfering in their decisions; they don't (completely) influence the news content. 

The Daily Mail is more 'populist' in terms of its content and has much wider circulation, although as its main audience is those above 55. It is reliant on the sensationalized advertisements and the economic dominance of social media companies who trade in audience attention, often gained through inciting anger or outrage. Viscount Rothermere, their owner, is also at play in funding and controlling what the organisation posts. This high level of control reinforces the funding bias as Rothermere has an influence over the Daily Mail's news content. 

Both newspapers rely on adverting rather than subscriptions to fund their online content, although The Guardian has also successfully launched a 'membership' scheme which offers certain benefits in return for donations.

Overall, the influence of economic contexts over news content is enforced through ownership funding bias and free market capitalism. All newspaper organisations are focused on making profit through their print and online content, relying on advertisements to attract more online traffic and sensationalized features to attract more print audiences.

4. EVALUATE THE USEFULNESS OF ONE OF THE FOLLOWING IN UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCES FOR ONLINE NEWSPAPERS SUCH AS THE GUARDIAN AND THE DAILY MAIL:

EITHER

• Hall's Reception Theory OR
• Gerbner's Cultivation Theory

[10 MARKS]

Gerbner's cultivation theory is useful in understanding audiences through his claims that repeated exposure to similar messages in media has long term effects on its audience members. He explores the idea that online media influences perceptions of the world and that long-term exposure to this can lead to mean world syndrome.

The cultivation theory is most applicable to the more consistent and messages portrayed in newspapers. The political agendas of The Daily Mail and The Guardian, for example, fall under this as they are known to influence the newspapers' content and messages, driving their production and attracting specific audiences that fall on the same ends of the political spectrum. This attraction of demographics and psychographics can be found within online news. Audiences within a digital bubble who consume messages from only a narrow range of sources are attracted through their likes and dislikes, swayed through their Facebook news feeds, and manipulated to read the online articles and change their perceptions of the world and its politics. Despite this, the varied spectrum of political messages that are enforced by UK newspapers contradict one another and thus have less of an effect on newspaper audiences. The Daily Mail's conservative approach is conversed with The Guardian's liberal approach.

Gerbner uses the idea of mean world syndrome to support his theory that audiences are passive recipients of online media and that the repeated exposure to violent media can make audience desensitised to violence; less shocked by the horrific news stories. When faced with demanding, threatening news stories, such as Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, Gerbner claims that audiences will remain calm and nonchalant due to their recurrent exposure to violence. This idea is reinforced through online media due to the lack of censorship and regulation of online news. The ease of accessibility allows anyone with an internet connection to become audience to the violence reported through online news. From a young age, audiences are witness to large numbers of brutal depictions and thus begin their desensitization. Mail Online and The Guardian are examples of online newspapers that release large quantities of news stories that display the vivid realities of the world. Mail Online, as a tabloid newspaper, will post personal and emotional impacts of harsh media, sensationalizing the violence, making it seem more extreme than what it may already be. This can cause audiences to compare the reality of online, exaggerated news to the real world.  

Gerbner's idea that the more time people spend 'living' in the mediated online world, the more likely they are to believe that the real world is the same as the reality portrayed online. He claims that media heavily influence perceptions of the real world. In some cases, such as stereotypical teen movies and action video games, audiences can be seen to compare the lives of the fictional characters they watch and play to their own, but this isn't always the case. It can be argued that this ideology is outdated for online news. Online newspaper messages will be challenged by audiences in comments, tweets or other posts, reducing the effect of the original messages. This feature of communication between audience members decreases the risk of this as audiences can share ideas and eventually remove any connection between the messages of the online news stories from the real world (other than the story itself). In The Guardian;s online website, they encourage audiences to comment 'below the line' of articles and news stories, willing them to share their opinion. However, this freedom to comment what they like, unfiltered, has caused some problems in terms of moderation. 

Overall, the level of applicability of Gerbner's cultivation theory in understanding audiences is dependent on the consistency of messages that are relayed across online news platforms.