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.

They are aged 55+, A B C1 social class, and they are most likely in the succeeder group. 

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?

They have high level of vocabulary and it is more words than picture. 

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?  

Because older people are more comfortable with physical copies than apps while the younger generations are using apps and more digital media 

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

Surveillance, entertainment, personal identity, becoming an active participant. 

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.

For surveillance you get to read the news of whats going on in the world and it provides hard news like politics, what we expect from a broadsheet.  

Industries

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

News Uk and its owned by Rupert Murdoch 

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.

In 2019 their sales were 376000 which is 12% in a year and in the 1990s it used to be over 800,000 

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.

They have created their own apps for the digital world as everyone is on their phone and spend less time buying newspapers. 

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

It stands for Independent Press Standards Organisation and its role are: 

• Regulate 1500 print and 1100 online titles.
• Listen to complaints about press behaviour.
• Help with unwanted press attention.
• Advise publication editors .
• Provide information to the public.
• Provide a journalist whistleblowing hotline.

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 argue that the newspaper industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself using IPSO and that stronger, statutory regulation should be introduced instead. This would also implement the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry which followed the phone-hacking scandal.