Action Plan

My questionnaire results have shown me that rock was the most popular genre that teenagers prefer to read about, closely followed by Rap/R&B, therefore i have chosen to stick with my initial chosen genre which is Rap. Also my target audience will be teenagers as this was what my results shown me was the most popular age group. i will also relate it more towards males than females as again my results shown me that the majority of people who read music magazines where male.  
I am going to create a Rap/R&B based magazine as this although is not the most popular genre it is still very popular. The reason i have not chosen Rock is because as it is the most popular and after doing some research i have found that there are lots of Rock based magazines already on the market which will result in lots of competition, i also looked up the amount of Rap and R&B based magazines that are currently on the market and i discovered that there are very little. Taking all this in to account that it why i have chosen to stick with Rap/R&B. My results have also shown me that i will have to include exclusive interviews as this was the main reason why teenagers read music magazines, although including this i will have to keep it relevant and appealing to my target audience.

Cohen's Moral Panic

Cohen's Moral Panic is when an intense feeling is expressed through the media. This leads to threathening the social order and enforcing and promoting certain types of behaviour etc. Examples of this is people on the cover of music magazines (NME,Kerrang,Vibe).



XXL Front Cover



Images such as the one to the right are an example of this as Chris Brown, most commonly for his assault of Pop Star and ex girlfriend Rihanna, publishing this artist on the front cover of a magazine could be seen to be promoting or justifying this behaviour as if it is acceptable.

Magazine's writers and producers often publish the current and most popular artisits on their front covers regardless of behaviour or reputation as they simply want to make money, and publishing covers with artisits such as Chris Brown on they will do so as people will want to read this.

Folk Devils



Pete Dohery (NME)

Folk devil is a person or group of people who are portrayed in folklore or the media as outsiders and deviant, and who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems.

e.g. Pete Doherty who's immage is portrayed in the media as someone who abuses drugs and ok about it. This could promote this sort of behaviour as it shown in the media as it a good thing to do as various musical artists and other people in the media are doing so.



College Magazine

Who is the target audience?
The target audience is students both male and female more between the age of 15- 18, as they may be looking to go to sixth form or may be in sixth form and want to get information about it. As it is a magazine for a college then it may appeal to teachers and staff who work at this specific school as they may want to know information about the school just as much as the students.

How do you know who the target audience is?
With the magazine being from a school, it is obvious that the main focus would be the students and possibly the teachers. Therfore the parents will also be intrested in the magazine as they want to see whats going on in the school and how the students are getting on. The teachers will probably already know most of the information in their but they still may want to read just for extra information and it is more likely that the students willl produce the magazine so they may want to see how well they are doing creating the magazine.

How does it engage the audience?
As this cover is very plain it doesnt really suggest much and personally i dont think it would appeal to the audience. Also the font is very basic and straightforward and the layout is very simple. i would have been more creative with the cover and used font and a layout which would appeal to the readers. However as they have used images which are relavent to the school/College so therfore then this will catch the students eye as the image is relavent to them.

What is the ideology of the college from the front cover?
On the cover, there are two stories, one about an award to one of the pupil and the other article is about a tragedy in the community. This cover appeals to the students as they will want to see what it says about the student as they may know the student. also the other article some student/staff may not know about the tradgedy within the community, therfore they will more likely want to know about it.

What do they consider important?
By looking at this cover the main thing that i would say that would be considered important is the students achievments as they have placed a large image with large text, which shows that it is important as they want to encourage their students to do well.

Questionare Results

My results show that the majority of people who read music magazines are male aged 15-18, however they also show there where more people who don't read magazines apposed to people that do.
Out of the people who read magazines; 70% of them purchase magazines monthly and the remaining 30% weekly, therefore it shows that monthly magazines are more popular.
My results also show that the most popular music genre was 'Rock' and the least popular being 'Dance'.
According to my results what seems to appeal to people in music magazines is the exclusive interviews.
The price people are willing to pay for magazines varied but what seems to be the ideal price for a music magazine is £3-£4.
In conclusion to this, i will use these results and apply them to my production taking into account the price people are willing to pay for a magazine, the most popular genre and the frequency the magazine is released to ensure success.

NME Institution Research

In lesson we watched the history of the NME and this is a summery of what ive found out...



First Cover of NME





• First Issue was published on 7th March 1952.

• NME stands for New Musical Express.

• Initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint.

• In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.

• In 1972 the paper found itself on the verge of closure by its owners IPC (who had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963).

• In the mid 1980's NME was again faced with the fear of closure when they begin to publish Hip-Hop articles and moved away from Rock. sales apparently dropped because of this as Hip-Hop was relativley new to the UK.

• The start of 1990 NME where back on their feet and found themselves in the centre of the 'Madchster' scene and began covering new British Indi bands.

• In 2000 Steve Sutherland left to become Brand Director of the NME. He replaced as editor by writer Ben Knowles.

• In May 2008 the magazine received a redesign, aimed at an older readership with a less poppy, more authoritative tone. The first issue of the redesign featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single.

Feminism in the Media

As perspective for looking at media texts, feminists would see most media output as being the product of a patriarchal or male dominated order aimed at disempowering women.

Feminism was the response to society's assumptions that women should be subservient to men. until the emergence of feminism women were treated almost as objects, passive agents in a male world. 

In reference to this magazine (left) Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze as constructing audience expectations of film as she is wearing barely any clothes and men will see this as something to look at, objectification, she is portrayed as an object.