Questionnaire Analysis

Textual Analysis of Watford Observer (Local Newspaper)

The Watford Observer has a yellow strapline just below the title, the use of the yellow is useful as its colour makes it stand out from the rest of the page. In addition to that that strapline contains relevant information such as the date in which the paper was issued, price and the papers website, this is useful as it’s all grouped and the reader doesn’t have to look elsewhere for that kind of information.

The yellow colour of the strap line, can be called useful in away as in can attract the readers attention. This is because the strap includes the date of which the newspaper is published, the newspapers website and the price of the newspaper. By putting all of these in the yellow strap it means that it can group all the key information in one line.

All the stories with a suitable amount of writing on seem to have a negative coverage. The small story at the bottom of the page is about a suicide inquest where, the person pictured killed himself. This does support the claim the negative representations in the media to create some form of an eye attraction to the audience as they wish to find out what happened. As well as that, the caption underneath the picture is about a dog that was attacked by another dog, and was subsequently put down. While this story does show negative representations it also aims to create some form of sympathy for dog owners, as this can happen to any dog owner, it also raises the awareness the dog owners should bring up their dogs in the correct manner so they don’t attack other dogs maliciously.

As well as that  the use of negative words such as ‘Murder trial’ draws the attention of the reader as even though the audience would much rather read positive and encouraging stories of the community, bad news is usually much more popular to read.  In addition to that at the bottom of the page there is another negative story of murder/suicide, this in addition to the main story backs up Galtung & Ruge’s news value theory that negative news receives more coverage then good news.

On the other hand however, the paper does try to bring a sense of togetherness and a community with the small of the two girls together as they prepare for their first day back at school after the summer holidays. This creates a feel good factor about the community. In addition to that point at the bottom of the page you have a promotion from the local MP in Watford, this too does create a sense of togetherness as he is trying to appeal to all ages and genders for one and two he is trying to make it seem as if the local community can trust him with any worries and concerns they may have.

The picture of the dog that was mauled by another dog does spoil the layout of the front cover. This shows a big difference between local and national newspapers as national papers would make the picture fit the layout of the page, where as in this specific news paper the inclusion of the picture ruins the rule of third thus making the columns uneven.

In addition to the point mentioned above about the layout, if you look at the picture of the suicide inquest, there has been some poor Photoshop editing. If you look closely enough at the picture you can see they have slight cut out some of his head too. This may be due to numerous of factors such as, the Watford Observer and local newspapers are unlikely to have as much time and money to put into projects, meaning that the few members they have may have to spread their time appropriately and therefore can’t spend as much time on some news stories as they would wish to.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire to find out local newspaper readerhsip (Please tick the appropiate answers)

1) Do you buy newspapers of any kind?
Yes                          No

2) Are those newspapers local papers?
Yes                          No

3) Do you read local newspapers?
Yes                          No

4) How often do you buy your local newspapers?
Daily                       Weekly                   Monthly                 Every 6months                      Never

5)Which area do you live in?
Harrow                   Pinner                     Wealdstone                           Northolt                 Brent                      
Other(Please specify)

6) What gender are you?
Male                       Female

7) What age bracket do you fall in?
10 – 16                  18 – 24                  25 – 30                  31 – 40                  41 – 50                  51 – 60                  61+

8) In your time living in Harrow have you brought a local newspaper before?
Yes                          No

9) How much would you be willing to pay for your local newspaper?
Free                         0p - 50p                                 50p - £1 

10) What sections of a newspaper do you read?
News                       TV Listings                             Sport                       Communities                         Lifestyle

Classifieds                                              House Sales                           Other (Please Specify)

11) Is there something you would like to read about that your local newspaper doesn’t provide? If yes please specify.
Yes                          No                           If yes what is it?

12) Do you look at/use the online content of your local newspaper?
Yes                          No

13) If yes do you find the online content more useful then the paper version?
Yes                          No

14) Would you be willing to pay for online content of your local newspaper?
Yes                          No

15) If yes, then how much?
0p - 50p                                 50p - £1                                 £1 - £2                                   £2+

My Proposal

Dear Jeff

                For my production of my A2 Media Studies coursework I will have to complete a minimum of a 3 page website, 3 page website and a poster for my newspaper. In addition to that I must have at least 3 self-taken pictures in my newspaper and on my newspaper. Obviously just providing the production task alone will not be adequate, therefore I will have to do numerous planning and evaluation tasks to complement it.

Firstly I will draw up a production schedule, this will aid me in completing all my tasks on time and finishing my coursework ahead of the deadline, it will also enable to me to receive feedback and make any amendments needed to improve the coursework.

After that I will buy two different local newspapers and textually analyse them. I will also buy a national tabloid newspaper and analyse that, after that I will look at the differences in how news in represented in the two different types of newspapers and what kind of storied, layout and genres that are covered. I will also look for potential newspaper stories in line with this task, when the stories have been found I will take appropriate pictures myself that co-ordinate with the story lines.

To make sure that I have the correct equipment i must make sure that my camera or USB pen is compatible with not only my personal computer but also with the college computers, if this is done properly then it could put me behind my production schedule. I will also have to check the pictures are in the right format to be used and manipulated on both computers and in addition to that i must make sure that I have the same software at home and school.

                I will also make a questionnaire consisting of around 15 questions to get a general understanding to see if the local community buy their local newspaper and read it. It will contain questions centrally based around local newspapers and if they prefer an online version. I also aim to find out what new areas they would like to see. After I have received the feedback I will analyse the answers using different types of graphs and charts and then explain my findings

                The completion of the planning process will be followed by the start of the production process for my web page, newspaper and production. For my webpage I will use Dreamweaver, this because personally, I find it the easiest and most straightforward production programme over other programmes. It also allows me to manipulate the design of other websites by copying the html into Dreamweaver and then adding my touches to it. In line with the production of my webpage production process I will make a site map so you’re clearly able to see what pages link to what.

                In addition to that I will make a newspaper. Using the research gathered from the earlier newspaper analysis tasks I will try to make my newspaper fit the traditional codes and conventions of a typical local newspaper, however some aspects will be challenged. I will look to have a minimum of 3 pages for my newspaper containing at least 3 pictures taken by myself on recent local newspapers.  It will consist of a front page showing the main story with some advertisement and another story starter. On the inside there will be a page containing general information and a few small pictures of editors and journalists ion the company. Lastly I will have a sports page summing up local sports news as well as the future visit of American football to Wembley.

                The last part of the production tasks will involve me making a poster for the newspaper advertising it to the local population. As it is rare for newspapers to have posters I will look for inspiration from the few posters that have been made for national newspapers. I will try to incorporate the newspapers logo, an eye catching and unique design as well as the newspapers logo.

For the final part of the coursework I will complete the evaluation tasks, this part will consist of two parts. Firstly I will make a final questionnaire to receive a final opinion of how users rated the final production pieces. The questionnaire will be mainly centred on whether the website was user friendly for all ages, its eye appeal and ability to attract attention. If any changes need to be made following the data response from the audience it will be able to be made due to early handing in, and I will state why i made the changes too.

Lastly I will provide an in detailed evaluation, this will be related to all the questions and tasks I was asked to complete in the coursework introduction. I will always use SWOT analysis in the evaluation. This is where I would assess my strengths and weaknesses as well as commenting on what I could of done better and what skills I thought I gained. I will state if any of the tasks challenged me, and how I overcame those challenges whether it be by help or finding an alternative method. In addition to that I will also mention if I was able to keep up to date with my production schedule and if not, why.

Production Schedule

With the use of this production schedule it will provide an aid to me completing my coursework on time. it will allow me to maybe  even give in tasks earlier, with enough time to make last minute amendments

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
Compatibility check & Proposal	Analysis of 2 local newspapers		Create questionnaire, send them out and analyse feedback with graphs & charts. Take some photos in preparation for the production task.

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Production Task - Making 3 page newspaper, 3 page website and poster

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Evaluation and questionnaire's for final productions. Any last minute changes