I intend to create a front page and a double-page spread from a regional newspaper reporting on a number of social and political issues of interest to its broad local audience. Further to this, I will create three consistently laid out campaign flyers which link to one of my main stories, which is about the abortion laws in the U.S.A.
My news paper will be called ‘JERSEY’S PEOPLE’S REPORT’ as it focuses mainly on local Jersey news, however does present other important news from all around the world. It will portray a radical representation of events as it contradict the reactionary ideology put forward by the hegemonic institutional forces, representing them as exploitative and unjust, so to make a change within society and help improve lives of the common population.
I will also create three flyers campaigning for women’s reproductive rights as result of the recent Roe Vs Wade inquiry in the US. These will link to one of the main stories in my newspaper and will also be displayed across my double page spread. I will use a pink colour pallet as it a symbolic sign, according to C. S. Pierce, of femininity, linking to my campaign, and will bear the hashtag ‘Abortion is Healthcare, Abortion is a Right’. This will aim to promote, what Roland Bathes would call, a certain ideology which believes in freedom for women’s choice when it comes to their bodies.
My style model will be the Daily Mail as it perfectly depicts the conventional elements of newspaper. I will display a mast head at the top stating ‘JERSEY PEOPLE’S REPORT’ which I will produce in photoshop and below the date and price of the edition. My main image will display an image of two women outside of the local states assembly, a dominant signifier which will indicate the focus of the article along with the main headline, ‘LACK OF REPRESENTATION IN THE STATES ASSEMBLY’. The nut graph will go below the main headline and the main body of the text will be on into the second page of the paper. I will produce around 400 words for my main article and will set the information out in columns in order to make it look like a conventional newspaper. The left hand-side will consist of 3 plugs displaying more local news which will be reported in more detail on the following pages: a report on Jersey’s minimum wage, a report on the local election, and an international news story on the the Roe vs Wade inquiry occurring in the USA. I will create a clean, contemporary look using a colder colour scheme and sans serif font in size 10.
My target audience is local people of all ages interested in both local and international news. As the newspaper shines a light on differing social issues, those who buy the paper and read it are fulfilling a range of uses and gratifications by reading the paper – the audience are actively choosing to educate themselves on issues going on both locally and internationally around the world, linking to McQuail and Blumler’s audience theory. This helps audiences to gain a sense of identity as it provides them with ways of understanding their role in society and whith a choice to make a change within society, in the words of David Gauntlet ‘audiences are now in charge of the remote control’. The ‘Jersey’s People’s Report’ depicts a left-wing perspective of events, always considering the effects these events have on the people and its readership. This links to Jurgen Habermas’ idea of liberal free press which positions my newspaper as an ‘autonomous arena of public debate’ which encourages political and social discussion amongst its audiences, or what Habermas calls ‘The Transformation of the Public Sphere‘, therefore allowing them to fulfil their uses and gratifications.
FRONT COVER
