analysis and justification of my creative choices in my mock-up NEA + improvements

ANALYSIS AND JUSTIFICATION OF MY CREATIVE CHOICES

In the Mock-Up NEA task we were assigned during the week, I chose to create a newspaper cover in the style of ‘The Guardian’. I looked through all my research I had already accumulated of ‘The Guardian’ and looked at many Guardian covers online via Paperboy’s website – this then allowed me form initial ideas of what I wanted to create. 

I began with the masthead, identical to ‘The Guardian’s’ widely recognised font style, and block blue background with the date and price for readers to view. I included an article about Royals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle alongside an image of the pair, to entice readers by catching the eyes of royal fans. I also included entertainment news about Ricky Gervais’ ‘iconic’ Golden Globes speech – regarding current political issues so it was relevant to the main article. 

A theory which had major influence on the events I chose to include were Galtung and Ruge’s News Values, reflected through the articles displayed on the front cover. The main article covered the Iranian plane crash with the headline, ‘Iran plane crash: 176 killed by accident, Western Officials believe’- this mainly adhered to Galtung and Ruge’s news values of proximity, elite nations/regions, menaningfulness negativity and unexpectedness. This was a largely unexpected event, amongst the already frequently reported Iranian and USA tension – so it is more likely to evoke pathos from readers at the severity and negativity of this tragedy, and those who have been following the news for the past few weeks. The main image would also successfully evoke sympathy and a strong emotional response from readers as it depicts Iranian volunteers cleaning up debris from the tragic event, a raw uncensored image of what is really happening in the world around us. Within the main article I detailed the factual evidence of what had happened, for readers to gain some more information about the event. I also wrote about the responses given by political leaders, especially those of Donald Trump and Iranian authorities because of the current increasing tensions between the two countries. I believe this could also adhere to Gerbner’s ‘Mean World’ syndrome, as this is an extremely negative issue and may make readers confirm their belief that the Iranian government may have been willing to sacrifice 176 innocent individuals, for political gain and as retaliation to what the US had done to them. However, it could also encourage the public to desire peace and to become more politically aware within society and international politics.

However, I would improve the overall layout of my front page as it is not spaced out in the way that I would have preferred, because I had some blank space and decided to fill it up with an out of place barcode due to time constraints. I would also have spent more time looking for a more authentic looking font, similar to ‘The Guardian’s’, in order to make it look more realistic.