Yr 11 THE OBSERVER

 PREP Pick one front cover from The Observer using the Pressreader site here.

Answer the following exam questions (copy the questions then answer on your blog):

Q.5 Analyse the representation of gender on the front cover of The Observer. Give two examples from the extract. [5 marks]

In the front cover of these Observer there is a clear representation of gender. An example is in the main picture we see of the police officers as they attended to a funeral/ remembrance service of another officer who was lost in the line of duty. One example in this picture of representation of gender is the male to female ratio of officers. This is an example of representation as being a police officer is seen as more of a males job and duty rather than a females. Another example is the formation that they are stood in. They are surrounding the women police officer, this looks like they are protecting her and also suggests that males are stronger than females and can defend themselves with more success as for their masculinity. 

Another way that this copy of the observer represents gender is that in the sky box we can see the part about me and my dad, Clive james. There iust also an image there where we see clive james holding the baby and doing what is usually seen as the mothers job. However, we can see that Clive james is holding and looking at the baby in a loving and heartwarming way, this shows femininity as for its female stereotype. 

Q.9 In this question you will be rewarded for drawing together elements from your full course of study, including the theoretical framework and media contexts.

How far does the media language on the front cover of The Observer. reflect genre conventions? [15 marks] I have explained terms a bit to guide you!

In your answer, you should:

• analyse the media language, using specific examples 
• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the media language reflects generic conventions (= looks like a quality broadsheet front cover) or other areas of the theoretical framework (= meets audience needs) and media contexts (= looks like a typical Observer production, bearing in mind its target audience and its ethos).

I believe that this copy of the broadsheet newspaper, Observer, reflects the generic conventions of a typical broadsheet news paper. This is so as it delivers the weekly reader of Observer what they want. Hard news. The newspaper also delivers this news in a formal and professional way, with a the stories layed out in columns and in great detail and length. We can also see on this cover of the Observer that it is easy to find out about what the newspaper contains as for the stand first which draws our attention to articles within the newspaper. The Observer also completes the professional and serious look as for the choice in serif font, this represents it being a serious and traditional newspaper unlike a tabloid might be. 

However i could also see how the cover does not stick within the generic conventions of a broadsheet and that there are some forms of tabloidization. This is done so that it keeps up with the time and the movement of media layout in this generation. Some examples of how it does this is the added colour in the sky box, and the dripping and not keeping within the rectangle. This is unformal, and not normally seen in a traditional broadsheet news paper