Sport - Genre

My newspaper is a local newspaper aimed at Sports fans. It is important that the layout and design of a newspaper represents it's target audience well and consistently. Sport is a type of genre. A typical newspaper would not focus specifically on sport, instead it would have a section that would be devoted to sport. This is where my newspaper is unconventional as it focuses on a specific genre. However local sports papers aren't as rare as national ones. For example a lot of county's/towns have newspapers that focus on fishing or motor vehicles. National newspapers, such as The Sun, have pull outs that are dedicated to sports fans.

Sport is very popular in British culture, and depending on location, different types of sports are more dominant. My newspaper is based in Southend where it could be argued that the biggest sports Club is Southend United. Sport in Southend is therefore often associated with Southend United so I feel it is important for my newspaper to represent the club positively and regularly. If my newspaper was to be produced on a regular basis, Southend United would become one of the main subjects of the newspaper.

Genre is a way of categorising a piece of media. Different pieces of media present their information using common structural elements to define the medium’s identity. I have tried to make my newspaper fit in with its genre by using iconic colours and a conventional layout. For example the use of dark blue on the masthead is iconic of sport in Southend.
Christian Metz had a theory on genre.

He believed the way in which a genre is constructed can be put into one of four categories, which are:

1) Experimental - A new or challenging approach to presenting the medium’s genre

2) Classical – Using typical codes and conventions to represent the genre. Classical relates to when the genre establishes itself.

3) Parody – Intentionally changing the context of the typical codes and conventions. For example, in film, Scary Movie is a parody.

4) Deconstruction – Encouraging evolution of the genre by developing the current codes and conventions of the genre.

I have constructed my newspaper in an experimental fashion. Sports newspapers are still quite uncommon so experimental is the most appropriate. My newspaper does however match the codes and conventions of sports sections within current newspapers. It could be argued that a ‘classical’ sports newspaper has not been established yet as they are still quite rare and vary depending on the culture that they represent.

David Buckingham would argue that genre is constantly developing through negotiation and change. As society changes genre’s change too. The popularity of a genre depends upon what is happening in society at the time. Maybe sports newspapers aren’t common as sport is not popular enough to justify sports newspapers. Also technology is developing and other forms of media such as TV and radio are becoming more popular than print media. Perhaps print media does not serve the purpose as well as radio and TV, for example.

Kate Wales would argue that in a postmodern society, we have more fragmented media. This means pieces media that distinctly represent a genre are less common. They have become (sub-genres). Perhaps this is why sports newspapers are uncommon but sports ‘sections’ within newspapers are very popular. For example The Sun’s sports section is one of the paper’s main selling points.

I decided to produce a sports newspaper as I feel there is a niche in the market. Most forms of media report on sports on a daily basis, as it is very popular in British culture. For example the TV dedicates programmes to sport and so does the radio. Internet sites, both local and national, keep people up to date with sports news.



Audience

Although media has become a highly influential ideological tool, the way in which a form of media is interpreted varies depending upon the individual. For a piece of media to be successful it needs to communicate in the clearest possible way to large amounts of people. The closer the interpreted message is to the intended message, the more successful the media is.

When I began my project, I hoped to make my newspaper/website appeal to both males and females. However, on reflection I feel my newspaper in particular is a lot more appealing to males. The front cover of my newspaper focuses mainly upon two sports which are football and hockey. It could be argued that males tend to identify more with football and females identify more with hockey. However a large chunk of my front cover is dedicated to football, including the headline, the main photograph and the advert at the bottom of the page. The article is also referring to a male football team and is written from a male perspective (me). The hockey article is also focusing on a male hockey team. It may therefore be harder for females to relate to my front cover than males. The articles on the second page of my newspaper are more neutral in terms of gender although a large chunk of the page is again dedicated to football. In our culture, football is a generally a male dominated sport, and the way in which it is represented in the media is often considered sexist. Laura Mulvey’s idea of the ‘male gaze’ links to this. The ways in which my articles are presented suit a male point of view.

On reflection, I feel my newspaper does not cater for females as well as it does for males. Therefore if I was to do this project again I would rearrange the layout and the representation to equally appeal to both genders.

My newspaper is a local newspaper, it’s cultural codes and conventions will only suit those people that understand sports within Southend. The newspaper in itself is representing a geographical culture (Southend) and a sub-culture (sport).

Representation

Representation is often a controversial subject, particularly in print media. Representation can allow messages to be changed and manipulated in the advantage of the producer. Large media companies such as news international are often taken to court over misrepresentation in their news reports.

Noam Chomsky argues that there are 5 filters that affect representation:
1) Finance
2) Ownership
3) Sources
4) Flak
5) Anti-ideologies

As my newspaper and all of its content has been produced by me it has not passed through any filters, although the newspapers which I based the format of my newspaper on will have done.
Local newspaper companies often don’t have the financial strength of national newspapers, so the quality of the newspapers they produce and their content might not be as consistent. However, the bigger a media company is, the more filters the content of its newspaper’s are likely to have passed through. For example, local newspapers will often rely on its own sources to gather news and information. Whereas bigger newspapers are more reliant on companies such Reuters to gather news stories before the articles are even considered.