Questionnaire Results

Don't read Newspapers

Here are the results I collected in from the questionnaires I gave out to people who don't read newspaper. I tallied the results and then collated them into graphs to show the results.

From the results you can see that it is mostly females that don't read newspapers, so I need to create a newspaper that will attract females to be interested in and read my newspaper. I will do this by adding topics and articles that they have stated in the questionnaire that they will be interested in and will persuade them to pick up/purchase my newspaper.

Questionnaire Results

Do read newspapers

Here are the results I collected in from the questionnaires I created and gave out to people who do read newspapers of my target audience. I tallied the results and then collated them into graphs to show the results.

From the results you can see that it's mostly males that read newspapers, mostly for the sport. So when constructing my newspaper I need to make sure that I have sport items and articles in my newspaper so that I can get as big of an audience as possible and attract the males to read my newspaper. I also need to make sure that I have no politics in my newspaper as nearly everybody wrote in the questionnaire that they do not want so see any politics in newspapers as they are not interested.

Analysis of Newspaper 3

Liverpool Echo

Introduction
The Echo is distributed in local areas in Liverpool and costs 49p. Daily Newspaper.

Front Page

First Page

Analysis of Newspaper 2

The Challenge

Introduction
The challenge is a local newspaper distributed in Knowsley. It is a free newspaper that can be picked up once a month in colleges.

Front Page

This newspaper has not challenged any codes and conventions at all as it has used the colour red for the title of the newspaper and used black for the text. Also the masthead is across the top of the front page which is a convention that the majority of newspapers use.
The Challenge has stuck with a simple layout for the front page which is not very interesting or eye catching at all as there is only one photograph of a member of the Knowsley Council and as it is distributed in colleges I don't think people of the age 16 - 19 will be interested by this story so the people that constructed this newspaper haven't really thought about their target audience.
Unlike the Metro, which is also a free newspaper, they don't have specific topics such as 'news', 'sport' and 'showbiz'. The Challenge is much more of a local newspaper as it is only distributed in Knowsely so their content may be more limited compared to the Metro. To attract more readers they should highlight specific topics to make it much more interesting and easier to read.

This edition of The Challenge has subheadings down the right hand side of the front cover. This could attract more readers as there could be something inside they may want to read. At the top of the subheadings there is a story on 'Students celebrate A Level and GCSE successes', I believe this story should have been the main story on the front page as it would be much more relevant to the target audience and would attract them to read it as it is about them.

There is an advertisement across the bottom of the front page. This is the focus point of the front page as it is colourful and bright and stands out from the rest of the page. This is relevant to the target audience as it is advertising a Youth Theatre in Knowsley, 'Kaboom Youth Production Company' for 13 - 21 year olds and 'Youth Theatre' for 12 - 19 year olds'. This is specifically targeting the audience as it is for their age range and in their area and it is only £1.
There is another advertisement at the top of the page to the right of the logo for 'Bluebell Taxis' this is also relevant for the target audience as Bluebell taxis is one of the most local taxi firms in Knowsley.
I believe that for this newspaper to attract the audience of college students it needs much more interesting and relevant to them as in this edition there is only a minority of stories that could attract college students. It is not a very colourful and the stories aren't very interesting or specific. Newspapers are competing with magazines when it comes to teenagers and people of a younger generation so the people who construct the newspapers need to make them as interesting and eye catching as possible, other wise the majority of students would rather purchase a magazine rather than picking up a free newspaper.

First Page

The first page of this newspaper is different to most other newspapers as there isn't a contents section. I think that a newspaper should always have contents because that way, the reader can flick to the pages they are interested in and want to read, rather than looking through the whole of the newspaper to find any stories they may be interested in. Contents in a newspaper make it much easier and quicker to read and without them it makes it much more difficult and time consuming.
There are a lot of different stories and information on the first page of this newspaper, I think that there is too much filling the page making it look overcrowded, nonprofessional and off putting to read. There is a range of different font sizes highlighting the main stories to the information that is not as important or as interesting.
The main story on the first page is 'Aid for Pakistan reaches more than £1000' This may be relevant to people of an older generation in Knowsley but not for people of a younger generation so this doesn't particularly relate to their target audience. There is a lot of relevant information relating to Knowsley on this first page but not relating to the target audience, 'Public Notice', 'Crime Updates' and 'Clarendon College'.
I don't believe that any of these relate to college students as they may not be interested in the Public Notice or the Crime updates and the Clarendon College advertisement isn't relevant to college students at all because it is advertising a school for pupils 3-16 and the majority, if not all, of the college students are not going to have children and are not going to be putting anyone into school at that age.
Yet again, I don't believe that this page is relevant to the target audience of this newspaper. All of the information and stories inside are relevant to Knowsely but not relevant to college students which will need to change if they want college students to start reading the newspaper.

Analysis of Newspaper 1

Metro

Introduction
The Metro is a local newspaper in Liverpool given out daily for free on local transport (buses and trains). The metro is specifically targeted at people that travel a lot and people that work.

Front Page

Nearly all newspapers from Liverpool stick to the same colour scheme of blue and red as well as newspapers throughout the country. This could possibly connote the football teams in Liverpool which are Liverpool and Everton. Blue and red are the most popular colours used in newspapers which makes them all look very similar.
The Metro tend to stick to a similar layout for each edition they bring out. This may be to keep it simple but easy to recognise as The Metro.
This edition of The Metro has subheadings down the left hand side of the page. This could be to entice the readers that maybe aren't attracted by the main stories, this helps the paper to get as big an audience as they possibly can. The Metro covers a lot of different topics which is another technique to get a wide range of readers. It has to attract as many people as possible as it is a free newspaper it needs to have something in for everybody to read.
Because this newspaper is free, it has to make its money from placing a lot different advertisements inside that will suit a wide range of readers. On the front cover of this edition there is an advertisement for Internet broadband. This should be a really successful advertisement as the Internet is hugely popular and people of all ages use it. Advertising something like this should earn the newspaper a lot of money as it suits everybody.
This newspaper only has one main image on the front cover, this could be a disadvantage and lose a lot of money for newspapers that the readers have to pay for because they have to sell their product by putting as many different variety of stories on the front cover as possible to attract a wide range of readers and to persuade them to actually pay for the newspaper. If they only have one main image on the front cover it may not be successful as if the reader isn't enticed by the image on the front cover, and there isn't anything else on the front cover that interests them then its most likely that they are not going to buy the newspaper as they do not want to take the chance that there could possibly be something inside they may want to read. Whereas a free newspaper can get away with this because the readers can just pick it up anyway on the public transport for free without worrying that they are wasting their money on stories that they are not even interested by.
One of the main differences The Metro has to other newspapers is the layout and design of the date and website address. It gives the newspaper a kind of modern look and makes it unique to every other newspapers as well as challenging the codes and conventions as other newspapers usually make the date and website address really small so that it is not a main attraction. The Metro's date and website address is really visible on the page and it is a very simple form of date and is clear to read.

Another main feature on this newspaper that makes it unique and different to most other newspapers is that it uses different colours as a key relating to certain topics. On the subheading on the front page it has the words 'Sport', 'News', and 'Fame'. Each of these topics have their own colour highlighting which pages they need to read for the topic of their choice by using the same colours inside the newspaper to make it obvious what topic is on each page. They show this by having a visible line across the top of the page and certain text highlighted by the colours relating to each topic. This makes it much easier for the reader to find the pages they want to read as its easily noticeable. It could also connote people being in a rush as most people who read the Metro may pick it up on the bus on the way to work and don't have much time to flick through the newspaper trying to find stories they would be interested in. By having this key it makes it visibly and easily noticeable what pages relate to what topics so they will find the stories they want to read much quicker.

First Page

The first page inside the newspaper is also consistent throughout each edition. It sticks to the same layout the only thing that changes each day is the advertisement used. This makes it really easy for the reader as the information that is relevant to them on the first page will always be there so they will always know exactly where to look.
The first page is very brief but looks really successful and professional. It has contents on the top left hand corner of the page, this makes it easier for the reader to find what they may want to read quickly as it is clearly stated which pages relate to each story.
They also have the lottery numbers stated on the first page. This could really benefit the readers as they will know what the lottery numbers are and whether they have won anything or not without having to check by using other sources.
The readers also have the option to contact The Metro as their details are there for the audience to either ring or email the newspaper giving them their thoughts, opinions and ideas on the newspaper. It's also an environmentally friendly newspaper as it has a section about recycling on each edition. This could relate to the target audience as it is given out on public transport, some of the people may use the public transport to save air pollution so that will really relate to them.
The Metro has their own advertisement on the first page of the newspaper that is targeted at the younger generation as it is a photograph of Apple's iPad. It is advertising The Metro app that they can purchase on their iPods or iPad and that they can also access the online addition of The Metro online. That advertisement is not going to be relevant to people of the older generation as they may not even know what an iPad is.
There is an advertisement taking up the majority of the space because this is what makes the newspaper their money to carry on distributing the newspaper everyday so they have to make it visible enough to catch the attention of the reader as well as making it as suitable as possible to suit the audience in order to make money off it.
There is also a weather section on the front page of this newspaper. I believe this to be a really popular and successful section that the readers will want to know about. None of the other newspapers I have analysed have the weather in which is what makes this newspaper individual and very successful. It specifically relates to the readers that will pick up this newspaper as it is distributed on public transport. The people who travel on public transport everyday will want to be aware of the weather so they can be prepared for the days ahead. It also shows the weather around different parts of Europe, this could be relevant to people that travel a lot as they may be traveling to one of the areas stated.

Questionnaire 2

Here is the questionnaire for the people who don't read newspapers. This questionnaire should give me more of an idea of why they don't like reading newspapers and what I should put in my newspaper to persuade them to purchase it.

I will give both of the questionnaires out to people around my college because I have chosen that age range as my target audience. After I have given them both out I will collect them in and create a series of graphs with the results on so that I can visually recognise what is most popular.

Questionnaire (Don't read newspapers)

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. What are your hobbies?

4. Why don’t you read newspapers?

5. How do you get your source of news if you don’t read newspapers? Why do you prefer this to reading newspapers?

6. What would interest you to buy a newspaper?

7. If you were to buy a newspaper how much would you pay for it?

8. If you were to buy a newspaper what type of things would you like to see in it?

9. If you were to buy a newspaper what type of things wouldn’t you like to see in it?

10. Where would you like a new newspaper to be distributed?

Questionnaire 1

I created two questionnaires, one for the people who do read newspapers and one for the people who don't read newspapers. When I receive feedback from these questionnaires it should give me more of an idea what the audience want to see in newspapers.
I deleted a few questions so that I had 10 questions in each questionnaire and made them more specific so that when I give them out the audience don't have too many questions to answer but I'll still get the information I need to create a newspaper that relate to them.

This questionnaire is for the people that do read newspapers.

Questionnaire (Do read newspapers)

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. What are your hobbies?

4. Which newspapers do you read?

5. Why do you read them?

6. How much do you pay?

7. Where do you purchase your newspapers?

8. What do you like to see in your newspapers?

9. What don’t you like to see in your newspapers?

10. What’s missing from the newspapers you read?

Questionnaires

Here is a draft of the questionnaires I have put together so far. I need to make the questions more specific and maybe delete a few questions and edit them before I give them out to the target audience to receive the feedback I need to create my own newspaper.

Questionnaire (Do read newspapers)

1. Are you male or female?
2. How old are you?
3. What are your hobbies?
4. Do you read local newspapers? If so what do you read?
5. What do you read a newspaper for?
6. How much do you pay for the newspapers?
7. What makes you buy the newspaper?
8. Do you buy it yourself or does somebody else buy them?
9. What makes you buy this newspaper?
10. What are the most popular topics in the newspaper you read?
11. Where do you purchase your newspaper?
12. What type of things do you like to see in newspapers?
13. What type of things don’t you like to see in newspapers?
14. What source do you use to read the news?
15. Where would you like a new newspaper to be distributed?
16. If the new local newspaper had more topics in that are relative to you would it persuade you to buy it?
17. What would you prefer to see in a newspaper? Pictures, text, adverts, other?

Questionnaire 2 (Don’t read newspapers)

1. Are you male or female?
2. How old are you?
3. What are your hobbies?
4. Why don’t you read newspapers?
5. How do you get your source of news if you don’t read newspapers? Why do you prefer this than reading newspapers?
6. What would interest you to buy a newspaper?
7. Have you ever read a newspaper? If so what was it about the newspaper that doesn't interest you to buy it regularly?
8. What would make you buy a newspaper?
9. If you were to buy a newspaper how much would you pay for it?
10. If you were to buy a newspaper what type of things would you like to see in it?
11. If you were to buy a newspaper what type of things wouldn't you like to see in it?
12. Where would you like a new newspaper to be distributed?
13. If the new local newspaper had more topics in that are relative to you would it persuade you to buy it?
14. What would you prefer to see in a newspaper? Pictures, text, adverts, other?

Schedule

I am going to create a schedule to organise my work and manage my time so that I can produce a successful final product. I have approximately four weeks for research and planning. In that time there is a list of things I need to do in order to create a good newspaper. The times and dates may not be exact but it is a rough guide to help me produce my coursework successfully.

Primary Research

Firstly I will have to research the target audience I want to base my newspaper on because that will help me to continue with my research and planning. After I have successfully chosen the target audience I will create a questionnaire to give out so that I know exactly what they are looking for and what they would prefer to see in my newspaper, e.g. what topics they would want to be in my newspaper, how much it would be, where it would be given out and how often it will be published. I will then make graphs showing my results from the questionnaire so that I can identify what is most successful and what most people prefer. If my questionnaire isn't as successful as I hoped and doesn't give me enough information to construct a good newspaper for the specific audience then I will set up a focus group because it will allow me to get required information to include in my newspaper.

Secondary and Market Research

I will analyse and evaluate successful local newspapers in my area and think of ideas I can do to make my newspaper different from the rest of them by challenging the codes and conventions. Hopefully by challenging some codes and conventions it will catch the attention of the audience as it is could be something interesting and different. I could also contact existing local newspapers to discuss marketing and other issues I may have and I am interested in. I will also research on the Internet and in texts books to expand my knowledge and opinions of what is successful in a local newspaper.

Planning

I will create a series of drafts of what the front page, and first page of my newspaper will look like so that I can decide what I think would be most successful and effective. I will also give each of the drafts out to the target audience so that I can create a final product that the audience will like to see.

Construction

For construction I will be creating the front page and first page of a local newspaper as well as a radio advert and a promotional poster ensuring they are as creative and original as possible. I will do this by using the audience feedback of my questionnaires to help me create the best product I can that is suitable for the target audience I have chosen.

Evaluation

Lastly I will evaluate my final product concentrating on the strengths and weaknesses. I will give my own thoughts and opinions on my products and I will also get audience feedback on my products so I can get as much information as possible on what's successful in my products and what isn't as successful and could be improved to be more effective.
For my evaluation I will answer a series of questions, the questions are:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How effective is the combination of you main product and ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I will answer these questions in a presentation I will create on Microsoft PowerPoint and I will make the presentation as interactive and creative as possible.

Introduction

For my A2 Media Studies Coursework this year I am going to produce the first two pages of a local newspaper as well as a radio advert and an advertising poster.

Before I start constructing my newspaper there are a number of things I have to do in order to create a good popular product.

First of all I would have to make a schedule to stick to as a guide to follow so that my work is organised. I will also have to think about ideas before I start research and planning, thinking about the target audience I might aim my newspaper at so that I can construct a questionnaire to give out. As a result of this I will know what topics and information the target audience will prefer to have in my newspaper.