Online vs Printed Newspapers - Essay Example

Analysis of Part B: Online news paper Headlines Nielsen (2000) emphasizes that when writing on the web, there is need to use clear, self-explanatory headlines. This will ensure that the reader captures the gist of the story at a glance. As it was observed by The Age,1’Headlines perform different functions on the website from the print version. On the website they serve as stand-alone links. A clever headline from the paper, which might refer to the photograph that goes with the story or other stories on the page, will be meaningless on its own and leave a user mystified.’ It is therefore imperative to use single sentence abstracts that can stand alone and give a clear and concise explanation of the story. An in depth analysis of http://www.ninemsn.com.au on line news service that is operated by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) indicates appropriate incorporation of these qualities of a good headline. For example the sport’s headline on the sports new page of Friday, September 23, 2011, “Man United ready to strike again in EPL” depicts a single sentence that stands alone giving a clear and concise explanation. This means that even in the absence of a photograph, the context and the desired communication by the writer is easily understood by the reader. Photograph According to Quinn, S. (2001),2 a press photograph must be clear, eye-catching and original. This means that it must be easily recognizable, and not under or over exposed or out of focus. In addition, it must be striking and unique thus emphasizing it being original. Looking at the Main stories news page, the photograph of George Clooney and the lady he has reportedly tied the not with is a clear depiction of a professionally taken photograph. The picture is so clear for it to be easily recognized implying that the necessary amount of contrast has been used in its generation. It is also not a common photograph in terms of occurrence and hence the originality aspect of a press photograph has been fulfilled. Typography Quinn, S. (2001),3 is of the view that typography has great influence on the legibility and readability of a text. It has always been the foundation for an understanding of publication design. He further explains that, for the normal reader, the best type size for continuous reading is somewhere between 9 pt and 12 pt, depending on the x-height. This same x-height determines the variation of the best column width. The measurement of the width of news paper columns is measured in pica ems usually abbreviated to ems. Quinn ,S. (2001) outlines that, type can be set either as justified or unjustified. Under a justified type, the text is artificially spaced out to both margins hence giving a uniform look to the paragraph. This reduces the strain on eye muscles while reading. A look at these three pages of the on line news paper indicates that the justified type was used in the development of the text since it’s less strenuous to read. Captions According to Quinn, S. (2001),4 there exists three types of Captions, namely; a label, one that tell the significance of the picture and one that is a complete story in its own right. The label type captions are often found on single column photos. They usually consist of the name and a little of what has been said or done by the person. A good example in our case is found on the third news page. The caption concerns Fabian Smith. In the second news page, we have several captions that tell the significance of the picture such as the one titled as, ‘Triumphant Manly end Lockyer’s career’. Summaries According to Kirsziner, G. and Mandell, R. (1999)5, summaries refer to the beginning of each online paper article. It is meant to summarize the main facts of the article. It tells the 5 W’S (who, what, when, where, and why) and also how. The article titled “Scientist’s goofy fall fleeing penguin” gives a well written summary. The summary talks of a scientist (who) having been left-red faced and sprawled in the snow (what) on his backside (where) after he was charged by a tiny penguin (when). Story Selection and Placement In most cases, the selection and placement is determined by the editor of the news page. The views of the editor are influenced by what he believes will attract the audience most to read the news page. This therefore implies that the most eye catching and outstanding stories appear first on the news page. On page one, the story of ”A boy charged over blaze” has been selected and placed at the top left hand corner because of its eye catching nature. Page Layout There exists generally accepted rules in the development of a near perfect page layout.6 A close look at all the online news pages indicates the application of most if not all these rules. For example, there exists an excellent alignment between the texts and the images and the ads have been well-designed. This can be evidenced by the images and text on the second page. On this page, the images depicting sporting activities and the texts explaining the given sporting activities show a great sense of alignment hence giving the page a professional and highly attractive look to the intended audience. Links to additional content On every page of the three pages shown, there exists links to additional content such as video and audio files. On the first page, there is a video on the story, “Chef brawls after a rash comment”. To view this video, one needs to only click as shown on the video and hence its user friendly. The video accessibility is very easy and actually it’s a matter of seconds. This encourages viewership. Analysis of Part A: Print Newspaper Headlines According to Quinn, S. (2001), there exist certain rules of writing headlines. These rules are the fundamental guidelines for analysis of the suitability of any headline. For example headlines must include a verb, be written in the active voice and tenses and slang should be avoided wherever possible. A look at the ‘Financial Review’ Newspaper, on page 1, there is a headline, ‘Housing on the Edge’. The word ‘Edge’ is a verb which is clearly depicted in the headline. This headline also sounds to have been written in active voice thus making the message so clear and understandable at first sight to the reader. The writer of the headline has also avoided completely the use of slangs and tenses thus adhering to professional requirements. On page three of the same newspaper issue, there is another headline, ‘Business wants tax fix to fill $70bn budget black hole’. Although this headline appears verbose, it still satisfies the qualities of a good headline. There are no clichés in it or even any puns and it makes the reader to want to read the story. Photograph An analysis of the ‘Financial Review’ newspaper shows the use of quality photos. For example on page one, the dominant photo is the one which is accompanied by the headline, ‘Big Stakes Money Game’. It covers almost two thirds of the entire page. This actually depicts the fact that that is the main story on this news page. The placement of that photo shows adherence to the ‘Gutenberg’s Rule’. The other three photos on the page also show relevance as they relate clearly to the stories. Looking at pages three and four of the same newspaper, the photos are still very clearly laid out and their appearance is fabulous. They help the reader develop the urge to read the stories and to easily understand the message. Typography Here, I will concentrate on the readability and legibility of the text in the newspaper. Legibility of the text implies that the reader can easily distinguish the characters in the font from one another. It is usually the concern of the typeface designer. Readability on the other hand is always the sole intention of the typographer where his concern is to ensure that the material presented in text form is in such a way that the reader can easily navigate around it with ease and get the meaning of it as unambiguously as possible (Craig J & Scalar I, K, 2006). They further view legibility to refer to ‘perception’ and readability to refer to ‘comprehension’. Looking at both the ‘Financial Review’ and ‘Herald’ newspapers, these two aspects of typography have been effectively complied with. For example, page four of the financial review clearly depicts use of standard letter- spacing thus making the overall density and texture of the text to be standard. Word -spacing is standard and the leading is average. This has made the text to be very legible and readable. I also believe that the level of kerning applied was effective in both newspapers since the readability in both is very high. Captions Quinn, S. (2001) observes that there exist three types of captions. These are Label, captions that tell the significance of the picture and lastly, captions that complete a story in its own right. I will focus to analyse the existence of these captions in my choice of newspapers. To begin with, all these three types have been well used in both newspapers. For example on page three of the Herald Newspaper, there is a label titled, ‘Malthouse with Paul Licuria after the 2002 Grand Final’. This is a well outlined label. It clearly mentions the name of the person in the photo and gives a short explanation of what the person has done. On the same newspaper, on page four there is another caption titled, ‘Cats fan Chris Taylor, of Victory Way, hopes his team will emulate his address’. This is also a well presented label satisfying all the requirements. Similar labels appear on page one of the ‘Financial Review’ regarding BCA president Graham Bradley and Sophie Mirabella. Story Selection and Placement The case of story selection and placement is similar in both the print and online type of newspapers. As outlined earlier, story selection and placement is entirely influenced by the views of the editor in regard to what he believes will attract the reader most. It’s also important to note that for the news paper to be marketable, the most attractive story has to be placed at the position where it can be easily spotted. This means that the Gutenberg’s Rule has to be applied effectively. A look at page five of the ‘Financial Review’ newspaper shows a lack of proper story selection and placement. In my view, the story on ‘Nothing to write home about yet’ is the most attractive. If the Gutenberg’s rule was effectively applied then, that story would have appeared on the extreme right hand side of the page. Although it is important to ones again note that the placement is entirely subjective to the views of the editor. References Craig, J. and Scalar, IK. Designing with Type, the Essential Guide to Typography. 5th ed. Watson Guptil. 2006. Kirsziner, G & Mandell, R. The Holt Handbook, 5th ed:Thomson Learning, 1999. NineMSN, viewed on 23 September, 2011 . Nielsen, J. 2000, ‘Writing for the Web’, Designing Web usability, New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis, USA, pp. 100.–15. Quinn, S 2001, ‘Picture editing for a visual age’, Digital sub-editing and design, Focal Press, Oxford, UK Quinn, S. 2001, .‘Typography: A foundation for design’, Digital sub-editing and design, Focal Press, Oxford, UK Quinn, S. 2001, ‘Captions: Text and pictures combined’, Digital sub-editing and design, Focal Press, Oxford, UK Quinn, S. 2001, ‘How to write compelling headlines’, Digital sub-editing and design, Focal Press, Oxford, UK Read More