Mail Online Case Study

1) What are the top five stories? Are they examples of soft news or hard news?
The top 5 stories featured on the MailOnline homepage:


  • Jamal Khashoggi murder Saudi Crown Princes bodyguard murder suspect- Hard News
  • A couple given just one-week dig flower beds spent nearly 30 years cultivating- Soft News

  • Animals are rescued from 'zoo from hell'- Soft News

  • Vodafone Network described shambles- Soft News
  • Nick Boles reveals workable Brexit plan- Hard News
2) What celebrity content is featured?
Some of the celebrity content featured includes:

  • Piers Morgan being pied on Good Morning Britain
  • Lily Allen wearing a seethrough dress
  • Girls Aloud member saying she was never friends with Cheryl Cole, despite being her bridesmaid.
  • Meghan Markle hugging a little boy


3) What examples of ‘clickbait’ can you find?
"How finger length could reveal your sexuality"

4) To what extent do the stories you have found on MailOnline reflect the values and ideologies of the Daily Mail newspaper?
The stories I have seen portray similar right wing, conservative ideologies that the newspaper has.

5) Think about audience appeal and gratifications: why is MailOnline the most-read English language newspaper website in the world? How does it keep you on the site?
The never ending scrolling is a factor as to why "MailOnline" is the most read newspaper website due to the fact that it means you can always be reading a different news story. In addition to this, the so called "side-bar of shame" provides the celebrity gossip that people may like from tabloid newspapers.

Guardian column: So Daily Mail and Mail Online are ‘totally separate’? It depends how you look at it by Peter Preston

Read this Guardian column by Media veteran Peter Preston on a row between the Guardian and the Mail over the controversial MailOnline (ex-) columnist Katie Hopkins. Answer the following questions:

1) Why does Preston suggest that the Daily Mail and MailOnline should be considered to be basically the same publication?
This is because similar stories are seen in the newspaper version, as well as mail online.

2) How does Preston summarise other newspaper websites?
The Suns website is describes as "Bun" and The Mirrors "a slight exploration of the print version," suggesting that neither of these are great.
 3) How many readers does the online-only Independent now boast?
19 Million readers

4) Do you feel the Daily Mail and MailOnline have a different ‘world view’?

I believe that they have a different view compared to other newspapers as not many other are as right wing and proud about it.

5) Do you see a future for the paper version of the Daily Mail or will it eventually close like the Independent?

In the short term (5-20 years) yes, although in the long term (35 years+) I see newspapers like Daily Mail going website only.

Factsheet 182 - Case Study: The Daily Mail (Part 3) Industrial Context

1) What do Curran and Seaton suggest regarding the newspaper industry and society?

Curran and Seaton suggest that Newspapers should appeal to its audience in order to gain readership which doesn't always happened due the nature of newspapers, that they can be seen as propaganda tools sometimes.

2) Curran and Seaton acknowledge that media ownership in the UK is dominated by what kind of company?

Ownership is dominated by Media Conglomerates

3) What does the factsheet suggest regarding newspaper ownership and influence over society?

The factsheet suggests that newspapers can be used as propaganda almost in order to influence readers, perhaps to vote for certain political parties. Newspapers were owned by aristocrats as well.

4) Why did the Daily Mail invest heavily in developing MailOnline in the 2000s?

This is because the owner at the time saw that rise of the internet and realised that soon print would be a dying industry.

5) How does MailOnline reflect the idea of newspapers ‘as conversation’?

Conversations can spew in comments of articles, allowing people to interact with each other and lets us see competing views.

6) How many stories and pictures are published on MailOnline?

Around 1000 stories, but 10,000 pictures.

7) How does original MailOnline editor Martin Clarke explain the success of the website?

The homepage is edited to appeal to the wider readership and what they are reading. This is because they can view audience interaction and adjust the homepage accordingly.

8) What does it mean when it says readers are in control of digital content?

The amount of clicks, i.e. how many views an article gets, controls the homepage of a newspaper magazine.

9) How is the priority for stories on the homepage established on MailOnline?

The most popular stories will remain at the top for 5 minutes, and then it will change.

10) What is your view of ‘clicks’ driving the news agenda? Should we be worried that readers are now ‘in control of digital content’?

In some respect yes, this is due to the fact that sometimes an audience doesn't know what it wants, meaning you have to provide the important stories an occurrence that a soft news story rises to the top is likely.

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