Guidomedia

Varying elements compose the front page of a newspaper, each affected by the role that the newspaper plays in society. A regional newspaper may publish a story of concern to its local readership, whereas a metropolitan newspaper might run a story on a broader ranging topic, but how do regional publishers ensure a story is relevant to their readership when the broader-ranging metropolitan newspapers are also available to that readership? This essay compares regional newspapers to metropolitan newspapers by exploring factors influencing articles and pictures printed on the front pages of selected regional and metropolitan publications.

This is examined via a basic content analysis of the front pages of three newspapers, being The Age, Herald Sun and the Geelong Advertiser. Articles are analysed in terms of writing styles, exclusives and pictures, consequently defining the roles of regional and metropolitan newspapers. Influences on how these articles are written are subsequently discussed. The three newspapers were collected between Monday 14th March and Friday 18th March 2005. They were not collected for the full week as the Geelong Advertiser is not printed on Sundays. These newspapers were selected on the basis that The Age and the Herald Sun are metropolitan broadsheet and tabloid publications respectively, thus providing a cross-section of mainstream metropolitan print journalism, whilst the Geelong Advertiser was selected as an example of regional newspapers.

The Age and the Herald Sun are mainstream metropolitan publications as both are based in Melbourne, with latest readership figures being 724 000 and 1.5 million people respectively per weekday in Melbourne's population base of 3 555 321 people. Both are distributed throughout Victoria, providing a potential readership of over four million people . Alternatively, the Geelong Advertiser has a readership of 118 000 people and is only distributed throughout the Barwon region, which covers part of the south western area of Victoria and has a total population of 262 155 . Thus, there are no metropolitan centres, establishing the Geelong Advertiser as a regional newspaper.

How are elements of the articles on the front pages used?
The front page is what a reader first sees when they pick up a newspaper. These headlining pages are what must attract a reader, and this is achieved by regional and metropolitan newspapers in differing ways. The articles published on the front pages of the Herald Sun (see Appendix One), The Age (see Appendix Two) and the Geelong Advertiser (see Appendix Three) yield four elements that highlight how regional and metropolitan newspapers communicate and connect with their respective readerships. These elements include whether the articles are written in narrative or pure news format, the presence of exclusives, and the use of photographs. Writing style is discussed first. Bird and Dardenne argue that news reportage follows somewhat mythological codes, in that stories are written or read the same over and over again, and that news values are therefore culturally specific storytelling codes. Essentially, narrative style follows certain structures, such as basic storylines, or it adheres to conventions common in our society that we as individual readers are familiar with. Fox also argues that “chronology constitutes an essential part of the account,” in that the article recounts the passage of time that the actual story occurred in. Pure news style, however, does not apply these conventions, instead merely presenting the facts of a story. Roeh argues that journalists can be like historians, and that they do not adhere to such devices and simply 'uncover' the true story.

An example of narrative style is the Herald Sun article, “The journey begins.” It details the events of how the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games baton relay began by presenting them in order or the journey, just how the reader would associate the events of any journey to occur. Alternatively, the same newspaper's “Baby scam” article presents the facts of how a woman was deceived, for the most part out of chronological order, and whilst we can associate with deception, the story does not attempt to relate to a similar event. Over the studied week, the articles totalled four
narrative articles and two pure news articles in the Herald Sun, of which three were exclusives (see Appendix One). The Age published ten narrative and six straight news pieces, with two exclusives (see Appendix Two), and the Geelong Advertiser printed seven narrative and two pure news articles (see Appendix Three).

Narrative style appears to be the dominant writing style on the front pages of the three publications. Bloom suggests the Internet is the responsible for this, as stories on the Internet “often explore personal experiences, and are not afraid to take a position [and] not wanting to be viewed by the public as stuffy, many conventional magazines and newspapers are following suit.” However, narrative styles were used before the advent of the Internet, so their current prominence may be because they can provide a different angle that involves the reader, for as Giles suggests, the advantage of narrative journalism is that “stories about others can lead us to discoveries about ourselves and…they absorb the reader into the emotions of the characters.” Narratives can make a story personal, rather than just presenting the reader with a list of impersonal facts. The reader connects with the article, and may consequently return to the newspaper to repeatedly feel that human connection, so thus in regional newspapers narrative can increase the feeling of a smaller, interconnected society, whilst in metropolitan newspapers it serves to connect a broader readership with a single story. Whilst this connection can attract people to read the articles, other elements are utilised to gain readership.

Exclusives can be used as a selling point to attract extra readers, as the story is not available in another newspaper. As opposed to The Age and the Herald Sun, the Geelong Advertiser does not proclaim any exclusives during the week examined. As it is the only major regional newspaper in its circulation area, it does not have any major competition. Although some stories may be picked up by the metropolitan papers because they hold some interest to their readership, the readership figures of the Geelong Advertiser are possibly not affected because it still primarily features articles of immediate relevance to its readership that the metropolitan papers do not. The Herald Sun, however, competes with The Age in the Melbourne and wider Victorian markets. Zbar states that “such concepts as online newspapers are all well and good, but…the newspaper must arrive on time at the reader's doorstep, no matter how far away from the printing press that doorstep is.” Whilst a reader can now access an online version of a newspaper from many metropolitan locations because of wireless Internet technology, a newspaper needs to attract readers to its print editions because they have a wider reach. The Age and the Herald Sun are circulated throughout Victoria, whereas adequate ADSL and broadband Internet cover only 75.9 percent of Victoria's population.

Therefore, an exclusive in one newspaper can provide an edge over the other in regions where the exclusive is inaccessible over the Internet, thus bolstering print edition sales and keeping metropolitan print editions viable in regional areas. Exclusives in a print edition also appear to be more accessible even in areas with the Internet. On May 9, 2005, The Age printed the exclusive story, “Heroin cartel tied to Bali nine.” However, on the same day this article was only located on The Age's website after some searching. Thus, exclusives could be used to sell more copies at the newsstand because they are more accessible than, say, if the reader were at work. It is less convenient to have to search for an article from an office workstation when the reader can have it on the front page of the hardcopy in front of them.

Pictures can be utilised as selling points also. Smith and O'Connell state that every page needs a dominant image that readers' eyes are drawn to. Every front page examined contained a large picture, although they were used for varying reasons. The top half of the Herald Sun's Wednesday issue front page was dominated by a large picture of a long fireball with people standing in front of it. It is only until reading the small caption that the reader discovers the people are not in danger and that the fire is actually a display for the Australian International Airshow. The picture is unrelated to the article underneath, “42 speeding MPs caught,” although it draws attention away from The Age, which sits beside it at the newsagency and only has a picture of a bronze statue of a jockey erected to commemorate those horse riders who have died. Thus, the more visually arresting picture could have cost The Age readers that do not have loyalty to one particular publication.

Pictures can also involve the reader in a story. Bedford suggests in her discussion of the regional newspaper, the Ballarat Courier, that “people love to see themselves and their friends in print and by publishing a daily page of [these] photographs…the Ballarat Courier fulfils another need in its local community.” All photographs on the Geelong Advertiser's front page were linked to a local story, often with faces of locals or local celebrities, whereas photographs in the two metropolitan newspapers featured, on the most part, national or international identities or objects most people could not associate with. Thus, readers of the Geelong Advertiser feel a stronger connection to the story. Pictures can also involve readers in the story by evoking emotions. The Geelong Advertiser's “Puppy theft heartbreak” article is accompanied by a half-page photograph of the puppies' mother looking sadly up at the camera with big, round eyes, evoking a sympathetic response from the reader, consequently adding to their involvement and interpretation of the story. If the reader is susceptible to this basic emotional manipulation, they will want to read the accompanying article.
The roles of regional and metropolitan newspapers.

Foremost, the roles of the three newspapers for their audiences affect why these articles and pictures are published. Schultz suggests that recognition of local issues specific to a community is impossible in metropolitan newspapers because they cover too large an area. Melbourne has diverse suburbs and communities, whereas a rural location is generally a community comprised of people with common interests, such as a coastal town or farming community. The Geelong Advertiser is circulated throughout the Barwon region, which is mainly comprised of the Surfcoast shires, so all residents likely prefer a quieter, coastal lifestyle. Whilst a metropolitan newspaper needs to cater for a broad audience, a regional newspaper is able to more effectively contribute to a community's public sphere. In an interview with McLachlan, Raymond states that a public sphere is a space where civil society discusses and debates ideas, created and fuelled by newspapers. Thus, newspapers help to facilitate society, but they must accurately reflect that society's concerns to be a part of it. Bedford argues that “with an emphasis on local issues and everyday events the newspaper becomes a part of the smaller community. It is relied on by the citizens as a chronicler of their lives in a way that a metropolitan paper could never be.” A regional newspaper is able to reflect the issues in the society it represents because that community is less segmented, and thus would generally have the same ideals. Local issues take precedence on the front page of the Geelong Advertiser as it must foremost carry stories that are of interest to its primary audience. For example, The Age and the Geelong Advertiser both ran articles about the proposed football television rights changes, but whilst the story took precedence on The Age's front page, it was placed on the back page of the Geelong Advertiser in favour of the “Great rates debate” article. The Geelong Advertiser still publishes many articles about state, national and international issues, although there are generally one or two local stories on the same page outside of the national and world news sections to balance this.

As a regional newspaper, the Geelong Advertiser fulfils its role in the public sphere in numerous ways. Jackson, in Schultz, states that the roles of a regional newspaper include the promotion of a sense of community, identity and cohesion, the provision of information with background analysis and interpretation and a platform for debate and complaint, and the publicising of relevant community notices.” Metropolitan newspapers also fulfil this role, although their wider encompassment means that they are limited in how they can promote these ideals. The Age and the Herald Sun are available in the Geelong Advertiser's market, but as they are unlikely to include local stories about the Barwon region, the Geelong Advertiser is able to fill this gap.

The Geelong Advertiser does publish many stories run in the two metropolitan publications, although it attempts to make broader-ranging, such as state, issues local. On the Friday the Herald Sun ran a story on page two about a $23 million fine levelled at a petrol retail group. On the same day the Geelong Advertiser ran this story on its front page, basing it on a Geelong-based business who was punished $3 million as part of the fine. This local angle on an issue ranging outside the area that the Geelong Advertiser attempts to represent provides further analysis and a local interpretation, thus contributing to the public sphere. By emphasising local issues, the Geelong Advertiser promotes a sense of community that the metropolitan newspapers cannot achieve in the Barwon region.

What can influence the articles published?
These roles of The Age, the Herald Sun and the Geelong Advertiser present two significant differences between regional and metropolitan newspapers that highlight what can affect the manner in which articles are published. Lauterer argues that regional papers must be more accurate than metropolitan newspapers because they are more accountable since they are more accessible. As a regional newspaper must be in tune with the specific community that it represents, it can therefore be held more accountable for misrepresentations, mistakes, or the ignorance of an issue. Ellery, in Bedford, states, “if [the regional press] drop the ball, which occasionally happens, you're going to hear about it…our office is extremely visible and everybody knows where it is with a smaller, more involved community.” In a smaller community, it is more likely that the general population knows someone working at or associated with the newspaper, or at least knows its location. Therefore, a regional newspaper is more susceptible to backlash from an error in its reportage, so it must be more knowledgeable of the information it is printing. This is not to say that metropolitan newspapers are not accountable for errors. According to Schultz, “readers are seen as a 'rigorous check' on the accuracy of local news reports and features.” Readers of The Age and the Herald Sun knowledgeable on particular issues would check for accuracy. The fact that errors are more likely to be reported back to a regional paper because of their accessibility distinguishes them.

The second significant difference lies with local controversies. In the Tuesday issue of the Geelong Advertiser, the entire front page was devoted to the “Let's get moving” story. The subject would certainly raise eyebrows, especially among the group of landowners. However, the article does not take sides over the matter, instead simply expressing the opinion and agenda of the mayor, and leaving the subject open for debate in the public sphere. Alternatively, The Age's Tuesday headline, “Yes, we love a parade down the sunny side of the street,” appears to assume that all people in Melbourne enjoyed the parade down Swanston Street, although some shopkeepers could have been irritated with the road being closed to traffic and the large crowds, as they could have driven customers away. A metropolitan newspaper is less accessible, so The Age is able to print this assumption without fear of a large backlash.
If readers react negatively to a regional newspaper taking sides over a local issue, this can affect the publication financially. Regional papers will still report a controversial local issue, for as Franklin and Murphy argue, “local newspapers undoubtedly express a great diversity of opinion. This expresses, at least in part, their commitment to reflect diverse local opinions and to promote a local patriotism.” If there is a controversial issue within the community, it needs to be reported in order for the newspaper to function within the public sphere, as the newspaper has to provide the grounds for public debate and community spirit. This is also tied to the promotion of local patriotism. In order to be a part of the public sphere, a regional newspaper must promote a sense of community by reporting all local issues.

Therefore, a regional newspaper will report a local story even if it is controversial, but it will not necessarily assume its own stance over the issue. Kohut reports that “26 percent of local reporters say they have been told to avoid a story…but suspect the real reason for the decision was that the story could harm their company's financial interests. Just two percent of national reporters harbour such suspicions.” Although Kohut's statistics are drawn from a survey on the American press, the reason journalists have given for not reporting an issue is still relevant. As a representation of the community, a regional newspaper would not want to disrupt the community by taking sides in a local issue when that population is its only readership, as this could affect the newspaper financially by resulting in a reduction in readership.

However, there are also factors that can affect both regional and metropolitan newspapers equally. If newspapers reflect the society they are based in, a particular social view may be evident in the stories produced. Ownership can also affect what is printed. The three publications are privately owned, as both the Geelong Advertiser and the Herald Sun are owned by News Ltd., whereas The Age is owned by Fairfax. The issue of privately owned newspapers is that, according to Broder, the “press is a private business performing a vital public function…immunised against many of the forms of pressure and persuasion to which other institutions are subject.” Newspapers therefore have, to some degree, their own agenda, and they could be influenced by their respective owners, for as Jamias discusses about Asian journalism, “owners of newspapers have been telling their editors and journalists what to write, what to publish and what not to publish, whom to attack and not attack, and where to position stories for emphasis and prominence.” This can be applied to The Age, the Herald Sun and the Geelong Advertiser despite them being Australian newspapers, as they are still privately owned and conflicts of interest for their owners would want to be avoided.

A journalist's values can also be affected by other sources. For example, the Friday Herald Sun front page article about cash smuggling allegations against Senator Ross Lightfoot opens with “Senator Ross Lightfoot repeatedly contradicted himself yesterday over accusations he was involved in smuggling $25 000 cash into Iraq for oil giant Woodside Petroleum.” Alternatively, a similar article on page two of the Geelong Advertiser began with “Liberal senator Ross Lightfoot vowed last night not to resign over claims he smuggled $US20 000 into Iraq to help Kurds on behalf of oil giant Woodside.” As the two newspapers are owned by the same company and the Geelong Advertiser's opening statement makes no attempt to localise the issue, it is possible that the journalists themselves chose these words, in particular the Herald Sun's seemingly more scathing opening. Why they wrote these words could have been affected by their own background, family values, education, or personal relationships with a subject. The latter Broder terms 'clique journalism,' which he describes in terms of how close working relationships between journalists and public officials can result in the journalist only reporting what is of interest or related to that public figure, consequently diverting the journalist from serving the broader public. When a journalist becomes closely associated with a person they are reporting on, this person may influence them, or their own values may cloud their reportage, and they lose focus on accurately reporting other issues. It is evident that the viewpoints and attitudes of newspaper staff and the market it reflects can influence what is published.

Making the headlines of a regional newspaper
It is the differences and similarities between regional and metropolitan newspapers that essentially affect what is published on the front page of a regional newspaper, but the roles of the newspapers and various underlying factors also determine what is published and the methods to which those stories adhere. Further studies could examine various regional newspapers over a longer period of time to determine the roles that they play in different communities, and a longer timeframe would also permit a greater content analysis that could prove, for example, the dominance of narrative stye. However, whilst this study is limited by the fact that it is based on a content analysis of three newspapers over the course of only five days, it highlights that although the Geelong Advertiser has a smaller readership, this does not make it less important. It plays a vital function in relaying local and state, national and international news to its audience, whilst simultaneously contributing to its readership's public sphere in a way that metropolitan newspapers cannot achieve. The Geelong Advertiser is able to localise issues and promote a sense of community in the Barwon region in ways that The Age and the Herald Sun cannot in the same region.

Schultz states that “from small, independent quarterfolds to the larger, daily newspapers of heavily-populated country towns, the rural newspaper fulfils a number of important social and cultural functions that differ to those of metropolitan newspapers.” The Geelong Advertiser, like many other regional publications, facilitates the public sphere of its target market by primarily promoting stories of local interest, and then secondarily carrying stories of wider interest.

Works cited
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Australian bureau of statistics. “Melbourne: selected characteristics.” National regional profile. 24 March 2005. <http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/2001maps.nsf/Homepages/Ausstats+NRPs> (9 May 2005).

Australian bureau of statistics. “Victoria: selected characteristics.” National regional profile. 24 March 2005. <http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/2001maps.nsf/Homepages/Ausstats+NRPs> (9 May 2005).

Bedford, Kathy. “Regional press and community: the Ballarat courier.” Guidomedia La Trobe writers. 2002.
<http://www.guidomedia.com/kathybedford.html> (14 March 2005).

Bird, S Elizabeth and Robert W. Dardenne. “Myth, chronicle and story: exploring the narrative qualities of news.” In Social meanings of news: a text-reader, edited by Dan Berkowitz, pp. 333-350. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1997.

Bloom, Stephen G. Inside the writer's mind: writing narrative journalism. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Press, 2002.
Broder, David S. Behind the front page: a candid look at how the news is made. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.

Fox, Walter. Writing the news: a guide for print journalists. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 2001.

Franklin, Bob and David Murphy. What news? The market, politics and the local press. London: Routledge, 1991.

Geelong advertiser

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<http://www.glgadvertiser.com.au/advertising.html> (9 May 2005).

Giles, Bob, Spring 2004. “Thinking about storytelling and narrative journalism.” Nieman reports 58 (2004). Available: ProQuest; ADDRESS: http://proquest.umi.com/. (6 April 2005).

Herald Sun

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Jackson, Ian. The provincial press and the community. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1971. Quoted in

Loralie Schultz, “More than a local rag: the social role of rural newspapers.” Guidomedia. 2003. <http://www.guidomedia.com/loralieschultz.html> (14 March 2005).

Jamias, Juan F. “Mass communication as an art in a multicultural society: the Philippine experience.” In Mass media and cultural identity: ethnic reporting in Asia, edited by Anura Goonasekera and Youichi Ito, pp. 192-222. Sterling, USA: Pluto Press, 1999.

Kohut, Andrew. “Self-censorship: counting the ways.” Columbia journalism review. May/June 2000.
<http://archives.cjr.org/year/00/2/censorship.asp> (16/05/05).

Lauterer, Jock. Community journalism, 39. Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 2000. Quoted in Kathy Bedford, “Regional press and community: the Ballarat courier.” Guidomedia La Trobe writers. 2002. <http://www.guidomedia.com/kathybedford.html> (14 March 2005).

McLachlan, Donna. “Lifelong learning: 10 April 2005- a historical overview: journalism and modernism.” ABC online. 2005. <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/learning/lifelong/stories/s1337908.htm> (6 April 2005).

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Murdoch, Lindsay. “Heroin cartel tied to Bali nine.” The Age. 9 May 2005. Sec. News, p. 1.

Schultz, Loralie. “More than a local rag: the social role of rural newspapers.” Guidomedia. 2003.
<http://www.guidomedia.com/loralieschultz.html> (14 March 2005).

Smith, Ron F. and Loraine M. O'Connell. Editing today. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State Press, 2003.

The Age

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<http://www.about.theage.com.au/view_circulation.asp> (9 May 2005).

Roeh, Itzhak. “Journalism as storytelling, coverage as narrative.” The American behavioural scientist 33 (1989): pp. 162-168.

Zbar, Jeffrey D., 30 April 2001. “Papers tackling sprawl.” Advertising age, S6. Database on-line. Available from ProQuest.

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