The Times - Audience and Industries

Audience

1) What is the main readership demographic for The Times newspaper? Add as much detail as you can.

The Times target audience is older with over half the audience aged 55+. In terms of social class, they are overwhelmingly in the ABC1 social classes - 62% from social group AB. This means Times readers are likely to be professionals, managers or company owners.

2) What aspects of the front page of the Times CSP edition suggest that their readers are likely to be more educated and interested in hard news rather than entertainment?

This is shown as the front cover is dominated by more text than images in comparison to the Daily Mirror which reinforces the target audience is a more higher aged group who are less intrigued in scandalous gossip yet more intrigues by hard new like climate change.

3) Times readers are mostly over 55 years old. Why is this and how is this reflected or challenged by the new stories in the CSP pages we have studied?  
One way is that the hard news consisting of more political contexts will attract the older audiences of ages 55 and above more than they would attract younger audiences who could easily access these news on the internet through convergence.
4) What are the main audience pleasures offered by the Times? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory.

• Surveillence - The main reason we read newspapers is to find out what is going on in the world around us, The Times focuses on hard news that we expect from a broadsheet newspaper
• Personal Identity - The Times newspaper seems to endorse the Conservative party and show their strong affiliation with the political party by the way stories are constructed
• Diversion - One of the main reasons we read newspapers is for entertainment. The Times has evolved over recent years to contain more stories that provide entertainment or diversion

5) Why might a reader enjoy this CSP edition of the Times? Use Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratifications theory categories and write as detailed an analysis as you can.

The Times newspaper is explicitly pointing it's views and opinions supporting the conservatives providing personal identity for those who have the same beliefs as them. A s well as this the use of providing information for it's audiences show casts surveillance. 

Industries

1) Who owns the Times? Write the name of the company AND the billionaire who owns the company.
The Times is owned by News UK (a subsidiary of News Corporation). News Corporation is a conglomerate mostly owned by Rupert Murdoch, an Australian media mogul with many business interests worldwide, for example the Fox network in the USA.
2) What was the The Times's circulation in 2019? How many papers did the Times used to sell back in the 1990s?
In 2019, The Times' circulation was 376,000, which was down 12% in a year and much lower than the high point of over 800,000 during the 1990s.
3) How has the Times reacted to the decline in print sales and the growth of the internet?
In order to counteract the decline in print sales and growth of the internet, the Times has moved towards a multi-platform landscape. This means that it publishes and synchronises across its print, desktop and mobile platforms. Some newspapers (e.g. The Times) have a paywall on their online content.
4) What does IPSO stand for and what is IPSO's job?
Independent Press Standard Organisation and it's job requires editting and regulating the newspapers.
5) Why do some people want stronger regulation of British newspapers?

Some people argue that the newspaper industry cannot be trusted to regulate itself using IPSO and that stronger, statutory regulation should be introduced instead.