Unit 11 - Understanding the Print- Based Media Industries- Assignment 3

1. Financial

Sources of Income

Within the financial side of the print based media, there is an income in order to retain in order to make the businesses run in order to serve a purpose. By this they need to have different sources of income to manage this. The sources of income are, the advertising, this is something which the newspapers use in order to sell advertisement space to business and members of the public. The public will pay in order to advertise their products or information in the newspapers or magazines, by doing this adds more of an income to the business compared to their sales cost. Another beneficial way would be the cover price (the cost of sales of the magazines), this is the most effective source of income for the print based medias, as the sales of the newspapers and the magazines help in order to building up a profit for both the newspapers and the magazine companies. The business mainly relies on the job of sales in order to gain that important income.

Sources of Expenditure

This is the capital which the print based media companies spend, in order to maintain a good working and running business. There are many costs which the organisations take and use in order to maintain how it runs. In order for a print based media organisation to run, the businesses will need the staff in order to work and perform the roles which they may need to do, this is called staffing costs, this is mainly the wages and the salaries which are paid out to the staff in the organisation. there are different salaries for different roles and jobs in the business, meaning that this varies and there is no fixed cost. The next source of expenditure would be the cost of the equipment hire, in order to report news within the newspapers, the business must make sure the right equipment in used in order to create good newspapers, this could be the use of printing equipment, ink, camera's in order to gain images and also the equipment to bind the newspaper together. This could also include the distribution of the newspapers, this could include the vehicles which may transport the prints when they are ready for sales within their destinations, this is also along side the costs of the material costs, as the materials must be used in order to create something successful. Research and development is something which is a cost, due to the print based media in need of information from the news and research in order to add in the magazines and the newspapers, in order to do this comes with a cost, as transport, capital, time and planning goes into the research and development of a magazine. In order to make sure the newspaper get the right attention, the business will need to spend their money on their marketing, in order to make sure that this is advertised in order to make sure they are being promoted for sales.

Business Models

Within the print based media industry, there must be a business structure which is put into place in order to make the business run in a successful and effective way, this can be due to the sectioning of departments within the newspaper and magazines companies. This is a structure of what the business does and how it operates in a good way. This is an organisational structure of the departments, which is used within a typical print based media business within the production of the newspapers and the magazines.

Business Model

Financial Responsibilities & Budgeting

Within any business, including the print based media kind, financial responsibilities is something which must be controlled in order to make the business run in the correct way. Financial responsbilies are those which the business is responsible for paying, this could be money due, money spent on something to help the business, or this could be money which is owed for damage or repair for something. This is capital which needs to be there when the unexpected occurs. This means that the business will need to make sure there is a capital fund in order for the financial part of the business to be a success. This can be done by the business budgeting on their spending and buying off goods, this could be the putting money away after every month within their profit taking, and also this could be from the savings of the business. This could be used as a trust fund. When looking at budgeting, this would be an advantage in order to keep an eye on the profits and the businesses capital but is also there in order to keep that money incase of the unlikely events if anything were to occur. The business should prepare a budget in order to follow in order to make the financial state of the business safer. In order for the print based media business to prepare a budget, they should complete a template in order to secure a plan in order to follow and track, this can be done within a spreadsheet or with the use of an account online, there should be a target income cost which is set in order for the business to stick to and reach, this is to ensure that the business has a goal. In order to work from this the fixed costs of the business must be totalled in order to see what needs to be done, the total costs could be from the materials for the newspapers, the renters, salaries and the capital put into the research and stories of the news. Followed on by this the variable costs need to be determined in order to gain a clear idea of what needs to be put int place. Lastly the semi-variable costs need to be taken into consideration, aesthete needs to be considered as well, after the three costs have been totalled the print based media business, for example "The Sun", will then need to work out what could be cut down and what the business could budget the costs on in order to make sure the business has their budget to control and follow. This will help with the financial responsibility yet also the generalisation of the capital income.

Cost and Estimating

Within the business, there are going to be many costs in order to develop,prepare and create the magazines and newspapers in order to share the news and to gain a profit, by this the business needs to know about how much they are spending on what. The main costs are going to be the, advertisement of the magazines, e.g. TV commercials, salaries for the staff, equipment (printers, cameras etc), and also the transportation of the newspapers themselves and many more costs. As there are different roles of jobs within this industry there are many different paying salaries, for this I am going to be giving a generalisation of the average salaries. This is a salary table and graph of those which work within the publishing industry within the print based media, this is something which the business will need to pay out yearly, determined on how many workers they have.

Salary Cost & Estimate

Management and Reporting Systems 

A business such as 'The Sun', needs to make sure they keep an eye on their financial state in the form of record keeping of the systems which relate to the income and outcomes of the businesses capital. This is where the business should use record keeping.

Every business needs to ensure that they keep track of their records by law. There are many benefits to this, is that the business  will have the ability to keep an eye on the information yet also the finance of the business in order to keep track of the information in the business. This increases the accuracy of the information about the capital and the timings of the business, this keeps track of the inputs and outputs of what the business does, meaning that the business can keep an eye on making sure bills are paid once, this also ensures that everything is up to date, with knowing what is owed and what needs to be paid back at a certain time. Records within businesses need to be kept and retained for six years, as this is a time by law that they must be kept, even within a small business like my boutique. For example schools will keep ex students information for six years even after they have left, this is to enable anyone to get valuable information within that important time where documents and record will be needed. Important documents containing, cash books, spread sheets, sales and purchase ledger, wages, and accident records must be kept as this is information which the business needs to keep and check within a given period of time.

Break-Even Analysis

A break-even analysis is a chart and graph which shows and determines about where the both the business revenues and expenses equal and break even. This shows where the business has reached that point, this will show at what point the business will start to earn their own full profits. For example 'The Sun Newspaper' may need to sell 1,500 newspapers in order to make enough profit to beat the loss of the production costs, after they sell that many newspapers, 'The Sun' are able to start earning a profit. This could be at the end of a day of the release of the newspaper, this could vary. 

Break-Even Analysis 

2. Market Trends

Products and Services

Within any business there are always a product or a service which needs to be there in order for a business to sell something. The service of a print based media company is there to make sure that they provide the product of a newspaper in order to make sure that they sell the service of spreading the news.

Vision of an Organisation & Objectives and Goals of an Organisation

In order for a print based media business to gain success, they need to have their own targets and inspiration in order to know what the purpose of the business is and how to achieve this. Businesses will implement vision statements and mission statements in order to show off what they achieve to do, in order for their customers and the public to understand and invest in the newspapers which they may purchase. An example of a print based media's mission statement would be, 'The Sun', "SHOCK, AWE, AMAZE ON EVERY WEB, APP & PAGE". This is very powerful to the market as this is something which is very bold with the lettering, yet very short and start with the wording and it to the point. Within this everyone can see that they offer more than just a print based media newspaper, yet also the wide range of technology, this shows what the visions and missions are. This is 'The Suns' objective in order for them to stick by and to live through the success of the business, this is something which is set as a goal. Alike to other businesses, they will have their own internal goals and objectives which they may set inside the business to the team, in order for them to work to something as an achievement, this could be from a goals and objective in a week to one which is annually.

Competitors & Target Audience

Competition is something which is going to be there for every company and every print based media organisation, this is something which organisations within this field need to deal with. For "The Sun" for example there biggest competition would be "The News of The World", this is due to the similarity which they have on one another and what they offer within the newspaper as a whole, by having this certain competition will help "The Sun" to drive for greater things in order to make sure their particular newspaper stands out from the rest of the print based media products. "The Sun" will need make sure their news reports are better, their graphics are clearer and also this could define the pricing of the newspapers themselves. This is also concerning the target audience of the newspaper itself, the target audience for 'The Sun" would generally be from the ages of 21-65, as this contains modern day news within how this is written out, compared to other older constructed newspapers. Once the newspaper companies have targeted their audience, their mission is to suit those who are the readers, by doing this allows the company to gain their customers in good time, providing them with information they need.

International And National Market Trends


In order for the newspapers to stay up to date with their customers and also the countries which they serve to, the print based media industries and the companies need to ensure that they follow the trends of both the international and national market. The international market trends are those which are there for the global point of view, this could mean that the newspapers will gain research and information about the worlds technological responses, meaning that the business will create apps in order to stay ahead and on point with the international trends. However the national trends are those which follow one countries trends, this could be the use of language, the use of style, yet also more importantly the news which they report could be a trend for those who read the newspapers in order to get a response. This is there for the newspapers to stay in date with what they include.

Impact of New Technology & Convergence of Media Forms

Technology is changing and growing, compared to a matter of ten years ago technology has grown causing issues and success within the print based media industries. For example the newspaper "The Sun", has there hard copy newspaper, which is told seven days a week in stores, super markets and news agents, this is where the typical newspaper is bought, however over the last few years technology has developed and introducing apps for smartphones and android's meaning that anyone can access mobile and tablet apps. "The Sun" has increased their trends and introduced themselves into the development of their own apps, meaning that "The Sun" newspaper can be read by everyone without buying the hard copy, this is also the same as the online website which they have. In "The Suns" newspapers, there are link within the writing which link to app features, which encourages the readers to get the app as well as the hard copy, by doing this increases their profit but also their readership following.

This also links to the convergence of the media forms, as this is the coming together of computing and how it works. This increased the computing and technological trends which have been set out through the years, meaning that all of the print based media platforms and business will invest in websites and computing apps. This helps the cultural forms, communication platforms and also the information which is taken in and increased.

Diversification 

Diversification is something which the print based media companies will do in order to expand the products which they have in order to gain success for their business. For this companies will expand by introducing apps and websites in order to expand what they offer in terms of how they are marketing their customers to. The news can be spread in many more ways due to the use of diversification in todays media industry within the printing houses and companies.

Internationalisation

This is the method in which businesses use in order to have their businesses involvement in other countries. A print based media company such as "The Sun" could expand their newspapers into the country of the US, by doing this could be the internationalisation of the expanding of that particular company, by doing this the business is growing within the international field.

3. Legal 

Regulatory Requirements 

Every business must make sure that they follow requirements in order to run and stay open legally with the right required rules and regulations which they must follow. I am going to be discussing what is needed within the companies of the print based media.

Copyright

Copyright by law, makes sure that information and images which are owned by someone else cannot be copied, unless with the correct permission. Within the print based media business this is something which is essential to contain and have in order to not transfer or use other companies or ther participants information. For example "The Sun" has there own information and images, due to the power of the copyright they are protected as others will not be able to use their infromation or their images due to the protection of the copyright. This is an assingable legal right for those to have for the protection of information. This is security of information.

Trade Marks

Trade marks are images and logos which a company has in order to show of their business in a striking and memorable way. This shows off the business without the explaination. When they have this the letters (TM) are assigned next to the logo in order to show that this is a trade mark and cannot be copied by someone else, with the use of the same font, wording or the colour. This is a mark in order to show off the goods. Within the print based media, logos of newspapers may have this trade mark on them in order for the business to look professional and to work in the right way with the safe right logo. This promotes and brands the newspapers and the magazines.

Intellectual Property

This is something which is legally put into place, in order to stop those from stealling and copying the names and the brands of the products and the newspapers names, the newspapers intentions and their missions, the design of the newspaper layout and what it offers and also the right to stop the stealing of the things that are written and th context which it is put across and written down. In order for this to work, the newspaper companies need to own their intellectual property,  they need to create a copyright, gain the rights from the product owner, and they need a well known trade mark. By doing this the newspaper and the print based media industry is protected.

Libel

This is something which can be written by the print based media instury within the newsapapers, which shows the bad reputation of someone which has been written with the wrong intentions. This can also be known as the written defamation, this is seen as a punished false statement which could get those into trouble, this is something which could be written in a news article by a journalist, this could mean this would leave this with a bad reputation. This is something which should be controlled when being written to stop the newspaper companies from gaining a bad reputation. An example of this would be where "The Sun" had to pay out 500,000 Euros to Lous Walsh, for writting a false story on himself. This is something which showed off an incorrect story about him, making him gain a bad reputation.

Libel Example

Acts of Parliament

Race Relations Act 1976 & Obscene Publications Act 1959

Both of these acts are acts of parliament which must be obeyed and followed by the print based media companies in order to work well and to have a good newspaper and readership. This protects both their business yet also their customers. The obscene publication act, is there to make sure that the newspapers do not put any innopropriate images onto their newspapers or their apps, this is something which is put into place in order to make sure the newspapers are legal and fit for the use of the readers. The race regulations act is there to make sure that no race is discriminated whilst in the use of the writting in the newspapers. By doing this anyone and every one can read the news without feeling out of place due to the race. "The Sun" newspaper respects the races of those who read the newspaper and do not put any different offensive language into their articles.


Data Protection 

The data protection regulation is a law which must be obeyed, this is the Data Protection Act 1998,  this is an act of parliament which processes and products the data and information which individuals have, this is the main legilslation that runs and governs the data protection. This is very good within the print based media industry, as this protects the information inside of the business. For example "The Sun's", information is kept and protected by this law, making sure that information such as staff, contacts and people are protected and kept internally within the business, this is not information which is allowed to be shared with others.


Contempt of Court

The contempt of court, is the act of the disrespect of the way those treat the laws and regulations which are put into place for those to follow and be protected. This is important within the print based media industry as with this protects, the news and the way they are allowed to offer products to the customers and the public. They must obey the court of law to avoid this mistake.


Offensive Material

This is something which is very important within the print based media industry, this is something which is taken very seriously, as without this readers and the public would feel offended or mislead by the information, resulting in a bad reputation for the newspaper. When writting the news feed and taking the images, this needs to be checked by the editors in order to make sure that the information is nutral in order to send out to the country for everyone to read. This means that no one will gain offence or feel that the newspaper is showing the wrong content.


Health and Safety

No matter the size of the business everyone needs to make sure the business has its own health and safety laws put into place, even within the printing media businessess. This is something, which needs to be allocated within the newspaper and magazine companies, as without this the business will be running illegally and will not be able to open due to the business offering unsafe standards, which are against the business law. The print based media business needs to be aware of how the health and safety acts and legislations affect them and the business. The business must carry out the risk assessments in order to highlight and prevent issues from occurring within the business. Within a business, which employs more than five people, there are legal requirements to records the risk assessments, which need to be done regulary in order to make this a safe working environment. This is the legal requirement and the following of the legislation, "Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.



Compliance

This is a business form of concern, towards knew regulations and legislation that effect themselves and the business as a whole, needs to make sure that these are taken seriously and controlled by the head of the specific print based media company. There are many laws and legislations which the business must follow within a business yet specifically for the print based media industry businesses. For example the 'Data Protection Act, Copy Right Protection and also the generalisation of the Health and Safety Act'.

4. Ethical, Policies and Procedures

This is where the print based media companies will make sure that they, do the right thing for everyone by following the policies and the procedures to do this.

Ethical Requirements

This is something every print based media company should follow, this is something which makes the printing houses follow the ethical ways in which to serve a good purpose to the customers that they have. The ethical requirements means that the business should know the wrong and the right within what they should do in situations and within the creation of the newspapers, they must make sure they follow the right rules and standards in order to conduct the right thing, and also to make sure that only the right content is included within the newspaper writing.


Emerging Social Concerns and Expectation

This is the modern day approach within the social media and how it operated today. Due to the broad information and the print based media apps which are online, there may be concerns of what it streamed online and what is within the newspapers themselves. The expectation of this would seem to be risky due to the information and the sources of which the information is gathered and distributed.

Privacy

Privacy is something which the print based media companies must follow, as this is a person requirement for participants, by this, this means that the newspapers must respect the privacy or others which they may be following a report on, this could be with the celebrities and their lives. However the privacy could be on the newspaper itself, for example " The Suns" information will need to be secured as this is something which is private before it has been released into the world of the newspapers and distributed. This is the right thing to do with a personal requirement to not invade into someones privacy.

Breach of Confidence

This is a law and legislation which comes into the manner of the print based media, as this law protects the private information about someone and who they are, the newspapers must respect this and be careful as to what they report and share, as if this is done in the wrong way, this could be hurtful to the party who it is about and could develop in a weak reputation for a newspaper due to their ethical rejection.This is seen as information which is delivered confidently then disrespected and told.

Complaints

This is something which every business and print based media company has to deal with as this is something which is expected of the public who read the newpapers, whether the newspapers are ethical or not. For example "The Sun' will gain their own complaints daily, when they are gathered they are then taken on by the complaints team within the admin department, they are there to deal with the situation in an ethical manner in order to respect those cusotmers with their own personal issues and their requirements, by doing this they are respecting their readership following.

Public Interest & Representation 

The public are those who read the newspapers and will therefor have a wide interest on what they read and what they are seeing, this also in coorespondence to the respresentation of the newspaper itself as this is within the public interest itself. The public interest could be the welfare of the general public which could be watched and looked upon, yet also the common wealth, this is any news story which gains the attraction from the public. The representation, is something which is news which is spoken, written, or shared in the right ways.

Profesional Bodies

The proffesional bodies are those which are proffesional in a particular field which is there to serve a purpose and to help a business, such as the print based media companies. This is put into place where the newspaper companies are not qualified to follow the right legal requirement in the right way, instead the right people help. Those in the proffesional bodies have skills and their own common knowledge for this to work well.

Unions

The print based media business, could use their unions in order to help how fair the business runs and works, within the staff, the surrounding area of where those work and also about how fair and ethical the business is. This helps the business to run in the right and correct way in ordet to manage.

Regulatory Bodies


Press Complaints Commission (PCC) & Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

This is something which is voluntary which has been put into place for the British printed magazines and newspapers companies, within the print based media industries. The advertising standards authority is a self regulatory organisation for the print based media businesss, which sorts out the advertisement within the newspapers and who they are layed out, this company cannot be enforced with a legislation.