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Introduction
In the United Kingdom, the newspaper industry has different types of newspaper prints which differ in terms of size and story coverage. The broadsheet print newspaper is relatively larger in size compared to the tabloid newspaper. The content of the broadsheet print is usually complex.
Tabloid newspapers on the other hand are usually small and contain simple content which readers can easily understand. The two types of newspapers include various news such as those related to regional sports news, weather forecasts, national and international politics and celebrities’ gossip (Rogers, 2010, para. 1-4). This paper seeks to explore the criteria for choosing news topics between ‘The Sun’ which is a tabloid newspaper and ‘The Times’ which is a national broadsheet print.
Discussion
The media industry must develop effective strategies to enable it gain a higher competitive advantage in order to compete with other firms in the media industry. In order for firm’s in the media industry to attain this, they must be effective in the process of determining the news which they include in their paper.
The criterion for choosing news topics differ from one news organizations to another. According to O’Neill and Harcup (2008, p.168), news value should be based on a number of factors such as the audience and celebrity culture and not on the traditional criteria of news selection.
Such changes in the selection process results from economic, social and cultural factors (O’Neill & Harcup, 2008, p.168). In an effort to demystify this fact, two types of newspapers are reviewed. These include ‘The Sun’ which is a tabloid newspaper and ‘The Times’ which is a broadsheet print.
With regard to broadsheet newspaper, the power of the elite highly determines the kind of news and stories which feature in these papers. For example, on August 28, 2010, The Times was posted online showing a masthead on the front page and highlights of topics concerning powerful individuals such as the United States President, Barrack Obama. Other prominent personnel feature on different pages of the newspaper.
This indicates the kind of content in online broadsheet newspaper. The online paper also covered topics of big institutons and organizations such as the NATO, European Unions and BBC. From these headlines, it is clear that elite power factor is a requirement in deciding what news or story is included in the newspaper.
The criterion for selecting news or story on The Times is conditioned by the degree of entertainment that its readers will get after reading it. In this newspaper, stories about sex, humorous photographs and interesting headlines feature. Headlines for sex and obsession may be displayed at the front pages to show the reader that apart from the news content, the reader will also get pleasure in other entertainment staff (O’Neill & Harcup, 2008, p.168).
The criterion for selecting news or stories in the online newspaper is also influenced by the magnitude of a particular subject. Primarily, this is the impact of the story to the general public or the number of people that will be affected by or are involved in the story. In addition, the broadsheet newspaper may also conduct follow ups on particular stories which featured in a previous issue.
For a story to appear in a broadsheet newspaper such as The Times, the entities must be relevant to the target audience. In such national broadcast, bad news is ‘big news’. This may involve conflict, tragedy or a danger which puts the public at a risk.
However the intensity of the tragedy must be perceived by the audience. In line with this, there are also positive situation which feature in this newspaper such as rescue programs on human kind. The space allocations in the pages show that the topics featured in the newspaper are matters which affect the audience in one way or another hence the need for an in depth coverage (O’Neill & Harcup, 2008, p.168).
A review of ‘The Sun’ revealed that the criterion used in determining news value in this newspaper is different from that of ‘The Times’. In the online tabloid newspaper, the front page has no main topic because the newspaper follows the agenda of its organization. Basically, the subjects covered in this newspaper relate to specific personalities, celebrities or famous people.
In addition, the newspaper focuses on topics which most of its audience are interested in and those which result into entertainment. Most of the topics in such a newspaper are humorous in order to capture the reader’s attention. They give a brief insight on the subject matter and jumps on to another topic (O’Neill & Harcup, 2008, p.168)
Conclusion
Different individuals have diverse preferences for newspapers. The choice of the newspaper to read depends on the content that the individual intends to read about and the time available (Rogers, 2010, para. 1-4). However, media houses should consider integrating the concept of value so as to improve the quality of their news.
Reference List
O’Neill, D. & Harcup, T. 2008. The handbook of journalism studies. [E-book]. London, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. Web.
Rogers, T. 2010. Different types of papers for different audiences. Web.
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