Semiotic Analysis

Semiotic analysis of Yorkshire Evening Post front cover
The Yorkshire evening post starts straight away in giving a neutral, conservative representation of the Yorkshire area, by having a blue masthead. This suggests the paper is trying to keep a broad appeal. The rose in the masthead gives a feeling of Yorkshire pride, and the paper is showing off that it’s from Yorkshire.
The website under the masthead shows that the paper is up to date and modern, plus this is a valuable source of further information. The date next to this is very important, the customer needs to know if they are buying the paper for the correct day, this should always be included on the front cover.
The blue banner with the large ‘WIN’ attracts readers to the paper and the competition, the colour and the large bold font really stand out against the rest of the plain newspaper. The red text underneath connotes danger, which is backed up by the “shock”. This attracts people to the story as it stands out on the page.
The headline for the main article is a pun, as the story is about funding cuts on repairing roads, puns in headlines are used to make the story standout. They also give a light hearted edge to a more serious story. The seriousness of the story is shown in the big text size chosen for the headline, this makes it more dramatic. The image of the young girl makes the paper seem family focused and concerned with issues that effect all ages. Finally the advert at the bottom the local advertisement shows that the paper supports regional companies, this could create a broader appeal.
The layout of the front cover is traditional and conventional, there is no colourful headlines written in bubble writing and there are no comedy headlines, this means the paper come across as serious and trustworthy.


Analysis of second page
Both the main articles on the second page have been continued from the front page, this is so people buy the paper and keep on reading from the front page, it also means the longest articles in the paper can be broken up and given more space. This makes them easier to read. The other articles are quite small and don’t take up much space. They also don’t draw focus from the main, and slightly more important articles. The articles are split up with thin lines to make sure there is no confusion between the articles. Finally the images continue the idea of representing a happy, and diverse community.











Semiotic analysis of Harrogate Advertiser front cover
Like the Yorkshire Post, the advertiser is trying to keep a conservative look with a blue masthead. This means the paper can have a broad appeal, and not only appeal to certain people. “voice of the town since 1836” on the mast head shows that the paper is for the people of Harrogate and tries to report on issues that only effect them. This is like the rose on the Yorkshire post, it is trying to make the paper personal to Harrogate citizens. The website URL and the small section explaining the online exclusive content is showing that the paper is up to date and modern, this will help the paper appeal to a larger audience as lots of people have access to the Internet.
The main photo on the front cover goes with a article about the Majestic hotel re opening after a fire, the images shows the smiling staff outside the building. The smiling people makes the newspaper seem more friendly but also represents the paper’s focus on the Harrogate community, and is trying to show them grouping together even after a fire. This and other human interest articles balance more depressing hard news, such as deaths and job losses. For example the the main article on the front page is about a motor bike crash that ended in a death, the headline used the adjective 'grim' to describe the death toll of bikers who've died in crashes, this makes it sound very serious and that the crashes were quite gruesome. The Advertiser is using the idea that bad news is good news to try and sell more papers, as consumers like to read about tragedy just as much as light hearted news. This composition will help sell more copies.
The small section about the newspaper being made from recycled paper is another step the newspaper will have taken to appeal to a wider audience as some people will only buy things that are environmentally friendly, plus this makes Ackrill media group look good in general.
The layout of the front cover is traditional and conventional, there is no colourful headlines written in bubble writing and there are no comedy headlines, this means the paper come across as serious and trustworthy.

Second page
The main value that this page addresses is composition, the types of articles are well balanced between hard news, human interest and entertainment. Different people like to read different types of articles, so it is important to have the mix. The photos are again bright with smiling people, and show the vibrancy of the community, the image of the inside of the hotel also show a hint of the wealth that there is in Harrogate, so represents the town accurately.