In conclusion

As i was producing my products i tended not to challenge any conventions, the reason i did this was because i wanted it to have a familiar newspaper feel to it. due to it being a Harrogate newspaper my newspaper was aimed at the middle/upper class middle aged people. Throughout my production i had conducted several audience feedbacks. this has helped me to create my product to be as realistic as possible

Guardian newspaper advert

The poster above uses bright colours to attract the audiences attention. This effect is also achieved by the use of negative space within the advert. This helps to highlight the usage of the bright colours and it makes the actual image stand out more. The advert shown uses a lot of exclamation marks. This is used to show the voices and opinions  of the people and saying that they should speak their thoughts and opinions more. However, this advert is also telling the audience that the guardian only says stuff that is worthwhile. It is also promoting its website as it contains their web address just


The Times newspaper advert

advert is no longer avaliable

this advert is very simple but at the same time it is very effective. The image itself shows all the 6 sections which are found within this newspaper. The advert also does good use of the text. The style of font is instantly recognisable to the times and the audience will recognise that. Although the logo itself is quite small and doesn’t take up a lot of space on the advert. This is perhaps done to create a more simplistic image which is not too cluttered. The use of natural colours will also make it appeal toward the older audiences.

Generic conventions of Harrogate advertiser website

·         uses the same masthead as the newspaper

·         cohesion of colour/font

·         drop down menus

·         search bar

·         login/register options

·         Date, month, year

·         Advertisements

·         Sponsors of the website

·         Weather section

·         Scrolling text

·         Interactive elements, ability to comment on stories and photos

·         Small photo which relates to certain stories

·         Photo gallery

·         Shows local jobs, motors, properties etc announcements

·         Copyright and publisher

·         Terms and condition, contact us ,accessibility, disclaimer, cookie policy

·         Links to other pages (news, community, sport, lifestyle)

Website Progression

My original website was first done on google sites, as you can see i did not get very far with this, this is due to the fact that it is rather limited in its options

My second attempt at creating a website was done on www.moonfuit.com. this site had alot more option than google sites, however it was rather hard to understand and it was quite difficult to use. therefore i moved onto another website making site.

for my final product i used www.wix.com, the reason i chose this other the others is due to the ease of use and wide variety of options which are availiable

3rd Page Progression

Poster Progression

This is the original photo shot for my poster. From my audience feedback I learned that the picture was too grey and would not be appropriate for a newspaper advert as it would not grab the reader’s attention.however I received positive audience feedback on the slogan “take a wider view of Harrogate”

To improve my poster I edited the sky so it was less dull and boring, the overall effect has received good feedback.

Front Cover progression

This is my first attempt at producing the front page of the newspaper. It is obviously not complete as there are no photos to go with the stories. The adverts are also missing because they have not been produced at this stage of the production. I will be conducting audience feedback in order to improve my newspaper

The main change that has taken place is the positioning of the banner, it was suggested from my audience feedback that I should put it above the newspaper masthead for a more “professional” look.

As you can see my newspaper layout has completely changed from the last time. This was due to the audience feedback I got from my last attempt. My last layout was criticised because “the photo positioning does not properly match the text” so in order to improve this I completely redid the layout. The new layout had an overall positive feedback. My main title of the newspaper has remained the same as there has been no negative feedback on it. I have also increased the size of the font of the main story headline. Before it was criticised for “being too small for the main headline”

Photos have now been added to the newspaper and the newspaper is now looking more complete than it was in the last stage. Although the quality of the photos have been criticised by some

2nd page layout

1st page block layout

newspaper stories

Tesco story

There are plans for a new Tesco superstore which will be open 24 hours in Harrogate. The expected completion time will hopefully be by Christmas 2013. Harrogate was the only post code area without a major Tesco store in Britain. The new Tesco superstore will cover a whole 7,354m sq and it will be situated at the junction between Skipton Road and Ripon Road.

Supporters of the new superstore will say that it will create up to 360 job opportunities in the Harrogate area and it may help regenerate the area, however, on the other hand it could mean bad news for local businesses as they simply cannot compete against such a large store.

There is also a lot being done in order to reduce the traffic in the nearby area. For instance a new park roundabout will be built which will help the traffic flow in and out of Tesco. There will also be pedestrian and cyclist access. There will be spaces for up to 70 bicycles; a footpath next to Ripon road will also be widened by 2m. a foot bridge will also be built linking the footpath to the store. Not only this but Tesco will also be providing public transport. The new bus service will allow people to get the bus straight to the store. This new idea will cost around £94,500 a year. The buses will come every 30 minutes between 6am-9pm.

Police centre job losses

It has been said that a decision made at the Harrogate’s national police training college has said that there is concern over the jobs of more than 180 people who attend the centre. The NPIA (the national policing improvement agency) has said that it needs to move the academy away from where it currently resides and to move to a new location, this will reduce property costs by 50%. However no final decision has been made about whether or not they should move to a new location. The current location of the police college currently trains up to 1,200 police officers a year, is part of the phasing out process which has been set by the NPIA which is set to close in March 2012.

Harlow Carr story

The Bramall learning centre which is situated at Harlow Carr has been nominated for a prestigious award by the institution of structural engineers. The sited which is a school for children and academics has often been praised for its design quality. The building contains three classrooms or “teaching spaces” as well as the Northern Library of the royal horticulture. This centre will join other nominees such as the helix in Singapore, the London Velodrome and terminal 2 at Dublin airport. All we can do now is to wait for the final outcome and to hope that the Bramall learning centre will win.

Work starts at Pinocchio’s

Work is currently underway at the old Pinocchio’s building on Mount parade, contractors are not confirming to which company is behind the development but there are rumours that Pinocchio’s will become a bar or restaurant. Two firms thought to have been interested in the site have already denied that they are behind the new project. It is also said that the highly popular chicken chain Nandos has been looking in to locating in that area, however the company stressed that they have yet to find the right site.

Valley Gardens play park bunt down

On Friday night fire crews were sent to put out the castle which was up in flames in valley gardens play area. The fire service said that there was 100% fire damage to the structure. All that remains of the castle structure is charcoaled remains. Trees up to 20 feet away had been reported that they had minor burning damage on the branches and leaves; this just shows the ferocity of the fire. The area has currently been cordoned of and is being investigated by the CSI (crime scene investigation) and fire service inspectors. Police have also been are also collecting information and asking for statements from people. It is clear that the police and the Harrogate council are taking this case very seriously.

A member of the council says “this is one of the best children’s play areas in the country and we are just very shocked and sorry for what has happened. The council will do all we can to replace it as soon as possible”

Police are urging people to get in touch if they know anything about the incident. If you do know something then pleases call the Harrogate police at 0845 60 60 247

Diamond story

Stoners of Harrogate jewellers, which is located on Princes street will be showing off the largest collection of fancy coloured diamond jewellery. This collection will also contain some of the worlds rarest diamonds (including pink and blue varieties ) the event will go on tomorrow from 9:30-5:30 pm.

Road Story

A major programme of road works to repair the ravages of last winter will get under way in Harrogate and Knaresborough next month.

Between October and February North Yorkshire County Council will be carrying out extensive repairs and resurfacing schemes to the value of £2 million across the Harrogate and Knaresborough area following last winter’s damage to the highway network.

Exact dates for each scheme are yet to be confirmed but the sites concerned have been finalised, as well as time restrictions on working time at each location.

Highways officers have been working closely with representatives from Harrogate Borough Council, the Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce and local bus and taxi companies to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum for highway users. Although there will inevitably be some inconvenience to motorists these are substantial works which will extend the life of the existing roads and reduce the need for future repairs.

Police dog story

The north Yorkshire police have revealed 3 new trainees for the police. 3 puppys tyke, sam and toby who are new members of the forces dog section. These puppies will join 34 other dogs who are in the crime fighting unit. They currently reside with north Yorkshire dog trainers who will train and take care of them for the next 13 months. Tyke is the rising star of the group and it has already been decided that he’ll be replacing top dog Troy, who is due to retire by 2013. Don’t worry about the other two pups though. Sam and toby will be trained as specialist detection dogs, these are the dogs who will sniff out things such as drugs, explosives and weapons. Tykes training will take a total time of 13 weeks whereas sam and toby’s training will take around 6-8 weeks

Victus newspaper story

Healthy fast food at victus

After 2 years of planning and 5 months of renovation the new restaurant Victus has just opened up last week on Beulah Street. It’s only been opened up for a week and it proves very popular with the locals. This is surprising due to the high saturation of restaurants and cafes in Harrogate. The restaurant was founded and designed by people who love food, and they providing the freshest, healthy and good tasting food available. The interior of this Victus is also a big part of the overall experience, the interior makes you feel warm and welcome.

However, it is not just the great tasting food and interior which has people excited about Victus. But it is the proper grand opening of the restaurant which has people eager.  Formula 1 star Jenson Button (who is the founding member of Victus) will be attending the grand opening along with the mayor.

Skatepark newspaper story

New Skate Park opens up in valley gardens 

After many years of young teens petitioning for a skate park to be opened in the Harrogate area, a new skate park has finally opened up in valley gardens on the 28^th May; work began on the skate park in early February, and it had setback the council £150,000 During the production of the park both the users of the skate park and the council has been working together to build the park at the highest quality, there we’re a couple minor setbacks during the construction process as there was still debate on where to locate the skate park which setback the original completion date. Local skaters say that it was well worth the wait.

However, this is not the first skate park that has been opened up in Harrogate, about 5 years ago there was a skate park located near the Hydro. This too was very popular with the younger generate-on, but was very unpopular with local residents as it caused a lot of noise and disruption and the skate park was removed only a few weeks after it was built. However, the new skate park is a permanent structure and it is unlikely to go, the location of the skate park means that it is likely that there will be less complaints.

As of now the skate park has proved very popular with teenagers and children alike. A local skater says “it’s great that Harrogate finally got a skate park, before there were not many places to skate in Harrogate, before we would have to travel as far as Leeds in order to have a good skate session” it is not only younger people that benefit from this skate park but local parents also do “I think that the skate park is a great opportunity for my children, it gives them something to do and its great exercise”  as of far the new skate park has been very popular with local residents.

9 golden rules

1.       Kiss – keep it short and simple- local papers normally have shorter sentences between 16 – 20 words- keep to simple vocabulary which the broadest audience can access

2.       Read for speed – sentences and headlines are short – cross heads break the story down into bite size pieces – columns are narrow and easy to read

3.       Never use 3 words where 1 will do – you will rarely see the following phrases in newspapers – “in the near future” – “ in the first instance” – “ on the subject of” – “in the consequence of”

4.       Don’t repeat yourself – don’t use 2 words which mean the same thing e.g. uniquely special – final outcome – important essentials

5.       Use active verbs – e.g. burglars took the corgi, rather the corgi was taken by the burglars

6.       Play with language – use puns e.g. chippy gets a battering, Steve Davis arrives on que

7.       Make the story personal – particularly  in local papers, people sell papers

8.       Categorise people in the news – e.g. grey haired pensioner, secret lover, mother of two, retired teacher

9.       Things to avoid – clichés, euphemisms, being to chatty, unnecessary use of foreign or American phrases

Writing newspaer articles

Writing newspaper articles

1.       The headline – accurate and in the present tense, first sentence 5w’s

2.       First paragraph – make the reader interested and include a hook

3.       Make it accurate – make sure info is correct

4.       Search for the special ingredient  which makes your story stand out

5.       Paragraphs throughout should consist of only 2 or 3 sentences  - no more than 22 words for 1^st sentence as a grab line

6.       Use quotes (expert opinion) or direct witness

7.       Keep language simple

Potentail names for my newspaper

Harrogate Post

Harrogate Gazette

Harrogate Standard – this is going to be the name for my newspaper, the reason in why I chose this title is because people will expect a high standard if newspaper.

Publisher’s statement - “the voice of the people since 1886”

Harrogate Standard  

Harrogate Today

The Harrogate Journal

The Harrogate Express

Harrogate View

Harrogate Chronicle

Writng a newsaper

Design Checklist

·         Gather material for front page and decide which is essential and which is optional , use short pieces of writing or “fillers” to fill small gaps

·         Give each page a main story or picture which will attract the reader’s attention

·         Give the best picture a prominent position on the page, even if it doesn’t go with the lead story

·         Scatter other pictures around the page and make sure it is always clear to the reader where to go next

·         Vary the shapes and sizes of the picture

·         Make sure every picture has a caption and every story has a headline

·         Use lines and boxes sparingly, and only if they are needed to make separation clear

Making stories fit

If your stories are too long, your options are to:

·         Cut the text  - you can always drop a sentence or two or else find shorter ways of saying things

·         Trim or resize photographs – tight cropping of pictures, especially head and shoulder shots, can make them much more dramatic

·         Shorten the headline

·         Alter the size or style of the font or change the leading or tracking

·         Move something else, such as advertisement, off the page.

If your stories are too short your options are to:

·         Add text

·         Enlarge a photo

·         Add an introduction (standfirst)

·         Alter the size or style of the font or change the leading or tracking

·         Put space between the paragraphs

·         Add crossheads (mini-headlines) between paragraphs

·         Add a lift quote – take a quotation form the story, type it in larger font, and draw attention to it by boxing it or giving it some white space

·         Add an advertisement or filler material

Local newspaer names

 

Yorkshire Post

Harrogate Advertiser

Nidderdale Herald

Ripon Gazette

Boston Standard

Knaresborough Post

Beeston Today

Harrogate Herald

Proposal

I’m creating an ultra-local newspaper which is going to be based in Harrogate. My newspaper will cover on both local issues and some national issues, but only if they relate to the local area.  The news values that I will give priority to are personalisation; these are stories which are to do with local people. Negativity will also be prevalent within my newspaper as these stories are more likely to read by the target audience. Continuity will also be included within the newspaper. I want my newspaper to have the feeling that there is a strong community.

Ideology:  I’m going to replicate the established conventions of existing newspapers, without these conventions the audience may not recognise the product. My newspaper is going to predominantly conservative and I will not be challenging the normal conventions. My newspaper will also need to be politically neutral so there is less chance of losing the target audience. My target audience for my newspaper is going to be people, who live in the Harrogate area, and the newspaper will be mainly targeted for people who are around 30+, and due to the fact that it is a Harrogate newspaper it will also be targeted towards the more middle class. There will also be secondary readership to account for, so teenagers may also read it so there will be some content for them. Secondary readership means that there will be larger audience and I will need to consider that into the newspaper.

News values

News values

There are millions of stories that happen every day which could make the news and journalist need a method to make sure which stories to include. They use a set of criteria called news values to help them select the news.

·         Frequency – the more similar the frequency of the event is to the frequency of the news medium, the more likely it is to be recorded

·         Threshold/amplitude/numbers – the size of an event will govern the amount of attention is given. Obviously the bigger the better

·         Unambiguity – a simple stroy is good for the journalist to investigate And it is also easier for the audience to understand

·         Meaningfulness – Culturally relevant or culturally proximate events are more likely to make the news. The audince is more interested in event that are closer to home

·         Consonance – Events meet our expectations arre more likely to become news

·         Unexpectedness/surprise – events which hold a large element of surprise are more likely to hit the headlines.

·         Continuity – events which have already been defined ad news will continue to carry importance in the news agenda

·         Compositon – editors make sure there is a balance of home and foreign news, they will put in lighter news to make it less depressing

·         Reference to elite nations – other major western nations are more likely to make news

·         Reference to elite nations – events which contain references to stars, politicians and royalty etc are all likely to become news

·         Personalization – events which are personalised are more likely to be reported  than those which have no specific individual concerned

·         Negativity – bad news makes good news?

·         Actuality – news which has a sound bite, clip or radio station is more likely to be reported

News agenda

The news agenda is to do with which stories you select for your newspaper and the priority you give to those stories. More important stories will have more text and images to go with them. News values are the same for all news organizations and whoever your target audience is but different newspapers give priority to different news values. A broadsheet newspaper might give priority to elite nations, but a tabloid newspaper will give interest in personalization. Local newspapers will prioritise things with meaningfulness.

News selection

All news involves the selection of information by journalists because it would be impossible to include every single detail. When photos are taken that also involves choices by the photographer about how they wish to represent the event. Captions underneath pictures help to lead readers towards a preferred reading of the image.

Ideology

Ideology is a set of beliefs or ideas which is held by a society or groups of people or by individuals. In our country the dominant ideology is probably white male, middle class, middle aged and conservative. Your local newspaper is more likely to support this ideology so they don’t upset their wide audience. The layout of the newspaper is very formal, gives the feeling that the newspaper is trustworthy and reliable. The front page is like an advert for a paper, shows that it is up to date and has an array of features.

Audience

Going to be targeting a local but very broad audience, broad means that the age range of 10 – 100, people from different social/ economical groups will be reading it, people with different religious beliefs, politics, family circumstances, retired etc. Primary media is when we pay very close attention to a media text, secondary media is when you skim through a paper and see if something catches your eye. Tertiary media is when media is present but were not consciously aware of it. One person can buy a newspaper but it is not only read by one person, it could be read by several other people. Local newspapers tend to be kept for the whole week and not thrown out, people will check for such things as events etc.

Front page semiotic analysis

Front page semiotic analysis

Harrogate advertiser

·         Main Headline – the headline is written in very large bold font, can easily catch the attention of the audience.

·         Mast head - Name of the newspaper also stands out, Text is white and within a large blue box- just above it says “since 1836” makes it seem more reliable and authentic, blue background, shows that it is conservative

·         Web address just below the mast head

·         By lines on the main story, shows who wrote the article

·         The headline is just below the headline and is to the right of it

·         Below the main title it includes a small preview of other stories in the magazine – these include pictures and large and bold blue font

·         The text of the newspaper is split into two different parts, one part for the main story and the other part is for the other smaller stories- there is a bold line which divides the two.  There are a total of 3 different stories on this front cover. Newspaper is usually folded so it is the main story that is on show and this should draw in the readers

·         Bottom half of the page has been used for advertising – advert has bright colours so it attracts the reader

·         For each story on the front page there is an image for each story- there is a much larger image for the front page story – because it is more important

·         Each image also includes a caption – the caption helps the audience to understand the image and the story

·         The Front cover story has a lot of appeal to people living in Harrogate – in this instance it is discussing the rising parking fees, which affects a lot of people living in Harrogate

·         The price of the newspaper is just below and to the right of the name of the newspaper- this is placed so it is easy to see

·         Bar code is placed at the bottom half of the newspaper and it is placed on the left – above the barcode it says that this newspaper should be recycled.

·         Some of the stories headlines use exaggerated language e.g. “Outcry over plans to pave Parliament Street” 

Ripon Gazette

·         Mast head has large white font and is on a dark green background , style of font also varies on the main title “Ripon” is written in bold and “Gazette” is written in italics

·         4 pictures in total, there are 2 main pictures which catches the reader’s attention, these pictures are associated with the main story

·         2 other stories which are included in the paper are just below the main title; both include a picture which is associated with it.

·         Main headline is in large, bold font, catches the readers attention

·         2 separate stories, both cut off by border lines

·         Advertising at the bottom of the page, adverts for different schools around the area, will attract readers who are parents

·         Bar code is in the same place as the Harrogate advertiser

·         Layout is very similar to Harrogate advertiser

·         The font size for the articles is size 9, small font so you can fit more text on a page

·         Main story is on the top half of the page, newspapers are folded when on the shelves so this is the story seen by the customer

·         The most dominant colour in this front page is green, to do with environment

·         Pun is used in the main headline, attracts the audience as is makes it sound clever

·         Website information just below the main title, advertises their website, most likely has extra information for the readers

What is news?

What is News?

·         News is people

People are inerested in celeberites, gossip etc

·         Dog bites man - no interst. Man bites dog – news

This is an example of Abnormal news and people are interested in this

·         News is anything that makes the editior say “Gee Whiz”

There needs to be Shocking/Amazing news

·         News is what someone somewhere wants to suppress, all the rest is advertising

News that people want to know but the person involved does not want peploe to know e.g man cheats on wife – super injunction

·         Fresh events reported

News must be current and up to date, there is no point of having news which is 2 weeks old

The dictionary definition of news is probably the most helpful.

·         News must be new or fresh or at least have a fresh angle.

·         News must be presented as something that is not mundane; it must be an event.

·         The fresh event must be reported to become news.