Newspapers and Audiences.

We had our first proper 'Journalism Now - Audiences/agendas: newspapers/News Clinics' sessions today.  From both the morning session and the afternoon's News Clinics seminar, I think I'm going to enjoy it quite a lot.  Mainly because we get to discuss newspapers, comparing different newspapers and what they look like, how they present different news stories and what stances they take.

The newspaper I have to buy is 'The Independent', it seems to be quite 'wishy washy' and doesn't really present the reader with anything to argue against because the newspaper doesn't seem have a view of it's own.  This extends to no poppy being present on the front page, maybe the newspaper assumes that the reader is intelligent enough to be able to remember without the aid of an image of a poppy.  No poppy could also show that the newspaper is anti-war (however if they were to think about it for a second, without what the soldiers did, they might not be alive...).

After studying sociology at A Level, I developed the view that to be able to start any kind of research, you have to have a view on at least what you think you might find out, this approach is not purely objective, but you've got to start somewhere right? I have extended this to the media and newspapers in particular.

'The Telegraph' or 'The Torygraph' has always supported the Conservatives.  The only paper I can think of that supports Labour nowadays is 'The Mirror', probably because the audience of The Mirror is Labour supporters (although in my view, the 3 major political parties are all just the same - a bunch of no good Thatcherites).


Here's a short round-up of the major newspaper's political allegancies and their typical audiences:

The Independent: See above.

The Mirror: See above.

The Daily Telegraph: See above.

The Sun: Conservatives.  The Sun has changed from Labour to Tory in the past few years, which is strange considering the general readership of The Sun - white van men (working class).

Daily Mail: Conservatives.  Clearly in favour of the nuclear family and other Tory values.  This appeals to the readership as a lot of them are old and moan about how bad the younger generations have made the country etc...  This could be because that's what The DM says and because of this, The DM is one of the most influential papers in the UK.

The Guardian: Liberal Democrats.  'The teacher's paper' is similar to The Independent in that it is quite liberal and doesn't really present any real view either way.

The Times: Conservatives.  It is owned by Murdoch's gang, therefore following suit of The Sun in it's political view.

TB 2011