For my coursework I’m going to pick brief 2, I will create a front page and a double-page spread from a regional newspaper reporting on a social and/or political issue of interest to its broad local audience.
My main article and campaign will focus on the Roe vs Wade abortion argument; court held that the interests were sufficiently compelling to permit states to impose some limitations on pregnant women’s right to choose to have an abortion. As such, I will be in support of feminist critical thinking as theorised by Judith Butler and Laura Mulvey, I will do this by focusing and sharing news about women’s rights, as Mulvey put forward, ‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female form which is styled accordingly’.
Overall, my products will take up a pro-choice perspective. I realise that newspapers need to be balanced and impartial (Livingston and Lunt) but also recognise that different newspapers take up different ideological positions – as I found out when contrasting my newspaper CSP’s (The Daily Mail with The i). My products will primarily target an audience of young people (as per the brief), but I also recognise that newspapers must cater for all ages.
I am going to produce these products using Indesign. In terms of layout/design for the front cover and the double page, I will follow the style model of The Daily Mail. For my front cover I will use a main image of students protesting for abortion outside a school/university. This will have two ‘plugs‘ or ‘ears, underneath a strapline for. I will also have a masthead, barcode and other institutional details (date, price etc). Underneath the main image, I will have the body article which will have approximately 150-200 words that will form the main article and be continued inside the paper on the double spread, this will be set out in columns, with a drop cap on the first letter of the first word. For the double page spread, I will include six further images including a main image that is different from the front-page. This main image will be of the hospital department. Overall, the paper will be clean and contemporary, this is to attract readers.
For my other half of brief 2, I will create three promotional flyers to raise awareness of the issue of the Roe vs Wade abortion argument featured in my newspaper task. The flyers are to be distributed to students in sixth forms and colleges. I aim for the flyers to engage young people in the issue and encourage the use of social media to raise awareness of abortion further, such as a coordinated hashtag: #ourbodyourchoice.
For the layout, I will use Adobe Photoshop. They will be laid out similarly, for example they will all be pink to suggest femininity, however, will focus on a different key aspect of the abortion issue. All 3 posters will include a dominant signifier of a person portraying a clear message to my audience.
Overall, I will aim to make my products along professional guidelines and aim to produce realistic and convincing media products.