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.