Two contemporary front covers of The Observer and the front covers of:
The Observer 30 October 1966
The Observer 6 November 1966
The Observer 20 October 1968
One complete contemporary print edition of The Observer
We study newspapers in relation to
Media Industries, Language, Representations, Social, cultural, political and historical contexts.
Read the OCR guide- allow time for this as it will take you time! Open the link (left) and scroll down to the guide below:
Read the OCR guide- allow time for this as it will take you time! Open the link (left) and scroll down to the guide below:
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| FIND THE GUIDE ON THE OCR WEBSITE: NEWS (PRINT AND ONLINE) |
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| READ THE GUIDE |
Online, social and participatory media : The Observer/Guardian website and social media
The Observer was (and still is) a quality broadsheet newspaper with a focus on hard news as information.
Rather than sensationalist articles or 'human interest' stories, it has traditionally reflected its readers interest in hard news, international events, social justice, difficult issues. However, the front pages of The Observer 1960s editions also clearly reflect the social, cultural, political and historical contexts of the time.
• ‘Lawyers will urge divorce by consent’ – an example of the
social reform of the 1960s, the law commission (staffed only
by men) is recommending divorce by consent – a change
that made it much easier for people, mostly women, to get
divorced – a move to greater gender equality. • ‘Wilson-Brown market clash’ – reflects the political context that relations with Europe were contentious in the 1960s, as today.
• ‘So polite, this North Sea Spy Game’, ‘Yard suspects Blake used two-way radio’, ‘America accused of spy frame-up’ – reflect the prevalence of spy stories in the 1960s Cold War historical context. The influence of the Cold War is also shown in the articles about the Vietnam war – ‘Hopes rise for cease-fire in Vietnam’ and, indirectly, ‘Police will appease marchers’, which also reflects the rise of protest in the 1960s, including ‘militant Marxists’.
• ‘Jackie: we’re very happy’ – reflects a patriarchal context in which women are most often defined in terms of their relationship with men; here the dead US President’s wife makes a controversial second marriage. The front pages are characterised by the absence of women, e.g. one front page has only one reference to women – a photograph of a woman illustrating an article about knitted fashion.
