Click on the title of this blog to link to the Daily Mail Watch - a blog site that's been going for two years, monitoring the priorities of the press that serves Middle England - mainly the Mail, Britain's second biggest selling newspaper, but also the Express. The front page of both newspapers is displayed and contributors are invited to comment on the news values behind the stories. It's interesting to note for example how the Express digs up a Diana story at regular intervals (and often on a Monday) - presumably because market research has shown that potential Express readers are more likely to buy copies if she is in the headlines.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
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Did a quick content analysis of the front pages of the Mail and the Express to establish their main news priorities since Monday 24th July.
Here are their lead stories:
2nd Aug Mail: As Blair sips cocktails on Sunset Strip… Beirut burns…
Express: £800,000 for being bullied at work
1st Aug Mail: £110 fines if you put bin bags out early
Express: Cheaper telephone calls for millions
31st July Mail: Will this be the tipping point? (Bombing at Qana)
Express: Our NHS dentists in crisis
28th July Mail: The great gas revolution
Express: Gas prices shoot up over 91%
27th July Mail: Murderers (reprint of front page in 1997 identifying alleged murderers of Stephen Lawrence)
Express: August is going to be hotter than July
26th July Mail: TV and fridge prices to rise
Express: Shop an illegal immigrant now
25th July Mail: Hospital hygiene: the deadly failings
Express: House prices at new high
24th July Mail: Two killed on bouncy castle
Express: Diana death – new cover-up fears
The Middle East crisis makes it twice as the Mail lead story although today's Mail is more of a dig at Blair. Their 31st July headline 'Will this be the tipping point?' followed the killing of 60 Lebanese in the bombing of Qana. That day's edition of the Express was moved to run the headline 'Our NHS dentists in crisis'.
Most of the Express and many of the Mail stories follow the theme or price rises mixed in with some of the usual 'moral panics' - illegal immigrants, dirty hospitals or petty bureaucracy. Ah yes - Diana was back on the Express front page on Monday 24th.
Hats off the the Mail for sticking to their guns on 27th July when they reprinted the famous front page of February 1997, accusing five people of murdering Stephen Lawrence and chellanging them to to sue the newspaper.
As for the Express's claim that August will be hotter than July - we're shivering in anticipation!
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