Tabloid Vs. Broadsheet
In this assignment we will be comparing the codes and conventions between a tabloid and broadsheet which is not very hard as both of the papers are layed out generally in the same order but they are aimed at a different classes of society, and obviously different classes of society react to news differently. For example the rise of gas prices make the front page of The Sun as this change will have a large affect on the lower of the UK classes whereas it is page 8 in the Daily Mail, this is because it is not going to have as much as an effect on the ABC1C2 Adults social class which is the Daily Mails biggest audience compared to the sun who's prime audience is the 25-50 age category and these people are scattered across the different social class.
The above audience profile was made for The Sun.
Immediately by looking at the front page of the sun you can tell what social category it is aimed at as it offers 2 for 1 days out and asks the question 'One of these woman has had 180 lovers. Another just two... Can you tell?'. By looking at this front page you can tell that the audience fir this paper is amongst the lower classes of society because the this class of society will benefit more from a 2 for 1 day out deal and might want to know who has sept with 180 people. The main story on the front page is the 9.2% rise in gas prices entitled 'YOU GOT THE POWER' which is not exactly a very well thought out headline.
This tabloid appeals to its audience very well as for men it has all of the most important sports news, which a lot of men will buy a news paper purely to read. This particular tabloid includes a topless model on page three that varies every week which will also help to draw a large male audience. This tabloid also includes a 2 for 1 day out voucher which will appeal to their audience because the audience is mainly lower social scale that may not have the money to go to them places. This could also hint that the audience are family orientated people with children and a partner. These vouchers will also increase sales and might increase the average amount of readers. On the Daily Mail there are no vouchers or offers, showing that the audience is of a higher class and does not care about money off vouchers and prefer broadsheets to simply tell them important stories that are currently in the news, this is also shown by how little pictures and bright colours there are on the cover of the Daily Mail.
Market research suggests that the average income of a typical Sun reader is around £22,000 a year whilst the typical Daily Mail reader is has an average of around £50,00 a year. I would say that the typical reader of the sun could be Psycho graphically profiled as resigned, struggler or mainstream. I think this because there is are many things offering reduced prices pretty much every week, and one of the main details of the mainstream psycho graphic group is 'Favouring big and well know value for money family brands' and the sun is offering many value for money coupons/vouchers a lot of the time.
I would also say that the Daily Mail readers fall more into the category of succeeder as the daily mail supplies all of the most important news about politics and what is happening around the world, things that people who read the sun will not be that bothered about or wont even know it is going on in the first place.
Even disregarding the topics of this issue you can tell straight away that it is not an incredibly serious and intellectual tabloid, as it does not offer a lot of information, it includes lots of bright colours and a large vaguely worded headline and images. Where as on the front pages of Broadsheet news papers such as the Daily Mail there are better worded headlines, less pictures, less bright colours and a lot more writing. Just by looking at the front cover of the daily mail you can instantly recognize the audience and who it is aimed at.
By looking at this front cover you can see straight away all of the text that is on the page, it is almost a full article compared to any text on the front page of The Sun. This is because the majority of the target audience for this broadsheet paper falls into the ABC Adult social class. This hints towards that they will have a bit more interest in reading longer articles about more important events in the news paper. The target audience for this broadsheet will be people who want to know more important news about the world and politics. Although the sun and other tabloids will provide some information about the world and politics you can tell by one of the sub headlines 'one of these woman has had over 180 lovers' that politics and world news is not necessarily first on their list of priorities.
Also by taking a glance at this paper you can see straight away it does not have brightly coloured images dotted around the page and large headlines that fill pretty much half the page.
(Right - The Sun)
If you compare the two pieces of text next to the headline on the front page of both the sun and the daily mail you can see that the daily mails is over double the amount of text that the sun has.
The papers can use social media to gain quick free feedback from their audience. This is very easy do to and easy for the audience to complete. They can also send out surveys through the mail which may be easier for the older sector of the audience to use as they may not have access to the internet, or may not know how to use the internet to complete the surveys.
