Radio - Comparative Essay (Radio 1 vs Radio X)

Radio X and Radio 1 are radio shows that are drastically different in terms of their audience, advertising and funding.
While the Radio 1 Breakfast show is hosted by Nick Grimshaw, Radio X features hosts such as Chris Moyles, Johnny Vaughan, Gordon Smart, Jack Saunders, Dan O'Connell, Toby Tarrant. They also feature Russell Brand as a comedy broadcaster. Chris Moyles has been argued to be fairly offensive in the past (as well as Russell Brand) however he has a large fan base of adults from other works such as being a previous host on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. Sometimes Radio X is advertised as the Chris Moyles Show in order to attract these audiences.

Radio X broadcasts playlists and songs such as Foo Fighters, U2, Green Day, Kasabian and Green Day. This is drastically different from the music broadcasted by the Radio 1 Breakfast show which consists of pop artists such as Zayn Malik, Ed Sheeran, Sia and others such as Harry Styles. Radio 1's music will as a result appeal to younger audience's as opposed to Radio X due to the fact that teenagers will be involved with social media and may prefer uplifting music due to the escapism needs.

Radio One has a Public Broadcasting Service, meaning that it broadcasts for the public's needs rather than purely for commercial benefit. It achieves this through its remit, which states that the BBC will 'inform, educate and entertain'. Radio X on the other hand is funded by the commercial aspect, and often represents advertisements that may be considerably stereotypical towards men. For example, "win big with Radio X & Greene King", an advertisement that features a photo of beer. This would typically appeal to men as alcohol is associated with men.

Radio One is funded through a licence and tax, roughly equating to 40p a day for each household. This funding is evidently most effective due to the fact that in one month Radio 1 plays over 3,200 tracks compared to the roughly 200 by capital. This means that Radio 1 are able to reach more audiences through a wider range of music throughout the day, and therefore will be able to appeal to most 15-29 year olds.

Print Media - Big Issue Essay (Representation of Poor) 500 words

70% of print media are politically right-wing, meaning that the mainstream media tend to view the working class as lazy and undeserving, and sometimes even present an 'underclass', those who depend on benefits instead of working. Theorists such as Butsch (1992) claim that the working class are portrayed as flawed individuals. Tabloids such as the Daily Mail create stereotypes of the working class through headlines such as '75% of incapacity claimants are fit to work', implying that the benefit system is cheated by the 'underclass'. This causes readers to feel little sympathy for the working class, and as a result creates the stereotype that they do not deserve to be helped as they are idle and lazy. Like the Daily Express, the Daily Mail tries to appear more upmarket and respectable than the red-top British tabloids though it does sometimes go in for the full front-page picture or headline characteristic of the populist rags. It is also notorious for its frequent harassment of individuals, campaigns of hate directed at various minorities (focusing on Muslims), and willfully deceiving and lying to its readers.

The Big Issue is one of the 30% of left-wing print media, a street newspaper which uses homeless citizens as its vendors, paying them £47.10 a week which is below the minimum earnings threshold of £153 a week (introduced by the DWP in March 2014). It presents the working class in a more positive light compared to other print media, using the Street Cat named Bob as an ambassador for homelessness on issue 1273, and associating with important figures such as Muhammed Yunis in issue 1277. Yunis is known for being a pioneer of the microcredit concept, and the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The Big Issue uses the slogan 'a hand up not a handout' which links to Yunis' microcredit concept as it encourages the 'underclass' to work and pay back their loan, until eventually they no longer need to borrow money. Muhammed Yunis believes this method is more successful and useful than charities due to the fact that donations may not encourage someone to become a working citizen, and with loans they have a reason to give back to society. 

While 25% of the Big Issue's vendors are Romanian, red top tabloids such as the Sun are releasing headlines such as 'Draw a red line on immigration or else'. Inside the paper, an editorial demanded action and said Britain was being "overwhelmed" by migrants. The front cover was labelled as xenophobic and caused some controversy due to the sensationalism. 

The Big Issue also represents the working class vastly differently from the broadsheet newspaper 'Guardian', which states that 'Homelessness could spread to middle class, study warns'. Although James Bowen stated on the One Show that homelessness has more than doubled since 2010, the Big Issue uses his success story to present homelessness as something that can be fixed, providing hope for those that are considered to be the 'underclass'. 

Print Media - Big Issue Essay (Money for Good)

The magazine cover uses cover lines in order to represent the poor in a way that reflects the Big Issue's values. For example, the Big Issue helps those in poverty by allowing those on the street to become 'vendors' for the company. This is reflected in the inclusion of Muhammad Yunus, pioneer of the microcredit concept and founder of the Grameen bank in Bangladesh. Yunus believes that microcredits are more beneficial to the poor and begging than charities due to the fact that they work in order to pay back the non-interest loan, eventually paying back all borrowed money and being working citizens. Yunus won a joint nobel peace prize for his actions, which the Big Issue associate with on a large scale. Yunus appears to agree with the Big Issue's slogan 'a hand up not a handout', as he believes micro credits are a more encouraging method and a better alternative to charities (although charities are still a good institution). These views link with theorists such as Butsch (1992) who stated that working class are portrayed as flawed individuals, as the Big Issue clearly tries to tackle this problem within the media by representing the poor through big figures such as Yunus and Paolo Nutini.
As well as this, some other cover lines present the issues with poverty. For example, 'After Brexit, will the poorer be better off?'. Brexit is a British issue which has created moral panic in the media for a lot of people, and therefore the mention of it being positive may appear fairly controversial to certain audiences. However, an article from the Brookings states that it is estimated that Grocery bills will fall by £27 a week while rents also tumble as land values drop. The low-paid will get a £12-a-week wage boost as fewer immigrants compete for jobs. Estimates such as like this support the Big Issue's ethics as it provides hope for those who are struggling and means that it will become easier for the homeless vendors to find proper jobs. However, other studies such as those from CNN believe that the number of children living in poverty in the UK will spike to around 30% over the next five years because of government welfare cuts as a result of Brexit. 
Another cover line, featuring Paolo Nutini, addresses 'urban renewal' in reference to Paisley. Paisley is an area in Scotland that used to be rich,  but has recently found itself to be an urban deprived area. An article from the Independent state that it is suggested that dying early is 20 per cent more likely for those who live in the northern areas of the country.  Schools in northern areas receive less funding that their southern counterparts, while schoolchildren in the north have fallen behind by the age of five. Schools in the south-east are also sending nearly 50 per cent more students to Oxbridge than the national average. Paolo Nutini is arguably the biggest artist from Scotland, and therefore his presence on the Big Issue is important in spreading awareness of the inequality. 

The media language of the front cover presents the issues of money in a positive light, using analogous colours to make it stand out to readers. The main colour used is green, a colour which has connotations with making the world a better place. This relates to the skyline which reads 'the only way is ethics', denoting that the Big Issue want to improve certain issues, particularly related to poverty. The masthead reads 'money for good' and is presented as large, centred and white. This makes it clear to the audience what the topics of the issue are surrounding and therefore relates to its target audience. The use of sanserif font could portray how attitudes towards money and the poor are changing, and how the Big Issue do not have a traditional or conservative mindset on particular issues.

Print Media - Big Issue Essay (Big in Japan)

The media language presented on the front cover of The Big Issue, 'Bob Big in Japan' presents the topic of homelessness in a positive light compared to other newspapers and companies, presenting Bob and his owner James as counter types to homelessness. James Bowen appeared as a guest on the One Show, notifying people of the current issues as it is claimed that the numbers of homeless people have more than doubled since 2010, and 41% say that drugs or are in recovery. The homeless charity known as 'Shelter' represents this issue in a negative way, including images such as sad children with the option to donate. This contrasts greatly with this magazine cover, as it uses Barthes' semantic code to create a saturated background, showing that homelessness can be helped, as homeless people are not all lazy citizens and therefore a counter stereotype to the mainstream media.

The composition creates a formal mode of address due to Bob being placed in the centre, taking up the majority of the cover. Bob being photoshopped to a larger scale, the size of buildings, connotes the idea that he is very important and successful in Japan. The intertextual reference of him being larger than Godzilla represents how Bob has become a celebrity figure, suggesting that he is even more famous than a classic character from a blockbuster film. This may be due to the fact that Japanese culture is known to think very highly of cats, particularly because they are cute and easy to clean as pets. Cats are also revered for giving good luck and other positive results, which links to the representation of a counter type of homelessness in The Big Issue.
High-key lighting is used in order to create a positive mood, implying that this is the effect that Bob has on others. This further creates Bob and his owner a countertype to homelessness, as it would never be expected for a homeless person (who is lazy in the right-wing view) to be a public figure.
The typeface used on the cover suggests further than Bob is important, due to it being the masthead - and therefore the largest and boldest text presented. The use of saturated colours such as pink on the masthead 'Big in Japan' creates the effect that this article is positive and will therefore appeal to the needs of entertainment and escapism. There are a number of intertextual references throughout the front cover, including the use of pink text which symbolises Japanese pop culture due to their high appreciation for blossom trees, representing the beauty of life. This links in with the Street Cat Named Bob as life could've gone very badly for both him and his owner James, however they were very lucky which in itself is a counter type to homelessness representation in the mainstream media. The font used is sanserif, more modern than serif font, which creates the impression that Bob is the new icon of homelessness. It also causes audiences to become intrigued as to why Bob is so 'big' as there is no explanation.

The Big Issue represent homeless in a fairly positive light, with the use of the cover line 'The street adventure continues', creating a positive connotation of street life as adventure suggests excitement. This relates to how it is possible to fix the issue of homelessness, and doesn't stereotype the working class in a negative way. However, mainstream media including the Daily Mail create headlines such as '75% of incapacity claimants are fit to work', implying that the working class are lazy and dependent on the welfare system (underclass) - causing the public to have no sympathy for the homeless. As well as this, the Daily Mail have also published the following headline, 'vile product of welfare UK' following a photo of single parent with multiple children. This creates the impression that the 'underclass' abuse the rights of the welfare state to be lazy, and therefore do not deserve donations. This relates to the theory by Newman (2006), who argues that working class are depicted as dumb and immature in the media. The Big Issue are a left-wing paper, supportive of the working class, and therefore their representation of the homeless act as a counter stereotype to this theory. The use of the slogan 'a hand up not a handout' acts as a counter type to other homelessness representation as it implies that they are helping homeless people to become working citizens, rather than just giving donations.