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.
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