The Times Case Study - Audience and Industries

 Audience

1) What are the main audience demographics for The Times newspaper? Add as much detail as you can.

The main audience demographics for the Times newspaper consists of an older audience, with over half being aged 55 and over. 62% are from social groups AB, meaning that the Times' target audience is mostly in the ABC1 social classes, making them likely to be professionals, managers or company owners. Overall, they are likely to be in the Succeeder psychographic group (people who prefer established, premium brands that signify status and quality).

2) What aspects of the front page of the Times CSP edition suggest that their readers are likely to be more educated and interested in hard news rather than entertainment?

On the front page, the Post Office scandal is not framed as being incredibly dramatic or shocking, merely being referenced as a "scandal" with the focus being on Paula Vennells and her CBE. This places emphasis on the politics side of the story, a central aspect of hard news, showing that their readers are more likely to be interested in hard news rather than entertainment. Moreover, there is less of a colour scheme in general as there is an high text-to-image ratio, suggesting that the Times' readers are likely to be more educated as they would be more willing to read large sections of text in order to learn new information.

3) Times readers are mostly over 55 years old. Why is this and how is this reflected or challenged by the design and news stories in the CSP pages we have studied?  

This is reflected through the extremely conventional layout of the Times' pages - it is laid out in separate, distinct columns, without much experimentation, paralleling the preferences of the older generation who would be more used to newspapers with traditional layouts as they grew up reading them. This is also illustrated through the lack of colour and high text-to-image ratio, mirroring the older generations' tendency to read more and seek surveillance and education rather than diversion. The news story itself is highly political and also reflects the older generation, as much of Fujitsu is closely intertwined with the conservative party through Simon Blagden (ex-chief), and people over 55 are likely to be conservative and traditionalist, leading them to be more interested in the story and reflecting the actual audience of the Times.

4) What are the main audience pleasures offered by the Times? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory.

The main audience pleasures offered include: surveillance - the Times' readership can educate themselves and learn more about the Post Office scandal, and the causes and repercussions surrounding it; personal relationships - readers may have relations to subpostmasters affected by the scandal and therefore have more connection to it; personal identity - readers may be subpostmasters themselves. In this case, diversion doesn't apply heavily as the story is highly negative and occurred in real life - most readers would therefore be unable to find escapism within it as the consequences and scandal itself are not fictional.

5) Why might a reader enjoy this CSP edition of the Times? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory categories and write as detailed an analysis as you can.

A reader might enjoy this CSP edition of the Times as it provides: surveillance - through the high text-to-image ratio, the Times is able to provide a considerably large amount of information on the Post Office scandal itself, allowing their readership to learn more about what occurred and the political ties to the scandal (as many political parties are mentioned in the newspaper); personal relationships and personal identity - through the fact that some readers may have connections to subpostmasters negatively affected by the faulty IT system, leading them to feel more closely connected to the scandal itself and wanting to know more about what happened and why it did, or they may be subpostmasters themselves, thus amplifying these effects. Diversion (defined as an activity that diverts the mind from tedious or serious concerns; a recreation or pastime) would be less likely to apply in this CSP edition of the Times as the scandal affects real people - however, those who have no close links to the scandal at all would perhaps be able to find diversion in the fact that it draws their mind away from the problems that they face, by allowing them to focus on the problems of other people on a wider scale.

Industries

1) Who owns the Times? Write the name of the company AND the billionaire who owns the company.

The Times is owned by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corporation. News Corporation is a conglomerate owned mostly by Rupert Murdoch, an Australian media mogul with business links worldwide (e.g. the Fox network in the US, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, 20th Century Studios, etc.) Overall, him and his sons are estimated to have a net worth of £17.6 billion.

2) What was the The Times's circulation in 2019? How many papers did the Times used to sell back in the 1990s? You can find all of these statistics in the blogpost above.

While the Times' circulation was 800,000 in the 1990s, this has since decreased in 2019 to 376,000 - a drop of 12%.

3) How has the Times reacted to the decline in print sales and the growth of the internet? Watch the two videos above for more on this.

The Times has, in response, moved towards a multi-platform landscape, meaning that it publishes and synchronises across its print, desktop and mobile platforms. The Times also has a paywall on their content, simultaneously bringing in a small amount of profit, yet also excluding much of the working class who do not have dispensable money in order to access their content. However, the Times does experiment with making their content available for free. The Times has also promoted themselves on different platforms, such as on the Times Radio, and on a phone app - their own app, and also Apple News Plus, allowing any user with an Apple device to access their content through a subscription.

4) What does IPSO stand for and what is IPSO's job?

IPSO stands for the Independent Press Standards Organisation. Their role is to regulate 1500 print and 1100 online titles, to listen to complaints about press behaviour and help with unwanted press attention, advise publication editors, provide information to the public, and provide a journalist whistleblowing hotline (a space for people who have important secrets to tell them to journalists in order for them to be published). They replaced the PCC (Press Complaints Commission), a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, on Monday the 8th of September 2014 after criticism following the phone hacking affair.

5) Why do some people want stronger regulation of British newspapers? Look at the information above on newspaper regulation to find out more on this.

Some people want stronger regulation of British newspapers as they believe that they cannot be trusted to regulate themself using IPSO, and that stronger regulation should therefore be introduced instead.