The use of a masthead is to indicate to the reader what type of newspaper they are getting - a redtop masthead is an identity of a Tabloid so you would recognise that a redtop newspaper was a Tabloid. The masthead is normally in big bold letters that stand out to the reader/buyer.
When you pick up a Broadsheet newspaper, you are immediately struck with the professional and formal work. The letters to form the masthead of The Daily Telegraph are ornate.
The different fonts and colour of a masthead between a Tabloid and Broadsheet newspaper relate to the identity of the newspaper because it is the codes and conventions. The two newspapers use different fonts so that when the public wish to buy the newspaper, it is easy to pick out from the rest of them. However, most of the Broadsheets have the same style masthead. Also, the ‘Red Tops’ have similar style mastheads. For example, the two newspapers which I am comparing, they have different fonts, background colour and size of the words. This makes them unique.
The purposes of the following conventions are:
Date – The date tells you how up to date the news in that paper is.
Price – The price allows you to compare the different prices to find the best deal for the buyer
Web Address – The web address is on the front page of a newspaper is so that the buyer can check up on news that can still be updated or just to check the news when it’s not possible.
Caption – The caption is under a picture which gives you a brief description of it.
By-line – The by-line is what tells you who is reporting the story.
These conventions are common in both Tabloid and Broadsheet newspapers as they are needed for extra information about the newspaper.
The lead story of the news is the most important story that is being reported on the front page. The lead story is the story with the biggest headline.
A headline tells you what the lead story is about. The headline on a Tabloid is different to the headline on a Broadsheet because a Tabloid headline is more comical, gossipy and sensationalist where as the Broadsheet headline is more serious, political and factual. The headline to the lead story is the ‘splash’.
A support story is the second most important story. For example, the story of the boy being stabbed, the support story is the information about the boy’s family etc.
Pug’s are at the top left and top right hand corners and are known as the ‘ears’ of the page. The price or promotional offers are usually positioned here.
A Kicker is designed to stand out from the rest of the page by using different face and layout. It normally advertises an exclusive interview that is in the newspaper. However, sometimes kickers are not exclusives but a special story that aims to catch your eye. For example, on The Daily Telegraph that I am comparing with The Sun, the kicker is at the top of the newspaper and advertises an article about “life swapping”.
The stories, headlines, pugs and kickers all contribute to the identity of a newspaper because they all add to the informal language, comical, gossipy and sensationalist news (Tabloid) or the formal language, seriousness, political and factual news (Broadsheet).
Denotation of The Telegraph:
- Formal language.
- A large headline.
- ‘Serif’ font is used.
- There are supplements such as Kickers (these stand out by the use of a different type face and layout).
- A strap line.
- An addition to the Masthead (picture of a poppy).
- A large Masthead.
- Picture of boy that was stabbed.
- Advertisement (watch).
You would only find formal language, more stories used and serif font used in a Broadsheet newspaper.
The Broadsheet is much larger than a Tabloid as more room is needed to fit in all the serious news. More serious news is written in because it is aimed at the business class. Often, a Tabloid would use the whole of the front page as a headline but it is very unlikely for that to happen in a Broadsheet. A Tabloid does not have the lead story finished on the front page – it continues on inside pages. The front page stories are normally linked to pages 4 & 5, or more, depending on the seriousness or ‘gossip worthiness’ of the news e.g. David Beckham.
The masthead of a Broadsheet newspaper is posh and stylish. The mastheads and names are linked to the way news is told or shown. For example, The Telegraph (a telegraph pole used to be what information was sent through), The Times (chosen to represent the news of our time), The Independent (It is considered to give a non-biased view on politics where as The Telegraph and The Times are thought to give a more conservative slant on the news).
Connotation of The Telegraph:
- The picture of the boy who was stabbed is made to look more innocent (younger shot).
- The story of the boy was not the lead story but political talk is; i.e. “Brown the sceptic blasts EU federalism”.
-
Underneath the story of the boy it says “panic grips village school” this shows that the story is making parents panic, unlike the comment on The Sun which was “Another violent day, another innocent life”. This has the effect that the boy is innocent and was never in any trouble.
- School and safety is still emphasised as boy is in his school clothes.
The general language of a headline on a Broadsheet’s front cover is formal. They have longer headlines, more formal and factual headlines and upper case and lower case writing. This is linked to the audience and identity because a Broadsheet is known to be formal and factual.
Support stories of a Broadsheet are formal and don’t tend to be about celebrities, compared to a Tabloids support story. The audience want information so the support story is very factual.
Broadsheets don’t use pugs and kickers as much as Tabloids do because they normally have some kind of contents page; in The Telegraph, there is a contents section relating to the Gordon Brown story in the centre of the article and also there is another contents section at the bottom of the page which gives you a glance at the start of the feature.
There is a difference in price between a Broadsheet and Tabloid because the Broadsheet is more factual, and has more information in it, and the Tabloid is not priced as high because it is more gossipy and there is not as much information in it. In addition, there is greater competition for volume sales of Tabloids.
In conclusion, I would expect the different codes and conventions when comparing a Broadsheet to a Tabloid are; the difference in language used, the use of photographs, the paper size, font and headlines. Also, I would expect to see a difference in the masthead and the layout of the newspaper. For example, the difference in the layout would be that The Sun uses a large headline and/or picture. The difference between languages is the use of formal or informal language.
These differences are related to audience and approach because there is a mixed audience. Some, are working class, some are middle to upper class. The two groups are looking for two different things from the news. For example, ‘Sun’ readers are looking for news that they can understand and that they feel ‘at home’ with, more informal. So clear, large type headlines quickly highlight the news topic. However, middle to upper class are looking for a more formal story, with less gossip and more
Finally there are changes in the newspaper market for example, The Independent, which is a Broadsheet, has changed the rules because it has taken newspapers to a new level. Now, it is also printed in tabloid form but the style is still Broadsheet, but with an easier reading size for the business class. This is a good thing because now, businessmen can read the news that they understand in a simpler size. This changes the way we feel about Broadsheets because they now are not as different to a Tabloid in size and therefore people who normally read Tabloids such as The Sun and The Mirror may start to read the smaller Independent.
