Introduction to Journalism Lecture #2 - Audiences

Audiences may seem very hard to define, but newspapers and advertisers in particular have hit the nail on the head. They know how to attract the demographic they want.

For local newspapers their general audience is very easy to establish: People in the local community. These papers will include stories about local court cases and may even have snippets from the national news, but generally they'll stick to stories that are specifically aimed at those in the local area. On the front page of the Southern Daily Echo today there's a story about a local woman who's been sentenced to prison for two years for conning her employers out of 10% of their profits. Local news for the local people - but not national news; there's far more pressing issues for those to address. Also found in local news reporting is a round up of the sport from geographically relevant teams.

Now we move on to the foggy territory of politics. A paper's political leaning does a lot to define an audience. Below is a list of newspapers and their 'general' readership:

• The Sun: Used to be a leading paper for the left wing Labour party, but having changed their alagiance in the last general election they now bat for the other side (so to speak) and support the Conservative party. Typically, a Tory will be middle class and a little bit snobby, so what does that make the Sun's readers? Well judging by their slack-jaw expressions, tanned right arms and pale lefts, and their grazed knuckles I'm going to plump for the opposite. The working class man. These two concepts collide, so what is it that attracts them to a paper that rallies against their general interest? Is it the 30p price tag? Or is it the sport or the picture on page 3?
• The Daily Sport: This leads me on nicely to this little joy of a publication, one which has a cheap price, more 'pictures' and loads of sport. The Daily Sport is for the apes of civilisation, they who have not been shown the true world by the philosopher in Plato's cave theory.
  
• The Daily Mail: The Mail is famously a right wing newspaper, mainly read by people who fear they'll end up in an asylum and scarred for life if they look a teenager in the eye. Saying that, it's mainly read by those in middle class occupations such as doctors or teachers. It's also a hit with the ladies, who they aim most of their features at.
• The Independent: Like Locke, The Independent has a very liberal point of view; it doesn't lean any way in the political spectrum and leaves it up to their readers to craft their own opinions. It assumes that they're intelligent, unlike other papers. An example of this is the lack of  the poppy on the front cover so to cater for those anti-war protestors.
• The Guardian: Left wing, middle class and new media-savvy are the words you could use to describe the guardian. It's mainly read by students.
• The Mirror: The polar opposite to the Sun, this red-top is left wing and aimed at woman.