Digest 2! An analysis on layout of three different news outlets

It is no mean feat to come up with news publications, be it in print or on the web. A good balance between visual and text layout is easy to comprehend yet hard to achieve and produce. Here is an analysis of three news outlets that I read regularly:

1. The Straits Times (Singapore's daily national newspaper)

• 4 main categories: Main, Home, Life!, and Classifieds.
• Main - world news
• Home - news within Singapore and news outside of Singapore that affects the country, and ends with sports news and obituaries
• Life! - soft news with entertainment value, movie show-times, movies and music reviews, and local TV guide
• Classifieds - recruitment advertisements, buy and sell, and public announcements
• Separate tabloid style newsletters on specified days in the week
• Advertisements - found on every page and presented with relevance to the nature of that particular news section and interests of the assumed reader
• Good balance in the elements of this paper - all types of news are made available, definitely some part of this newspaper that one might find informative and useful

2. TIME magazine (an international news outlet)

• Contents categorized into sections: World, Global Business, On The Cover (cover story), and Science.
• Magazine style layout
• Detailed news stories - two pages or more
• Style of the news reporting - like a story-telling session
• Lots of advertisements relating to IT solutions - witty and informative copy-writing
• Good balance between news and entertainment. Lesser news articles but often much more detailed and reports stories from all angles. Many articles are informative and enjoyable

3. http://www.channelnewsasia.com (a news website)

• Contents and categories similar to The Straits Times
• More news and less entertainment due to nature of it being a news outlet for quick scanning of important issues
• Advertisements disguised in the form of entertainment – colorful and interesting copywriting to induce ‘clicking’

Through my analysis I have come to realize that there is a preference for reading from different layouts depending on the individual. Here are my thoughts on some of the elements that influence readership:

1. Geographic location

• Determines the priority and importance of regional news in presentation in relation to the publisher’s country and readers
• Examples are economic development and political issues. Natural disasters such as typhoons and floods in neighboring countries will also be placed as news of priority when presented

2. Audience

• Determines presentation of news in the order that best suits the reader’s preference
• Elements of major influence are mainly readership demographics, cultural and social factors

3. Ownership

• Determines presentation of news in relation to the organization’s interests and direction
• Examples of issues that might influence bias or preference in news reporting will be political issues, as well as news reports about prominent professionals in an industry