The Times (Section B: Industry and Audience) Flashcards
(14 cards)
Which conglomerate owns the times?
News UK which is owned by New Corp
Does Rupert Murdoch’s political ideology create bias in his newspapers?
The newspaper companies he own differ in the political spectrum, from the sun to the times
When was the Levenson inquiry and what was it?
2011
Phone hacking scandal concerning News of the World (owned by Rupert Murdoch)
What was the significance of the Levenson inquiry?
• Murdoch minimised risk by shutting down the News of the World newspaper, to protect the interest of stockholders of the newspaper
• IPSO was created
What is IPSO?
A regulatory body for newspapers ran by the newspaper industry
What are the issues with IPSO?
• As it is ran by the newspaper industry, they are more likely to be bias around certain topics
• They do not follow the rules of the Levenson inquiry, and often break the rules to create stories with ‘shock-factor’
How has technology made effective regulation difficult?
Audiences can openly comment on social media posts
- they are monetised by bots and algorithms, however audiences are clever and can avoid monetisation by altering the spellings of filtered words
-The times tried to avoid this by hiring human moderators but they are not as quick as bots, so can’t cover as much content as fast
How does the times adopt the “publish now, filter later” mentality? (Livingstone and Lunt)
The Times had to announce their mistakes that were made on their website, as they did not regulate their content before publishing it
How does social media benefit the newspaper industry?
Creates free advertising for the newspaper and promotes their subscription
- e.g: the times instagram posted an extract of their article on the Pope’s death, on the last slide they announced “tap the link in our bio to read the full article”. The link would lead audiences to their website and entice them to pay the subscription for access
How does the website keep audiences engaged?
• Send updates via email to readers to remind them to finish reading an article or a crossword puzzle, they also send readers articles that they think they would enjoy reading
• Hold competitions that would appeal to their target audience “win an evening with David Cameron”
How has the times diversified?
• The Times Radio
• The Times website
• Social media presence
Why have the times physical circulation numbers NOT decreased unlike other newspapers?
• Audiences are older, less likely to use digital technology because they are unfamiliar with it
• Pay wall on the website my discourage readers from digitally accessing the newspaper
How much is the subscription for the times website?
£5 a month
Audiences are typically upper/middle class, not risky for the times to have a pay wall
How can Curran and Seaton’s theory be applied to the times?
A small Humber of companies control the media industry
- News Corp is horizontally and vertically integrated, has full control over the majority of major newspapers on a global scale
