Newspapers: Daily Mail case study


Work through the following tasks to complete your case study on the Daily Mail and specifically the 21 September edition of the newspaper. 

Daily Mail analysis: Friday 21 September

Use your notes from the lesson to answer the following questions.

1) What are the front page stories on the 21 September edition of the Daily Mail?

 One of the stories at the front of the page is " FURIOUS MAY: WE'RE READY TO WALK AWAY" which suggests that the Daily Mail are on May's side. Another story is " Meghan's adoring look for Doria that says: Mum's now one of the firm, too". which suggests that the daily mail respect the royal family.

2) From your analysis in class, what other stories and topics are covered in this edition of the Daily Mail? You should address the following pages:
  • Page 3
  • Page 5
  • Pages 6-7
  • Page 10
  • Pages 12-13
  • Page 16
  • Page 19
  • Page 23

3) Media language: Write an analysis of the construction of the Daily Mail front page: Page design, font, text, images, conventions, hard news/soft news, news values etc.

 The page is separated into to two parts. One soft news story and one hard news story. They did this to show that the daily mail con produce both types of news which welcomes a wider audience. The use of sans serif and serif fonts suggests which stories are more important. For example, the story with Theresa May is more important as it is about brexit and her decisions can significantly affect us. The other story is about the new member to the royal family,  Megan Markle. This isn't that serious and therefore it has a sans serif font. The writing is quite bold and big so it can get our attention and this is also the same for the image. The news values accosted with the front page is elite people and nations and familiarity.

4) Narrative: How is narrative used in this edition of the Daily Mail? Look at the selection of news: is there an ongoing narrative? How is narrative created by the paper to engage an audience?

 They used narrative by leaving enigma codes (Barthes). The front page states "FURIOUS MAY: WE'RE READY TO WALK AWAY" which makes the viewers consider what deal is it that Theresa May is walking away from.

5) Representations: Are any stereotypes reinforced? Is the audience positioned to respond to the stories in a certain way? You should focus on the Brexit and NHS stories (front page, p6-7, p10) as a minimum here.

 We are positioned to support Theresa May as it states that the other EU leaders are " BEHAVING LIKE BULLIES" which sugest that Theresa May is the only mature one there and the only one that can make smart decisions. The daily mail supports her and the daily mail wants us to support her as well as it also states that " It was May vs a phalanx of identikit suits ... with zipped-in smugness" which suggests that we should be fighting for her aswell.

Add additional notes from class here for future revision. Remember, you will need to write in detail about specific stories from this edition of the Daily Mail and how these stories are constructed to appeal to the Daily Mail readership.

Add additional notes from class here for future revision. Remember, you will need to write in detail about specific stories from this edition of the Daily Mail and how these stories are constructed to appeal to the Daily Mail readership.

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Factsheet 175 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1)

Read Media Factsheet 175: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 1) and complete the following questions/tasks. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

1) What is the history of the Daily Mail?

 The Daily Mail and the Daily Express are the only middle market dailies, and are distinct from other tabloids with their black top mastheads as opposed to red top mastheads.The Daily Mail was established by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, in 1896. Harmsworth was responsible for the rise of popular press.

2) What news content features in the Daily Mail?

 The Daily Mail was always intended to appeal to a female audience and offered features specifically aimed at women; it remains a paper whose readership is predominantly female.

3) What is the Daily Mail’s mode of address? 

 The mode of address is a method of creating a relationship between the addresser (producer) and the addressee (audience) and the demographic is adults aged 65+,  group ABC1(C2).

4) What techniques of persuasion does the Daily Mail use to attract and retain readers?

 A method used by the Daily Mail is the use of techniques of persuasion to establish a consensus in line with the political and social ideologies. These techniques are subtle and will attempt to stir the emotions of the consumer to prompt consensus. These techniques are split into 3 areas: Practical, Emotional, Associations

5) What is the Daily Mail’s editorial stance?

 The daily mail's editorial stance is traditionally conservatives as they have supported the party in all recent general elections which suggests that the daily mail are right wing. 

6) Read this YouGov article on British newspapers and their political stance. Where does the Daily Mail fit in the overall picture of UK newspapers? 

 According to this aricle, the daily mail is the most right wing newspaper where 44% believe that it is very right wing and only 3% of people believe that the daily mail is very left wing. 

7) What is the Daily Mail’s view of the BBC? What are the possible reasons for this?

 Their views clash as the BBC newspaper is mainly left wing and therefor they are both very critical of each other.

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Factsheet 177 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2)

Now read Media Factsheet 177: Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 2) and complete the following questions/tasks.

1) How did the launch of the Daily Mail change the UK newspaper industry?

 Technological developments allowed the Daily Mail to increase their volume of sales, and then offer an affordable cover price for the lower middle-class readership. The new layout appealed to this newly literate readership, but also to advertisers who provided a large chunk of the revenue.

2) What is the inverted pyramid of journalism and why was it important in the way the Daily Mail presented news?

 This method, first developed as a result of the need to communicate quickly via telegrams, was used in newspapers as it offered effective communication of the product – the news. This increased the popularity of the paper, as the newly literate lower middle classes engaged with the new style of journalism.

3) What company owns the Daily Mail? What other newspapers, websites and brands do they own?

 The British media company called the Daily mail General Trust

4) Between 1992 and 2018 the Daily Mail editor was Paul Dacre. What does the extract from Dacre’s speech on the freedom of the press tell us about his ideological position?

 He is fairly left wing as he seems to value other people.

5) What is Dacre’s view on BBC news?

 He stated that it is quite a powerful dominant news source and that the corporation has all but seen off ITV’s news services, both nationally and locally, has crippled commercial radio, is distorting the free market for internet newspapers

6) Look at the right-hand side of page 4. Why is the editor of a newspaper so important?

 Because he is in control of how the news is going to be presented which is extremely important. If this is not presented correctly, the daily mail could lose circulation and revenue.

7) Why did Guardian journalist Tim Adams describe Dacre as the most dangerous man in Britain? What example stories does Adams refer to?
8) How does the Daily Mail cover the issue of immigration? What representations are created in this coverage?

 It gives a balanced arguments so viewers can see both sides to the argument.

9) How did the Daily Mail cover the murder of MP Jo Cox?

 They said that the murderer, Thomas Mair has mental issues and problems and that the victim, Jo Coz had pro immigration views.

10) What was Dacre’s position on Brexit?

 He believes that we should also leave the EU and supports Theresa May.
There is a lot of work here - easily 2-3 hours reading and writing. You will be given some lesson time to start this but most of this case study work will need to be completed at home - due date specified by your exam class teacher. Don't forget you also need to keep posting your weekly stories from MailOnline and the i newspaper website too.

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