The Times - Language and Audience

 Audience

1) What is the main readership demographic for The Times newspaper? Add as much detail as you can.

The Times target audience is older with over half the audience aged 55+. The print newspaper would fit elderly and adults more as some of them might not be too keen on using technology so it would be easier for them to read. In terms of social class, they are overwhelmingly in the ABC1 social classes - and largely the A or B groups within that group. This means Times readers are likely to be professionals, managers or company owners. They are likely to be in the Succeeder psychographic group.

2) What aspects of the front page of the Times CSP edition suggest that their readers are likely to be more educated and interested in hard news rather than entertainment?

The front cover features politics, wellbeing information and information on schools. From this we can infer that the readers and target audience are interested in more hard news - topics that are usually timely, important and consequential, like politics - rather than soft news which features more entertainment, celebrity and lifestyle news. Although, we could say The Times does feature some arguably soft news based articles as it features The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton on the front page as the main image. This does dip into the soft news type as The Royal Family are considered celebrities even though they are apart of the British Monarchy. Typically, readers interested in hard news come from an educated, higher class background or are people generally more interested in politics over celebrities. 

3) Times readers are mostly over 55 years old. Why is this and how is this reflected by the new stories and kickers in the CSP pages we have studied?  

This is most likely because of the increase and development in NDM - new digital media - and the lack of interest from a younger age range. although, if younger people are interested in the news and what's going on currently we usually resort to social media to find out or use the internet or other apps. 

The main stories on the front page of our The Times CSP features politics, schools and wellbeing and the main image is a member of the Royal Family. these topics could interest an older age range, old enough to be interested in politics or have children so they're interested in school information. Also an older generation would have more interest and respect for the Royal Family and the British Monarchy, unlike a younger generation.

 On the front page, the pug and incentive are there to grab attention and create an attraction to the audience and readers of the newspaper. In this edition of The Times the incentive is 'Bedroom secrets - How to create a restful haven' which can attract a younger demographic and audience. the pug 'Know your Thor from Iron Man' story references pop culture and mainstream film made by Disney (a big corporation). these both dip into the soft news genre as they don't have any relations to politics, crime, economics or international affairs etc. the soft news genre features human interest stories or entertainment news. Since these do not deal with serious subjects they are labelled soft news. in my opinion both incentive and the pug fit into that catergory. 

4) What is the main audience pleasure offered by the Times? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory.

The main audience pleasure is to inform and educate as The Times newspaper mostly topics that are informative but sometimes there can be stories or articles which feature aspects of the soft news genre.

5) Why might a reader enjoy this CSP edition of the Times? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory categories and write as detailed an analysis as you can.

The audience could enjoy the contents of the paper as it features hard news which is what their demographic is interested in. Following Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory, i think that the readers of The Times want to acquire information, knowledge and understanding through the contents of this newspaper. 

Language

1) What is the main story on the front cover of the Times CSP edition (26 April 2019) and why does it appeal to Times readers?

The main story is 'Fee-paying schools 'save the taxpayer £20 billion', referencing to Galtung and Ruge's news values, it is a positive story but then once you read the subheading ' independent heads hit back against the threat of being charged VAT' it has that negativity. also familiarity as it is happening in england so parents or guardians of students and pupils will be attracted and interested in this story. 

2) List the other news stories and kickers on the front page of the Times CSP edition. Why do you think the Times selected these for the front page?

The incentive and the pug stories along with the story about sleeping and wellbeing, i think are there for balance. the other stories focus on politics, crime and education and i think these stories keep the front page well-balanced and widen the attraction to different audiences. For example, someone could have no children and no interest in politics but see the story titled 'Sleep well - things really will be better in the morning' which can interest them into buying the newspaper, overall gaining another reader and expanding their target audience.

3) What are the main stories on the inside pages of the Times CSP edition and how are they constructed to appeal to Times readers? 

4) Which of Galtung and Ruge's News Values apply to the Times's front page stories? Write about both the main story on private schools and the government leak enquiry. 

5) What does a close analysis of the news stories in the Times CSP edition suggest about the Times's political beliefs?