Swindon Advertiser inside page

Unlike with most local newspapers, the Swindon Advertiser does not have one article which takes up the majority of the double page spread and dictates the page. The Swindon Advertiser has two main stories which both have one side of the double page spread. The left hand page is given to an article with the headline 'Sort this derelict dump our right now.' The article is bold and in large letters which makes it stand out on the page. The article is about a 'derelict' building which the locals want to be sorted out because it is creating an eye-sore on their town. Also the building is own which has burnt down and the locals may feel unsafe as they might feel that it could happen to their homes as well. This article represents the local area in a mixed way. For the positive, the locals are campaigning for the building to be sorted out which shows that the locals are unite and trying to sort out the town. However, it also shows that the town needs to be sorted out and that the derelict building has been allowed to get into the state that it is in now. Also it could be that some of the locals are setting fires or that the building built in this area have not been built with correct fire precautions. This article might appeal to the target audience because it could be something that they feel strongly about or that they are even involved in. The article has an  image of the building which has burnt down and that the locals are campaigning against. The image is rather thin and doesn't really stand out on the page.

The other article has a blue border around it to separate it from the rest of the page. The headline has been written in white and put against a blue background, the same shade as the border. These things, along with the fact that the headline is bold and short ('Flying the flag') makes the article stand out. The image on this article is of a large union flag to celebrate the Queen's jubilee. This article shows the area in a positive light because it shows them coming together as a community to celebrate the jubilee.

The Swindon Advertiser also has a feature listing what else is inside the issue of the newspaper. Most other local newspapers list the contents of the newspaper on the front cover rather than taking up space on the inside page to do this.

Audience Research - questionnaire

As part of my audience research, I created a questionnaire. This was so I could fully understand what conventions that the audience expected and would like to see in a local newspaper. The questions are suitable for the task because it allows me to find out how regularly people read local newspapers and use conventions. 

Question 1 is to find out how often people read local newspapers. 

Questionnaire

Gender (circle)

Male   Female   

1 How often do you read a local newspaper?

◌ Every day ◌ Every other day ◌ Every week ◌ Every other week ◌ Every month

◌ Very rarely ◌ Never

2 How many local newspapers do you read?

◌ None ◌ One ◌ Two ◌ Three ◌ More than Three

3 How much would you/do you pay for local newspapers?

◌ Free ◌ Up to 30p ◌ 30p-60p ◌ 60p-£1 ◌ More than £1

4 What stories do you read most often?

o   The stories which are important to the reader and the community

o   The stories which stand out on the page and sound exciting

o   The sport stories

o   The stories regarding local schools

o   Other (please specify) _____________________

5 Which title plate do you think is most suitable for a local newspaper and would attract you to read it? (Circle your answer)

6 Do you pay attention to the adverts?

◌ Yes ◌ No ◌ Sometimes

◌ Depending on whether they are advertising something that I need/want

7 How many adverts do you expect on the front cover?

◌ None ◌ 1 ◌ 2 ◌ 3 ◌ More than 3

8 How many adverts do you expect from the inside page?

◌ None ◌ 1 ◌ 2 ◌ 3 ◌ 4 ◌ More than 4

North Somerset Times Inside page

The North Somerset Times inside page:
The images on the inside page of the North Somerset Times are ones which might attract the reader because they are positive images. The images of cats and of school children are images which will make the reader want to read more because they are nicer to look at than images of boring things or eyesores. The area is represented well on the inside page of this local newspaper because, again, the images are positive. The article about the burglars is a mixed representation because 

Local newspaper front cover conventions

A lot of front covers for local newspapers have similar conventions, elements and components. 

The name/logo:
The logos for the local newspapers are all different. However, all but the South Wales Evening Post have gone away from the traditional Gothic font used in on a lot of national newspapers. The other five all have colour and are more welcoming that the South Wales Evening Post; they have rounded letters and include colour. They all use either blue, black or red within the logos. The names of the newspapers are names which are fairly common among many local newspapers; Post/Evening Post, Times and Star are all commonly used newspaper names. Advertiser and Chronicle are less common. 

Images:
The images of the front cover of the local newspapers which I have analysed all have images which represent the area positively and would attract the attention of the target audience. These images are usually images for a lighthearted or heartwarming story which might attract the attention of the target audience. This shows that the image included on the front page of the newspaper is very important because it is what will attract people towards the newspaper. 

Other conventions:
Most of the local newspapers used big headlines written in black and block capitals so that they stand out on the front page. The Bristol Post, Sheffield Star, South Wales Evening Post and Swindon Advertiser all used this convention. The North Somerset Times and Bath Chronicle didn't use this convention but the headlines on the these two newspapers were still bold and the thing which stood out on the front cover but they didn't use block capitals and they weren't particularly large. 

Bristol Post inside page analysis

Inside page (same issue as the front cover):














Audience:
The inside pages of the Bristol Post are suitable for the target audience because the language is written in a formal way which appeals to adults. The stories are also suitable for the target audience because they are stories which could concern the target audience. The article about school children being fired at could concern some of the target audience as they might be parents at the school or local to the area. The article about a new birthing unit would appeal to women and mothers because it could be something that they would look into if they were having a baby. 
Stories:
There are 5 major articles on the first inside page of this issue of the Bristol Post. The main image on the inside page is about neither the BB shooting or the Bristol Blue Peter presenters. However, the BB shooting is the first article on the inside page and the newspaper shows this by having this headline in bold letters whilst the other headlines are much less bold and don't stand out as much. The article about the Bristol Blue Peter presenters also has an image to attract the reader to read that story.
Representation of local area:
The area is represented similarly to the front page of this issue of the Bristol Post. The three key articles on the front cover are the article about the school shooting (front page), the article about the new Blue Peter Presenters (front page) and the article about the new birthing unit (inside page only). The article about the shooting, again, doesn't have an image to go with it and it put on page 4 rather than page 5 (people will see page 5 before page 4). This means that this isn't what stands out on the inside page and as it is an article which represents Bristol in not such a good light, this is the newspapers way of trying to hide the negative things. The other two articles are on page 5 and have images to go with them so these stand out on the inside page. These are positive stories so show the area positively. 

Swindon Advertiser front cover

The Swindon Advertiser is a local newspaper to Swindon. The logo at the top of the page is simple and goes across the whole of the top of the page, unlike most other logos/titles. The image on the front page is likely to attract people because most people find babies to be 'cute' which will make them examine the front cover in more detail. However, the image of the baby isn't the main article on the front cover. The main headline is bold, in block capitals, large and takes up about half of the front cover. The headline also carries the element of danger as it is talking about a 14 year old boy dying on a bike. This, and the fact that the headline stands out, is likely to make people want to read the article because it sounds exciting and dangerous and they want to to hear the full story. 

There is only one advert on the front cover of the Swindon Advertiser. This is probably because they don't need as much funding as the Bath Chronicle and the North Somerset Times because if they did need more funding there would probably be more adverts on the front cover. The advert is suitable to the target audience because most people have bathrooms and need to have them refurbished. 

South Wales Evening Post Front Cover

The South Wales Evening Post is a newspaper for the whole of the South Wales area. There are several other newspapers covering the same area: South Wales Argus and South Wales Guardian.
This newspaper is different to both the North Somerset Times and big city newspapers like the Sheffield Star and Bristol Post. This is because it is a newspaper covering a large area, like the big city newspapers, but is also covering a lot of different places, like the North Somerset Times. The style of headline is bold and in large capital letters, unlike the minor area local newspapers. The title/logo of the newspaper is similar to the one used on the Daily Telegraph (national newspaper). This is different from the other newspapers that I have analysed because the others have had a more customised, welcoming logo. However, the Gothic font and colour makes the newspaper appear professional and respectable. 
This issue of the Evening Post is covering the death of former Wales and Premier League footballer and, until his death, the manager of the Welsh national team, Gary Speed. The manager and players of Welsh team Swansea City are paying tributes to Gary Speed and the image shows the players of Swansea City holding a minutes silence before their game. This article shows the area in a positive light because people in the area are all paying tributes and saying nice things about a man who had recently passed away. The headline is in very large, bold, capital letters which makes it stand out well on the front cover of the newspaper. Unlike with other newspapers, the headline attracts peoples attention more than the image due to how large and bold the headline is. 
Also on the front cover is an article about the success of local shops. The headline is much smaller and the article is pushed right up against the left hand side of the front cover. 
Above the article about Gary Speed, there is a competition to win either an iPad 2 or £250 spending money in Smyths. This is likely to make people buy the newspaper to give themselves an opportunity to win the prizes as they are lucrative and worth winning. 
A lot of the front cover of this newspaper is covering sporting events. This shows that the area care a lot about the various sports that the area competes in. This means that the newspaper is satisfying the locals by including stories and articles which they want to read about. 
The South Wales Evening Post target audience is going to be very similar to every other target audience for a local newspaper - adults (including parents and elderly people). 

Bath Chronicle front cover

Bath Chronicle Front Cover

The Bath Chronicle is a local newspaper to Bath. As Bath is a more major area than North Somerset but less major than Bristol and Sheffield, the front cover of the Bath Chronicle as components from both style of newspaper. Firstly, the headline 'Store giant unveils vision' is written in a much larger font than the headline in the North Somerset Times making it bolder but unlike the Bristol Post and Sheffield Star, the letters are nearly all lower case. The word 'giant' in the headline will attract people's attention because it is a buzz word. 
The article is about proposed plans for a new Sainsbury's in the Bath area. However, the image which goes with the article is much smaller than the one of the dinosaur which goes with an article with the headline 'I walked the dinosaur.' This is because an image of a dinosaur is exciting and so will likely attract more people than an image of Sainsbury's despite the fact that this is probably a more important story for the locals. 
The logo/title of the newspaper is simple and similar to that of the North Somerset Times. The way that the area is written in smaller letters above the name of the newspaper (in this case Chronicle). The text in both is blue and rounded making it welcoming to the buyer/reader of the newspaper. 
Like with the North Somerset Times, the Bath Chronicle has a lot of adverts on the front cover. The adverts aren't all in the same place on the front cover like the North Somerset Times but there are more of them to get the newspaper funded. 

Representing Portishead and Bristol

I will probably represent Portishead and Bristol in a good light because that it what most local newspapers strive towards. This is because they don't want to give visitors and locals the idea that the area isn't very nice. However it is important to tell the public all important stories.

The other local newspapers which I have studied have all represented the local area well on the front cover. The images are all appealing and most of the time the people in the area are represented well as well. 

Ways to do this are:

• Positive story on the front cover with an image
• If there is a negative story, don't make it massively obvious on the front page (at the bottom and with no image/small image)
• Have the title/logo in a warm welcoming font and colour but still making it look professional
• Still cover the negative stories to avoid being bias and not telling the public the whole story
• 
  

North Somerset Times

The North Somerset Times (Nailsea, Clevedon and Portishead Times) is a local newspaper to the North Somerset area, mainly Nailsea, Clevedon and Portishead. North Somerset is made up of small towns making the newspapers conventions different to local newspapers which are local to cities, like Sheffield and Bristol. This is perhaps shown on the front cover of this issue of the North Somerset Times. The headline is smaller and less bold than the headlines in the Sheffield Star and Bristol Post newspaper front covers making it stand out less. The headline is also written in lower case (other than the first letter of the first word). However, the language used in the headline is still trying to attract readers and customers to buy the newspaper. 'Minutes from disaster' is an exciting headline because it makes it sound frantic, urgent and dangerous. This will usually make people read the article. 
However, the main image on the front page is of school children. Most of this article is continued inside but this image is used on the front cover because it represents the area in a positive light. An image of school children is likely to make the reader of the newspaper to feel happier than an image of a car. 
Unlike with the big city local newspapers, the North Somerset Times has three adverts on the front cover, all taking up a fair amount of space. This is because this is where the newspaper gets its funding and as less people buy this newspaper than the big city newspapers, the newspaper needs more money to continue. The adverts are all for local companies or companies that have a branch's in the area.
The North Somerset Times target audience is probably adults, parents and elder people. This is partly because this area has quite a large elderly population. The North Somerset Times appeals to its target audience is several ways. The adverts are definitely aimed at adults. Young people aren't going to have a garage themselves so won't be needing a garage door services. They are also unlikely to be needing to fit carpets or change bank. 

Sheffield Star front cover analysis

Sheffield Star front cover:



















The headline on the front cover is above the fold so it will attract people's attention. The headline itself is bold and in block capitals (like nearly all local newspapers and national newspapers - this is a convention used by nearly all newspapers) and is also made to sound exciting; 'Sign up to save a life' is exciting and interesting. 
The story is then written on the front page with an image of a man holding up a donor card (signing up to save a life means becoming an organ donor because that could save someones life). 
The stories inside the newspaper, listed down the right hand side under the heading 'Inside Today,' are mainly sport stories. This is because in Sheffield sport is a very important thing, more important than other areas of the country. This means that locals are likely to want to read these articles because they will want to get the latest sport news. In other areas of the country, sport wouldn't necessarily be as important and so it wouldn't feature on the front page. 
The area is represented in a positive light on the front cover of this page. There is nothing negative on the front cover and the article on the front cover is trying to get people to help others, obviously believing that this is a realistic aim for the locals of Sheffield. 
The adverts on the front cover are at the bottom of the page. The main advert is an advert for going on holiday.
The logo and title of the newspaper is simply 'The Star' in red letters and then a star with a blue outline. The red text is used to welcome the reader in a warm way. A lot of national newspapers and some local newspapers use Gothic black letters (like the Telegraph, national newspaper) and font which doesn't look friendly. Also nowhere in the logo does it actually say that this is a local newspaper to Sheffield. This means that it is assuming that locals will already know about the newspaper. The logo, a star with a blue outline, is a star due to the name of the newspaper. The star is also on a slight angle which could also be seen as a way to make the newspaper appear more welcoming on the shelf. 
The Sheffield Star's target audience is usually adults, parents and elderly people. The Sheffield Star front cover is likely to appeal to it's target audience because the story on the front cover is concerning them rather than younger people as you have to be a certain age to get a donor card. It is also them who are more likely to be in need of a donor or to be willing to give organs away. The man on the front cover is also an adult rather than a child so it shows that donor cards are more suitable for older people than younger people. 

Bristol Post front cover analysis

Front cover:

Bristol Post - front cover analysis

Stories:
The story on the front cover of the Bristol Post (Weekend) is about a BB gun shooting in/near a Primary school in Shirehampton. However, the image on the front cover is about how two Bristolians have made the 10 name shortlist for the next Blue Peter Presenter. This is because the article about the BB gun shooting will show Bristol in a negative light but it has to be included on the front page because it is the most important article in the magazine. Both stories continue on the first inside pages. 
The Blue Peter Presenter article begins on the inside page as there is no text about the article other than a caption at the bottom of the image. The BB gun shooting article begins on the front cover but finishes on the same inside page as the Blue Peter presenter article. 

Language:
The headline 'BB SHOOT-OUT IN PLAYGROUND' is trying to attract the reader to read this article. This is because it makes the article sound very extreme when in reality no one was hurt. The extreme headline is designed to make people read it because it sounds like something very exciting. 


Format:
There are different areas within the newspaper front cover. These are split into the banner at the top (advertising competitions found inside the newspaper), the masthead and issue information (date and price), the image and cover article (on this in particular front cover the image and cover article are not related), the other articles found inside the newspaper (and their page numbers) and adverts.
The title of the newspaper, the issue details and the key article or image are usually in the area called 'above the fold.' This refers to the top half of the front page which will be visible if the newspaper is folded in half. These areas are above the fold because they are the most important parts of the newspaper. 
At the bottom of the front cover, below the fold, will be either the image or the rest of the article which began above the fold. 

Logo:
The logo for the Bristol Post is bold and blue. The font is quite curved which gives the impression that the Newspaper is welcoming. This is backed up with the blue text because nationwide newspapers like the Daily Telegraph uses traditional black text which is not particularly welcoming whereas the blue text adds colour. 

Representation of local area:
This issue of the Post shows Bristol in both a negative and positive representation but mainly positive. The image on the front of the page is in the 'above the fold' and is also the only image on the front cover. This means that most people will be drawn to this article and as this article is about people from Bristol challenging to become the next Blue Peter presenter, this is a positive thing. The other article is about a BB gun being fired near a primary school. This is obviously a bad thing but due to the fact that there is no image representing this article and it isn't 'above the fold', some people may not notice it. This means that the Post is trying to show Bristol as positively as they can without ignoring the negatives. 


Audience:
The audience for local newspapers are usually adults, parents and elderly people. Young people don't tend to read newspapers at all and certainly don't read local newspapers regularly. The Bristol Post appeals to the target audience because of the language, stories and adverts on the front cover. The story about a BB shooting in a local school will make them want to read more as it may have been their children in that school or a school in the local area. The adverts are aimed at adults because they are advertising garden festivals and Wimbledon tickets. Parents would be the people who would book the tickets so that advert is suitable and the garden party advert is likely to appeal to adults as well as they are the target audience of the parties. The language used in the stories is very formal which is more suitable for adults than informal. If the newspaper was aimed at young people they language would probably be less formal with use of slang. 

Newspaper names

http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk/a-to-z-of-local-newspaper-websites

Above is a link to a website which has links and the names of all the websites for local newspapers in Britain. Most of the paper names contain the name of the city which the paper is regional to. For example, the Bristol Post is a local newspaper for the Bristol and southwest area. This is so that people realise which newspapers being sold in newsagents are local. 
However, not all of the local newspapers have the name in the city (for example, the Ambler which is regional to Northampton). 

Typical newspaper names:

• Guardian 
• Mail 
• Post
• Star
• Mercury 
• Observer 
• Herald
• Echo 
• Mirror
• Mail 
• Sun
• News
• Telegraph 
• Citizen 
• Bugle 

A lot of these names refer to a message being told or delivered. For example, the Telegraph will refer to a telegraph machine which was used to deliver telegrams (messages). So this would show that the newspaper is delivery the news and conveying messages. The Echo refers to the newspaper 'echoing' the news to the reader of the newspaper. The Mirror refers to 'reflecting' upon recent news articles and items.

Local newspaper conventions

The usual conventions of a local newspaper front cover:

Nearly all local newspapers the masthead of the newspaper at the top and the majority of them have it slightly to the left as well. The cover of the paper will also have an image and a headline for the key article in the magazine. The image will be large and take up most of the front cover to attract people to purchase the newspaper. The headline will give them some information of what the article is about. Most of the time there will also be a short description or introduction to the story which will be continued inside the newspaper (usually within the first few pages).
There is also at least one advert but normally two or three. This is how the magazine gets funded. Organisations and companies will pay to advertise in the local magazine and pay different amounts depending on where in the magazine the advert is displayed (obviously the front cover adverts will cost more as they are ones that most people will look at).
Along the top of the front cover there is usually what else is included inside the newspaper. This helps the reader to understand what else will be in that days issue. 

The usual conventions of a local newspaper inside page:

The inside page of a local newspaper often has the story which was started on the front cover. There will also be at least one image to illustrate the cover story or other key articles. There will be several adverts on the inside pages. Adverts closer to the front and back of the newspaper will cost more for the advertisers and the adverts on odd numbers will cost more as well because they are what the readers sees first when they turn the page. 

Introduction

I have decided to do the print task which is to create a local newspaper and a radio advertisement for that local newspaper. 
To create the newspaper, I would be using a program called Adobe InDesign. I have used this in other subjects (I have used InDesign multiple times in IT) as well as for the AS media coursework where I created the music magazine. Having a knowledge of the software that I will be using will be an advantage because it means that I already understand what features InDesign has to offer, how to use them and I don't have to spend a few lessons learning how to use it. 
I will be using Garageband to create the radio advertisement. I have never used Garageband before so unlike with Adobe InDesign I do not know how to use it or the features it contains. This means that I will have to spend a bit of time learning how to use it before I begin to plan and create the radio advertisement. 

Adobe InDesign logo

Garage band logo