The Times set-text Analysis

What is 'The Times'?

The Times newspaper is a British national ‘quality’ newspaper first published in 1785. The Times has been published by Times Newspapers since 1981, a subsidiary of News UK, wholly owned by News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s company. This edition was published on March 13th, 2019, after Theresa May had encountered another Commons defeat over her Brexit proposals. The Times is famous for having a range of journalists with varied political viewpoints which allows the newspaper to offer a more neutral political stance on Brexit negotiations.

Text provided by the exam board - EDUQAS!

Rupert Murdoch 😂😂😂

• An Australian-born American 'media mogul'  (He's extremely successful.) and the founder of 'News Corp' which was essentially a multi-national media corporation.
• Murdoch acquired a number of Australian and new Zealand based newspapers before expanding his reach to the UK in 1969, namely purchasing the tabloids 'News of the World' and 'The Sun' - Before going to then move on to New York City to expand even further- Ironically enough by 1981 he'd come to purchasing 'The Times' , now reeling in the profit of both sides of the coin within any given argument or mindset. (Two major UK tabloid/ Broadsheet papers simultaneously.)
• Murdoch also happened to create 'Sky' in 1990s- Going to own over 800 companies across 50 countries with a giant net worth of over 5 billion dollars. (Though now as of 2018 stands at 20.1 billion USD,  the 34th richest person in the United States and the 96th in the entire world.

What the hell is Brexit?

• Brexit is the term for the pain painstakingly long (br)exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union after a 2016 referendum saw 51.9 % of those liable to vote seeking to leave.
• The exit itself has constantly seen set-backs and delays over three times at this point leading it to now be held on the 31st of January 2020.

In depth analysis

• Point of view and ideology
   - The Times' point of view is immensely left-wing leaning, with their ideology primarily following the values of the left-wing mentality and nature.
• Layout and design-
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• Composition – positioning of headlines, images, columns, combination of storiesThe paper establishes that it prioritises political discussion over other subject matter such the Cheltenham Festival and other moreso casual topics in the 'In The News' column which takes up a minority of the page's space at the bottom. - 
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus-
  The primary image on the page is a close up shot of Theresa May, the front-on angle implying a relatively neutral stance upon May as it isnt a low angle to present her as powerful, nor is it from above to make her seem fragile. - It is simply a closeup from the front with all of it's focus upon May, its a simple way to visually communicate that the article is primarily concerned with events relating to her in some way... The photo isnt particularly flattering for May either, its 
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif)Serif typefaces are used for the logo and headline, this choice in font leads The Times to be be presumed to be traditional rather than modern, as well as formal rather than casual.
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up Graphics, logosThe logo is done in done in a formal font, the lines used upon the typeface are sharp to communicate the supposed sharp and to the point nature that 'The Times' wants to present itself having,
  No colour is used in the logo, this helps establish that The Times is a broadsheet paper rather than a red-top tabloid or any other potential variant.
  Their logo uses the line of 'dieu et mon droit' which translates to 'God and my right.' the motto of United Kingdom's monarchy- Immediately this implies that The Times holds traditional values and a loyalty to ways of old, it lends to the fact that they're most likely not inclined to bend or break on new fresher opinions on most subject matters that their paper writes on.
  The logo also takes the rest of the British monarchy logo with the lion, unicorn and shield. 
•  
• Lexis-
• Copy- 
• Anchorage (images)-
• Anchorage (captions)-
• Narrative
  'Driven to despair' alongside a extensively large image of the then Conservative prime minister Theresa May presents her in a negative light and creates of narrative of her on a implied downwards spiral. - It paints a picture of her at a loss. - This helps emphasise The Time's place on the political compass as left-wing and in direct opposition towards the Conservative government; This is incredibly important to take into consideration as to bias as so on when reading through their papers.
• Target audience and audience positioning-
  The Times seems to search for a target audience in the middle class and upper middle class for the most part, not concerned with the lower class who are more inclined towards purchasing a tabloid like 'The Sun' (Even though Murdoch owns that anyways so what does it matter-) or the upper class who for the most part of more than likely pro-Conservative and in favour of a broadsheet aligned with the values of such rather than The Times.
• Proairetic codes-
  We see 'Yes 242' and 'No 391' these numbers act upon the implication of a vote of some kind happening, with a change expected of such due to it... But for the viewer to understand as to what these numbers mean they'd have to read over the body text and the bulk of the article. - It helps to draw them in, therefore I suppose it also acts as a hermeneutic code in that respect due to the level of mystery it presents.
• Hermeneutic codes-
• Symbolic codes-
  The lion in The Times' logo is deeply knitted as a symbol of the monarchy, royalty and finally of power, being the supposed king of the animals. - This reiterates that The Times thinks highly of itself and prides itself upon it's commitment to all of the above. Aside from magic and wonder, the unicorn present in the logo is also symbolic of bestowing wisdom, miracles and the likes to 'those who are pure of heart and virtuous in their deeds' according to Google, more qualities much like the lion's that The Times would like their viewership to think their paper holds. This also others those that they put in a negative light (Ala Theresa May) implying any in opposition to The Times are simply not inclined to hold any of the values usurped by the symbolic animals they keep synonymous with their name upon their logo.
• Referential codes/intertextualityWithin this specific set-text image, we can see referential codes to the Cheltenham Festival, to Brexit, The Bank Of England, etc.