genre research

For my newspaper product, the Genre is going to be ‘Local’. It is extremely important that before I construct my product, I do thorough research into the existing genre, to make my product as realistic as possible. Genre is seen as a structuralist approach to literary, print, film theory and much more. Studying the ‘Local Newspaper’ genre, I will be able to find and examine the structural elements that combine and put together the telling of a story, or events in the case of my product. I will be able to base my product on these elements, also known as ‘Paradigm’. I will analyse and take apart several different local Newspapers, to see if a fundamental pattern emerges. Here I will distinguish the Genre, and with it the conventions that belong to it.

There is Genres for almost every creative product, for example, films, tv shows, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, books and much more. It is important that when whatever product you are going to construct, moving image or print, that you have a genre in mind, with conventions that will help you produce the product to a successful level. Some Genres, appeal to audiences more than others, for example some people prefer reading a tabloid newspaper than a Broadsheet, so with the importance of Genre, comes the importance of appealing to the correct audience. Directors of films can look at existing Genres to see how well they appeal to audiences, and this will determine whether they will base their film on that Genre.

For my product, the genre of my Newspaper will be Local. With a local Newspaper, it is deemed important for it to appeal to the full extent of the city/town it concerns. The rules of genre can be applied to my product, and promote the organisation of my product. Over the years, the boundaries between genres have decreased, and some critics say it’s hard to define a products genre. Some conventions overlap, and one product could include elements from several different genres. In order to make sure I keep to my correct genre, I will follow the description by Jane Furere, who divided ways to categorize genres, into 3 separate groups.  

A newspaper is a source of information in print for the public to read. It is the equivalent to what is on news channels, however in a written format, which can be read on busses, trains or simply in the house for morning reading. There are different formats of newspapers available to suit different audience types. A tabloid newspaper has news based on celebrities and gossip that will interest the mass audience, whereas a Broadsheet newspaper touches on political and business matters, for example the Guardian or the Independent.

Newspapers have both a visual and literal element available to the audience, and can be referred back to and re-read. Special editions of newspapers are available for things of mass interest to the audience, for example Royal Weddings and the Olympics which can be kept as souvenirs of the events. Audiences have a chance to get more involved with the news by reading a newspaper, as news articles are wrote more directly, some using first person pro nouns. Typical conventions of newspapers that allow a closer relationship are competitions and quizzes, and even posters.

An audience reading a newspaper may digest more news than someone watching it, as they are paying their full attention to the article, and may feel more obliged to read the stories in depth as they have paid for it.

Paradigms is the explanation of all conventions of a genre being put together, and being recognised as a genre.
view this link to see my research of codes and conventions of Local Newspapers
Before I researched into the conventions of the existing products, I analysed a front page of a local Newspaper to see what my initial knowledge is. I will later compare the comventions before and after.

please click on this link to view the text more closely!

Analysising existing products-

To construct a Local Newspaper to the best of my abilities, I am going to deconstruct several Local Newspapers so that I am familiar with the standard conventions and layout. This will help me when it comes to constructing my own Newspaper, as I’ll use and develop the existing conventions that I learn about.  

click here to see my research on codes and conventions of existing Local Newspapers
click here to view my research on anchored images

click here to see my deconstruction of the first 2 pages of the Sunderland Echo 

EXTRA THOUGHTS

In this particular local Newspaper, ‘The Wear’, two main stories are featured on the front page, own with a political theme, the other about a house fire. Positioned to the right of the front cover is a ‘spoiler’ column of what the audience can expect to find inside, constructed similar to a contents table. There are several features from the contents page that will attract different audiences, maximizing the overall potential audience of the Newspaper. For example, there is a News section with a ‘Politics special’. This can interest a range of different ages who are interested in politics, persuading them to pick up the Local Newspaper. The next column down is ‘On Campus’, which is specifically for teenagers attending college/ University, so immediately we can see the Newspaper is appealing to different types of audiences, and aren’t specifically appealing towards an age group, or a gender. Also on the ‘What’s inside’ table is a ‘Fashion’ column, and further down a ‘Sports’ column. Those who pick up the newspaper will immediately be able to see that it has something in for everyone. This persuades when I construct my own newspaper to include features that will appeal to both genres, of different ages.

According to Galtung And Ruges theory, the more new values a story has in, the more popular and newsworthy they prove to be. The news articles on the front page of ‘The Wear’ are most likely to be chosen according to the amount of news values they have. Within the ‘New Mayor vows to do city proud’ article, there is lots an abundance of new values that together, will make the article News worthy. One of the news values included is ‘Reference To Elite Person’. This is when a rich person or someone with a high status of power is featured in an article. In this particular article, this concerns the mayor, who in the article picture is having his chain of honour placed around his neck, clearly showing the audience he is the new mayor adding a visual factor. Another news value included is ‘Meaningfulness’. For the people of Sunderland, this articles definitely concerns them as they are been given a new mayor. The target audience of the Newspaper is initially, the people of Sunderland; therefore this article achieves the goal of appealing to the intended audience. Another news value included in the article is ‘Conflict’, although it is only minor, and can be considered quite humorous. The new mayor I said to be a Newcastle fan “The chains of the office were passed down to Sunderland’s new mayor Dennis Richardson this week, despite his being a Newcastle United fan”.

  I took a closer look at the articles on the front page, and deconstructed what slection values, news values and treatment values were included by the journalist.



























Deconstructing the articles has helped my understanding of how an article is written. I have learnt that it is important to consider what newsvalues and treatment values will appeal to your target audience, to ensure they will have an enjoyable read. When making my product, I will refer back to my notes on article writing to help me achieve a high grade.