Peter Cole on Newspapers

Reading Peter Cole’s articles in the Guardian, I found it interesting that he prefers to call broadsheet newspapers; serious papers. He says that broadsheet is now inaccurate for the majority but I don’t think serious is a good term to define the difference between tabloids and broadsheet. Surely all newspapers are published with the aim to be taken seriously by their audience in order to sell well.

It is clear broadsheets present stories more formally in comparison to tabloids and include stories which seem to have a greater affect on the public, for example a lot of governmental issues are covered rather than celeb scandals you’ll find in the Sun, but all these papers want to be taken seriously and want to be successful so include stories of public interest. Broadsheets such as the Guardian and the Times both have sections aimed at younger readers, such as G2 and Times2 which are filled with similar articles you are likely to find in the Sun or possibly even the Star, such as Big Brother gossip, celebs, sex surveys and fashion. These features are being published on a basis of seriousness in order to sell and gain a wider audience, therefore I’m not all too keen on the term ‘serious’.  

 What I found most interesting, reading through Peter Cole’s articles, was the information he gave about Sunday papers. I have often wondered if and why newspapers seem to be more of a hit on Sunday’s and after reading the articles, I now have more of an understanding.

Peter Cole says that we buy 11.7million national newspapers each weekday and 12.5million on Sundays. This means that compared to one weekday, newspaper sales are higher on a Sunday but I’ve never understood why. I seem to enjoy buying a newspaper each weekday morning so I know what’s happening in the world when I start my day. I’d have thought many people on a Sunday would spend the day at home, preparing the roast and watching Eastenders Omnibus, rather than waking up early and heading out to buy a paper (but that might just be me being stereotypical).

Peter Cole says Sunday newspapers are embedded in our culture, even if the nature of Sunday has dramatically changed. There is still an appetite for the long narrative read on the big news stories (I guess because there’s not much else to do on a Sunday). Politicians still like to launch or float policy ideas on Sundays.

Interestingly, he also says that Saturday quality papers are multi-section imitations of Sunday papers, with service sections such as personal finance, travel, property, and motoring often appearing in both. I found it interesting to know that these Saturday papers are vital for the dailies as they sell substantially more than Monday to Friday and boost the average sale. He claims a Saturday Telegraph or Times, Guardian or Independent, provides enough reading for the weekend but I can’t say I agree. I’m not so afraid to admit that after a busy week, I do enjoy a bit of sun gossip for the weekend.