The challenge our tutor gave us for the first design tutorial was to simply buy and read a newspaper. Coming from a generation where everything can be accessed right at our fingertips and through our phones, I have never purchased a newspaper. This purpose of this exercise was to get an understanding of how papers can be written from different perspectives and perhaps have a certain bias.
Here are some of the points I took when reading the newspaper:
- There are a lot of “hot” topics and general politics news
- Lots of celebrity gossip
- Self-described as “The People’s Paper”
- Gives the impression of an older person trying to present to a younger audience (?). Attempting to use lots of slang (“Her maj”, “stuck two fingers up”, “N10”, “Wills”, “covidiot”, “Ri” – instead of Rihanna etc)
- Big, catchy titles/text (occasionally punny) “BREXIT TALKS CHAOS”, “Roamin’ Ruins Below”, “Now you colosseum, now you don’t”, “Hugh do you think you are, actually?”, “Piers We Go Again”, “Given the Nicole’d shoulder”, “Raining Cats and Lochs”, “Can You Sia Who It Is?”, “What Are You Du-ing?”, “Royal Rolls”, “Tea Typhoo-n”, “I’ve Dunn Ten Years In Hollyoaks”, “Join The Treedom Fighters”. I have never seen so many puns in once place!
- Talks of Brexit – “European leaders stuck two fingers up at Boris Johnson’s demand to speed up Brexit talks”, “27 EU member states provocatively refused the Prime Ministers plea.”, “They instead ordered N10 to compromise to secure free flowing trade after Brexit”, Boris Johnson insists that there are “prospects of a deal”, “French Leader Emmanuel Macron insisted French fishermen would not be “sacrificed”.”, “He threatened to block the deal if his “conditions” are not met.”, “The two sides remain “miles apart” on access to waters.”.
- Showcasing politicians getting away with not following the rules “covidiot”. Margaret Ferrier travelled between Glasgow and London “with the bug”. “Dodged a £10,000 fine.”
- Lots of dramatic language and exaggeration “poised to replace his enemy”
- Informative on covid and new rules.
- Green Team 😊 – “The world desperately needs to slow down climate change”. It has a whole open page dedicated to it, but it is only halfway through the newspaper. Personally, I think that it has more importance than celebrity gossip. Another article further back, ‘FabDaily Fashion’, fixing and repurposing damaged clothing.
- Misleading titles – “Should Fathers Be Proud Or Prudes?” Whilst the fathers are supportive in the text, why is a woman’s choice still being judged based on their father’s opinion?
When I was younger, the only time I would pick up a newspaper was to use it as protection for the countertops when I was painting or using it to create a paper mache model. Whilst on the countertop, getting covered in paint, I would read the titles and some of the text, but I have never used one with the intention of reading it. It has certainly been a weird experience to pick up something physical and read through it. However, that is one of the things I love about books. I would much rather flick through a physical book, than read it on a kindle tablet. But the reason why technology is so popular is that it makes everything so much more accessible. I can get hundreds of free books on a kindle that I can get instantly. If I am recommended an article on my phone from a newspaper, it is based on my interests from cookies. There were a lot of topics in the physical newspaper that I simply was not interested in. It was certainly a worthwhile experience, but with technology expanding and (with our current situation) we are relying on technology more, I will most likely stick to recommended online articles. Though, I do know that I have a back-up option if need be.
