Hypodermic Needle Theory

Hypodermic Needle Theory 

Hypodermic needle theory was developed in 1930's, with the alternate name of 'Magic Bullet Theory'.  

It suggests an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. 

Task1:6.2 The Sun and Times

Unit 6 Task 1

• Define the Target Audience for each paper using appropriate subject terminology

• Explain how and why the content has been selected and constructed, what codes and conventions and mode of address have been used to appeal to each target audience

• Create digital moodboards (using examples of existing magazine front covers and content) and a digital mock-up of a front cover for each of the  proposed magazines based upon what you discovered about the specific Target Audience for each one

• Explain why News UK should use this style for their new magazines.

• Suggest and explain at least TWO ways in which your client can test the appropriateness of their new publications through audience feedback

The Times:

With print, the circulation for The Times is 440,048 copies, whereas the readership for them is 1,093,000. You can see that these numbers are different but by this you can also tell that the papers must be shared around from people in the house and it can also be shared around the neighbourhood. This would explain how the number of people reading it is higher to how many copies they print. People do this secondly to save money, as the price is ever rising for how much the newspaper is worth.

When we compare this with readership for when people use PC, Mobile and Tablet, we can see that the numbers are around the same, but the lowest one is tablet coming in at 77,747 for the active views.

The difference between the use of print and the ways which you can do it on social media, are the NRS classifications and the age categories.  The mode print age for The Times comes in at 65+, which has 34.1% of the viewings which you can see to the right.
As of the older population would have been brought up with the printed version of the newspaper, they would not tend to change what they would already know. As you would be able to access it online, the elderly are not as up to date with the technology, but it does not mean that some will use this method.

The Sun:

Also looking at print, the circulation is 1,696,685 copies, whereas the readership is 4,316,000. You can also see that the number is more than double than the copies that they produce. This can also be to do with the one paper may be being spread across different people so they can look at it without buying one each at a time.

The chart to the right shows the age for the viewers of the print media form which is sourced from NRS, you can see the age category that has the highest percentage is 65+. 
The 65+ category has the highest percentage of 25.9%. Being similar to The Times, this can be as the people who would be in the age bracket, they would be retired. But also as them being retired, they have been brought up with the use of the paper being printed out. As now there are different ways which may be easier accessible for the younger audiences to read it on, during their day. 

Comparison:

When looking at both The Sun and The Times, you can see similarities and differences within the two papers.

One of the main similarities you can see with them is that they have the same age category which has the highest percentage. This means that for both papers, they both have the same majority of the audience who is reading the paper. The category that is the most with both is the 65+ bracket. This is because the audience for this age was brought up with the medium of print. This would make them used to going out and to buy a newspaper, more so than someone in the 15-24 age category.

Even though the audiences for both of the newspapers are completely different, that is one of the only ways which you can say that they are similar. 
When looking at the socio demographics of each, you can see that there is a distinctive difference in what one is the most for both of the newspapers. This can indicate about who is reading the newspaper and it can also help us to see the differences between the two. This can help when trying to cater the mock up of the new magazine for both of the newspapers.
The most for The Times, the social-demographic is ABC1 adults, where as when looking at The Sun, you can see that the social-demographic is DE adults. By this information you can tell that the readers of the newspaper are at two different age categories, which would make a difference when looking at how both of the newspapers use their codes and conventions to appeal to the audience. The main difference between the two which you would be able to see, that one is in a formal layout and the other in an informal layout.

In The Sun and The Times, they both did an article on the Italy earthquake which had happened during the week the newspaper was done. You can see the photos of the articles in both The Times and The Sun.

When looking at these articles, the main difference that you see that they are presented differently. From the two images seen on both of the articles, you can see that they have both chosen two different topics. This could show that The Times takes more of a political approach compared to The Sun.

The Times presents their articles in a formal manner. The photo symbolises terror, which had hit Italy after the earthquake struck the country. It can also denote the effect that the earthquake had to the country, as you can see the two photos of buildings which are not what they used to be. It refers to the earthquake which happened in 1980, so it shows that The Times are historically aware about past events and can compare them to future events/events happening now.  This can relate to the audience for The Times as it can be seen as being more knowledgeable about what happened, which can be seen as them in a higher class (which also helps to relate to the audience.

The Sun have a different way of approaching themselves, in more of an informal manner. They basis their stories off of gossip and celebrity bases. This then imitates the audience of The Sun. As they  have a lower classified audience. With the two seen, The Sun takes a different approach when writing the article. The Sun write them in the informal manner. This is because they like to summarise what the story is about. They like to try and make sure that the readers attention is kept, as the attention spam may not be the same as The Times.

The Times like to use up most of the space within the article as the readers would like to go into greater detail, to keep to the high standards that they have as a newspaper. You could also say that as the audience group who read The Times have a higher intellectual state, so they would not enjoy something summarising, so the more they would tend to read the more descriptive paper. You could say that it is more challenging for them to read when comparing the two styles in writing.

The Sun 

The masthead is the title and logo of the newspaper. As you can see here, the masthead is overlapped with the photo along the left hand side and the ‘exclusive’ story which would also be featured somewhere in the rest of the newspaper. This may be placed in the top left hand corner as it would gain attention as people read left from right.

As there is more up to date news, adapted to more of ‘celebrity’ news which you could say. As the younger audience, it would appeal as they would more likely keep up with that style of news.

 The splash is the main story. As you can see, the main story is about the house which has 10 residents in them, and it probably also indicates an amount of money that they would be said to get in benefits.

The pug is the promotions to the left or the right at the top of the paper. You can see that it is mainly situated at the right of the paper, and it’ll be the same on every other papers as they normally keep the same layout.

The extra introducing headline on the front of the paper is where the writing is smaller than the headline and underlined.

The photograph is the main photo you would see that fits in with the main story of the newspaper. Here they have put the photograph to a smaller picture, with the black background. But different to The Times, they have extra photographs on the page, which is seen to the left of the front page. As they have many more photographs on the front page, they make them smaller. This could be to do with them thinking that there is more content inside. This is also to try and get more people to look at the newspaper. It could also be seen as having too much on the page, as some may like a simplistic view.

The headline is the large font on the front of the newspaper. On the front page, where indicated you can see headline is in bold sans-serif.

         The Times                                                  

When looking at The Times, you can see that there are some differences between the tabloid, by looking at this type which is a broadsheet newspaper. One of the main differences which you can see if that they don’t have a pug. They have filled the space where the pug would be, with a section which is filled with an article about sports.

The text which The Times use is serif. I would say that it would be more of a bold serif type of font. This is also the same as The Sun, but you could say that The Sun may be different than The Times, but they look similar.

The Times would not have a pug as when using that specific feature

You can clearly see the headline which is placed on to the left side of the newspaper. You could say that it is the second biggest text on the front page, the first being the masthead. There is also a second headline which is corresponding the photograph on the front of the paper, which is about Hillary Clinton, which was most likely about the presidential race which was recently done in the USA. This may be because the two headlines would be maybe as equal in importance as each other. It would also be different to what you would see on the front page of The Sun as what you would see on their front page, it would be seen as more informal as the other ones.

The masthead takes up the top section which looks like a header, along with the logo of the magazine. The denotation and connotation of the logo are similar as what you see is what it means. The logo consists of the Latin writing in the ribbon type under the rest of the logo. The rest of the logo consists of the lion, unicorn and the middle oval shape, with the crown on top. It also has Latin writing in the oval , which has a smaller oval shape, cut into four with four different icons inside of them.

When comparing this to The Sun’s masthead, you can see that it is more colourful, and it takes up less of the page space. Where as The Times masthead is bigger, spreading out across the front of the page, and it is less colourful.  This can be because it keeps to the fact that the papers are tabloid, broadsheet, formal and informal.

Mock Up Magazines

The Sun: C2DE:

• ·         OK!
• ·         My Weekly
• ·         New!
• ·         Bella
• ·         Heat
• ·         Inside Soap

The Times; ABC1;

• ·         Radio Times
• ·         Angles Mail
• ·         Horse and Hound
• ·         Classic Cars
• ·         Saga Magazine
• ·         Readers digest
• ·         What car? 

The Times Mood board

The Sun Mood board

These were the magazines which were said to be more likely for the reader of The Sun and The Times to read, which is why they’re in the mood boards shown. There is also a couple which are not on the lists above but they were used in the mood boards as they were also said they are similar of the others. 

This then lead on to making mock magazine covers to what we would find to be best suitable out of the research that we conducted.

The Sun (Left) The Times (Right)

Why News UK should use this style (After trying to use canva, this is what I come up with, as failing to do it any other way)

The Sun:

They should use this style as I think it would take well with the audience of the newspaper. As the layout is more informal, it would be more appealing to the younger audience. As it has a simplistic layout, with limited writing, I think it would appeal to them. What I also think was appealing is that as it is more of a predominately younger audience, it would still feature topic which would be serious, and what is going on during the normal day to day, but it could make it less appealing.

The images which you would see, would be smaller due to the smaller size of the magazine. As there is hardly any writing on a tabloid newspaper, I was keeping the same concept of that in the magazine as too many words would probably put off someone who is reading it. They may want something short and summarising to read. They may also be reading it quickly so they wouldn’t want a large amount of text to read if so.

The Times:

They should use this style as it is like the original, as I found out that I couldn’t change much to keep it appealing to the audience. What I would change about it is that there’s normally a bar at the top and the bottom with a feature story which I liked, so I kept that in but only to the one which is at the bottom. I was also thinking that it could feature one story, but also add a little more information as I was also thinking about how magazines are a smaller size than a newspaper.  

Even though the photos that I created were vague, I still would want to keep the bigger amount of text, keeping it in the formal sense for the audience.

Two ways which the client can test if the new ideas are appropriate through audience feedback can be through a questionnaire, a focus group.

Out of the two chosen, the one which would be more effective would be the focus group. This would be because as of knowing that the feedback will be from members of the audience of either The Times or The Sun. The people that would be picked to be a part of the focus group, as mentioned would be in the right audience category. This would help them know that they have the right feedback if they would need to change anything if they had said that something could have been improved on. They can also take down what they like and dislike about it.

When comparing this to the questionnaire, you could ask some people with what one they would prefer, but then they may not be for the actual audience of the newspaper whether it being The Times or The Sun. To get around this, you may be able to style the questions on the questionnaire to help get the best possible answers that you could.
Even though both of the mock up's are not in much detail each, I would be able to do a better copy if it was done not on the computer, and on paper.