The Daily Mirror

The Daily Mirror was founded in 1903. Originally the paper was made for a female audience. Over time this has changed and The Daily Mirror now looks like your average tabloid newspaper. Looking at statistics from the rate card, the male readership is higher than the female readership. However the newspaper is still women friendly, and attacks the female reader. For instance there is no page 3, unlike The Sun. On the third page of the Mirror there is usually a story based on a female celebrity figure. I have often seen images of Pippa and Kate Middleton on the third page. There is a dominant ideological idea focused around fashion and idolising famous people. However these figures are representing women positively and reflect the interests of female readership. On the front page today in the ‘win, free, sex’ section there is no sport, unlike many other tabloid newspapers.

The Mirror is divided into two sections, main news stories and features. I think this paper edges towards looking like a magazine which links back to the demographic audience. It can be said that the amount of actual news within the Mirror is limited. As this is shown by the balance of serious news and celebrity news. There are scheduled news stories however you can find an irrelevant story on the same page, opposing the serious nature of the paper. There can be a story based on a murder trial on one side of the page and this can be opposed with a different story based on a celebrity. The main news stories are sensationalised and use ‘vox pox’ material. For example the story on how youth unemployment has risen focused on hearing what young people had to say, using images and interviews.

The features are separated into sub categories. There is a beauty section, your life section, health section, television and also an agony aunt section. The features are light hearted and engrossed by celebrity culture.  They are visibly interesting and reflect the layout found in magazines. The clothes used in the ‘fashion clinic’ are affordable high street fashion. This reflects the C1 C2 and DE demographic audience that the paper targets towards.

Although the male readership is higher than the female readership, the paper is strategic to insure that the female audience is satisfied. A focus around sex and relationships is a dominant idea throughout the paper. ‘I had sex off Patz’ and ‘Single life’s all white, eh?’ are examples of the type of sub headings found in the features section. The language is colloquial and chatty which reflects the way the target audience may speak. The non-grammatical expressions used such as ‘eh’ and ‘eurgh’ lower the tone.

Readers also have the chance to send letters about their relationship and family issues to celebrity figures such as Coleen Nolan and Jeff Brazier. This type of ‘question and answering’ feature is consistent throughout the features. These celebrity figures, that supposedly write back, have no specialist training in counselling. The fact that they are celebrities gives them this high status that readers find appealing.