I wanted to address a range of issues in my broadsheet and so I wrote an article based on a subject matter that I was told about in a Physics lesson at school. This small-scale article balances the weight of any hard news stories and would be seen as an interest or feature article. I also added a story to my front page, which reports about a Fair Trade lobby. I have included a quote from a student in this story; this could have improved if I’d have got into contact with a more reliable source such as the head of the Fair trade Organisation. I sent an email to , however I am still awaiting a reply. This again is only a small-scale story, which I have used as a form of dead donkey story. This means that the story would be easy to drop if another larger hard news story became available. The masthead of my newspaper is centrally justified.
As well as designing a front page for my newspaper I created a sports page to go on the back page of my broadsheet. I put the title of sport in green as green has a sporting connotation, as it is associated with the outdoors and grass. I decided to write an article about a sport that was ‘in season’ to give a feeling of immediacy when I was writing it. I based my article around a rugby match that I had previously seen, which saw rugby star Montgomery push a referee. I used a picture that I took during a Rugby Match and used this as I have friends who play Rugby. I also included football fixtures and horse racing tips in my report, as this would make the sports page appeal
to an audience with a wider sporting interest. The back page also commonly has an area for crossword puzzles etc. However I decided to include word association game to differentiate from ordinary crossword puzzles.
When researching for this project I found that broadsheets had less appeal to the younger generations, so I decided to design a supplement (the front page) for younger people to be put inside the newspaper. I have called the magazine supplement ‘NRG’ which stands for ‘New Receptive Generation’ magazine. This magazine could encourage a younger audience to purchase a broadsheet newspaper. I have chosen this name, as the definition of the word receptive is ‘willing to accept new ideas and suggestions.’ I have highlighted the words ‘receptive’ and ‘magazine’ to show that the magazine is different in comparison with conventional supplements aimed at the younger generation, which usually deal with superficial ideas and issues.
I have aimed the magazine at students ages 17-25, however it could appeal a wider audience of various ages, genders, races, sexualities and demographic groups. I have tried to follow the model of Hirsch and Gordon by including a range of features, which are shown in the sell lines. The supplement has a unisex appeal as red and blue are not gender specific colours and the issues on the front appeal to both males and females. I have also chosen red and electric blue, as they are vibrant colours, thus reflecting the abbreviation NRG.
The main picture shows a variety of class A drugs. I have altered the image using Adobe Photoshop and have blurred the image slightly. I have used this as a visual metaphor for to represent society’s ignorance towards the issues and ideologies surrounding drugs. I have used a variety of sell lines to enhance the appeal of the magazine. I have chosen topical issues such as drugs, sex and education, which would give the reader a refreshing view on such taboo subjects. I have used language again to suit the target audience. An example of this is the ‘Info-tainment Extra’ section. I chose this term instead of entertainment or celebrity gossip to give a more educated audience appeal. I have used the slogan ‘real reviews, real music, real people’ to impose the impression that NRG’s entertainment section is less sensationalist than that of the tabloids. The Novel review is also aimed at educated people or people interested in literature. I have added a banner to give the impression that the supplement has an ‘extra’ offer. I thought this sort of offer would be of use to the target audience and would therefore encourage them to buy the National newspaper. However I have made the offer subject to terms and conditions so that the newspaper would still make a profit.
I have called my tabloid newspaper ‘UK Today’ to suggest the provision of throughout the UK in a more colloquial manner. I have given my tabloid a traditional Red Top masthead so that it is easily distinguished as a tabloid. For my tabloid newspaper front page I have taken the quote from my ‘Merseyside crime rate’ story and have taken it out of context to slight the reputation of Liverpool, as tabloids often rely on sensationalism rather than hard facts to sell copies. I have used a pun against Liverpool’s capital of culture bid and have put the headline ‘Capital of mob culture’. The subheading says ‘Organised crime in Liverpool is on the increase’. This takes the quote from police superintendent out of context as he says that ‘only unorganised crime had seen a significant decrease’. I have put the text of the headlines in white against black as this gives a dramatic effect. The picture I have used is of a famous Liverpool Building called the Liver Buildings. I have inverted the picture using
Adobe Photoshop to give an eerie, sinister feeling to the picture as inverting an image distorts the image and darkens all colours on the picture making them seem unnatural. I thought this was an important part of creating my Tabloid page as they often heavily rely on picture manipulation to make fabricated stories seem reliable.
