News language
There are 9 golden rules of news speak. It is important to follow the KISS rule of keeping it short and simple, typically consisting of around 16-20 words in a sentence. In addition to this it is a key elemenet to try and create short sentences with the use of normal everyday language to attract a wide vareity of audiences. Being aware of reading for speed so by using appropraite headlines, cross-heads, narrow columns and short words. I also need to remember to never repeat words i.e don't use three words when one is enough to make your point and be effective in what your writing about e.g. ‘In the first instance’ to ‘firstly’. Not repeating yourself is something I need to manange when writing my articles; don’t use words that mean the same thing e.g. ‘final outcome’. Try and always use active verbs e.g. ‘burglars took the dog’ rather than ‘the dog was taken by burglars.’
Key elements to include:
•Use puns and play on words
•Make the story personal which makes it easier to understand
•Categorise people to make it easier to understand and identify stereotypes. For example, '17 school girl dedicated student.'
Things to avoid:
1. Clichés e.g. ‘lovechild’
2. Appearing to be too chatty/gossipy
3. Unnecessary and foreign of America phrases
Headline language:
What techniques are used in these headlines?
•Rhyme
•Rhythm
•Emotive
•Abbreviation
•Slang
•Colloquial
•pun, play-on words
•Sibilance.
People:
This is categorised by appearance, jobs, age and relationships.
Speech:
Use a mixture of direct (in speech marks) and reported speech (when the reporter sums up what the person said)
Opening paragraphs:
Must answer questions for who what where why and when; short and sharp and then in the rest of the article you expand and develop the answers in more details.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Evaluate the Outcome Including Evidence of Planning and Research Which Informed My Decisions
From evaluating local newspapers I found that their overall layout is designed entirely to portray the impression that the newspaper is serious and trustworthy to audiences and that it is telling the truth in its content.
From researching local newspapers, I found that the masthead is positioned at the top of the page which helps to identify the newspaper, for example the Harrogate Advertiser or Knaresborough post titles. The date is also included on the front cover, typically placed underneath the left of the masthead in a small, clear font.
The price is located to the right of the masthead and from researching, I found that most local newspapers are priced around 90p so from identifying this, I will use this price range for my newspaper. The barcode is positioned near the bottom of the front page above the advertorial space. Advertorials are part of the editorial content of the newspaper. In most cases, it is positioned at the top and bottom of the page and so this has informed me to use advertorial and position it in the same places to retain conventions. I will also take into consideration the use of byline on the front cover which is the name of the journalist who has written the article or feature as well as remembering to use lure to capture the reader’s attention and for them to want to carry on reading the article further in the newspaper.
In addition to this, I also identified the website address, in which I will most likely position it at top centre of the front page as this is where it is located in most local newspapers in order to attract the audience and provide further information for viewers benefits. Adding to this, the use of photography and graphics to illustrate and support an article and to provide a visual explanation of the event is something that I found a popular convention in my research. From looking at the Harrogate Advertiser, I can see that only main articles use images to support the text, for example, the article ‘Lucky escape for river-plunge driver’ uses an image of 8.8cm by 15.7cm so this size is something I will take into consideration when creating my own decisions and newspaper front page.
From evaluating my research it has made me understand that I also need to include captions; written text under a photograph to anchor the image, so that I am following the generic conventions of a local newspaper. Further analysis of newspaper front covers in which will inform my final decisions, I found that main headlines use bold lettering of a typical font size of around 24, and the text supporting the headline to be of a small, simple font style such as Times New Roman. This connotes a sophisticated and formal appearance for the newspaper and is something I will use for mine. Each article headline is in bold lettering and in a larger size than the article text yet they are not as large as the main headline as this is what draws most attention to the reader.
The use of capitals is used purposely used in some occasions such as to highlight a specific word or phrase, yet I found that capitals are used on every beginning word on each article on a front page, so this is something I will use for my newspaper.
The use of text colour is used to illustrate advertorials at the top of the page, for example, ‘The World Cup Fever,’ ‘Meet the Winners’ and ‘Bonny Babies’ on the top of the Harrogate Advertiser and Knaresborough Post, are filled in blue. From identifying this feature, I will go on and use this for my newspaper as it is following the typical conventions and attributes.
The main headline is the largest font and size on the page, for example ‘School’s 20mph Victory’ as it highlights the importance of the news event. This is apparent for every newspaper and so is something I will imitate clearly in my own newspaper front cover. I have also distinguished the amount of space between paragraphs in my research as this is something important that I will need to know when it comes to designing and structuring. For example, one of the Harrogate Advertiser’s main articles; ‘School’s 20mph victory’ includes 19 short paragraphs, with a 0.5cm gap between each column. Therefore, this has informed my decisions by making me aware that this is a rough size gap that I need to use for my newspaper.
Therefore, for my mock-up I included all of these conventions as well as analysing sentence structure and layout from the local newspapers. I found that a typical main headline/article consists of a supporting image and, for example the ‘Nidderdale Herlad’ uses up to 98 to words and 4 paragraphs which are quite short yet as it is a main headline it captures the reader’s attention successfully. I also found that the ‘Harrogate Advertiser’ typical sentence length for a main article was 7.5cm across and 5 cm vertically. I found that smaller stories tended to be positioned along the sides of the page, for example on the Harrogate Advertise r, the right hand column, consists of 9 cm vertically and 4 cm horizontally. By evaluating the structure and layout of the newspaper, it has informed decision for my newspaper as it will use similar sentence lengths and structure in order to maintain conventions of a local newspaper.
Overall, through planning and research, including supportive evidence, I am able to evaluate the outcomes of local newspapers and have made some decisions about what I will and need to consider when producing my own newspaper. In addition, from evaluating generic conventions, it has made me understand the typical principles of a newspaper that are needed in order to classify as this media form and for me to successfully produce a successful replica or suitable mock up.
From researching local newspapers, I found that the masthead is positioned at the top of the page which helps to identify the newspaper, for example the Harrogate Advertiser or Knaresborough post titles. The date is also included on the front cover, typically placed underneath the left of the masthead in a small, clear font.
The price is located to the right of the masthead and from researching, I found that most local newspapers are priced around 90p so from identifying this, I will use this price range for my newspaper. The barcode is positioned near the bottom of the front page above the advertorial space. Advertorials are part of the editorial content of the newspaper. In most cases, it is positioned at the top and bottom of the page and so this has informed me to use advertorial and position it in the same places to retain conventions. I will also take into consideration the use of byline on the front cover which is the name of the journalist who has written the article or feature as well as remembering to use lure to capture the reader’s attention and for them to want to carry on reading the article further in the newspaper.
In addition to this, I also identified the website address, in which I will most likely position it at top centre of the front page as this is where it is located in most local newspapers in order to attract the audience and provide further information for viewers benefits. Adding to this, the use of photography and graphics to illustrate and support an article and to provide a visual explanation of the event is something that I found a popular convention in my research. From looking at the Harrogate Advertiser, I can see that only main articles use images to support the text, for example, the article ‘Lucky escape for river-plunge driver’ uses an image of 8.8cm by 15.7cm so this size is something I will take into consideration when creating my own decisions and newspaper front page.
From evaluating my research it has made me understand that I also need to include captions; written text under a photograph to anchor the image, so that I am following the generic conventions of a local newspaper. Further analysis of newspaper front covers in which will inform my final decisions, I found that main headlines use bold lettering of a typical font size of around 24, and the text supporting the headline to be of a small, simple font style such as Times New Roman. This connotes a sophisticated and formal appearance for the newspaper and is something I will use for mine. Each article headline is in bold lettering and in a larger size than the article text yet they are not as large as the main headline as this is what draws most attention to the reader.
The use of capitals is used purposely used in some occasions such as to highlight a specific word or phrase, yet I found that capitals are used on every beginning word on each article on a front page, so this is something I will use for my newspaper.
The use of text colour is used to illustrate advertorials at the top of the page, for example, ‘The World Cup Fever,’ ‘Meet the Winners’ and ‘Bonny Babies’ on the top of the Harrogate Advertiser and Knaresborough Post, are filled in blue. From identifying this feature, I will go on and use this for my newspaper as it is following the typical conventions and attributes.
The main headline is the largest font and size on the page, for example ‘School’s 20mph Victory’ as it highlights the importance of the news event. This is apparent for every newspaper and so is something I will imitate clearly in my own newspaper front cover. I have also distinguished the amount of space between paragraphs in my research as this is something important that I will need to know when it comes to designing and structuring. For example, one of the Harrogate Advertiser’s main articles; ‘School’s 20mph victory’ includes 19 short paragraphs, with a 0.5cm gap between each column. Therefore, this has informed my decisions by making me aware that this is a rough size gap that I need to use for my newspaper.
Therefore, for my mock-up I included all of these conventions as well as analysing sentence structure and layout from the local newspapers. I found that a typical main headline/article consists of a supporting image and, for example the ‘Nidderdale Herlad’ uses up to 98 to words and 4 paragraphs which are quite short yet as it is a main headline it captures the reader’s attention successfully. I also found that the ‘Harrogate Advertiser’ typical sentence length for a main article was 7.5cm across and 5 cm vertically. I found that smaller stories tended to be positioned along the sides of the page, for example on the Harrogate Advertise r, the right hand column, consists of 9 cm vertically and 4 cm horizontally. By evaluating the structure and layout of the newspaper, it has informed decision for my newspaper as it will use similar sentence lengths and structure in order to maintain conventions of a local newspaper.
Overall, through planning and research, including supportive evidence, I am able to evaluate the outcomes of local newspapers and have made some decisions about what I will and need to consider when producing my own newspaper. In addition, from evaluating generic conventions, it has made me understand the typical principles of a newspaper that are needed in order to classify as this media form and for me to successfully produce a successful replica or suitable mock up.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Research and Identification
Proposed newspaper names:
1.Harrogate Observer
2.Harrogate Voice
3.The Harrogate Herald
4.Harrogate Journal
5.The Harrogate Echo
I wanted to find out which of my name ideas were most popular, so I asked 10 people in the Harrogate area for which they prefer. The results show that the most popular name was Harrogate Voice therefore I will most likely use this for the name of my newspaper.
Price
From researching local newspapers, they are priced at around 90p, so therefore I will base my newspaper price similar to this to match the generic convention.
Typical articles.
From analysing three various local newspapers I can identify that the Harrogate Advertiser consists of mainly hard news and human interest, whereas the Nidderdale Herald focuses on articles to do with human interest and the Knaresborough post uses a lot of entertainment stories such as gig scenes, bed race and television news etc. Therefore I can see that although they are all largely targeted at the same group, each newspaper have specific qualities or areas that vary within each newspaper.
Typical Word length, Layout and Structure
Nidderdale (and Pateley bridge) Herald
1.Harrogate Observer
2.Harrogate Voice
3.The Harrogate Herald
4.Harrogate Journal
5.The Harrogate Echo
I wanted to find out which of my name ideas were most popular, so I asked 10 people in the Harrogate area for which they prefer. The results show that the most popular name was Harrogate Voice therefore I will most likely use this for the name of my newspaper.
Price
From researching local newspapers, they are priced at around 90p, so therefore I will base my newspaper price similar to this to match the generic convention.
Typical articles.
From analysing three various local newspapers I can identify that the Harrogate Advertiser consists of mainly hard news and human interest, whereas the Nidderdale Herald focuses on articles to do with human interest and the Knaresborough post uses a lot of entertainment stories such as gig scenes, bed race and television news etc. Therefore I can see that although they are all largely targeted at the same group, each newspaper have specific qualities or areas that vary within each newspaper.
Typical Word length, Layout and Structure
Nidderdale (and Pateley bridge) Herald
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Mock Up of a Newspaper Front Cover
Below is a mock up of a potential newspaper structure and layout in which I have included price, barcode and appropriate generic conventions. I researched and analysed local newspapers so that I could produce a successful and accurate mock up.
Newspaper Content
Below are three newspaper contents that I have anlaysed and evaluated, comprising of four main catorgoires being:
1.Human Interest
2.Hard News
3.Entertainment
4.Sport
1.Human Interest
2.Hard News
3.Entertainment
4.Sport
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Generic Conventions of Newspapers
Below is the newspaper example (Harrogate Advertiser) that I have used to analyse the generic conventions.
News Values
News values is the piece of criteria used by journlists to select stories that get featured in media. Therefore a method is needed to select what stories/events will make the news due to millions of stories revealed each day. All news is a 'construction of choices by journalists about images and text.'
Below are examples of new values:
1. Frequency - the more similar the frequency of the event is to the frequency of the news medium, the more likely is to be recorded. For example if a murder happens quickly and its meaning is established rapidly it is more likely to get in the news.
2. Threshold/amplitude/numbers - the size of an event will govern the amount of attention it is given; the bigger the better.
3. Unambiguity - the simplicity of a story will also make it more attractive to the media as it will easier for the journalist to investigate and easier for the audience to understand.
4. Meaningfulness - culturally relevant or culturally proximate events are more likely to make the news. Audiences are far more interested in events which have happened close to home or which contain reference t values, beliefs and attitudes it shares.
5. Consonance - events which meet our expectations are more likely to become news.
6. Unexpected/surprise - events which have initially been defined as news will continue to carry importance in news agenda, even in the latter stages.
7. Composition - news organisations try to balance news output. News that is balanced between home and foreign news and includes an element of lighter news within a news bulletin to make it less depressing for the audience. for example the 'dead donkey' story at the end of news bulletin to provide a sense of innocent humour.
8. Reference to elite nations - Major Western nations such as America, Germany and France are more likely to get in the news even if the story is not that big, as appose to Third World nations like Africa and Asia.
9. Personalisation - personalised events or news stories are more likely to be reported than those which have no specific individual concerned.
10. Negativity - the idea that 'bad news is good news' is used here.
11. Actuality - for example, if a newspaper has a photograph/s of an event then the story is more likely to be reported than it otherwise would or it might have a greater/higher priority within the bulletin that it would otherwise deserve.
Research Into Local Newpapers:
International:
1. FIFA World Cup 2010 – ‘Green blunder costs England victory against U.S.’
Summery: disastrous blunder by England goalkeeper Robert Green cost his side victory as they drew 1-1 with the United States in their Group C opener in Rustenburg on Saturday night.
2. ‘Ten Mexican police killed in ambush’
Summery: Ten Mexican federal police were killed in an ambush on a convoy Monday, the government said. An undisclosed number of criminals also were killed, the government's Information Ministry said.
3. Oil leaks: BBC News - Growing concerns over Gulf of Mexico oil leak
Summery: A US Coast Guard official says if leaks from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico are not stemmed soon, they could cause one of the worst spills in US history.
Celebrity/human interest:
1. Piers Morgan 'To Replace CNN's Larry King'
Summery: Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan is reportedly set to replace veteran American TV host Larry King.
2. Cheryl Cole’s Divorce
Summery: London - Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole is seeking divorce from soccer star husband Ashley Cole after a “sex text” scandal.
3. Charlotte Church calls the wedding off.
Summery: Charlotte Church has told her ex-fiancé Gavin Henson that she’s getting on with her life after he accused her of “doing a Jordan”.
Local story:
1. Knaresborough Bed Race
Summery: An annual event is the Knaresborough Bed Race held in June where teams decorate bed frames according to the annual theme.
2. Miss Harrogate 2010 (Ashleigh Jayne Spanton)
Summery: A formal pupil of Rossett high school has been crowned Miss Harrogate and District 2010.
3. Motorists shocked by naked men cavorting at roadside
Summery: Early morning commuters were confronted by two men cavorting naked in the road after a birthday party, a court was on told on Tuesday.
Home/national news:
1. MP’s £40,000 farewell payout
Summery: Former Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Phil Willis has been given a pay-out of £40,000 after leaving parliament.
2. David Cameron
Summery: David Cameron's cover was blown yesterday on his plan to save billions with savage spending cuts.
3. Paul Gascoigne car crash: Witnesses reveal they thought he was dead
Summery: Paul Gascoigne car crash: Witnesses reveal they thought he was dead
Below are examples of new values:
1. Frequency - the more similar the frequency of the event is to the frequency of the news medium, the more likely is to be recorded. For example if a murder happens quickly and its meaning is established rapidly it is more likely to get in the news.
2. Threshold/amplitude/numbers - the size of an event will govern the amount of attention it is given; the bigger the better.
3. Unambiguity - the simplicity of a story will also make it more attractive to the media as it will easier for the journalist to investigate and easier for the audience to understand.
4. Meaningfulness - culturally relevant or culturally proximate events are more likely to make the news. Audiences are far more interested in events which have happened close to home or which contain reference t values, beliefs and attitudes it shares.
5. Consonance - events which meet our expectations are more likely to become news.
6. Unexpected/surprise - events which have initially been defined as news will continue to carry importance in news agenda, even in the latter stages.
7. Composition - news organisations try to balance news output. News that is balanced between home and foreign news and includes an element of lighter news within a news bulletin to make it less depressing for the audience. for example the 'dead donkey' story at the end of news bulletin to provide a sense of innocent humour.
8. Reference to elite nations - Major Western nations such as America, Germany and France are more likely to get in the news even if the story is not that big, as appose to Third World nations like Africa and Asia.
9. Personalisation - personalised events or news stories are more likely to be reported than those which have no specific individual concerned.
10. Negativity - the idea that 'bad news is good news' is used here.
11. Actuality - for example, if a newspaper has a photograph/s of an event then the story is more likely to be reported than it otherwise would or it might have a greater/higher priority within the bulletin that it would otherwise deserve.
Research Into Local Newpapers:
International:
1. FIFA World Cup 2010 – ‘Green blunder costs England victory against U.S.’
Summery: disastrous blunder by England goalkeeper Robert Green cost his side victory as they drew 1-1 with the United States in their Group C opener in Rustenburg on Saturday night.
2. ‘Ten Mexican police killed in ambush’
Summery: Ten Mexican federal police were killed in an ambush on a convoy Monday, the government said. An undisclosed number of criminals also were killed, the government's Information Ministry said.
3. Oil leaks: BBC News - Growing concerns over Gulf of Mexico oil leak
Summery: A US Coast Guard official says if leaks from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico are not stemmed soon, they could cause one of the worst spills in US history.
Celebrity/human interest:
1. Piers Morgan 'To Replace CNN's Larry King'
Summery: Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan is reportedly set to replace veteran American TV host Larry King.
2. Cheryl Cole’s Divorce
Summery: London - Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole is seeking divorce from soccer star husband Ashley Cole after a “sex text” scandal.
3. Charlotte Church calls the wedding off.
Summery: Charlotte Church has told her ex-fiancé Gavin Henson that she’s getting on with her life after he accused her of “doing a Jordan”.
Local story:
1. Knaresborough Bed Race
Summery: An annual event is the Knaresborough Bed Race held in June where teams decorate bed frames according to the annual theme.
2. Miss Harrogate 2010 (Ashleigh Jayne Spanton)
Summery: A formal pupil of Rossett high school has been crowned Miss Harrogate and District 2010.
3. Motorists shocked by naked men cavorting at roadside
Summery: Early morning commuters were confronted by two men cavorting naked in the road after a birthday party, a court was on told on Tuesday.
Home/national news:
1. MP’s £40,000 farewell payout
Summery: Former Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Phil Willis has been given a pay-out of £40,000 after leaving parliament.
2. David Cameron
Summery: David Cameron's cover was blown yesterday on his plan to save billions with savage spending cuts.
3. Paul Gascoigne car crash: Witnesses reveal they thought he was dead
Summery: Paul Gascoigne car crash: Witnesses reveal they thought he was dead
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