News Revision: The Observer Newspaper (1960s)

Observer front covers 

You are expected to be familiar with two contemporary front covers and three historical front covers (The Observer 30 October 1966, 6 November 1966 and 20 October 1968)
The historical Observer newspaper covers were chosen to help you gain a knowledge and understanding of how media language was used to construct representations in the 1960s and the contexts that affected those representations.
You must study the contexts associated with the set covers and develop an understanding of the differences between how these media products illuminate the changing contexts of the 1960s and the present day, enabling you to develop a detailed understanding of how they appear in mainstream news media and its associated social and participatory media.

 Consider:
• the various forms of media language used to create and communicate meaning on newspaper front covers 
• how selection, combination and exclusion of elements of media language can influence meaning on newspaper covers 
• the relationship between technology and media language on newspaper covers, for example, to aid layout, typography and post-production editing of photos
• the codes and conventions of newspaper covers.
• the ways in which newspaper producers re-present the world and construct versions of reality on newspaper covers 
• how the purposes of media producers and the choices they make influence representations 
• the social, cultural and political significance of particular representations featured on newspaper covers in terms of the themes or issues they address 
• how representations reflect the contexts in which they were produced.
• the nature and scope of newspaper production by large organisations, including issues of ownership, control and funding 
• the impact of production processes, personnel and technologies on newspaper production 
• the increasingly convergent nature of media industries across different platforms, for example, print, online and social and participatory 
• the functions of types of regulation of contemporary print newspapers.

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