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Newspaper Essay

The front cover of the Daily Mirror on Saturday, 24th September 2005 uses many media techniques to appeal to their primary and secondary audiences. The front cover is taken up by images rather words attracting the readers eye at first sight.

The masthead being the “Daily Mirror” is written in white and red colours which represent that it is a red top newspaper, which signifies that the paper uses very simple text but is predominantly covered by pictures. However, in 2002 “The Mirror” changed its logo from red to black in with a chance to disassociate the paper from the “red top” term but this attempt came to a downfall as they changed it back to red top in 2005. The paper being a red top aims at a “lower class,” “less educated” audience as they tend to focus on pictures rather than text or soft news rather than hard news.

Below the masthead is the price of the tabloid which is 50p. The price is placed in that position so that it is easy for the audience to identify the price. This represents that the paper is filled with soft news rather than hard news as it would be more expensive for a hard news paper. 50p is a cheap price for a newspaper which targets C1, C2, D and E demographics as they tend to be knows as the educated/uneducated audience. The paper being cheap has helped increased their circulation by a vast amount as it is affordable and not over priced. At present the daily circulation of the Daily Mirror is 1,494,114 copies a day.

To the top right hand corner of the Daily Mirror is the ear piece, which is used to advertise a story or article that is within the newspaper. The earpiece in this instance is portrayed with a medium close up of Jose Mourinho which represents power and arrogance within football as Mourinho brings it to the game. The use of Mourinho’s picture appeals to a male, football fanatic audience as they will buy the paper, in order for them to keep up to date with all the latest issues and news in the football world. However, the Mirror has to watch what they write as they recently were sued by Leicester City FC for making false accusations about the argument between the chairman and the manager.

At the bottom of the front page there is a close up of the “drugged” Kate Moss. The picture represents Kate Moss from a famous female model to an unwell needy drug addict. The headline states “Horse Drug Kate” which is written in big bold black text so that the article stands out to all those drug takers as the aim is to help them to stop before things get out of hand like Kate Moss. The article is about Kate Moss taking drugs and how she uses horse tranquilisers to intake them. This story is on the front page because Alfred Harmsworth the founder of the Mirror created the Mirror as his intentions were to be a real life mirror for females so that they can see problems involving females and how to overcome these problems.

The Mirror being a tabloid newspaper aims at a mass audience which appeals to thousands. The ear pieces and promotional offers are very ironic for this front cover as the real element of the paper was at the bottom which was the seriousness of Kate Moss’s condition. However, this can also be contradicted as soft news because Kate Moss is a celebrity who is known for modelling and does not have a big say in today’s world but looking at it from a different point of view we can say that it is good that this article is at the front because it can appeal to drug takers and maybe help them to stop.

Lollipop Essay


In this essay I Will be analysing all the elements and issue that this music video of lollipop creates or brings up. The music video was is the song that of the famous American Star Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne producers hip hop music and has been since 1995 however, he was not established back then as he is now. His most established and well known album to date is Carter III featuring his biggest single lollipop.

In the music video above it features a variety of shots which reveal a new women licking a lollipop, hence the name of the song lollipop. The most recognizable shows which stirked me as the audience was the birds eye view shot, were the camera was looking down on women in promiscuous clothing rolling around in a pool of lollipops.This represents women as sex symbols due to the way they are dressed and the sexual connotations of them rolling around. This links to a male audience of 16+ as they would watch this video for their personal pleasure. This particular scene reinforces Laura Mulvey's theory of women being no use in the media as they are just being objectified as sex objects for the male gaze. This also suggests that we are living in a patriarchal society as men are in control over women and they are just told what to do.

Moreover, paying close attention to the detail of the actual song itself and the lyrics are the most influential issues of the production. The lyrics in the video signify sexual content towards women as they say "girl, would you lick my lollipop?" This lyric acts as a Felic symbol as Lil Wayne is trying to make reference to his manhood and how he wants girls to please him in a sexual way. This represents women as sexually passive as the women in the video are accepting the fact that Lil Wayne is degrading them with their attributes. This can link to both a male and female audience as males would watch this text for pleasure and females would watch this as a fight against feminism. This also says that we are still in today's modern society living in a patriarchal society with old traditional values.

Furthermore, there is a low angle shot which focuses on Lil Wayne on standing and rapping on top of a limousine. the represents that Lil Wayne is on top of the World, he is powerful and full in control. This represents Lil Wayne as "untouchable" and in control of all the things that are under him for example, the women that are sitting inside the limo. This links an audience of male teenagers growing up as they maybe aspiring to become artists such as Lil Wayne. This refers to the uses and gratifications theory of personal identity when a consumer will watch a text and think of themselves in that position doing what they are doing. This again suggests male dominance in society as Lil Wayne being a male is in charge and is on top.

Overall, the music video of "lollipop" has connotations of both male dominance and female digression. This proves that the battle for feminism has not had a huge effect on today's society as women are still being objectified as sex objects in the media. It cab also sugesst that women who are not so good looking may not make it in the media as the media only portray's the pretty, good looking girls.