The Guardian CSP

The Guardian newspaper and website analysis

Use your own purchased copy plus the notable front pages above to answer the following questions - bullet points/note form is fine. 

1) What are the most significant front page headlines seen in the Guardian in recent years?

The verdict on Johnson

Small Island - Brexit

Stammers Case

Putin's wife - More free Russia

2) Ideology and audience: What ideologies are present in the Guardian? Is the audience positioned to respond to stories in a certain way?

More left-wing and progressive values presented in the Guardian and also criticise right wing politics but does not specifically support one party 

3) How do the Guardian editions/stories you have studied reflect British culture and society?

Reflect the news stories that are important to British readers such as that on Politics and government influence on their lives but also sports like football that are a huge part of British culture 

Now visit the Guardian newspaper website and look at a few stories before answering these questions:

1) What are the top stories? Are they examples of soft news or hard news? 

Russia attacks Ukraine hours after partial ceasefire agreed in Putin-Trump call

Shortly after call ended

NASA astronauts back on earth after being stuck on ISS for months

Israeli Strikes latest bloody chapter in war

Very much hard news dominated

2) To what extent do the stories you have found on the website reflect the values and ideologies of the Guardian?

Progressive and liberal - Politics, world news and other informative articles reflect liberal values as they are educating the public and making them aware of the world they live in - whether or their civil liberties are being endangered or protected.

3) Think about audience appeal and gratifications: what would an audience enjoy about the Guardian newspaper website?

A lot of the stories are to do with the British politics and the left vs right debate between the Labour and Conservatives. There are many stories to do with the NHS which looks like they are idolising them. There are also sports stories which focus on the England Rugby team and the Premier League, something the the British people are proud of.

The Guardian newspaper Factsheet

Read Media Factsheet #257 The Guardian Newspaper. You can access it from our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive or download it here via Google using your school login details. Answer the following questions:

1) Who owns the Guardian and what is their ownership designed to achieve? 

Owned by The Guardian Media Group (GMG) which is a global media group whose parent company is the Scott Trust Limited. They are designed to achieve "to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian" and "safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values" of the paper from "commercial or political interference". 

2) How is the Guardian regulated? Note its very unusual regulatory approach and give examples where you can. 

They teamed up with the financial times to form their own regulatory board, and not regulated by IPSO. They have an external auditor which makes sure they don't tell lies or make fabrications. They have been scrutiny when covering the Israel-Palestine.

3) Pick out some key statistics on the Guardian's audience (see beginning of page 2).

54% male

Average age 54

86% ABC1

3rd individual newspaper website in the world

Circulation: 3.2 million daily

Digital readership: 18.4 million

4) What are the institutional values of the Guardian? What does it stand for?   

Have a critical friend relationship with political parties which are centre-left, as the Guardian have centre-left values. They provide a more oppositional view to right-wing newspapers like The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, and The Times.

5) How is the Guardian's international audience described? See the end of page 2 and pick out some more useful statistics here about their audience .

79% male

89% degree level educated

66% daily visitors on website

More than 1/4 earn 58k euros

6) Now look at page 3 of the factsheet and the Guardian online. Select a few examples of the different sections of the website and copy them here. 

Lifestyle, Sport, Video, Headlines, Culture, Climate Crisis

7) What different international editions of the Guardian's website are available and what example stories are provided as examples of this?

UK edition - April 29th - story to do with BBC chairman resigning who provided a secret £800,000 to PM Boris Johnson - hard news as BBC is meant to remain impartial. BBC free model directly competes with The Guardian. US edition - April 29th - story on Florida lawyer who imprisoned suspected terrorists. The article had researchers which created bias and didn't accuse him directly of anything. Article was positioned as centre-right.

8) What is the Guardian's funding model? Do you think it is sustainable? 

Through sale of print newspaper even though it is declining, Digital subscriptions, Patron support with exclusive offers, Traditional advertising, Philanthropic partnerships such as with The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.

With the exception of selling print, which is in decline, I believe all of these are viable since they draw customers who will spend their money on them and create hybrids.

9) What is the Cotton Capital Commission and how does it link to the Guardian's values and ideologies?

Investigative journalism combined with the newspaper's historical autobiography. uses a variety of literary devices to narrate the newspaper's history. Given that the Guardian is liberal, progressive, and left-wing, discussing the newspapers' past and apologising for their role in the slave trade demonstrates how they acknowledged their error and decided to move on.

10) What audience and industry theories could be applied to the Guardian? How? 

Blumler and Katz: Uses and Gratifications theory

Provides surveillance as it gives out news.

Some groups may be able to have personal identity with some of the stories.

Personal relationships can be built with some of the subjects in the story.

Diversion from the entertainment of removing yourself to read

Media Magazine articles

Media Magazine has two excellent features on our newspaper CSPs - a focus on Guardian front pages and a comparison of how the Guardian and Daily Mail cover the same story in different ways. You need to read both articles - MM78 (page 12) and MM87 (page 20) - our Media Magazine archive is here. Answer the following questions:

MM78 - The Guardian

1) What are the Pandora Papers and how does the story fit with the Guardian's ethos, values and ideologies?  

Where secrets are released about the evil things in the world. This allowed The Guardian to be positioned as a serious news organisation, speaking the truth to the global world.

2) Pick out all the key statistics and quotes from the section on the Guardian's funding model. In particular, the fall in paper readership, the rise in digital readership and the number of contributors  paying to support the journalism. 

- July 2021 sales averaged 105,135 copies per day (down from 248,775 in 2010)

- 3.5 million readers per day online and 129 million monthly visits

- From 1 million readers: 401,100 took digital subscriptions in 2020/21 and 506,00 made a recurring payment, 508,000 made one-off payments

3) What does it mean when it says the Guardian frames regular payments from readers as a "philanthropic act". 

That the people who pay are paying to make the press freely available for those who cannot pay for it

4) What is the Scott Trust and do you think it is a sustainable model for newspaper ownership in the future? 

The Scott Trust is a trust which operates for profit but all the money get back into the newspapers, and ensures that the editorial interests remain free from commercial pressure. I think it is a sustainable model for the future as it allows them to have a huge lump of money to fall back on if they go into financial problems

5) Why is the Guardian criticised as hypocritical? Give some specific examples here.

They talk in their newspapers about how the capitalist ideologies are wrong but yet are backed by the Scott Trust and GMG which have a fund of £1 billion

MM87 - The Daily Mail and the Guardian front page analysis

1) What are the stories featured on the Guardian and Daily Mail on November 10, 2023? 

They are about Rishi Sunak in the process if he is going to be sacking Suella Braverman for her outspokenness on the Pro-Palestine marchers

2) How do they reflect the values and ideologies of the two newspapers?

The Guardian is more left-wing liberal so talks about the Conservative government in a more negative light, suggesting that they are under "pressure" over a "clash". However, The Mail is much more capitalist and pro-conservative and it suggests how Rishi Sunak is doing what he can to bring justice, he is "in talks with his closest advisors", but still sides with the right-wing view as the masthead is "You come for Suella, you come for us all" suggesting how they are a united party and how they side with her

3) Why does the writer suggest the front-page images on both papers might be exploitative? Do you agree? 

The Guardian is said to be exploiting gender stereotypes, which is the very thing they shouldn't be doing as the pictures depicts a female in distress (Props character types - princess in distress) even though people of all ages and sexes are being kidnapped. However it could also be shown as female empowerment. The Mail however did not have an image of the protests but instead of a female victim of murder. The writer suggests that at least The Mail were honest about using a female victim rather than hiding it like The Guardian did

4) What else does the writer suggest regarding the Daily Mail's front-page image of murdered teacher Ashling Murphy? 

He suggests if it is any different to that if a victim of kidnapping. It feeds into a voyeuristic interest in female victimhood giving a warning to females of the dangers

5) How does the rest of the Guardian's front page (features on Yoko Ono and Todd Haynes) reflect the values and ideologies of Guardian readers?    

 

They reflect the ideologies progressiveness, left-wing and libertarianism as they were involved in anti-war protests and Haynes made films exploring gender identity, particularly female identity.