Newspaper Front Page Conventions (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Media Studies): Revision Note

Visual codes

Layout and Content Conventions

• Newspapers use typical features and layouts 

• This helps audiences to:

  • Recognise key information

  • Understand its purpose

  • Importance

• These conventions include:

  • Masthead – newspaper name at the top, shows brand identity

  • Headline – main story in large, bold text

  • Main image – large photo linked to the main story

  • Subheadings / cover lines – smaller stories and teasers

  • Columns – text arranged in narrow blocks for easy reading

  • Byline – name of journalist who wrote the article

  • Dateline – date and location of the story

  • Captions – explain what is happening in images

  • Quotes – used to make stories feel more real and dramatic

  • Advertising – helps fund the newspaper

  • Layout hierarchy – most important stories are largest and most central

Written codes

• Copy is the name given to the body of text in the articles written by journalists

• Language choices in the copy influence how readers feel about a story

• Tabloids use more informal language, while broadsheets use more formal language

• Headlines often use puns, alliteration or wordplay to grab attention

• Persuasive language is used to influence the reader’s opinion 

• Persuasive techniques include:

  • Emotive language such as “tragic” “shocking”

  • Strong adjectives

  • Bias (opinion)

• Newspapers often use direct mode of address to engage the audience

• Especially in tabloids, language can be sensationalised to create excitement or shock

• Anchorage is used to reinforce the meaning of the chosen images

News values

• News values are the factors that make a story “newsworthy”

• News values are used to make stories more appealing, relevant and engaging

• Editors choose stories that will:

  • Attract audiences

  • Make profit

• News values include:

  • Frequency – short-term events which fit the news cycle or long-term events which are reported on regularly

  • Elite persons – stories about important or powerful individuals

  • Continuity – ongoing stories that are already in the news

  • The unexpected – unusual or surprising events

  • Size and scale – the bigger the event, the more likely it is to be reported

  • Ordinary people – human interest stories about everyday people

  • Elite nations – stories about powerful or influential countries

  • Uniqueness – rare events that do not happen often

  • Demand – events audiences want to see or hear about

  • Predictability – events that were expected or anticipated

  • Closeness to home – stories relevant to Britain or local audiences

  • Negative stories – bad news, conflict or problems