The Daily Mail

We looked at the Newspaper Industry in some detail before the break and there have been some interesting developments over the past few months that are worth studying.  Events have divided opinion and political bias has been very clear. Unlike closely regulated broadcasters, like the BBC, there is a lack of impartiality in the press which means they are fascinating for Media students to study.

Begin by reading this article about current sales figures.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52754762

Why have sales of newspapers fallen?
Why would the Telegraph, The Sun and The Times decline to publish their sales figures?
How many daily copies does the Daily Mail sell on average?
How many people live in the UK?
By what percentage have newspaper sales been falling each year?
What is the relationship between newspapers and advertisers?
How does ownership of a newspaper title affect how the news is 'mediated'?

Define the audience for the daily Mail using socio-economic and psycho-graphic descriptors.

The pandemic has had huge effects on our lives and audiences are divided in their opinion of the government's handling of the situation. Lets dive in with some of the front pages...

 The Daily Mail is an interesting newspaper for us as it is often deliberately confrontational and populist, appealing to audiences with a right wing point of view.  As you have pointed out, you do not buy newspapers as you prefer to access media online. The audience for this paper is therefore in an older age bracket and has mostly settled views that correspond with the content in the paper. In the words of Paul Weller, 'the public gets what the public wants'. If there were no audience there would be no profit. The Daily Mail is one of the few newspapers to buck the trend of falling sales. This claim is made in the context of falling sales across all newspapers. Sales figures dipped below the 1 million mark for the first time. However, the pandemic has been a disaster for the printed press as people have not been buying the paper in shops. Other titles are so concerned with falling sales that they are worried about how this may look to advertisers who are key to them making a profit.  The Sun may well have been knocked off its perch as the number one selling newspaper. A position it has held for decades.

The Daily Mail has a very successful online presence which we will also explore. If you apply the theory of Curran and Seaton then this publication seeks profit and power. It prints news with a distinct bias as it knows it has an audience who like to hear stories with a right wing bias. The online version is a leader in using 'clickbait' to draw audiences to its web-site. It has become a very successful online news web-site and proves that there is a market for this right of centre mediation of news. This right of centre audience can also be seen in the result of  recent elections and the Brexit vote.  The Dail Mail is therefore a key influencer in manipulating public opinion. Micheal Gove's wife, Sarah Vine is an influential columnist for the paper so it has close links with the government and can be seen as an organ of propaganda for the current right wing government.  The front page above helps to sway public opinion and is an excellent one to analyse.  Opening schools on June 1st was very contentious so the government uses its ties to the media to pave the way for acceptance of its policy.  The word 'militant' has powerful connotations.  By establishing teachers as 'heroes' and 'magnificent' it pays compliment to bravery while suggesting they 'do their duty.' This pre-empts any 'cowardly' action if the plan is not followed or is disrupted by unions. The power of unified labour, where a group of workers band together to protect their rights, has been eroded since the 1980's.  Workers in industries may join a union to represent them if they feel exploited or to protect their collective rights.   

There has been a lot of employment of martial, language in the 'war' against the virus.  Newspapers and governments like to establish a narrative to direct public opinion. By creating an invisible 'enemy' they can employ metaphors of battle and simplify the message to binary oppositions of good and bad that the public can buy into and understand quickly.  Donald Trump uses this approach effectively as he knows where his support lies. Similarly newspapers will appeal to audiences who share their views. It is unlikely that many teachers and public service workers, who have more liberal views, would buy this paper so they are not too worried about upsetting them.  It is more important to this paper to position audiences to get behind the government and get those 'heroes' back to work!

Here is a copy that has been annotated by a teacher.

Conduct research to establish key facts about the Daily Mail;

Sales figures - (May 2020) 945,000 down from 1.13 million  (March, 2020)
Founded in 1896
mid market tabloid
Ownership passed down through generations to Jonathan Harmsworth (majority shareholder) who is the 4th Viscount Rothermere
Average age of readership 58

The Times is another, long established, newspaper that has a right wing bias. It has been printed in various forms since 1778 so is a national institution. The Times of London was read around the world and has a rich history such as carrying Sherlock Holmes stories that could be read in a train journey as commuters headed into the city. It has changed a lot over the years but the title still commands a certain gravitas. Its archive is a treasure trove for historians.

 They have also supported the Conservative government led by Boris Johnson. The narrative is clear in this front page. It establishes the narrative that unions are the 'enemy' in a clear binary opposition. They represent the news in their own way to suit the views of their ownership and they seek to influence their readership. They present 'schools' willing to 'defy' the unions who represent teaching staff creating a division between the two.  They expect their audience to agree that this is a good course of action.

The Times is owned by the global media conglomerate 'News Corp' run by the Australian media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch.  We will study the incredible reach of this conglomerate which owns media companies around the world and is a powerful organisation with great influence. It also owns 'The Sun' newspaper and has interest in broadcasters and the film industry as well as newspaper titles around the world. It has used its considerable influence on successive governments to improve its commercial position and to affect public opinion. Notable front pages claim that this influence was so great that they were the difference in elections in the past few decades.

Below are two newspapers which are considered 'left' of the political centre and are more likely to support the views of the Labour Party.  Consider how they have represented the same news story.

How are these representations different from the Times and the Mail?

With clearly conflicting representations of the same news story it is left to audiences to interpret the truth.  

Answer these final two questions;

How balanced do you think the British newspaper industry is?

Which representation do you think is nearest to a true mediation of this news story?