Typical features of local newspaper

Typical Features of a Local Newspaper

I have been analysing local newspapers and from my research I have found that there are a typical set of features that you are likely to find in local newspapers. These are as follows:

1. Stories about news and events from the local area

This seems like a fairly obvious one but this is the main body of a local newspaper. These stories tend to be about news and events happening within the local area and the community. For example, if the council or community held and event and it went a success it would be featured in the local newspaper giving a review of the event including details such as how it went, what happened at the event and some photos to give the audience a snapshot of the event.

2. Advertisements

Local newspapers aren't hugely funded to due them not being bought across the country, so they need to find outside funding which they do through selling space in their newspapers to local companies for advertising space. Any company can advertise as long as they pay for the space they use and this helps cover the cost of the paper so there are always going to be adverts.

3. Job placements

if a company is looking for new employment or have a space vacant they are going to advertise this in the local newspaper. This is because people from the local area are going to be buying the newspaper so if anyone is in need of a job they can easily apply and try out for the position.

4. Information about events taking place in the local area or within the community

The people that make up the community are often searching for information on upcoming events they could attend to help build the community. Local newspapers will have this information not only to attract people into attending local events but to make them interested in buying the newspaper in future so they find out about future events and see all of the other news and opportunities available. 

5. Property information

This information is featured so it can attract people into moving into the area and expanding the community. People will read this information and either encourage people they know from outside the area to move into the area or maybe move into a bigger property themselves ultimately improving the real estate of the area. By including this information local newspapers are likely to increase the amount of copies they sell as people will buy the newspaper to check the real estate opportunities.

From my research into typical features of a local newspaper, I have discovered that there are a lot of things I need to include in my local newspaper for it to be similar to others already on the market. By including all of the above I am going to have the widest target audience possible to buy my newspaper.

Results of my first piece of audience research

I asked a number people to fill out a questionnaire about local newspapers and their price, as well as the stories that are featured in them. From the results of my questionnaire, I found that the maximum price people would pay for a local newspaper would be £2 and the minimum would be the newspaper being free. I also found out that a lot of the readers would want to see stories about not just the news of the local area but also the events held in the community. Stories that wouldn't interest the readers are mostly said to be political ones or irrelevant stories that aren't local including national sport.

In this person's questionnaire, they write that they occasionally read a local newspaper yet they never buy one. I reefed to this situation in a previous blog post as if people share the newspaper with relatives they won't have to buy one which will effect questionnaire results.

In this person's questionnaire, they write that the kinds of stories they would like to see featured are those involving the community and the events / news going on in the area. These sorts of stories are normally featured in local newspapers which shows that this person is possibly someone who buys a local newspaper regularly. Also, they write that the kinds of story they don't want to see featured are articles about ongoing conflicts (except from political ones) which shows they care about the government and politics. However, this isn't normally a local story so it would more likely be featured in a broadsheet newspaper.

In this person's questionnaire, they write that they often buy and read their own local newspaper. They also write that they want to see 'light hearted stories' mentioned in a lcola newspaper which is what will be featured.

In conclusion, it has been made clear in my results what kinds of stories should be featured and what the price should roughly be as well as knowing how often people will buy the newspaper.

Price

I studied the prices of different newspapers to see if certain newspapers cost more than others depending on their content and audience. My results are as follows:

The maximum price anyone was willing to pay for a local newspaper was £3, and they were aged 45 - 55 years old which shows how the most popular audience was also the one willing to pay the most money. This is down to this age range wanting the newspaper the most so they are going to be willing to pay the most as they want to read the newspaper and appreciate it.

On the other hand, the minimum price anyone was willing to pay for a local newspaper was 20p, and they were aged 16 - 24 years old which shows how the least popular audience was also the one willing to pay the least money. This is because this age range doesn't want to read the newspaper and see it as a way of gaining useful information they desire or that they could find online so they aren't going to want to pay as much towards it.

In conclusion, i believe my local newspaper will be priced somewhere in this margin in order to appeal to as wide of a variety of people as possible.

Target audience research



Local newspapers tend to be aimed at a variety of different age groups for different reasons.

The actual stories featured in local newspapers tend to be aimed at people aged 50 and over as they are more likely to be interested in reading about the local news stories and people in their area. However, younger people and families are also likely to read local newspapers but do so in order to gain access to different things. These could include information about events happening or job advertisements for businesses in the local area. People under the age of 16 don't tend to buy or read local newspapers because they are not interested in the stories featured.

I performed a survey to find out what age group is most likely to buy local newspapers and then what they buy the local newspapers for e.g. stories, job advertisements, event information etc. My results are as follows:

The most common age group for buying local newspapers were aged 45 - 55 years old so roughly around middle aged and the most common reason they had for buying local newspapers was to read about the news and stories happening in the area they lived in.

The least common age group for buying local newspapers were aged 16 - 24 years old and the most common reason they bought local newspapers was to search for job advertisements and opportunities of work in the local areas.

Of the people that bought newspapers, some said they shared the newspaper with other family members meaning they wouldn't need to buy a newspapers so my results could have been slightly different if I asked those people.

From my results, I can see that in order for my local newspaper to be successful it needs to appeal to people of all ages through its content and the oppurtunities it can offer.

Content

The content featured in all three types of newspaper are all very different.

In tabloids, the most common stories are normally stories featuring celebrities, scandal, bizarre public interest stores, extreme news or controversial stories. These sort of stories are often referred to as being 'soft news' because these stories don't feature much ground breaking news and are just there to provide minor interest for the public. The stories about celebrities normally include scandal or speculation about a secret or some gossip surrounding the celebrity or their lifestyle. Stories normally involving the public interest stories such as shocking or bizarre reports are normally included as well which are also classed as soft news. As seen in 'The Sun' most stories often are of the public interest such as this one, featuring a story about Kate Middleton's baby son and the sport results and news from the day before.

However, in broadsheets, stories are normally stories featuring politics and the government (as well as all the decisions they have to make and how they effect the country), problems being faced in other countries, controversial stories that could shock the public and stock information. They can also feature similar stories that are included in tabloid newspapers but the article will be written differently and include a lot more actual information. These sorts of stories are often referred to as being 'hard news' because these stories are a lot more gritty and real as they're big news that could influence the world that involve a lot of factual information to get across their story. As seen in 'The Guardian' the stories are mostly hard news to do with international affairs, politics or the economy such as this front page which features the scandal of a former RBS Chief.

Local newspapers are different from both tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in terms of content however as they feature stories involving public interest in the local area and information on events happening as well as job advertisements. In local newspapers, it seems that there really is something for everyone. As seen in the 'Halstead Gazette' the stories included are of local public interest as a local headteacher quits his job and local attractions / jobs are advertised at the top. This is because local newspapers need ways to make money, as unlike national newspapers they don't sell as many copies to make such a huge profit, so they sell advertisement space to local companies and businesses.

In conclusion, my research shows that my local newspaper will have to feature local interest stories and information on public events in the area in order to appeal to the widest possible audience.

Masthead analysis



I have been analysing newspaper mastheads in order to understand what makes a masthead eye catching and able to draw the audience into buying the newspaper without being too off putting.

The colour scheme for ‘The Sun’ masthead is white text on a red background. This is an alternate colour scheme of the St George’s flag which represents England therefore it could be said that these colours have been selected in order to encourage people to buy the most “patriotic” newspaper that is portrayed as being the most British. These colours are also very eye catching as they stand out whereas other newspapers use just black and white on their masthead. The font used in the masthead is simple and clear to read making it easy to see from afar which will lure people to take a closer look and ultimately make them want to buy the newspaper. The simplicity of the font also reflects a lot about the actual newspaper as like its simple design, the overall vocabulary and articles featured in the newspaper aren’t very complex meaning they will appeal to a wider variety of people. The masthead design is kept in a rectangle with ‘Sun’ being written larger than ‘The’ to connote its importance and so it stands out making it the main focus, for people to know the name of the newspaper. I think that this masthead is well laid out as its kept simple in design yet remains eye catching and appealing.

The colour scheme for ‘The Guardian’ is blue text on a white background. This colour scheme is soft and still eye catching due to the colour on top of the white background. The font used on this masthead is an almost cursive style, the slight overhanging edges of the letters and the fact the whole masthead is in lower case connote that the newspaper is welcoming as it tries not to be brash and bold in order to be eye catching. It contrasts to ‘The Sun’ masthead by having softer colours that contrast each other less reflecting that the newspaper is also not complex and openly encourages a wider variety of people to read it. I think that this masthead is better than that of ‘The Sun’ because it’s a lot less “in your face” as its mellow colour pallet and casual text simply draw the eye yet it remains good to look at.

The colour scheme for the 'Halstead Gazette' is black and red text on a white background. This colour scheme is quite bold and stands out because of the harsh coloured text on a plain white background which, much like 'The Sun' makes it eye catching. The font used on this masthead is all in capitals which represents how the newspaper was meant to be eye catching and attractive people into picking the newspaper up. This masthead shares similar qualities to 'The Sun' as it uses bold colours in order to draw the audience's eye yet it goes one step further by making all its text in capitals so it stands out as much as possible. I would say this is quite a good masthead but I feel the text would look better in lower case.

The colour scheme for the 'Suffolk Free Press' is teal and black text on a white backgroud. Much like the 'Halstead Gazette' and 'The Guardian', the coloured text on a white background is slightly bold due to the colours leaping of the page to catch the eye of the audience however however its soft and mellow colours allow it to remain nice to look at. The font used in this masthead is a stylised one using thick and almost bubbly text to make the title seem nearly child like in design and friendly. 'Free Press' is written in a bigger size than 'Suffolk' as it neatly fits into the gap left between the lower case letters of 'Free Press' in order to symbolise its importance that its a free press which allows the voice of the public to be heard. 

The colour scheme for the 'Haverhill Echo' is red and black text on a white background similar to that of the 'Halstead Gazette'. As with most of the local newspapers this coloured text on a white background is likely to stand out and catch the eye of the audience yet remain ascetically pleasing. This masthead is different from the others as it uses two fonts, one on each of the words. 'Haverhill' is in a simple font with a lot of flat edges in order to keep the word in a rectangular shape so it will neatly fit into the gap left by the lower case letters of 'Echo' which has a smooth almost bubble like font. Although the word 'Echo' is written bigger than the word 'Haverhill' which connotes its more important as the echo of news travels around Haverhill through the newspaper.

The colour scheme for the 'Braintree and Witham Times' is green and black text on a background which is similar to the previous local newspaper mastheads I have analysed. This masthead uses a smart and almost cursive font as the way it is designed make it look like its classic and has been around for a long time. The word 'Times' is in full capitals as if to show its importance and represent it as news of the time. Furthermore, it is also bigger than 'Braintree and Witham' which are written smaller and to the side of 'Times'. This design is kept simple and ascetically pleasing by using subtle colours and keeping the text neat and compact in a rectangular fashion. This masthead is a good one because I think it gets across the idea its a local newspaper with the times and this will attract audiences into buying it.

My research into newspaper mastheads has given me a number of ideas I could incorporate when designing my own local newspaper masthead. From my research, I have found that local newspaper mastheads tend to use a similar colour scheme of having coloured text on a white background to make their mastheads stand out and catch the eye of the audience yet remain ascetically pleasing at the same time. Also, I discovered that the fonts used in local newspaper mastheads are predominantly simple ones that make the text large meaning they are clear and can clearly be read from a distance which again is going to attract the attention of the audience from afar. In conclusion, after researching newspaper mastheads I have gained information that will help me design my own simple masthead that incorporates all of these factors in order to market my local newspaper to the audience as successfully as possible.