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.