SUN HOMEPAGE

Form and function – inform audiences of current stories. Attract an online audience as print is in decline. The website attracts advertisers so therefore the newspaper still gets money, even if the website is free and print sales being under threat.

Bold colours, typical of the sun – red and white.
Typical audience is C, D; However the Sun is highly read so upper classes are likely to read it but not to gain all their news from it.
Celebrity based stories shows what the audience expects of the newspaper.

BBC NEWS REPORT

Form and function – inform the audience of what is going on internationally, fulfilling the channels educative function.
Although the BBC has the purpose to provide for everyone it is likely this piece of news will be aimed at those interested in international politics and those generally more informed in such matters. The audience can be assumed to be educated as the event centres on a demand for a democratic reform so therefore they would be required to understand all this as well as the communist state of China.
Gaining first hands news and footage.

THEORIES/ISSUES AND DEBATES

Mulvey – representation of women, Sun’s Page 3.
Moral Panic – The Sun is known to sensationalise stories for example those about terrorism, to gain a greater audience reaction.
Cult of the Celebrity – soft news which is a key part of the Sun.
Galtung & Ruge – news values and its appeal to the audience.
Gatekeepers – The Sun’s editors pick stories which are usually national whereas the BBC picks stories which are making global headlines reflecting their audiences need for greater knowledge.
Adorno – dumbing down can be used in reference to the Sun.



Text one is the sun homepage which is aimed at an online audience to give them the daily news, text two is a BBC report about the Tiananmen Square massacre which took place in china, the purpose of this text is again to provide news as well as inform and educate the audience on the situation.

The Sun is a conglomerate owned business run by Rupert Murdoch. So therefore could contain some of his beliefs hence being a hegemonic paper, the homepage is also from 2008 so therefore has been affected by vast changes within the media and the technology it uses. The BBC however is a government owned channel which is meant to remain neutral and provide a balanced argument, the text provided is dated from 1989 so could be affected by fewer resources and developments during that time.

The BBC report is a piece of hard news which focuses on politics and an international event. The event in china took place due to a demand for democracy, the fact that the BBC chose a piece like this could be a reflection of their audience, and their relation to living in a democratic state and assuming it is right. Unlike the red top newspapers such as the Sun, the BBC covers hard international news which allows us to make the assumption that this is what their audience demands and has knowledge about. From a political report like this we can assume the audience for this particular story are likely to be more educated and aware of the situation in China, therefore of a social standing of C1 and up.
The Sun page however, does not carry much in the way of international politics and contains more home grown stories and celebrities. An article advertised on the homepage about terrorist plots within England shows the current situation the world is in with the threat of terror increasing since the events of 9/11. The newspaper sensationalizes the story and gives the audience another reason to continue living in a state of fear, in a “moral panic” as described by Cohen. A lot of the news in the Sun is soft news and covers stories about celebrities and television channels. The Sun is a good example of the recent phenomenon in celebrity soft news coverage and shows the extent of this “cult of the celebrity”. With the gatekeepers of a newspaper such as the Sun which reaches millions on a daily basis, as well as providing an online page, shows the ideologies and values that they and the audience are likely to carry. The “white van man” is not interested in international events and just requires the basic, maybe even “dumbed down” (Adorno) news about what’s going on in the country and some celebrity gossip for entertainment. Hence the audience for the Sun is assumed to be from social group C2 and lower.

The Sun homepage contains a completely separate section for women entitled “Woman” with sections about “sex and love”, “beauty” and “fashion” assuming that a female audience which reads the Sun must only be interested in this, not the actual news which is covered on the homepage. The title of “Woman” sounds so harsh, and as if the paper is throwing a female audience to the side, even if the title was “Women” it would still give a more appeal to it, as well as only containing superficial articles for the female audience shows that this newspaper is aimed at predominately men, which is proven by the fairly controversial page 3, which completely objectifies women and proves that females are solely there for the pleasure of the “male gaze”. Women are often placed in demeaning positions by the paper as many articles are about scantily clad women at the beach, in the paper, in adverts etc. and this seems to be the only role women seem to play in the newspaper. They are there to be objectified and to be stared at, nothing more. Again playing up to the newspapers “white van man” audience.

In contrast, the BBC report is by a woman, showing a more equal representation of women by the BBC and showing women and not an object but are educated and intelligent career women. This shows that the BBC audience do not expect women to be constantly objectified and show them in a more equal role. Also seeing as the two texts are from different time periods, it could be considered interesting that the BBC during the 1980s chose a female to cover such an important international story rather than a man, seeing as women were fewer on screen as shown by studies carried out by Gunter. Whereas, a modern day newspaper still continues to show women in such undignified roles, however by now it could be considered almost a tradition and be part of the male back lash to gain control over the audience and their values.