News Agenda

News Agenda

The I paper:

The ‘I’ is a new paper, which comes from the same people that produce the Independent. It has been introduced to give a more condensed version of its ‘mother’ paper, for the people who have little time during the day to get their news, such as commuters or businessmen and women. It has been described as a better alternative to the free newspapers, such as the Metro. The first edition was published on the 26th October 2010, so it is yet to have any exact figures of circulation or it’s audience.

It seems to be more interested in the economy and money judging by the order of news. On the 18th November the front page story was that of a ‘boom’ in auction houses, and it explained that even though the world is in recession, there is still millions being spent. Similarly, the next day, the front page was that of how tax money was being spent. The Royal engagement was set back as far as page six, like the Independent, showing its lack of interest in the Royal family. In contrast, the Daily Mail thought it was important to put information on the Royal wedding on the front page.

Another one of the main stories in the ‘I’ was that of the UK’s ‘bailing out’ of Ireland financially, again showing its interest in the economy. In comparison, the Daily Mail set this story back on page four, which is still high up the order, however it chose to publish a story about benefit thieves before.

Radio Breeze:

Radio Breeze is a local radio station in Hampshire, with three different stations covering 3 different areas: Portsmouth, Chichester and Isle of Wight; Southampton and New Forest; and Winchester and North Hampshire. The type of music is the ‘feel good’ kind. The type of artists you would find would be Michael Buble, Gloria Estefan or Matt Monro. The tag line of Breeze is ‘the smoothest sounds in the South’ which gives you an idea of the genre of music to be expected.

There is some information on the website about Breeze’s target audience, explaining that it targets 35-64 year olds, and that it has a slight female bias. Like the ‘I’ paper, it claims to be targeted at those who lead a busy life, so they can come home at the end of a busy day and ‘chill-out’.

The news on Breeze is very brief and is generally local. Stories found ranged from people being jailed around the area, to robberies and local sport. It also takes some time to discuss news from all over the United Kingdom, such as the Royal wedding – although it was more about the hope of an extra days bank holiday. There were on average 6-7 stories in each bulletin, lasting around 3-4 minutes. The main story would last around the one minute mark, and then the rest ranging from 15 seconds – 40 seconds, depending on whether or not they have a piece of audio to go with it.