1. Summer holiday work

Having been given our task of creating a local newspaper (two front covers and two inside pages) and two subsidiary tasks (a poster and radio advert) at the end of year 12, me and Alice set to work over the summer holidays.

During my summer holidays, I analysed local newspapers already available to buy on the market and attempted to spot any common conventions that could have been adopted, changed and challenged. I chose the three most popular newspapers around our area: 'Mercury,' 'Nailsea/ Clevedon/ Portishead Times' and 'The Evening Post'. I began by analysing the front cover of each newspaper. Here is the analysis:


'Evening Post':

• Bold and thick use, however not so reminiscent of the Times New Roman font employed in 'The Times' and 'Mercury'.
• Logo of The Matthew employed to make the newspaper more recognisable amongst the many local newspapers available.
• One smaller story fitted in on the side of the front cover.
• The website "thisisbristol.co.uk" shows the audience that there are other ways of reading the news, finding local adverts etc. by logging onto the internet (synergy).
  
• The vocabulary in the headline is fairly simple and therefore makes it self explanatory.
• The main story is carried through to page.
• Local adverts are employed, however in this case at the top of page as opposed to the bottom.
• Horizontally, the page is split into thirds; the title and adverts in one third, the picture and small story in the middle and the main headline in the final third.

'Mercury':

• Unlike 'The Times,' this newspaper has a logo. This ensures uniqueness amongst the many different newspapers available to buy and gives the newspaper a more distinguished identity.
• The title of the newspaper ('Mercury') is very similar to 'The Times' and suggests a common convention within newspaper and style. Both use a slightly uninteresting font i.e. a slightly thicker and bolder Times New Roman and both have a blue and white colour scheme that has mentioned previously, suggests the newspaper does not want the reader to be distracted by bright colours and quirky fonts in the title. Instead, by using a more retrained font, the newspaper focusses on content as apposed to the title.
• Again like 'The Times,' the headline is self explanatory and uses short words and phrases to perhaps create a bigger impact. Additionally, the headline uses the bolder and thicker Times New Roman font making it clear for the reader to interpret.
• Adverts are displayed on this newspaper's front cover. LIke 'The Times' they are situated at the bottom of the page and are within close proximity to the target audience (in this case readers living in Clevedon, Nailsea, Portishead and Yatton).

'The Times':

• The newspaper's title is very simple. The font style is quite restricted and is not particularly flamboyant i.e. a sightly thicker and bolder Times New Roman. Similarly, the colour scheme is quite boring and does not leap off the page into the reader's eyes- a simple blue colour on white background has been employed. This slightly uninteresting font title could suggest that the newspaper does not want to distract the audience from the main story by having an overly-exaggerated title with bright colours, quirky fonts etc.
• Advertising seems to make up the majority of the front page. This common convention really emphasises that this newspaper is designed to be read by local people, for example, the hairdressing salon situated in Portishead may only be applicable to North Somerset readers as they are within close proximity of the shop.
• The headline's font is very similar to the tile of the newspaper. It is very reminiscent of the Times New Roman font and therefore could be considered common and ultimately slightly dull/. With regards to the language used, the headline's text is self-explanatory , blunt and to the point. PErhaps this type of language was used to increase the impact and ultimately make the main story seem more dramatic.
• The main story encompasses the classic '5WH' (who, what, when where, why and how). Paragraphs are used to break up the text into digestible chunks and these are used quite regularly. There are quotations recorded from people to do with the incident (witnesses, sufferers, families or sufferers etc.) and they, like the rest of the text, are in Times New Roman font.
• With regards to layout, the newspaper is quite strict. In some places, it obeys the rule of thirds e.g. the adverts are spread across the page in thirds and horizontally, the front cover has the headline and the title in one third, the picture and main story in another and the local adverts in the final third.