The two papers in question here are the International Herald Tribune (IHT), which is the 'global version of The New York Times', and The Times of London. This is an attempt to compare and contrast these two international papers as opposed to my previous postings on this issue which have just compared and contrasted Irish national newspapers with each other or with a foreign paper.
The date in question is Tuesday 28 April and the IHT leads with three stories on the front page with two 'home' (USA) stories about the man of the moment President Barack Obama and also about another story consistently making the headlines: swine flu. The BP1 story balances the news with a foreign story about the conflict in Sri Lanka.
In stark contrast, The Times leads with the one major story and an encompassing picture of riot police in Mexico city responding to riots about the swine flu that has gripped the city and caused 149 deaths so far and hospitalised 2,000. Very minor single-sentence and small-pictured sections below the fold are given to other stories, which are explored in more detail inside the paper. It is important to remember that I am looking at the tabloid version of The Times.
Interestingly the font in the two papers is quite different but the journalistic style remains very similar... the main difference being the amount of text contained within the front page itself: The Times simply refers readers to pages within the paper where the stories are explored in more detail. The newslist for the IHT is located below the fold as opposed to The Times usual location of right of the page.
Tellingly the IHT runs an ad, albeit a small one, at the bottom right of the front page. Perhaps it is because of lack of room but The Times lacks any such advertisement on its front page, showing the need of advertising revenue even for a paper the stature of The New York Times.
Journal 17: The Feature Piece Exclusive
The Irish Independent's 'Review' section of the paper is a very opinionated section of the paper involving short and long interviews of celebrities in Ireland and light-hearted feature pieces on figures such as Brian Clough. It also includes investigative pieces such as the one in this paper which reports on middle America heading to the soup kitchens due to the economic crisis.
What this posting is particularly interested in is the exclusive on page 5 by Gemma O'Doherty on Gerry Ryan's thoughts about taking a pay cut - the much-discussed pay cut in the halls of RTÉ which has caused national disgust within the Irish people.
This feature piece includes a non-direct style of interview, where the writer asks questions in a feature style piece which the interviewee answers - while the writer also gives a history and reaction to his comments.
The piece also includes reaction from the man who stood in for Ryan while he was on holiday, who comments that he was 'disgusted by RTÉ's top stars'. This piece features on the same page as the faux-interview, and is written in first-person style as a snapshot reaction to the opposing piece.
The pictures on the page show other RTÉ stars who have taken a pay cut also, serving as a reminder of the story that dominated the papers just days ago.
The rest of the 'Review' contains... well... reviews of books, films, tv and art in general, including a 'Final Word' section, which on this day is basically a review and opinion on son of two journalists Jake Myers' life, which doubles as a view on children in general.
What this posting is particularly interested in is the exclusive on page 5 by Gemma O'Doherty on Gerry Ryan's thoughts about taking a pay cut - the much-discussed pay cut in the halls of RTÉ which has caused national disgust within the Irish people.
This feature piece includes a non-direct style of interview, where the writer asks questions in a feature style piece which the interviewee answers - while the writer also gives a history and reaction to his comments.
The piece also includes reaction from the man who stood in for Ryan while he was on holiday, who comments that he was 'disgusted by RTÉ's top stars'. This piece features on the same page as the faux-interview, and is written in first-person style as a snapshot reaction to the opposing piece.
The pictures on the page show other RTÉ stars who have taken a pay cut also, serving as a reminder of the story that dominated the papers just days ago.
The rest of the 'Review' contains... well... reviews of books, films, tv and art in general, including a 'Final Word' section, which on this day is basically a review and opinion on son of two journalists Jake Myers' life, which doubles as a view on children in general.
Journal 16: A Different Paper
It is Tuesday 7 April, and today's post concerns the British paper The Guardian - traditionally a different paper to The Times and one of interest as it serves as a mirror to our own Irish Times in that it remains staunchly a broadsheet paper in its treatment of news values.
The front page remains a haven of detail in The Guardian - planty of information is given about the story of the day, which happens to be the earthquake which recently hit Italy. This story is printed with a traditional headline and above the fold in the style that broadsheets have been publishing for many years and is very reminiscent of The Irish Times' style of presentation, in that the masthead includes generally two stories of interest and the front page usually has no more than two or three separate stories. Interestingly, The Guardian does not make use of a newslist at the side of the page.
The BP1 story for The Guardian is what could possibly be termed a 'public interest' story - the smoothie manufacturer 'Innocent' is determined as losing its innocence as it has sold a stake in its company to global 'evil' soft drink manufacturer Coca-Cola.
The colour piece includes details on the company and its method of operations and is a very light story which in theory could be balance for the picture of horrific scenes in the Italian earthquake above the fold. Even so, this is a little unusual for a broadsheet.
It seems British papers are much further apart in their own ways than their Irish counterparts are to each other - perhaps because we have less papers we lack in diversity?
The front page remains a haven of detail in The Guardian - planty of information is given about the story of the day, which happens to be the earthquake which recently hit Italy. This story is printed with a traditional headline and above the fold in the style that broadsheets have been publishing for many years and is very reminiscent of The Irish Times' style of presentation, in that the masthead includes generally two stories of interest and the front page usually has no more than two or three separate stories. Interestingly, The Guardian does not make use of a newslist at the side of the page.
The BP1 story for The Guardian is what could possibly be termed a 'public interest' story - the smoothie manufacturer 'Innocent' is determined as losing its innocence as it has sold a stake in its company to global 'evil' soft drink manufacturer Coca-Cola.
The colour piece includes details on the company and its method of operations and is a very light story which in theory could be balance for the picture of horrific scenes in the Italian earthquake above the fold. Even so, this is a little unusual for a broadsheet.
It seems British papers are much further apart in their own ways than their Irish counterparts are to each other - perhaps because we have less papers we lack in diversity?
Journal 15: Broadsheet/Tabloid Sports Coverage
Concentrating on the weekend of March 22/23, when the Irish rugby team did the (almost) unthinkable and secured a Grand Slam victory for the first time in many years, I was interested in seeing how a traditionally football-oriented tabloid paper kept up in its coverage against the more traditionally rugby-bound columns of the national broadsheets.
In typical tabloid fashion, the Sunday Star lead their celebration section with "Slambod Millionaires!", simultaneously including both Brian O'Driscoll (BOD) and the Oscar-Winning (and therefore relevant to champions) film Slumdog Millionaire, as well as alluding to the paucity of Irish rugby's trophy cabinet down the years and their sudden rise which is mirrored by a young Indian slum boy in the film. Quite brilliant really.
In terms of content, the Star pales in comparison to The Irish Times' impressive coverage. A good six pages of large broadsheet paper are dedicated to the celebration and analysis of the victory with a multitude of columnists, while the Star pays its dues but concentrates on the images of the final victory, almost in order to tell the story with pictures.
The Irish Times Sports Section simply prints a massive picture of O'Gara wheeling away in celebration after his drop-goal which ensured the win in Cardiff, with the simple line "Ireland deliver on a Grand scale". Reaction is almost over-covered, with players, coaching staff, fans and columnists' own opinions all included as well as more analysis of the game and the tournament as a whole. I found the coverage in The Irish Times much more satisfactory to read than the Star's, as it was more in depth and had greater feeling.
In typical tabloid fashion, the Sunday Star lead their celebration section with "Slambod Millionaires!", simultaneously including both Brian O'Driscoll (BOD) and the Oscar-Winning (and therefore relevant to champions) film Slumdog Millionaire, as well as alluding to the paucity of Irish rugby's trophy cabinet down the years and their sudden rise which is mirrored by a young Indian slum boy in the film. Quite brilliant really.
In terms of content, the Star pales in comparison to The Irish Times' impressive coverage. A good six pages of large broadsheet paper are dedicated to the celebration and analysis of the victory with a multitude of columnists, while the Star pays its dues but concentrates on the images of the final victory, almost in order to tell the story with pictures.
The Irish Times Sports Section simply prints a massive picture of O'Gara wheeling away in celebration after his drop-goal which ensured the win in Cardiff, with the simple line "Ireland deliver on a Grand scale". Reaction is almost over-covered, with players, coaching staff, fans and columnists' own opinions all included as well as more analysis of the game and the tournament as a whole. I found the coverage in The Irish Times much more satisfactory to read than the Star's, as it was more in depth and had greater feeling.
Journal 14: Advertising Effectiveness?
For Saturday 14 March, I have chosen a sample paper in the Irish Independent to look at how advertising affects how the paper lays out stories and also judge if these adverts have any affect on the reader now that they are more prominent due to falling revenues on the part of the print media.
Noticeably, the advertising begins to have an effect on page 6 of the paper, with an advert taking up proportionally half of the page and the two stories having to be written around it. This possibly affects the size of the pictures included in one story about Google Maps, as the advert is so big the story is squashed in the top of the page.
Underneath this is an education story about a union strike threatening Junior and Leaving Cert exams, which perhaps is restricted in the space it needs to explain the story because of the advertisement on page 6. However a glaring restrictment is page 7 in its entirety: for that is a full page colour advert for B&Q Ireland not remotely related to any news story within the previous or following pages. Another example of this is on page 9 as I turn the page, and an ad for the lottery takes up a good 80% of the page... which includes a lot of white space that could be used for more news stories.
The question I want to ask the most is almost self-explanatory when viewing pages 10 and 11 - two full pages of black and white advertisements for electronics and furniture that I personally think every reader in the country must skip once they spy that these two pages include no stories.
I must ask: do these ads have any effect at all, for the money the advertisers are paying out to launch a two page spread in a national newspaper... as opposed to a large single page ad that is at least within the peripheral vision of someone reading the news pieces. Is it worth actually including those two pages when readers will jsut skip over the pages (unless they see something they like).
Of course this is irrelevant for the newspaper owners - the amount of revenue they must be taking in from advertisers willing to fund a two page spread must be quite big indeed.
Noticeably, the advertising begins to have an effect on page 6 of the paper, with an advert taking up proportionally half of the page and the two stories having to be written around it. This possibly affects the size of the pictures included in one story about Google Maps, as the advert is so big the story is squashed in the top of the page.
Underneath this is an education story about a union strike threatening Junior and Leaving Cert exams, which perhaps is restricted in the space it needs to explain the story because of the advertisement on page 6. However a glaring restrictment is page 7 in its entirety: for that is a full page colour advert for B&Q Ireland not remotely related to any news story within the previous or following pages. Another example of this is on page 9 as I turn the page, and an ad for the lottery takes up a good 80% of the page... which includes a lot of white space that could be used for more news stories.
The question I want to ask the most is almost self-explanatory when viewing pages 10 and 11 - two full pages of black and white advertisements for electronics and furniture that I personally think every reader in the country must skip once they spy that these two pages include no stories.
I must ask: do these ads have any effect at all, for the money the advertisers are paying out to launch a two page spread in a national newspaper... as opposed to a large single page ad that is at least within the peripheral vision of someone reading the news pieces. Is it worth actually including those two pages when readers will jsut skip over the pages (unless they see something they like).
Of course this is irrelevant for the newspaper owners - the amount of revenue they must be taking in from advertisers willing to fund a two page spread must be quite big indeed.
Journal 13: The Foreign Newspaper
Wednesday 11 March, and this post focuses on the British paper The Times and how we can compare this paper to our own national newspapers.
At first glance the tabloid version of The Times seems remarkably similar to the Irish Independent's take on a tabloidised broadsheet, in that the emphasis is on colour and pictures with easy capabiltiy to open the paper on a crowded bus or train, for example.
It would seem that the headlines are in not quite as big a font as the Irish Indo's... this would allow for more stories and even more detail to make it onto the front page of the paper.
Much like The Irish Times, a newslist has been retained at the right of the page (as opposed to the left of The Irish Times front page) to allow readers to quickly turn to a story of their interest. The Irish Indo does not retain this feature, instead relying on the masthead to convey preliminary interest in what would be regarded as the 'hot topic' stories of the day.
What The Times also retains over its Irish counterpart in the Indo is that page 2 is devoted to 'leading articles', i.e what the editor has decided are the leading focal points for the day's news - with a short editorial piece on each story. The Irish Independent pushes its main stories onto both page 2 and 3 allowing (normally) for a full spread once you open the paper.
Personally I am undecided on my preference for either approach - however aesthetically the colour in the Indo catches my eye and entices me to read the page 2 story without skipping over, as many readers would do to an editorial section in The Times, for example.
Largely both papers are similar in style and approach - interestingly, The Irish Times has still not deigned to take a tabloidised approach just yet... in time I presume they will have to.
At first glance the tabloid version of The Times seems remarkably similar to the Irish Independent's take on a tabloidised broadsheet, in that the emphasis is on colour and pictures with easy capabiltiy to open the paper on a crowded bus or train, for example.
It would seem that the headlines are in not quite as big a font as the Irish Indo's... this would allow for more stories and even more detail to make it onto the front page of the paper.
Much like The Irish Times, a newslist has been retained at the right of the page (as opposed to the left of The Irish Times front page) to allow readers to quickly turn to a story of their interest. The Irish Indo does not retain this feature, instead relying on the masthead to convey preliminary interest in what would be regarded as the 'hot topic' stories of the day.
What The Times also retains over its Irish counterpart in the Indo is that page 2 is devoted to 'leading articles', i.e what the editor has decided are the leading focal points for the day's news - with a short editorial piece on each story. The Irish Independent pushes its main stories onto both page 2 and 3 allowing (normally) for a full spread once you open the paper.
Personally I am undecided on my preference for either approach - however aesthetically the colour in the Indo catches my eye and entices me to read the page 2 story without skipping over, as many readers would do to an editorial section in The Times, for example.
Largely both papers are similar in style and approach - interestingly, The Irish Times has still not deigned to take a tabloidised approach just yet... in time I presume they will have to.
Journal 12: The Columnist
This particular post will concentrate on the columnist Ian O'Doherty (specifically his column of Tuesday 24 February), who writes a regular weekday column for the Irish Independent satirisng popular and celebrity culture in (what many would deem) an offensive way... However I find it hilarious!
O'Doherty's stories usually focus on bizarre stories from around the world, such as today's which includes thirty workers at BT in Britain being suspended after an Irish joke did the rounds at their company and they were accused of being culturally insensitive and offensive, but this is just (as O'Doherty states) "the usual rubbish cooked up by the Equality Industry."
Another story included is that of a Satanist in America disowned by the Church of Satan over drug use, which O'Doherty describes simply with "Wow - you know you've hit rock bottom when even the Church of Satan wants nothing to do with you."
O'Doherty's style is satirical and seems to offend and distribute judgment irrespective of gender or religion or conventional categorisation in general - he discriminates indiscriminately, to put it simply.
He also occasionally recommends certain things to his readers, such as picking up a copy of "Dexys Midnight Runners' classic Don't Stand Me Down", while naming it as "the greatest Irish album of all time."
His style includes exaggeration such as conceding the parents who launched a complaint about a one-armed girl on television "have a point - maybe if we started to round up these people, we could prevent them from offending our aesthetic sensibilities. And after them, we could go after the blind and the deaf. And then gingers. And then people from Cork and then... oooh, the possibilities are endless."
Looking forward to reading more of this genius!
O'Doherty's stories usually focus on bizarre stories from around the world, such as today's which includes thirty workers at BT in Britain being suspended after an Irish joke did the rounds at their company and they were accused of being culturally insensitive and offensive, but this is just (as O'Doherty states) "the usual rubbish cooked up by the Equality Industry."
Another story included is that of a Satanist in America disowned by the Church of Satan over drug use, which O'Doherty describes simply with "Wow - you know you've hit rock bottom when even the Church of Satan wants nothing to do with you."
O'Doherty's style is satirical and seems to offend and distribute judgment irrespective of gender or religion or conventional categorisation in general - he discriminates indiscriminately, to put it simply.
He also occasionally recommends certain things to his readers, such as picking up a copy of "Dexys Midnight Runners' classic Don't Stand Me Down", while naming it as "the greatest Irish album of all time."
His style includes exaggeration such as conceding the parents who launched a complaint about a one-armed girl on television "have a point - maybe if we started to round up these people, we could prevent them from offending our aesthetic sensibilities. And after them, we could go after the blind and the deaf. And then gingers. And then people from Cork and then... oooh, the possibilities are endless."
Looking forward to reading more of this genius!
Journal 11: The Back Page/Sports Section
This post concerns the sports page of the Irish Independent on Thursday 5 February and how the paper treated the sports stories of the day.
The main picture taking up the majority of the back page is one of Padraig Harrington, as the news of a minor procedure he had to have taken due to sun spots received while playing golf filtered through to the media. The Indo has unusually gone for a tabloid-like heading "Harrington in stitches", obviously connoting some humorous undertones to the story... of which there are none, really. In fact it is surprising that the lead story was not the 1-0 loss of Liverpool to city rivals Everton, considering the amount of support Liverpool receives in this country, and the magnitude of that story over a technically superficial one such as Harrington needing stitches (forgive the pun)... although that story is mentioned in the back page masthead.
Before I mention the other story, it would be prudent to point out that the Irish Independent has discontinued the policy of using the back page for sport as traditional tabloids do; instead including a section within the body of the paper and devoting the back page to a sort of human affairs roundup. It should be interesting to see if this actually makes an impact on readers... Personally I preferred the back pages being dedicated to sport.
The story at the BP1 part of the back pages is a "Blow for Cork as Croke Park wash hands of row", which concerns the ongoing row in the Cork hurling dispute and Croke Park officials' part in the furore. Both stories are written simply with good introductory single sentences and sticking to a single sentence per paragraph rule throughout the brief. The idea I presume is to invite the reader to buy the paper and read more in-depth articles inside, as the stories on the back page are not too detailed at all. A simple strategy that works as effectively as simple sentences work at getting information across.
The main picture taking up the majority of the back page is one of Padraig Harrington, as the news of a minor procedure he had to have taken due to sun spots received while playing golf filtered through to the media. The Indo has unusually gone for a tabloid-like heading "Harrington in stitches", obviously connoting some humorous undertones to the story... of which there are none, really. In fact it is surprising that the lead story was not the 1-0 loss of Liverpool to city rivals Everton, considering the amount of support Liverpool receives in this country, and the magnitude of that story over a technically superficial one such as Harrington needing stitches (forgive the pun)... although that story is mentioned in the back page masthead.
Before I mention the other story, it would be prudent to point out that the Irish Independent has discontinued the policy of using the back page for sport as traditional tabloids do; instead including a section within the body of the paper and devoting the back page to a sort of human affairs roundup. It should be interesting to see if this actually makes an impact on readers... Personally I preferred the back pages being dedicated to sport.
The story at the BP1 part of the back pages is a "Blow for Cork as Croke Park wash hands of row", which concerns the ongoing row in the Cork hurling dispute and Croke Park officials' part in the furore. Both stories are written simply with good introductory single sentences and sticking to a single sentence per paragraph rule throughout the brief. The idea I presume is to invite the reader to buy the paper and read more in-depth articles inside, as the stories on the back page are not too detailed at all. A simple strategy that works as effectively as simple sentences work at getting information across.
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