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PRINT MEDIA PRODUCTION - SESSION 5- DISTRIBUTION & REGULATION

Paperboys, circa 1900, New York City
OK, so you've nearly finished the first criteria of the Print Media unit. You've told me about a Publisher, the products they bring out, the production process they go through to create their print products and who their target readership is, tabloid or broadsheet. We're nearly there.



As you can see the final bit of this criteria is about how Print Media Companies get their products TO US (i.e how do they distribute them) and what organisations keep an eye on what Print Media Companies are doing (regulation). This bit should be quite quick to do (one session) and because you can only get a pass on Criteria 1 doesn't need to be exhaustively detailed (although if you want to, feel free). Complete this part as follows.

1. Open up a new post. Call it 'Print Media Production: Distribution & Regulators'. 
Newsagents (or 'Newstand' as they were known) late 30s, NYC
2. Under a heading 'Distribution' tell me how the readers can access the newspaper. Can you buy it in shops? What kind of shops? Just newsagents or other shops too? Is it a free-newspaper that's distributed on buses or in shops?  Can you get the newspaper delivered? Can you access the content of the paper ONLINE through the papers' website, facebook page or twitter account? Go on the publishers' website - can you subscribe or get a subscription via there? Can you subscribe via the individual newspaper websites? Is any of the online content protected by a PAYWALL? Can you download an app for the paper that will be linked to a newsfeed on your phone or tablet? Try and make sure you include ALL the ways readers can access the paper's content. Also, in general -  why do you think newspaper subscriptions/sales are down at the moment? Do you think eventually all print media will be online?

3. Under the heading 'Regulation' tell me who IPSO are - who are they and what do they do? Can you link to the IPSO 'Editor's Code Of Practice? (if you can find it, simply paste in the link to the IPSO code and explain in one line what it's for). Crucially, point out that IPSO are the regulators of the print media industries and that everyone who works in the industry has to abide by their code of practice.


4. Tag your post 'PRINT MEDIA', 'DISTRIBUTION, and 'REGULATION'. Then publish it.

What you should end up with 
A post that details how publishers distribute their papers, and also who IPSO are and what they do.

How to improve your mark
So long as you follow the instructions above you'll hit the pass criteria and you can't improve your mark! However I would encourage you to have a dig around the IPSO site (recent rulings and the code in particular as well as the new rules they have up about social media) - THESE are the rules you'll be expected to follow when you're creating your own magazine

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