The Knowsley Challenge: Analysis

The Knowsley Challenge

This is a free paper distributed in College. It will be useful for analysis as my target audience will be students.

The masthead is similar to that of the typical conventions used in previous papers that I have looked at, it is located at the top left of the front page and is a reasonable size, using the colour red which could also suggest that the colours are being used to purely attract the eyes of readers.

Below the masthead, is an immense white on black headline; COUNCIL FACES SHORTFALL OF £30M, the headline is an important feature of the paper visually drawing readers to the news story which appears to be the lead story as it’s columns take up almost all of the front page. The content of the news story seems to be aimed at adults as the younger audience would most probably have no interest in the council. However, this is contrast by the advert located at the bottom, advertising a Youth Theatre aiming at children and teenagers from the age of 12 to 21. This may only direct at adults with children but also older teenagers interested in performing arts, maybe who are studying it at college or university.

Situated at the top right is an advert for a taxi firm, this is interesting as the advert has no target audience to aim at. It is a useful piece of information valuable for those of any age including college students, workers etc.

On the right side of the front page lists the ‘Inside this month’ contents, this seems to go against conventions of previous newspapers which had their contents within the first few pages. This technique is useful for allowing readers to see what is expected inside by just looking at the front page.

Going over the first page, I noticed that as it contains many news stories, it makes this page over packed and very cramped together; this could also drive readers away as the amount of stories on the page looks very complicated. The main story stands out as it is the only direct white on black headline which in my opinion catches the eye the most.

Other news stories located on the page only have very small headlines and roughly around 12-20 lines each.

There is one advert on the first page, which is for Clarendon College, a school for 3-16 year olds. This advert is specifically for adults who have children as they may be considering sending their children here; it has also been placed besides a news story about young school pupils which is useful as both articles are aimed at the same target audience.

The paper seems to contain topics and adverts for a target audience beyond college students. It is aimed at more adults, mainly family orientated readers. However, it is useful as all of its stories and advertisements are locally related to Knowsley.