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
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