View/Open - DSpace

Transcription

View/Open - DSpace

Bachelorproef voorgelegd voor het behalen van het diploma van professionele Bachelor in
het Communicatiemanagement.
The Analysis of the front page
HOWEST – Renaat de Rudderlaan
Promotor: Jan Dauwe
Opleiding Communicatiemanagement
Auteur: Charlotte De Schepper
Pr-Events/voorlichting
Traject: Woordvoerder
Semester 6
Academiejaar 2011-2012
1
2
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1
1 Part I: The front page .......................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Situating the press groups ....................................................................................................... 4
1.1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4
1.1.2 Corelio...................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1.2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 5
1.1.2.2 Newspaper group De Standaard and VUM/Corelio – short history ........ 5
1.1.3 De persgroep ......................................................................................................................... 7
1.1.3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 7
1.1.3.2 Newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ and press group ‘De Persgroep’ –
short history .................................................................................................................................... 8
1.1.4 Rossel ....................................................................................................................................... 9
1.1.4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9
1.1.4.2 Newspaper ‘Le soir’ and press group ‘Rossel’ – short history................. 10
1.1.5 IPM .......................................................................................................................................... 11
1.1.5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 11
1.1.5.2 Newspaper ‘La Dernière Heure’ and press group ‘IPM’ –
short history .................................................................................................................................. 12
1.2 Situating the chosen newspapers ........................................................................................ 13
1.2.1 De Standaard ....................................................................................................................... 13
1.2.2 Het Laatste Nieuws ........................................................................................................... 15
1.2.3 Le Soir .................................................................................................................................... 17
1.2.4 La Dernière Heure ............................................................................................................. 18
1.3 Analysis of the front pages ..................................................................................................... 20
1.3.1 What I want to analyze .................................................................................................... 20
1.3.2 Interpretation of the categories................................................................................... 23
1.3.2.1 Content analysis ........................................................................................................ 23
1.3.3 Duration of the follow-up ............................................................................................... 32
1.3.4 Numbers and explanation .............................................................................................. 33
1.3.4.1 De Standaard .............................................................................................................. 33
1.3.4.2 Het Laatste Nieuws................................................................................................... 35
1.3.4.3 Le Soir ............................................................................................................................ 37
1.3.4.4 La Dernière Heure .................................................................................................... 39
1.3.4.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 41
1.3.4.5.1 Conclusion of the graphic .............................................................................. 41
1.3.4.5.2 Conclusion of the newspaper’s elements ................................................ 44
1.3.4.5.3 General conclusion ........................................................................................... 52
2 Part II: The manual ............................................................................................................................ 54
2.1 Common man on the front page........................................................................................... 54
2.1.1 Method................................................................................................................................... 54
2.1.2 De Standaard ....................................................................................................................... 55
2.1.3 Het Laatste Nieuws ........................................................................................................... 57
2.1.5 Le Soir .................................................................................................................................... 62
2.1.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 64
2.2 How to reach the front page .................................................................................................. 66
3 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 73
4 Bibliografie ........................................................................................................................................... 77
5 Enclosures ............................................................................................................................................. 78
5.1 Questions interview Peter Cuypers (editor in chief De Standaard) and Paul
Daenen (editor in chief Het Laatste Nieuws) ............................................................................. 78
3
5.2 Fully written answers interview Peter Cuypers en Paul Daenen ........................... 79
5.3 Mail to final editorial offices Walloon newspapers ...................................................... 84
5.4 Figures and analysisdata front pages newspapers ....................................................... 86
5.4.1 Het laatste nieuws ............................................................................................................. 86
5.4.2 De Standaard ....................................................................................................................... 90
5.4.3 Le Soir .................................................................................................................................... 94
6 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 102
6.1 Nederlands ................................................................................................................................ 102
6.2 Français ...................................................................................................................................... 107
4
Foreword
To fully accomplish my study of communication management, I had to write a thesis in the
sixth semester.
Because I always was very interested in the news, I chose to analyze the front pages of the
newspapers. My ambition was great and I wanted to research the front pages of all Belgian
newspapers. After consulting with Jan Dauwe I chose eventually to research only two
Flemish and two Walloon newspapers.
I like to seize this opportunity to thank some people:
I owe many thanks to Silke Van De Weghe for her advice, support and assistance.
My sincere gratitude also goes to Peter Cuypers and Paul Daenen, editors in chief of
respectively De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws. They welcomed me gladly at the
editorial office and answered all my questions.
I also want to thank Kristine Van Oost and Kris Schatteman for reviewing and correcting
this work.
Furthermore I want to direct a word of thanks to Gino Verleye, professor of the department
Communication Sciences at the University of Ghent. He sent me in the right direction to
find the precise information about the content analysis.
And last but not least, I want to thank Jan Dauwe for the follow-up of the developments I
made and for indicating the parts that needed improvement.
5
6
1 Introduction
I’ve always been very interested in the news. This thesis is the perfect opportunity to
broaden my knowledge by investigating which news is important enough to reach the front
page.
At home, we have a subscription to ‘De Standaard’ and ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’, two papers
that are very different in style and content. I was intrigued by these dissimilarities and
wanted to find out why papers are so different.
Because the front page represents the identity of the newspaper, I decided to base my
analysis only on this page.
To make a good comparison on a national level, I also included Walloon newspapers in this
investigation, namely ‘Le Soir’ and ‘La Dernière Heure’.
The goal of this thesis is twofold. On the one hand I want to analyze which items appears
the most on the front page. On the other hand I will search for an answer on the following
question: How can the common man end up on the front page of a newspaper?
In the first chapter, I start with giving some background information about the history of the
newspapers and the newspaper groups. The beginning and the course of life of the
newspapers and the groups they belong to are being disclosed in this chapter. This will give
you, the reader, a broader frame of the studied subject.
In the following chapter I will go deeper into the newspapers themselves: who are their
readers? What is the political background of the papers? Who is the editor in chief? How
large is the circulation? These and a number of other questions are being answered in this
part. The second chapter gives thus the structure of the newspapers and once again makes
sure that you, the reader, get a clear perspective of the background of the newspapers.
In the following chapter I describe what I want to analyze. I explore what the essential
characteristics are of each newspaper, what kind of news they bring, if the papers are
interested in the pure communication functions or rather in the psychosocial functions, if the
profiles of the papers are accurate…
1
To make a good analysis of the front pages, I place all articles in categories. To put every
article in the correct category, I used the quantitative content analysis. According to the
theory of Krippendorff, I developed in the next part a measurement instrument so that each
article consequently could be classified by a certain theory.
Thereafter I explain why I chose for an analysing period of three months to eventually reach
the results of this research. In this last chapter of the first part, the figures were converted in
graphics. Every graphic has an analysis of the findings.
In the first part of this thesis I go deeper into the background, the history and the specific
characteristics of the newspapers, to come to a thorough analysis of the front pages.
In the second part, I go deeper into the how and when the common man can reach the front
page of the investigated papers. Hereby I give each time an example.
Chapter one of this second part shows the graphics and conclusions of the common man on
the front page.
Eventually, I write in the second chapter a manual with a lot of tricks about how you can
shape your news in such a way that it is ‘front page worthy’. This because I am convinced
that a lot of people have good stories, but often doesn’t reach the front page because they
are ignorant about the operation and rules of the press.
When I started this thesis, I wanted to know if there had been done research about this
theme earlier. I found many works about specific events and how these were exposed by
different newspapers (for example the Dutroux-case). About the way I wanted to examine
the papers, I found very little. There has been done research about this whole theme by
Maxwell McCombs, American professor and father of the agenda setting theory.
Maxwell McCombs’ findings are the following: ‘there is a correlation between the amount
of attention the media spends on certain themes and how important these themes then
become for the public. If newspapers return to an item more often and more extensively, for
example by placing the article on the front page, than usually this news is experienced by
the public as more important. The media thus decides which messages reach us and how
important we should find these items.
Maxwell McCombs researched the front pages of the newspapers in the context of his
agenda setting theory. Hereby he concluded: ‘After research about the front pages of the
same newspapers in the 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90’s, the conclusion is: there is little to none
2
evolution in the themes. The journalists today are doing the same thing as 40 years ago. In
the press still exists ‘the narrative imperative’: a good story always gets sold. If you look at
different media over a period of one month or longer, they all bring the same (…)
Journalists look a lot over the wall. They run chase after each other.’
Broeck, K. V. In De Persattaché is een boer (p. 17).
3
1
Part I: The front page
1.1
Situating the press groups
In this first chapter, I start with giving some background information about the history of the
newspapers and the newspaper groups. The beginning and the course of life of the
newspapers and the groups they belong to, are being disclosed in this chapter. This will give
you, the reader, a broader frame of the studied subject.
1.1.1
Introduction
‘In the history of the Belgian daily press, the emancipation of the Flemish people is
reflected. In the 19th century, almost every Belgian newspaper was written in French. Only
after 1900 the Flemish daily press flourished. Even more so than World War I, the Second
World War had a major influence on the progress of the Flemish press. In occupied
Flanders, a lot of newspapers manifested themselves. There were the ‘stolen’ papers like
‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ that were published against the will of the owners. There were also
publishers like ‘De Standaard’ who wanted to continue their publications, rather than having
their newspaper fall into the hands of opportunists. Finally, there were also collaborators.
Most of these newspapers were established during the war.
After the war, political repression struck hard. All newspapers were permanently forbidden
or temporary liquidated, with the exception of the stolen newspapers. The journalists, who
had been working during the occupation, couldn’t continue after the war. These measures
provoked a large number of new initiatives, which most of the time were short-lived. After a
couple of years, ‘De Standaard’ could be published again. Besides that, little changed in the
Flemish newspaper landscape. There were no new journals that appeared on the market,
except for ‘De Nieuwe Gids’ and ‘De Financieel Economische Tijd’. Developments in the
Flemish press, after the war, were mainly restricted to financial business.’
Nolf, M. In Course Mediamix (p. 45).
4
1.1.2
Corelio
1.1.2.1
Introduction
In 1976, the ‘Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij’ (CORELIO) was founded. This company has
become the largest newspaper publisher in Belgium. Corelio has also an important part in
the audio-visual sector, because of its participation in VAR and Woestijnvis.
Corelio consists of:
De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad/De Gentenaar, Espresso, Passe-Partout, Job@, Vers
l’Avenir en Scripta
Participation through VAR in VRT, De Duinen/Woestijnvis, ROB, Radio GO,
Traffic FM
1.1.2.2
Newspaper group De Standaard and VUM/Corelio – short
history
Three Flemish-minded people founded the ‘Samenwerkende Vennootschap
Volksontwikkeling’ in 1911. In September 1911 this company started with the publication
of ‘Ons Volk ontwaakt’.
In 1914 they decided to edit an additional journal, but the start of World War I hindered the
publication. On December 4th 1918, eventually, the first edition was printed under the title
‘De Standaard’. A year later, the ‘NV De Standaard’ settled in Brussels where it stayed even
after the bankruptcy in 1976. A few years later, the company moved to Groot-Bijgaarden.
Founder Gustaaf Sap obtained the majority of the shares in 1929. He took on the complete
leadership of the entire company. In the same year the popular newspaper ‘Het Nieuwsblad’
was established.
After a difficult period during World War II, the paper slowly began to develop from 1947
on. In the sixties the group experienced their large expansion.
In 1974, the global edition of the newspapers of the Standaard group had risen above
300.000 copies.
However, due to a combination of the economical crisis and an excess of investments, the
company went bankrupt in 1976.
5
Flanders without the Standaard newspapers was unthinkable, and soon rescue operations
were initiated. The newly raised NV Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij took the newspaper
titles of the Standaard group over a couple of days later. This company continued rapidly
with the publication of De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad and De Gentenaar. The other papers
and weeklies disappeared or were taken over by other groups.
The newspaper group recovered quickly and became market leader in Flanders, both on the
readers market as on the advertising market.
De Standaard received soon the status of quality newspaper.
Between 1976 and now, the VUM Group experienced an important growth. The company
focused more and more on other business aspects than just publishing the three original
newspapers. During 1998, the VUM increased their capital with 500 million BEF. The
VUM company now had three important components: the papers, the graphic companies
and the multimedia activities. Furthermore they expanded their position in the media
landscape by adding new fusions and new initiatives like Job@, Espresso and Het
Nieuwsblad op Zondag.
In 2006, the VUM group got the full ownership of Medi@bel (before they already had a
partial participation); this way they controlled all the titles of Vers l’Avenir, Passe-Partout
and the radio network Nostalgie.
The new ownership structure led to a change of name: VUM became CORELIO.
CO refers to the ‘core’ of the society, RE stands for reliable quality media and LIO for link
and interaction. With this new name, the V of VUM, which was a clear reminder of the
Flemish background, disappeared.
With the acquisition of Medi@bel, the former VUM achieved an expansion to the French
part of the country. Because of this expansion Corelio is being positioned as a national
newspaper group.
Today, Corelio has become a multimedia group, with the newspapers, printed and on line,
still as core business, but at the same time with activities in audiovisual media, advertising
and magazines.
(sd). Opgehaald van www.corelio.be
(sd). Opgehaald van www.destandaard.be
(sd). Opgehaald van http;//nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corelio
(sd). Opgehaald van http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De standaard
Els De Bens, K. R. In De pers in België: het verhaal van de Belgische dagbladpers;
Gisteren, vandaag en morgen.
Nolf, M. In Course Mediamix.
6
1.1.3
De persgroep
1.1.3.1
Introduction
De Persgroep consists of:
Het Laatste Nieuws, De Nieuwe Gazet, Zone/magazines
De Morgen, De Tijd
Dag Allemaal, Joepie, TV familie, TV 2 weken, Goed Gevoel, Genieten, Touché,
Netwerk, Uw Vermogen, Woef
L’echo
VMMa (50%) together with Roularta Media Group
7
1.1.3.2
Newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ and press group ‘De
Persgroep’ – short history
In June 1888, the paper was founded by Julius Hoste. ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ was the first
Dutch liberal mass newspaper.
After a short publication stop during WWI, the newspaper was published once again from
the 18th of November 1918. It was also the time that Julius Hoste’s son appeared on the
scene. Under his influence the paper evolved more and more into the direction of a general
information newspaper with a lot of sports. This approach became a huge success and the
circulation rose spectacular.
Like many papers, ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ also came out as a stolen newspaper during
WW II. On the 9th of September 1944, the paper could start up immediately because the
presses had been running all the time.
In the 70’s, it was necessary to bring in new capital. Because of this, it was decided to
include the family Van Thillo in the Hoste Holding. Originally, Van Thillo got 14,5% of the
shares, but very soon this portion increased to 50%. Since 1990 the family Van Thillo holds
all the shares. The name of the publishing house changed after this to ‘De Persgroep’.
Through the years ‘De Persgroep’ has grown into a multimedia concern. Besides
newspapers and magazines, the group also has developed important activities in commercial
television, radio and electronic media.
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.persgroep.be
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.hln.be
(sd). Opgehaald van http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De Persgroep
(sd). Opgehaald van http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Het Laatste Nieuws
8
1.1.4
Rossel
1.1.4.1
Introduction
‘Persgroep Rossel’ stands out because of the large number of brands the group has in its
possession. Most of these brands are known by everyone, and are seen as strong brands
which stand firmly in the market.
Of course, not all of the ‘Groep Rossel’ brands have a 120-year history like ‘Le Soir’, but
still they all have a strong identity and personality.
All brands of the Rossel Groep have evolved in time. They have adapted themselves to the
social changes and to the needs of their respective target groups.
Rossel consists of:
Rossel & CieLe Soir, Le Soir Immo, MAD, Victoire, Passion des montres, TV News, Le
Soir magazine, Groupolitan, Rossel Advertising, Jobscareers, Passion Santé, Gezondheid,
Les Œuvres du Soir, Références
SudpresseLa Meuse, La Nouvelle Gazette, La Province, Nord Eclair, La Capitale, TV
News, JobsRégions, Standard Magazine, Mon Chien, NightZine, Starnews, Necro
VlanVlan, 7Dimanche, Sillon Belge, Vlan+, 7Mag, Immovlan Magazine, Vlan.be
JobsRégions
Voix du NordLa Voix du Nord, La Voix des Sports, Nord Eclair, Le Courrier picard,
Direct Lille, L'Avenir de l'Artois, L'Echo de la Lys, La semaine Boulonnais, Nord Littoral,
Nordway, La Voix Annonces, La Voix Auto, La Voix Eco, La Voix Emploi, La Voix
Immo, La Voix Tourisme, La Voix pour les Femmes, La Voix l'Etudiant, Les Salons, Nord
Stage, Mémoire, WEO, Femina, Le Phare dunkerquois, Le Réveil de Berck, Le journal de
Montreuil, Le journal des Flandres, Les Echos du Touquet, TV Mag
MediafinL'Echo, De Tijd, Sabato, Mon Argent, L'investisseur, De Belegger
Net Events MediaNet Events, CineNews, Ticketnet, Rendez-Vous, Night Code
Audiovisueel  RTL, RTL-TVI, Bel RTL, Club RTL, Plug RTL, RTL Sport, radio contact
9
1.1.4.2
Newspaper ‘Le soir’ and press group ‘Rossel’ – short history
By the end of the 19th century, in 1887, the first edition of Le Soir was published. It was
originally a free and neutral paper, founded by Emile Rossel.
Although Le Soir had a wide circulation before WW I, they shut down the presses during
the war. During the interbellum period, when the paper was published again, there was a
large expansion.
In 1944, Le Soir reappeared (after being published as a stolen newspaper in WW II).
Marie-Thérèse Rossel took charge of the company and in 1966 pvba Rossel was
transformed into NV Rossel & cie. This conversion was the beginning of an era of
expansion and flourishing.
In the 70’s, this newspaper group didn’t escape the crisis either. Because of this, some titles
faded away. Nevertheless, the group could recapture itself and further expansion was a
result.
Sud Presse was founded; the group obtained 50% of the shares in Grenz-Echo and
participated in Metro and La Voix du Nord. Until today this development goes on. Rossel is
therefore the press group with the most number of titles in its possession.
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.rossel.be
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.lesoir.be/splash.html
(sd). Opgehaald van http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le Soir
10
1.1.5
IPM
1.1.5.1
Introduction
IPM (Information and Production Multimedia) is a public limited company, which has two
newspaper titles in possession, La Libre Belgique and Le Dernière Heure (+ their regional
editions and websites). These papers each have their own history and ideology.
Besides these two newspapers, IPM has also a variety of other titles under its name:
Régie générale de publicité
La tribune de Bruxelles
Paris Match Belgique
Essentielle
Cinebel.be
BetFirst.be
Goodeal
IPM is also for 50% the owner of La Libre Match (the other half is in hands of the French
group Lagardère) and 59% owner of radio – Twizz Radio SA. IPM also holds 99% of the
shares of Ciel IPM.
IPM is furthermore a minority shareholder in other media by means of:
Audio-release (29,17%) which itself is holds 34% of the production house TVI (TRL-TVI,
Club RTL, more TV)
13% of the press agency Belga and the advertising bureaus
33,33% of Scripta
100% of the global authority of advertising
11
1.1.5.2
Newspaper ‘La Dernière Heure’ and press group ‘IPM’ – short
history
In 1906 some liberals decided to start up a newspaper. Already in the same year, La
Dernière Heure was published for the first time.
In 1914, La Dernière Heure ceased to exist due to the war. In November 1918 the paper
came back in business. During WW II the publication was also stopped for a while.
In September 1944 the paper could be printed again. And since then, La Dernière Heure has
known an enormous growth. So, they took over the Liège L’Express and L’Avenir du
Tournaisis.
During the interbellum, La Dernière Heure cooperated often with La Libre Belgique for
advertisement recruitment. In 1946, this cooperation led to the foundation of an
advertisement production, which developed later into the Régie Générale de Presse.
In the 70’s, the collaboration between both newspapers became even stronger. La Libre
Belgique obtained even 41% of La Dernière Heure in 1970. The shares of this paper were
divided between Jourdain and Cie (La Libre Belgique) and Maurice Brébart (La Dernière
Heure). In 1973, Brébart bought the participation of La Libre Belgique in La Dernière
Heure back and he obtained 28% of the shares of La Libre Belgique. Next Brébart acquired
77% of La Libre Belgique in 1977.
Although Brébart invested well, by the end of the 70’s the financial situation of the group
was precarious. ‘De Generale Maatschappij’ made its entry and Brébart was replaced. Next
to ‘De Generale Maatschappij’, the group Coprodime also acquired a stock package. The
newspaper group however kept declining and in 1985 a new corporation was founded, IPM.
Main shareholder, Le Hodey, wanted to expand the company to a multimedia group with
activities in both the newspapers sector as the magazines- and audiovisual sector.
Although through the years a lot of groups obtained participations in IPM, the family Le
Hodey has now once again full ownership of the group.
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.saipm.com
12
This first chapter gave the history and the background of the four newspapers, which I will
analyze. In this chapter I also shed some light on the press groups to which the papers
belong. This way it is possible to create a better view on how these papers and the groups
are organised. Now that I have created a broader view about the theme I will study, I can go
deeper into the characteristics of the newspapers themselves.
1.2
Situating the chosen newspapers
In the following chapter I will go deeper into the newspapers themselves: who are their
readers? What is the political background of the papers? Who is the editor in chief? How
large is the circulation? These and a number of other questions are being answered in this
part. The second chapter gives thus the structure of the newspapers and once again makes
sure that you, the reader, get a clear perspective of the background of the newspapers.
1.2.1
De Standaard
De Standaard was published for the first time on December 4th 1918. After the bankruptcy
in 1976, the paper was taken over by the Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij. The driving force
behind this rescue operation was André Leysen.
The newspaper had a Christian, Flemish nature, which was indicated by the six letters
AVV-VVK, printed next to the title. These six letters only disappeared on the brink of the
new millennium (1999). The paper is pro democracy and free market economics.
On the subject of ethics and foreign politics, De Standaard is usually much more
progressive than for Belgian politics, in which the paper regularly agrees with the ‘CVP’.
Thus De Standaard is originally a Christian newspaper but today it is open to all
philosophies. It presents itself rather modern. Also regarding party politics, this paper is
nowadays unbound. De Standaard is a Flemish newspaper, but keeps its distance from
extremism and racism.
Het Nieuwsblad is a sister paper of De Standaard. The editorial offices of both papers are
located in the same building and co-operate closely. It is a rather unique situation in the
international press world. The papers can freely duplicate and publish each other’s articles.
13
Since 1994, De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad have each their own autonomous editor in
chief. Through the years, these editors in chief followed each other up very quickly. Dirk
Achten, Pol Van Den Driessche, Peter Vandermeersch are only a few of the editors in chief
who were in charge during the last years.
It were the VUM-newspapers who came up first with supplements. Already in 1993 De
Standaard launched a supplement on Friday: Standaard Magazine. To respond to the needs
of the readers, De Standaard started in 2004 also with a regional section for the five
provinces.
An important formal modification was the format change of De Standaard. Like many
foreign quality newspapers, De Standaard also opted for the tabloid format.
About the readers market of De Standaard, it needs to be said that this paper lost a lot of its
readers by the end of the nineties to De Morgen. This downward trend however was
reversed again in recent years. The CIM-figures show that De Standaard is the most read
quality newspaper in Flanders and that a rejuvenation of the reading public manifests itself.
De Standaard is also a paper with mostly subscribers. That’s the reason why the papers
newsstand sales are inferior.
De Standaard scores in terms of readerspublic particularly high in Antwerp and is the
strongest represented in the first three social groups. Along with De Tijd, De Standaard
reaches the largest percentage of readers within group 1.
De Standaard has also a relative good dispersion over the different ages.
14
1.2.2
Het Laatste Nieuws
As far back as the early years of Het Laatste Nieuws, this paper can be defined as a popular
and independent newspaper with a liberal slant touch. In the beginning of its existence, Het
Laatste Nieuws was a kind of battle paper, progressive-liberal and attached to the
popularization of the culture. Not until after WW II the paper became somewhat moderate
and as a consequence became a mass-product.
The newspaper was successful from the start. Even since the beginning of the 20th century
the circulation fluctuated around 60.000 copies. This made Het Laatste Nieuws one of the
three best-sold newspapers.
Het Laatste Nieuws concentrates on the general public, with a rather sensational layout and
with attention for fait divers and sports. With 19 regional editions, they make it quite clear
that regional news is very important to them. Although the paper is still consistent with the
liberal thought, Het Laatste Nieuws doesn’t serve as a mouthpiece for Open Vld.
Het Laatste Nieuws is impressively successful. Together with its Antwerp brother “De
Nieuwe Gazet”, they represent up to 5 of 10 sold newspapers in Flanders.
Besides three short interuptions (WW I, WW II and during the crisis of the 70’s), Het
Laatste Nieuws had an ever-rising circulation until 1980. From 1985 till 1991 the circulation
and the sales declined. From 1992 the paper started a new rise. Currently Het Laatste
Nieuws is with a circulation of almost 350.000 copies, the largest newspaper in Flanders.
At the moment more than 150 journalists work fulltime for Het Laatste Nieuws and De
Nieuwe Gazet. In addition to this there are also around five hundred freelancers.
After Marcel Stijns, Urbaan Van Maele, Leo Siaens, René Adams en Marcel Wilmet, Paul
Daenen is now the editor in chief at Het Laatste Nieuws.
Het Laatste Nieuws is – with the exception of Limburg – being read equally in all the
provinces. Despite several attempts to strengthen the position of Het Laatste Nieuws in
Limburg, Het Belang Van Limburg remains the largest newspaper in this province.
15
About the reading public of Het Laatste Nieuws, we can say that this paper is being read by
pretty much all social groups (with the exception of the highest social group). There is also
a balanced spread over the different age groups.
Thanks to the high income Het Laatste Nieuws gets from the sales, the ratio of
advertisement income to the sales income of advertisement is lower than 50%.
16
1.2.3
Le Soir
Although Le Soir is known as neutral, the paper occasionally took political positions. Le
Soir itself wants to change its image of neutrality to independence. With this, the paper
wants to make clear that it has no political or financial ties, and that it can take its own
position.
Le Soir wants to be a quality newspaper and at the same time reach a wide readers public.
This paper also spends a lot of attention to regional events.
In an attempt to increase the attractiveness to the readers, through the years a lot of
substantive and formal aspects of the paper have been changed: nowadays they use more
colour and bigger photographs; there are more supplements and more theme sections.
Just like with the other newspapers, Le Soir also had its share of editors in chief.
Remarkable with this paper is that, in 2001, Le Soir had the first female editor in chief in
Belgium, namely Béatrice Delvaux.
With 115 fulltime journalists and a hundred freelancers, Le Soir has the most journalists of
all Walloon newspapers. Le Soir also uses regional correspondents.
Until 1953, the circulation figure of Le Soir rose every year. After the peak of 306.610
copies in 1953, the sales figures went into a downward spiral. Even to this day this negative
trend continues. Yet Le Soir is still the most read newspaper of Wallonia.
Although Le Soir is distributed in all French provinces, the paper has the most readers in
Brussels. The reader’s profile of Le Soir is very varied. The readers of this paper have a
widely divergent age profile and with regard to the socio-economic groups who read Le Soir
there is a high differentiation.
The most important income for Le Soir is gained from recruitment advertising.
17
1.2.4
La Dernière Heure
At La Dernière Heure, they aim for the young. Editorial, this newspaper wants to reinforce
its leader’s position in sports coverage. They also want to deliver quality without being a
quality paper. La Dernière Heure is therefore a pioneer in the interaction between the
editorial office and marketing.
La Dernière Heure sees itself as a liberal newspaper that strives for maximal freedom,
which is against statism, pro private property and against too much government
interventions. Since 1986 La Dernière Heure has enjoyed a number of innovations in its
outlook. As such the paper got a new layout and they started to use colour photographs.
After an inquiry amongst the readers, more regional news was added and the reports were
shortened.
In 1988-1989 La Dernière Heure wanted to change its image, which caused a second
transformation. From now on the paper would also aim at executives. They strived for a
reader’s public of a higher social class. To achieve this, the number of pages with current
affairs was increased. This wasn’t what the readers wanted and eventually they went down
path. Henceforth sports, television and fait divers would get even more attention.
La Dernière Heure wants to characterize itself as a positive newspaper, with the slogan: ‘La
Dernière Heure, the newspaper who doesn’t see everything in black’. With this slogan they
referred on the one hand to the colour printing and on the other hand to the positive
approach of the paper towards the facts.
The circulation of La Dernière Heure knows a positive growth since the nineties. Also it is
the only newspaper on the Walloon side that could increase consistently its market share.
What’s striking is that the paper sells 18% more on Mondays than on any other day of the
week. The reason for this is that on Monday the paper is filled with sports news.
The readers of La Dernière Heure are mainly concentrated in Brabant and Hainaut, followed
by Namen and Luik. In the other provinces, this newspaper has almost no readers. In terms
of social classes, La Dernière Heure is in particular loved by the middle class, but also by
other social groups.
18
La Dernière Heure has also, of course, its own website, which is divided into five sections:
sports, culture, service, specific info and the most important reports.
Chapter two explained some more about the specific characteristics of each newspaper.
There has been given an answer to a lot of things such as the political background of the
papers, the readerspublic, the circulation… This information is important to create an image
of the research material and will help to make a good analysis.
19
1.3
Analysis of the front pages
The third chapter will go deeper into what I want to analyse, the interpretation of the
categories, the duration of the follow up and the numbers and explanation. In the first part I
will disclose what exactly I want to analyse. I explain which fields of the newspapers I will
compare to each other and what I eventually want to achieve. When this is clear, I explain
the interpretation of the categories. To obtain a good interpretation, I use the quantitative
content analysis. In this part I clarify the content analysis and apply this on my research.
Next I go deeper into the duration of the follow up. Here I explain why I choose to analyse
the newspapers for three months. I end this chapter with numbers and explanation. In this
last part all numbers per paper where put into graphics and per graphic I described the most
important findings. I end this part with a graphic in conclusion. Here the data of the four
newspapers were put in one graphic so that I was able to compare all papers to each other.
The graphic is followed by a thorough comparison and analysis.
1.3.1
What I want to analyze
Every newspaper has its essential characteristics, as there is periodicity. That’s the regular
basis on which a publication gets on the market. For a newspaper it is normally 6 times a
week. Besides the periodicity there is also the topicality. These are the events that have just
occurred. The topicality value of a newspaper is very short. If you let a paper lying around
for a day, it isn’t actual anymore. Subjects from the past, which return in the newspapers
because of certain circumstances, are a part of the topicality. Furthermore there is also the
universality of a newspaper as an essential characteristic. Meaning that all domains of the
current affairs need to be highlighted (national as well as international, economics,
sports…). Then we have the publicity of a newspaper. Every paper has to have a circulation
as wide as possible for its publications. Finally there is also the continuity of a paper. This
means that an edition each time has to be a logical sequel to the previous, both for content
and layout.
A newspaper also has a variety of functions. These functions of a paper give an answer to
the following questions: why do we read the paper? What do we want to find in a
newspaper? Which needs satisfies a paper? Professor Clausse (ULB) classifies these
functions in three groups: the pure communication functions, the psychosocial functions and
the controlling functions.
20
Within the first group, there is a difference between information, creative expression,
formation and intrusion.
Information equals the essence, the naked reproduction of the facts.
Formation stands for an attempt to teach of socialization of the news facts. This is the
background information and the interpretation.
Creative expression is the producing of values and functions in all the domains of life.
Intrusion is scrupulously imposing thoughts, opinions, attitudes and social behaviour.
The second group, the psychosocial functions, is divided into the social solidarity (the
feeling that you know what happens in the society, you belong to this society), the
recreation (horoscope, fait divers, comics, games) and the psycho-therapeutic functions
(cleansing of the soul, you are being cleansed by reading about the war and misery, it
prevents people of doing the same, kind of educational function).
Furthermore, newspapers also have a controlling function. Because of their job, journalists
are able to expose abuse. It is their responsibility to do so for the public interest.
Newspapers can thus have an interest in different aspects and functions while editing their
front page.
There are also different kinds of news. On the one hand you have the ‘hard’ news; these are
the extremely important events on political, social or economic level. On the other hand you
have the ‘soft’ news, which provides a diversification and keeps the paper lightly digestible.
And finally, there is also the ‘spot’ news. This news contains all unexpected events like
earthquakes, tsunamis…
Newspapers can spend their attention in a different degree to the different kinds of news.
Newspapers are often classified in different types. There are regional papers which spend
most attention to events from a certain city or region. There are popular papers which spend
more attention to sensational news and media. And there are business papers which publish
more background information. These papers often have a more sober layout and use fewer
photographs.
21
Each newspaper has a different profile. De Standaard is a nuanced quality paper. Het
Laatste Nieuws on the other hand is a popular paper with a lot of attention for sports and
media.
In this part I will investigate if all these stereotypes that exist about the Belgian newspapers
are true. On the basis of this analysis of the front pages of four Belgian newspapers, I will
check which are the themes on which each paper spends the most attention. I also want to
find out what kind of news the different papers think is important and therefore put on their
front page. Furthermore I will research in what degree the different papers measure up to the
essential characteristics and which functions are important for them.
Eventually, I will be able to conclude whether the profile and the type that every paper gets,
is really the one that matches.
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.viso.be/dokeos/courses/6TNED/document/theorie
bij kranten in de klas.pfd?cidReq=6TNED
22
1.3.2
Interpretation of the categories
1.3.2.1
Content analysis
I based the classification of the categories on the quantitative content analysis.
The definition of the quantitative contentanalysis according to Krippendorff is: 'Content
analysis is a research technique for making replicable interferences from data to their
context' (Krippendorff, 1980, p. 21).
Step 1: The units of the quantitative content analysis are being chosen. Three kinds of units
are being distinguished: the counting unit, the registration unit and the context unit.
The counting unit refers to the so-called independent, non-overlapping pieces of reality,
which form the basis of the quantification. Within these counting units the registration units
are being distinguished, logical units that can be analysed on their own.
23
The context unit – or the limit wherein the contextual information can be used – forms,
finally, the last unit to define. In a next stage the required material is being gathered.
Thereafter, during the registration phase of the quantitative content analysis, the observation
instrument is being developed. This observation instrument – or codebook – is the
‘operational elaboration of the conceptual model of the researcher in terms of registration
units in the material, the characteristics of the units and the variations which thereby can
occur in terms of the categories wherein the units are being classified’.
(Wester, 1995b, p. 142-143)
Next to a general description of the observation process and the descriptions of units,
variables and categories, examples of encoded material ànd rules to decide in borderline
cases are also being included in this codebook.
(Wester, 1995b, p. 143)
The application of this observation instrument, or the actual coding, proceeds in an
extremely systematic way, whereby every observer is considered to act the same in
equivalent situations, as is described in the codebook.
Previous theory will now be applied to my research. As described I will first define the
various units:
Counting unit  every front page for three months
Registration unit  the articles on the front page
Context unit  the categories wherein the articles are divided
Now the units are established, we can start the registration phase. In this phase I will
develop the observation instrument. This happens in three steps:
1- Describe observation process
2- Describe categories (definitions) + example per categorv
3- Define rules to decide in borderline cases (per categorv)
24
So, first thing to do is describing the observation process. I will explain hereby in detail how
I proceeded.
For three months I collected the front pages of De Standaard, Het Laatste Nieuws, Le Soir
and La Dernière Heure. All these newspapers will be analyzed one by one. This analysis
started with counting all the articles on the front page. Every title/article was numbered.
Then I indicated whether the articles were about national or international news. After doing
this, I could proceed with the following step: the classification of the articles in a specific
categorv. Because I wanted to make this classification as broad as possible, I decided to
map the most important categories myself. Every newspaper uses namely a different method
to classify the articles and the categories of for example De Standaard are less extensive
than these of Het Laatste Nieuws.
I checked out several websites such as www.journalinks.be, www.krantenkoppen.be,
www.kranten.com, www.nu.nl … to find out which categories the newspapers use
themselves for their classifications. Finally, I decided to use 14 categories: sports,
economics, politics, media, advertisements, nature, accidents, royalty, police, crime, social,
science, traffic and culture.
Now that I had established this, I could place all articles in one these themes. To know
which article belonged to which categorv, I used the definition of each categorv. When each
article is being placed in a theme, it is time to put everything in a table. I put all gathered
data under each other and all 14 categories next to each other. After this I filled in every day
the number of articles per theme. These tables can be found in the enclosures.
Now that I placed all research figures in a clear table, I can convert these data in graphics. I
make a graphic for each newspaper separately and a graphic in conclusion of all four papers
together. From these graphics I will eventually be able to conclude to which themes each
paper spends the most attention.
Now that I have described the complete observation process, it is time to clarify the
categories by giving the definitions of each theme. After the definition follows an example
of an article that fits the theme.
25
1. SPORTS
‘Physical activity for pleasure or as profession’
2. ECONOMICS
‘(Study of) the way in which income and expenditure of a country work’
3. POLITICS
‘What has to do with the government of a country, province or city’
26
4. MEDIA
‘Means to give information, like news paper, television and radio’
5. ADVERTISING
‘Announcement or publicity in a news paper or magazine’
6. NATURE
‘World as it is without humans, namely plants and animals’
7. ACCIDENTS
‘Misfortune, casualty, unforeseen event’
27
8. ROYALTY
‘Kingship, royal dignity, Royal Family’
9. POLICE
‘Part of the government task, described as government supervision and government
coercion to observe the law. To be distinguished are the preventive task (care of
safety, peace and order) and the repressive task in the service of justice (detection of
offenses, detention of offenders)’
10. CRIME
‘Moral offence, action that isn’t allowed by law’
28
11. SOCIAL
‘What is linked to the community. Synonym: society. What is linked to how people
interact with each other’
12. TRAFFIC
‘All people and vehicles, especially on public roads’
‘All movements of the different means of transportation’
13. CULTURE
‘Knowledge, the arts, the portrayal of man and world view’
29
14. SCIENCE
‘All knowledge we have in a particular area and the systematic way of how we can
obtain further knowledge
Scholarship, knowledge, learning, field of study’
(sd). Opgehaald van http://www.encyclo.nl
Eventually, I will define the rules so that in borderline cases there can be decided to which
categorv a certain article belongs.
As described above, I placed the articles under a specific theme by using the definition of
each theme. When the subject of an article fitted the definition of a theme, it was put in
specific that theme. Of course, once in a while an article fitted several definitions and so
could be put in several categories. Or, I also came across articles that didn’t fit any
definition. In these cases I needed to find a solution. I decided to check in which categorv
the newspaper itself placed these articles. As mentioned before each newspaper has its own
specific categories or themes in which the articles are placed. When I was in doubt about a
categorv, I looked up in the paper or on the website of the paper in which theme the paper
itself placed the article. You could ask why I didn’t do this for all articles. The answer is
simple. I wanted to make the classification as broad as possible. At De Standaard they work
only with the following categories: National, Wetstraat, International, Economics, Culture
& Media, Regional and Sports. Because a paper as Het Laatste Nieuws works with a more
extensive range of themes, I made a group of categories that is broad enough to classify all
articles of the front pages of all newspapers under. When in doubt, I consulted thus the
classification of the newspaper itself.
30
In quantitative research there is much emphasis on the (internal) reliability of the encoding.
Krippendorff (1980) suggests that the concept ‘reliability’ has three underlying dimensions:
stability, reproducibility, accuracy. Stability refers to the extent to which the same coder at
various times attains the same results, while reproducibility refers to the extent to which
different coders attain the same results. Accuracy, finally, is based on the extent to which
the coding results measure up to a predetermined standard or norm. Krippendorff indicates
that accuracy rarely can be tested by absence of such a predetermined standard. This makes
reproducibility an acceptable reliability criterion. 'In content analysis it is therefore largely
unrealistic to insist on this strongest reliability criterion. Data should at least be
reproducible, by independent researchers, at different locations, and at different times, using
the same instructions for coding the same set of data' (Krippendorff, 1980, p. 132).
Krippendorff indicates both methodological as conceptual problems at the measuring of the
validity of quantitative content analysis. Conceptual problems are mostly being caused by
absence of external criteria whereat the findings can be linked.
The methodological problems are mostly being caused by the role of (fore) knowledge in
the development of the measurement instrument, and is being summarized in the following
trilemma: 1/ or the researcher doesn’t dispose of the knowledge with regard to the object
and it is not possible to make statements about the validity, 2/ or the researcher has some
knowledge about the research object, and the measuring instrument is no longer
independent of the acquisition of knowledge, which makes a test on validity impossible, 3/
or the researcher keeps the knowledge separate of the development of the measurement
instrument, and then the development of the measurement instrument makes little sense,
since this doesn’t contribute anything to the already existing knowledge of the researcher.
(sd). Opgehaald van http://users.skynet.be/fa001094/doctoraat/DEEL3_method5.pfd
31
1.3.3
Duration of the follow-up
I have chosen to analyze the newspapers over a period of three months. I believe this is long
enough to avoid that specific events, which are in the news for a longer period of time,
weigh too much on the total of the analysis.
During the period of time that I analysed the papers – January, February and March 2012 –
there was for example the shipping disaster with the Costa Concordia and the bus accident
in Switzerland. It would have given a completely distorted picture if I had followed the
papers for only one month. A second reason why I chose for a three months follow-up is
that this period is long enough to establish a trend. One month wouldn’t have given me this
opportunity.
To make sure that I wouldn’t miss any newspapers, I subscribed for three months to Le Soir
and La Dernière Heure. For the Flemish newspapers De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws,
we already had subscriptions at home.
Despite the subscriptions, there are a few papers that I didn’t receive. For several reasons
Bpost wasn’t able to deliver these papers.
After consulting the Internet, libraries and the newspaper archive of Thomas Cook Belgium,
I succeeded to find all the front pages of the missing newspapers. Therefore I could make a
complete analysis of the papers.
32
1.3.4
Numbers and explanation
1.3.4.1
De Standaard
The graphic below shows how many articles De Standaard published on its front page about
the selected categories (sports, economics, politics, media, advertisements, science, culture,
traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and accidents). This over a period of three
months.
From this graph can be derived on which themes this paper spends the most attention on its
front page.
Total number of articles on the front page: 406
Consisting of -> 322 national reports and 84 international reports
Average per newspaper: 4,46 articles on the front page
Consisting of -> 3,54 national reports and 0,92 international reports
On the front page of De Standaard you find normally 1 article, 1 photograph and 2 to 4
teasers. These teasers are used to arouse people’s interest and to encourage the newsstand
sales.
33
De Standaard thus has a neatly looking front page with only a limited number of articles.
To make sure that the paper looks attractive day after day, occasionally there is a deviation
of this standard layout.
So it happens on occasion that a full-page photo is used on the front page. This technique is
only used when the event is really worth it; otherwise the effect would be lost.
About the division between national and international news, Peter Cuypers (editor in chief
at De Standaard) could tell me that they always try to find news that no one else has. So, to
find a scoop from America, however, is about 1000 times smaller than a scoop from
Belgium. Therefore, they almost always choose to put national news on the front page, the
so-called direct news.
If there is no news that presents itself spontaneously before noon, then they go looking for
their own new story.
The first remarkable point when we look at the diagram of the De Standaard is the high
number of advertisements. Because the total number of articles on the front page is low, the
portion of ads increases relatively. The advertisements on the front page of De Standaard,
nevertheless, cannot be bigger than 5cm over 5 columns.
The next thing that stands out in the above diagram is the high share of political news on the
front page. De Standaard follows the political news very closely and finds it very important
to have extensive and good quality political information.
Peter Cuypers told me the following about political news in the interview: ‘During the
summer there is very few to no political news at all. Politicians are on vacation and no
decisions are made. July and August is traditionally the calmest news period at the editorial
office. During this period we put more international news on the front page or we bring out
a study which we can write something about.’
Furthermore we notice that De Standaard doesn’t report on royalty, nature, accidents,
traffic… This indicates that this newspaper is not interested in infotainment and that they
focus on quality. De Standaard puts the ‘hard’ news on the front page.
Finally, there are quite a lot of articles about culture on the front page of De Standaard. This
is also a theme which is important for this newspaper.
34
1.3.4.2
Het Laatste Nieuws
The graphic below shows how many articles Het Laatste Nieuws published on its front page
about the selected categories (sports, economics, politics, media, advertisements, science,
culture, traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and accidents). This over a period of
three months.
front page.
35
Editor in chief Paul Daenen of Het Laatste Nieuws told me that the making of the front page
is done from a gut feeling. There are no fixed rules to use as a guide when composing the
front page.
No rules exists as regards the kinds of articles to place on the front page, the number of
articles in total, how many national or international news to put in, the length of the
articles… All this is decided by the editor in chief.
In contrast to De Standaard the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws is rather chaotic.
The number of articles that is being selected for the front page depends on the quantity of
news each day. According to Paul Daenen everything that is ‘news’ can be put on the front
page.
The first thing that stands out when we look at the diagram is the high number of
advertisements. At Het Laatste Nieuws, the ads are always placed at the bottom of the front
page and may be at most 10 cm by 6 columns.
We also see that the segment media news is almost as much as the economic and political
news. Themes as police, crime, social and accidents get a lot of attention on the front page
of Het Laatste Nieuws. This confirms the words of Paul Daenen when he said that each
theme is equally important, as long as it has news value.
Het Laatste Nieuws presents itself also as sports paper. In the diagram we notice indeed that
sports are an important part of the front page.
Although the portion of political news on the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws is fairly
high, this needs to be taken into perspective. Taking into account that 2012 is an election
year, it is logical that Het Laatste Nieuws as well can’t stay behind in terms of political
news. The content of this political news however is not always on the same level as the
other papers. Het Laatste Nieuws spends in general more attention to the fait divers from the
Wetstraat than to the actual news.
36
1.3.4.3
Le Soir
The graphic below shows how many articles Le Soir published on its front page about the
selected categories (sports, economics, politics, media, advertisements, science, culture,
traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and accidents). This over a period of three
months.
front page.
On the front page of Le Soir are always a high number of articles. Because of this, the paper
often looks very chaotic.
37
What can be most clearly derived from this diagram is the large proportion of political
news. Almost the whole front page of Le Soir is dedicated to political reports. On the
second place comes the economical news followed by the social news.
Le Soir has very few advertisements on the front page. Although a large portion of their
income is from these ads, Le Soir chooses to spend only a limited space of the front page on
advertisements.
Next to some little attention for sports, media, culture and police, Le Soir doesn’t show
much interest in other themes than politics.
38
1.3.4.4
La Dernière Heure
The graphic below shows how many articles La Dernière Heure published on its front page
about the selected categories (sports, economics, politics, media, advertisements, science,
culture, traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and accidents). This over a period of
three months.
front page.
La Dernière Heure is the newspaper with the smallest size and the smallest number of
articles on the front page.
39
The first page of this paper looks invariable the same: 1 large leading article with photo,
supplemented with at the top only the title of an article and at the bottom (or on the left side)
a pair of little photos with a short title.
On the front page of La Dernière Heure are always one or two advertisements. On itself,
that is not much, but in relation to the low number of articles on the front page, the portion
of the advertisements is big.
Like the title of the paper suggests: La Dernière Heure-Les Sports, this paper spends a lot of
attention to sports news on its front page. Often, the leading article is about sports. In
particular, within the sports theme most attention goes to soccer.
Besides the toppers sports and advertisement, there is also an important portion of the frontpage news that is spent on the themes ‘police and social’. Therefore La Dernière Heure can
be considered as a paper which mainly spends its attention on infotainment. In this
newspaper the relaxing, sensational en lightly digestible news is preferred over, for
example, heavy political reports.
Next to these 3 main themes and the advertisements, there are not really other subjects
wherein La Dernière Heure is interested. Of course, there is the occasional economical or
political report that appears on the front page, but in relation with the three main themes,
this is however only a small portion.
40
1.3.4.5
1.3.4.5.1
Conclusion
Conclusion of the graphic
The graphic below shows a summary of the four previous graphs. In this graph, the
results of all newspapers are put next to each other, this way the papers can be
compared to one another. The graphic shows how many articles all papers published on
their front pages about the selected categories (sports, economics, politics, media,
advertisements, science, culture, traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and accidents).
This over a period of three months.
From this graph can be derived which newspaper spends the most attention on a certain
theme.
The first thing that we notice when looking at this graph, is the large number of articles Le
Soir devotes to politics. The political news that Le Soir brings is always very nuanced and
informative. In comparison with the political news that Het Laatste Nieuws publishes, Le
Soir brings a more qualitative representation of the political events.
While Het Laatste Nieuws spends more attention on fait divers from the Wetstraat, Le Soir
gives a more in-depth analysis of the political news. De Standaard publishes just as Le Soir
an extensive and qualitative coverage of the political news.
41
Therefor politics can be considered as a very important theme for De Standaard. They spend
a lot of attention to this topic. If we compare both Walloon papers to each other, we see a
world of difference as to political news. Le Soir is leader in this theme while La Dernière
Heure spends little to no attention to political coverage.
Next theme that stands out in the graphic is advertising. We see that both Flemish
newspapers and La Dernière Heure put approximately as many advertisements on the front
page. Exception here is the low portion of advertisements on the front page of Le Soir.
Leader in the sports theme is La Dernière Heure. That’s not surprising, because the
newspaper’s full name is La Dernière Heure – Les Sports. Therefore, sports are well
represented each day on the front page of La Dernière Heure. Het Laatste Nieuws also
scores relatively high in sports coverage. With the slogan ‘Number 1 in sports’ is this the
theme which the paper wants to be known for. De Standaard is the paper which spends the
least attention to this topic. Only the most important events in the sports world will get a
place on the front page of De Standaard.
Next, we look at the economic coverage. Here Le Soir scores the highest. Besides politics,
Le Soir spends a lot of attention to economics.
Het Laatste Nieuws and De Standaard attach about the same importance to economic
coverage. La Dernière Heure comes last.
Who is interested in media, best reads Het Laatste Nieuws. This paper publishes on its front
page often the latest gossip from celebrity land. The attention for this theme with the other
three papers is quite low.
If we look at the topic Nature, we see that Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure are
the only two papers that give it some attention on their front page. The share of the other
two papers regarding this theme is negligible.
Het Laatste Nieuws is leader in the theme Accidents. It is the paper that published the
longest on its front page about the shipping disaster with the Costa Concordia and the bus
disaster in Switzerland. Het Laatste Nieuws spends a lot of attention to the human aspect
behind the accidents. The other three papers, naturally, also report about the major accidents
42
that occur. The difference with Het Laatste Nieuws however is that they only publish the
facts and the necessary information, without focusing on the sensational aspect of the event.
Next we look at the royalty news for a moment. Those who want to know what the Royal
Family is doing, best read Het Laatste Nieuws. Only this newspaper spends attention to our
dynasty. For the other papers, this theme is clearly not important.
About police related news, we can say that La Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws
spend the most attention to this topic. All articles regarding burglaries, drug smugglers…
are hereby taken into account. That again Het Laatste Nieuws is the paper that reports a lot
of this, shows that the sensational coverage is very important for this paper. At Le Soir and
De Standaard, the articles about police affairs are rather rare. Only the ‘hot topics’ are
published.
Het Laatste Nieuws is also leading in coverage of crime. Articles about murder are not a
rarity on the front page of this paper. This is once again proof that spectacle and sensation
are of great importance at Het Laatste Nieuws. Besides the small portion that La Dernière
Heure publishes about crime, little to no attention is given by the other papers to this theme.
You can find news about traffic in about the same extent on the front page of Le Soir, La
Dernière Heure and De Standaard. Messages about traffic jams or road constructions are
barely seen on the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws.
Social news that you read in Het Laatste Nieuws, but also on the front page of Le Soir is not
an unimportant theme. The other papers take significantly less interest in this matter. The
social news reports about the people, about events concerning the people. That Het Laatste
Nieuws scores highly on this topic, doesn’t amaze us anymore. This paper feels very
strongly about the emotional and human aspect.
For cultural news you have to be at De Standaard. It is clear that this newspaper brings the
most coverage about this topic. The attention that the other papers spend to cultural news on
their front page is nil.
Finally, we also make the comparison of the scientific news. This theme is not very popular
with all four the newspapers. None of the papers takes the lead in reporting about this topic.
43
Even so, if we look at the paper which is interested the most in science, we find Le Soir,
followed by De Standaard.
Scientific news is usually very informative and needs certain foundations. Both Het Laatste
Nieuws as La Dernière Heure aren’t very successful in this.
1.3.4.5.2
Conclusion of the newspaper’s elements
Now that I’ve made a comparison of all the themes we found on the front page of the
chosen newspapers, I will make an analysis of the following:
-
The essential characteristics of the newspaper
-
The functions of the paper
-
Kinds of news
-
Types
-
Profile of the newspaper
Essential characteristics of the newspaper
There are five essential characteristics of a newspaper: periodicity, topicality, universality,
publicity and continuity.
1. Periodicity
The four papers are identical in their periodicity. Le Soir, De Standaard and Het Laatste
Nieuws come out six times a week. During the weekends they have a more extensive edition
with several supplements.
La Dernière Heure also brings a paid edition on Sudays. So, this paper appears 7 days on 7.
2. Topicality
Topicality is defined as follows: the extent to which the information, at the moment that it
becomes available, still matches with reality.
A newspaper is a medium that comes out every day. Therefore this medium loses very
quickly its topicality value. Newspapers thus continuously need to bring the news hot of the
press. If they don’t do that, they are lost in advance. There is a violent competition between
newspapers. Each paper wants as much readers as possible.
44
To achieve this, they need to distinguish themselves from one another. To obtain this
distinction, they spend more or less attention to certain topics. But at the end, the articles
need to be topical all the time.
All four papers take a lot of interest into the topicality value of their messages. Yet, we have
to put this into perspective. For popular papers it is not necessary to have ‘news’.
People read the paper anyway. An example of this is the Castle murder. Even though
everyone already heard everything about the murder on the news, they still want to read
everything once more in the newspaper.
This is the difference between the quality newspapers and the popular newspapers. De
Standaard won’t put an article on the front page with every minimal change in the case of
the Castle murder. Het Laatste Nieuws on the contrary will surely do this.
However the bringing of topical news is for every newspaper of great importance, for the
quality newspapers this is just that little bit more important.
Concrete: De Standaard and Le Soir will need it more to publish topical news than Het
Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure, because these last two papers will be read anyway.
3. Universality
Universality means that all domains of the topicality are discussed.
This is the case for all four newspapers. Except for royalty, all themes receive attention in
all newspapers.
4. Publicity
Under the term publicity we mean that the newspaper needs to attempt to reach a circulation
as wide as possible.
Het Laatste Nieuws is, with its current circulation of 370.000 copies a day, the absolute
market leader of the newspapers, in Flanders as well as in the whole of Belgium. According
to the Centre for Information about the Media (CIM), more than one million people in
Flanders read Het Laatste Nieuws every day.
With the exception of Limburg, this newspaper is being read about equally in all the
Flemish provinces. In Limburg, however, Het Belang van Limburg is too strong represented
so that Het Laatste Nieuws can’t gain a foothold there.
45
During the summer, Het Laatste Nieuws is also available abroad. People who travel to
destinations like Turkey, Spain or France, can buy Het Laatste Nieuws daily.
The circulation figure of De Standaard has a fairly stable course. Though, in the late
nineties, this paper lost a lot of readers to De Morgen. Still this trend seems to curve the
other way the last couple of years. The statistics of the CIM, from beginning of the 2000’s,
show that De Standaard is the most read quality newspaper in Flanders.
De Standaard is a paper with mostly subscribers. The newsstand sales are relatively low.
This paper is also, with exception of the province Limburg, well established in all Flemish
provinces. The highest scores of De Standaard are found in the province Antwerp (31%).
Then we look at the circulation figure and distribution of Le Soir.
In 1953, Le soir reached its peak with a circulation of 306.610 copies. Since then, the
circulation of the paper has known a downward trend. Until today this goes further
downward. Yet, Le Soir is still the most read newspaper of Wallonia. The paper is spread in
all provinces of the French Community, but has the most readers in Brussels.
Finally, there is La Dernière Heure. The circulation of this paper peaked twice in the
nineties, namely in 1995 and in 1997. From 1999 the newspaper succeeded once again to
bend the circulation in a positive way.
Herewith, La Dernière Heure is the only paper at the Walloon side which could manifestly
increase its share. On Mondays, the paper reaches 18% more sales than the other days of the
week. This can be explained because on Mondays the paper is filled with sports news.
Remarkably at La Dernière Heure is the high concentration of readers in the provinces
Brabant and Hainaut, which together account for 60%.
The four newspapers that I have analysed are all Belgian papers. Yet, there is a clear
difference between the Flemish and the Walloon papers. Only in the bilingual cities/towns
of Flanders you can buy Le Soir and La Dernière Heure. Like for example in De Panne. In
the pure Flemish areas, it is very difficult to find one of the Walloon newspapers. For this
thesis I wanted to subscribe to Le Soir and La Dernière Heure, but I had to do this through
the website of the paper itself. The newsagent in my town couldn’t help me with this.
At the French speaking side it is the same story. It is difficult to find De Standaard or Het
Laatste Nieuws in Wallonia. Only in the tourist areas you will be able to buy, with some
luck, one of these Flemish papers.
46
Except for the summer edition of Het Laatste Nieuws, that’s being offered abroad, the
distribution of all these papers is only local. The newspapers only focus on either Flanders
for De Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws or either Wallonia for Le Soir and La Dernière
Heure.
For Brussels, there are a lot of companies and ministeries that have subscriptions.
5. Continuity
Continuity means that one edition is a logical sequel on the previous edition, as well as in
terms of content as in terms of layout.
This is the case with all four newspapers. Yet we can make a distinction between Le Soir
and Het Laatste Nieuws on the one hand and De Standaard and La Dernière Heure on the
other. The first two newspapers have on their front page a large number of articles. With an
average of 9,47 articles at Le Soir and 8,08 articles at Het Laatste Nieuws, their front page
looks fairly chaotic. The messages are all scrambled. Large and small articles, with or
without photo, with or without a reference to a more extensive article further in the paper…
In both newspapers, the front page sometimes causes confusion because it isn’t always clear
where one article ends and the other begins.
Completely the opposite, we find at De Standaard and La Dernière Heure. Here we have
respectively, 4,46 and 3,99 articles on the front page. These papers choose for a wellorganized first page. One head article plus a few smaller teasers. The result is that the front
pages of these papers radiate tranquility.
Remarkable is that in the continuity there is a big contrast between the two so-called quality
newspapers and the two more popular papers. De Standaard chooses for simplicity and
overview, while Le Soir goes for a large number of articles, rather chaotic placed on the
front page. We see the same again with Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure. The
first one goes for many articles and the other for a sober representation.
Functions
Every newspaper takes a different interest in the functions that a newspaper has. One paper
will see the pure communication function as more important and another paper will find the
psychosocial function more important.
47
What it’s all about is finding an answer to the following questions:
-
Why do we read a certain newspaper?
-
What do we want to find in a newspaper?
-
Which needs does a newspaper satisfy?
Hereby we can make the distinction between Le Soir/De Standaard and La Dernière Heure
/Het Laatste Nieuws. The articles of the first two papers correspond mostly to the pure
communication functions, while at Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure, they
respond rather to the psychosocial functions.
Under the pure communication functions we understand the following:
First of all there is a difference between information, creative expression, formation and
intrusion.
 Information equals the essence, the naked reproduction of the facts.
 Formation stands for an attempt to teach of socialisation of the news facts. This is
the background information and the interpretation.
 Creative expression is the producing of values and functions in all the domains of
life.
 Intrusion is scrupulously imposing thoughts, opinions, attitudes and social
behaviour.
The psycho-social functions are divided into the social solidarity (the feeling that you know
what happens in the society, you belong to this society), the recreation (horoscope, fait
divers, comics, games) and the psycho-therapeutic functions (cleansing of the soul, you are
being cleansed by reading about the war and misery, it prevents people of doing the same,
kind of educational function).
Both Le Soir and De Standaard always give extensive information about the different
themes, this by using the naked reproduction of the facts. This information is always
extended with the necessary background information. In short, these two newspapers
guarantee a reproduction of qualitative information.
Meanwhile, La Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws take more advantage of the
emotions of the readers. They report more about the sensational events and always discuss
‘the people behind the story’.
Because of this, the readers get the feeling that they know what happens in the society. By
in-depth exploration of the human aspect, the reader can identify himself with the person in
the article. These newspapers don’t want to make the news too difficult. Their function is to
be a light-hearted newspaper, with a lot of attention to fait-divers.
48
While Le Soir and De Standaard find the pure communication functions more important, La
Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws take more interest in the psychosocial functions.
Those who read one of the first two papers will be looking for clear, qualitative information.
These readers really want to know what the story is about and are very interested. The
newspaper satisfies the needs of these readers by writing solid articles which, if necessary,
go more deeply into the subject. The readers of the two other newspapers are rather looking
for entertainment. They want to be aware of the news, but want to keep it airy. The articles
in these papers are therefore easy digestible, contain a lot of pictures and are written in a
simple language.
Kinds of news
Next we analyse the newspapers according to the kind of news they bring. Do they choose
for the ‘hard’ news or do they report rather about the ‘softer’ themes?
‘Hard’ news: these are the extremely important events on political, social or economic level.
‘Soft’ news: this provides a diversification and keeps the paper lightly digestible.
‘Spot’ news: this news contains all unexpected events like earthquakes, tsunamis…
This question is consistent with the previous part about the functions of a newspaper.
Therefore we can conclude that both Le Soir and De Standaard rather opt for the hard news
and La Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws choose for the soft news. This doesn’t rule
out that for example De Standaard chooses once in a while for a soft theme, or that Het
Laatste Nieuws publishes a slightly harder article.
Types
Regional newspapers:
These newspapers bring news that is also in the national papers, but give besides that also a
lot of information about the own region.
The Flemish papers have both a regional section. ‘Chez Nous’ is the limited regional part in
La Dernière Heure and Le Soir spends also a part of their pages to regional news.
All papers thus have a regional section in their pages included. We do remark that Het
Laatste Nieuws spends the most attention to regional news. This proofs again that this paper
likes to publish stories that are close to the people.
49
If we look at the front page of the newspapers, we see that none of the four papers
frequently put regional news on their front page. Only when it is about traffic accidents,
burglaries, murder… a region ends up on the front page. And even then, it is Het Laatste
Nieuws or La Dernière Heure who spend attention to this on their front page. The airy,
positive, regional news will seldom be found on the front page. But it is not impossible.
Popular papers versus business papers:
About these two concepts there is no unambiguous definition. It is therefore difficult to
place the newspapers in this division.
Most people understand under popular newspapers, papers that publish popular and airy
news and that are being read by a large part of the population. This means that not only the
highest social classes read these papers, but also that the public is very varied. Popular
papers are understandable for the common people, bring news about and for the common
people and are willingly being read by them. If we start from this definition, we can place
Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure, after all findings, in the category of popular
newspaper.
What is a business newspaper? We can equalize business with substantial, important,
significant, actual and correct. This category includes the papers that inform extensively
about the most important social themes. In the coverage about this, they also give sufficient
interpretation and background information. The readers of these papers mostly belong to the
two highest social classes. These are the readers who are interested in the society and want
to know details of what is happening both politically and economically. The articles in these
newspapers are often of a slightly higher level, with a somewhat more difficult use of
language. After all findings, we can conclude that De Standaard and Le Soir belong to this
category.
Profile
Finally, I will formulate an answer to the question if the profile the papers are supposed to
have, effectively corresponds to the profile they have in reality.
50
The Flemish newspapers:
De Standaard has the profile of a nuanced quality newspaper.
Het Laatste Nieuws on the other hand has the profile of a popular newspaper with the
attention to sports and showbiz.
The Walloon newspapers:
La Dernière Heure represents itself as a sportspaper.
Le Soir sees itself as an independent, progressive newspaper. The paper wants to be a
counterforce, listening, topical and popular, and not the paper of the power.
Le Soir wants to devote itself to human rights and the rights of women, the human dignity,
freedom of speech and opinion, tolerance, multiculturalism.
Le Soir has its own view on the Community situation and already teamed up with the
Flemish De Standaard about this. On the other hand they profile themselves as mouthpiece
of the Brussels Francophonie and as defender of the French-speaking immigrants in the
Flemish suburbs of Brussels.
51
1.3.4.5.3
General conclusion
Now that I have compared the newspapers on different levels with each other, I can
formulate a general conclusion. Based on the profile of the four newspapers, the conclusion
would be that De Standaard and Le Soir are similar and Het Laatste Nieuws and La
Dernière Heure are also similar. On many levels this is true, however we can’t draw a clear
line in this.
A short summary of the elements wherein the similarity is visible between De Standaard/Le
Soir and Het Laatste Nieuws/La Dernière Heure:
1- Themes on the front page: De Standaard and Le Soir spend a lot of attention to
economical and political news, Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure spend
more attention to sports, media and social news.
2- Topicality: Het Laatste Nieuws/La Dernière Heure need it slightly less to bring
topical news than De Standaard/ Le Soir. These first-mentioned papers will be read
anyway. The readers want to know every juicy detail behind each story.
3- Functions: The articles of De Standaard/Le Soir correspond mostly to the pure
communication functions, while at Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure, they
respond rather to the psychosocial functions.
4- Kind of news: Le Soir and De Standaard rather opt for the hard news and La
Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws choose rather for the soft news.
5- Popular vs business newspaper: De Standaard/Le Soir can be put under the category
of the qualitypaper while Het Laatste Nieuws/ La Dernière Heure belong rather to
the popular newspapers.
There are thus indeed many characteristics which are similar for Het Laatste Nieuws/ La
Dernière Heure and De Standaard/Le Soir. Yet, this is not always the case:
1- Publicity: herein is a distinction between De Standaard/Het Laatste Nieuws and Le
Soir/La DernièreHeure. The first two are mostly distributed in Flanders, while the
other two are mostly being spread in Wallonia. Remarkable is that in Flanders Het
Laatste Nieuws is the most popular newspaper; while in Wallonia Le Soir is the
most sold paper. In Flanders people choose rather for a popular newspaper, while the
Walloon readers prefer a quality paper.
52
2- Continuity: Le Soir and Het Laatste Nieuws have on their front page a large number
of articles. Their front page looks fairly chaotic. De Standaard and La Dernière
Heure choose for a well-organized first page. One head article plus a few smaller
teasers. The result of this is that the front pages of these papers radiate tranquillity.
Everything taken into account, my conclusion is:
The profile that people stick on the newspapers, are largely similar with how they are in
reality. Although the front pages of all newspapers are different in terms of layout and
content, there are many similarities between the papers. Especially Het Laatste Nieuws - La
Dernière Heure and Le Soir – De Standaard are identical in many aspects. There is a clear
difference between on the one hand the so-called popular newspapers and on the other hand
the more business/quality papers.
53
2
Part II: The manual
2.1
Common man on the front page
In the first chapter of the following part I examine in which categories and to what degree
the common man reaches the front page of (one of) the four newspapers. I counted every
article on every front page of which the subject deals with the common man. These data
were put into a graphic for each newspaper. The graphics were studied and in this chapter
you can read my findings. After the separate graphics per paper there follows also a graph in
conclusion in which I compare all four papers to each other.
2.1.1
Method
Everyone is used to see athletes, politicians, artists (known Flemish and celebrities
included) on the front page of the newspaper. Even when the CEO of a top company or a
union group is published on the first page, nobody is startled.
But often it happens that others reach the front page of a newspaper. In this thesis, this
group of people is defined as the common man.
To obtain the graphic below, I researched the front pages of the four newspapers and I
sorted out all articles in which a common man is mentioned by name or with a photograph.
All these articles were already categorized for the previous part in this thesis, so I used the
same categories. In this way I will eventually be able to see in which themes the common
man reaches the front page the most.
54
2.1.2
De Standaard
The graphic below shows the amount of articles whereby the common man was published
on the front page of De Standaard in the selected themes (sports, economics, politics, media,
From this graphic we can infer in which themes the common man reaches the front page of
the De Standaard the most.
On a total of 78 newspapers, there were only 39 papers of De Standaard whereby the
common man was published on the front page.
What stands out in this graphic is that when the common man does reach the front page, it is
mostly in the categorv social.
The other two categories whereby the common man has the chance to reach the first page
are crime and police. An example:
55
This is no surprise. Murderers, criminals, victims… are often being published on the front
page. Although at De Standaard these spectacle themes are not of primary importance, they
cannot ignore events like the Castle Murder.
In spite of the fact that the people involved in this case are not really ‘common’, they do
belong to the categorv of the common man.
Furthermore there are a limited number of common people who are published on the front
page of De Standaard in the themes: economics, politics, media, nature, accidents, culture
and science.
Some examples:
Although there are only a few common people who are published on the front page of De
Standaard, we can conclude that the themes wherein they do appear are very divergent.
56
2.1.3
Het Laatste Nieuws
on the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws in the selected themes (sports, economics, politics,
media, advertisements, science, culture, traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and
accidents). This over a period of three months.
Het Laatste Nieuws the most.
On a total of 78 newspapers, there were 75 papers of Het Laatste Nieuws whereby the
The common man has a lot of chance to reach the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws. We see
this by the high number of articles wherein this group appears on the first page of this paper.
You have the most chance to be published on the front page of this paper when you come in
contact with the police or the court of justice. Although it is not really recommendable,
there are however a lot of common people who are published on the front page under these
themes (police and crime). Unfortunately, we have to determine that there is a lot of
criminality.
57
Accidents and social are also themes were a lot of common people are being published in on
the front page. As Het Laatste Nieuws reports often about emotional and human items like
accidents, this is not surprising. Regrettably, a lot of people still die in traffic and because
Het Laatste Nieuws spends a lot of attention to this theme, the chance is high to end up on
the front page of this paper.
An example:
The social news is also an important categorv wherein the common man has the chance to
reach the front page.
An example:
58
Eventually, there is also a small percentage common people who reach the front page under
the themes sports, nature and traffic.
A few examples of these are:
59
2.1.4
La Dernière Heure
on the front page of La Dernière Heure in the selected themes (sports, economics, politics,
media, advertisements, science, culture, traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and
accidents). This over a period of three months.
La Dernière Heure the most.
On a total of 78 newspapers, there were 33 papers of La Dernière Heure whereby the
With this newspaper it stands out that the common man reaches the front page the most in
the theme police.
Besides police, a fair share of common people is being published on the front page of La
Dernière Heure in the categories crime and social news. Just as with the other papers is this
result also no surprise, because this newspaper spends a lot of attention to these themes too.
And crime, sadly, occurs frequently.
Once in a while it happens that the common man appears on the front page of this paper in
articles from the categories economics, media, accidents, culture or science.
60
Some examples of these are:
What is remarkable at La Dernière Heure is that not one common man is published on the
front page with an article of sportsnews. It wouldn’t be that illogical if supporters of a
certain team or athlete reached the front page of this paper. La Dernière Heure profiles itself
as thé sports paper, but only puts the professionals in the spotlight.
61
2.1.5
Le Soir
on the front page of Le Soir in the selected themes (sports, economics, politics, media,
Le Soir the most.
On a total of 78 newspapers, there were 30 papers of Le Soir whereby the common man was
published on the front page.
When we look at this graphic, we see that the common man is being published on the front
page of Le Soir mostly in the categorv police. Thereafter follow the themes crime, social
and accidents.
62
Some examples:
Very limited, but existing is the presence of the common man on the front page of Le Soir
in the categories sports, media and culture.
An example:
Remarkable here is the limited variety of themes wherein the common man reaches the front
page.
63
2.1.6
Conclusion
The graphic below gives a summary of the four previous graphs. In this diagram the results
of all newspapers are put next to each other so that the papers can be compared to one
another. The graphic shows the number of articles whereby the common man reached the
front page of a certain newspaper in the selected themes (sports, economics, politics, media,
advertisement, science, culture, traffic, social, crime, police, nature, royalty and accidents).
From this graphic can be derived in what themes and at which newspapers the common man
has the most chance to reach the front page.
When we compare the newspapers to each other it stands out immediately that Het Laatste
Nieuws is head leader in spending articles on the front page to the common man. As well in
the theme accidents as in the themes police, crime and social, this paper is head and
shoulders above the other papers. What we already can conclude is the fact that the common
man has the most chance to appear on the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws and this in all
themes.
64
If we review the complete graphic, we notice that the common man has a chance in every
theme to reach the front page (with the logical exception of advertisements and royalty).
Still there are certain themes wherein remarkably more common men are published. These
themes are accidents, police, crime and social. On the front page of all four papers, the
common man is mentioned the most in these themes.
After the head leader Het Laatste Nieuws comes in the second place La Dernière Heure.
This paper also spends relatively a lort of attention to articles about the common man on the
front page.
These results are not surprising. Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure were previously
defined as rather popular papers in this thesis which spend a lot of attention to sensational
news and messages in which emotion plays a major role. The items whereby the common
man is published on the front page, answer almost in every case to this kind of news.
That Le Soir and De Standaard spend a lot less attention to the common man on the front
page can be explained by the fact that these papers find political and economical news more
important. These are of course themes whereby the common man rarely fits in.
From all this I can conclude that the common man in most cases appears on the front page if
it concern bad news. By this I mean the large quantity of articles of police, crime and
accidents. If you murder someone, if you cause an accident, if you smuggle drugs…
chances are that you end up on the front page. This is very ambiguous, of course. People
who are published on the front page under these circumstances, didn’t act because they
wanted to reach the front page.Next to all these common men who reached the front page
with negative news, there is, fortunately, also place for other, more positive reports. We can
see this for example in the considerably large share of articles in the social news.
For many of the common people it would be great to reach the front page with their good
story. This is not impossible, but today it rarely happens. Various elements can be the cause
of this. People don’t always know to who they have to send their story, the press release of
their story is not well structured, they send their article at the wrong time to the editorial
offices… Because common men also have good stories, but often don’t reach the front
pages because of ignorance, I will provide in the following part a manual with a lot of tips
and explanations about how the common man can reach the front page.
65
2.2
How to reach the front page
In the last chapter of this thesis I give a manual for the common man which explains how
you can reach the front page. There are being given a lot of tips about how to write a good
press release, what you have to take into account when sending your message, how you can
give your story news value…
Now that I have analyzed the front page of each of the four newspapers and now that I know
on which topics they attach the most importance, I can make a manual in this second part of
my thesis. This manual will include a wide range of tips of which is claimed that they make
our news more attractive. Whoever follows these tips should be able to appear on the front
page of a newspaper. But is this really true?
Do you have, with the same news item, equal chances with every paper to get on the front
page? In this part I will search for the answers to these questions.
When you want to get on the front page of a newspaper, you have to be aware that you are
not the only one who offers news to the editorial office. Furthermore, editors are often
limited in terms of manpower and the amount of space on the front page is restricted. It
speaks for itself that your news has to stand out amongst the mass range of events.
The editors put articles on the front page of a newspaper which have to trigger the people to
buy the news paper. What you need to ask yourself is this: for which paper is my news
intended? Every medium has its own news expectations. Not every event is suitable for
every paper. Choosing which media you want to cooperate with is to a large extent related
to the question which public you want to reach and how you want to bring the message
across. It is therefore very important to formulate an answer to these questions even before
you can start with your article. You also need to make sure that you look at your news
through the same news glasses as a journalist. A correct estimation of which proposal fits
which medium is a first step towards a successful media approach.
A second important point is the comprehensibility of the news. Journalists are looking for
simple unambiguous messages. This needs to be very easy to understand and very easy to
pick up by the public. Stories who relate to the environment of the public of the medium and
who are easy to summarize in a catching image or catching title are good examples of this.
66
Next, the article and the images which you deliver to the editors need to be qualitative and
you need to take the deadline of the journalist into consideration.
Example:
At De Standaard there is a morning meeting at 10.30 every day. All the department heads
come together and evaluate the paper of the previous day. During this meeting, there is
often made already a variety of articles which can be used the next day. A number of
options for the front page news are presented here. In the afternoon there is another meeting,
at 2.45 pm, wherein the offer of the articles is being refined. The articles that will be used
are being selected now by the news manager and the editor in chief. At 3.30 pm, the layout
of the whole news paper is made up and from 6.00 pm all pieces are being read through. At
10.15 pm, they bring everything to the printer. This is also the moment when the front page
needs to be ready. Important changes can be made till 11.30 pm. Subsequent alterations are
always possible, but are seldom done. It costs a lot of time and money to stop the presses.
The previous example of De Standaard shows that it is very important to be aware of the
daily schedule of the journalists. News that arrives after the deadline can’t be put in the
paper. As news provider it is important to know the starting point. This is the moment when
the editorial office starts to plan its pieces and puts out the first lines for the actual content
of the newspaper. In the example of De Standaard, the starting point is the morning meeting.
Although the deadline is the most important factor where timing is crucial, there is also a
second element that contributes to the success of your approach to the press. During the
weekends and the holiday the amount of news offers is much lower than during a normal
workweek, when the news bawls. An article that in a busy period wouldn’t be picked up
suddenly gets a lot more chance to be published in a silent period.
Then you need to make sure that your message is being received and is being looked at.
Because of an overcrowded mailbox of a journalist, it could happen that your message is
lost. So, pick up the phone and make a quick call to the editorial office to check if the
journalist read your article.
67
Also make sure that the journalist has the chance to give his own interpretation to your
message. The journalist, himself, needs to be able to define which direction and point of
view he wants to take. Don’t forget that journalists are bounded by the objectivity duty.
They have to be able to give other opinions too, in order to keep their credibility. Keep in
mind that journalists aren’t advertisers. Messages which show that they are made with the
intention to make free publicity for a product, don’t stand a chance to be published.
When you put your article together, you need to ask yourself three questions:
What does the public need to know?
What can I do to hold the public’s attention?
What interests the journalist?
Besides this, there are of course some other criteria an article must comply with to be
published on the front page.
In the first place you have to ensure that the news is relevant for the medium involved. The
news must also be innovative. This doesn’t mean that the topic itself has to be innovative,
but the events in connection with this topic have to be.
If you can show a large involvement of the community or the broad concern of the public,
then this is an important argument for the editorial office to do something with your news. It
is generally known that the media finds its way easier to events where many people are
present.
The packing of your message is as important as the content!
‘Media often reports about things in society that are changing or evolving in one way or
another. Change often brings controversy between those who want to keep things as they
are and those who want things in a different way. That’s why the media play people off
against one another. This way, opposite opinions become visible and the spectacle
increases. Those who succeed to create controversy, have more chance to get attention in
the media.’
Broeck, K. V. In De persattaché is een boer (p. 25).
68
If it fits with your story and you have the possibility to invite some personalities or Flemish
celebrities, than this is also a way to get the attention of the media. Though, ensure that the
image of the celebrities you invite, stroke with the intent of your message.
The next important point is to make sure that your news can be illustrated with pictures. A
compelling picture that can be published next to your article, is always more interesting for
a journalist than only some text.
You also have to be able to empathize with your public. Your news needs to be meaningful
for the target group of the medium that you have chosen. So, you will need to search for an
angle that corresponds with the concept of your newspaper.
Put in perspective that news isn’t the same everywhere. Place and time will always be of
great importance to determine if something is news or not.
‘Checklist: has my message news value?
-
Is the content ‘new’?
-
Is my message related to a topical item?
-
Is the theme devious of the conventional?
-
Is my article controversial, does it contain substance for conflict?
-
Is my news about something sensational or spectacular?
-
Has my article entertainment value?
-
Does my message contain enough emotion?
-
Can people relate to my message?
-
How many people are involved with my article?
-
Is my message socially relevant?
-
Are there famous or prominent people involved in my news?
-
Is it possible to visualize my message?
-
Can my news be approached from within a person?’
With these tips you should be well on your way to get the attention of the media. Before I
investigate if these tips effectively can put you on the front page, I will first elaborate on
how to bring your message even better.
As an ordinary and unknown person, you probably don’t have the possibility to organize a
press conference or a press trip.
69
To do this you need, next to the obvious necessary resources, a very good story. If you don’t
have that, than the media won’t spend any time or attention on your press conference.
Those who are very ambitious can try to put together a press event. If you succeed to gather
a lot of people for this, you have a chance that the media will also come and have a look at
your event.
The one who doesn’t have the necessary means to organize this kind of action, can choose
to send a press release. To succeed however, this press release needs to comply with a
number of conditions.
First of all, a press release has to bring news. Think about the ‘who-what-where-when-why
and how’ questions and formulate an answer to them. You also need to consider who lies
awake on the theme which you want write about. Only if a large number of people from the
public of the medium can relate to the message, it is relevant enough to publish in the front
page of a paper.
A press release has to be easy to read. A journalist needs to able to screen quickly if he can
do something with the message. This is only possible if the article is prepared efficiently.
Make sure that your article has a distinct title.
This title has to state the essence of your message and preferably as original and attractive
as possible. Your press release has to provide the information in a comprehensible way
which the journalist can use to make a newspaper article. Structure the information well and
use fluent and correct language to write the press release.
The length of the press release should be kept as short as possible. Ideally one A4 format. In
a press release, it is always the intention to bring forward only one clear message. If you
absolutely want to add more background information, you can do this in a supplement.
A press release also needs to be quickly identifiable. It has to be clear immediately for the
journalist who wrote the message. Start your press release with: ‘Press release from…’ this
way you avoid ambiguities. Mention also accurate contact information such as your
telephone number and e-mail, so the journalist knows who to contact for more information.
Put this information clearly visible, preferable at the top or the bottom.
In the first paragraph of your article you put the essence of your message. The journalist has
to be able to see in a few lines what the article is about. On the basis of this, he will decide if
70
the message is worth something or not. So, make sure that this first paragraph is written in
such a way that the journalist is hungry for more.
A press release has also a manageable form.
‘Press releases exist in many shapes and sizes. Some people write their press release very
personal, others write more detached and use the third person in order to use a journalistic
style. Some people build their press release point by point, as an enumeration of relevant
pieces of information, others write a continuous story. Some punctuate their article with
quotes, others knowingly omit this. Some try to make their press release to stand out by
giving it an attractive lay-out, others keep it real simple.’
How you make up your press release often depends on the message you want to tell. One
method isn’t better or worse than the other. Everything just depends on the kind of story you
want to bring. What is certain is that a journalist will only pick up your article when he can
very quickly judge the message as being interesting. Your article, therefore, needs to be
short and to the point.
A next characteristic element of a press release is that it needs to be spread efficiently. In
these technological times, it seems that the choice for e-mail is quickly made. But is this
really the best way to spread a press release? A combination of e-mail and fax is probably
the most efficient method. A fax is a physical present message, which you receive instantly
just like an e-mail. If you would send your press release by mail, you would have a high risk
that the message is already outdated by the time your letter arrives. If your message is not
topical bounded, for example results of a research, then the spreading by mail can of course
be an option.
You also need to take into account whether you have to send the press release to the general
editorial office or to a specific journalist.
It is always convenient to find out of each editorial office you want to contact, which
subeditorial office and which specific journalist might have the most interest in your theme.
I also recommend sending your article to the central editorial office secretariat, as a back up.
71
No matter which method you choose, every journalist will appreciate if you call him in
advance to ask if he is interested in the matter of your story and, if he is, how he wants to
receive the information. While you have the journalist on the phone, you can already situate
your message and generate interest.
Furthermore, you can decide whether or not to send a reminder for your article.
If you want to send your press release to several newspapers, it is best to already think about
different angles the papers can use for your message. Every newspaper has its own
characteristics and it is convenient to give in your press release some tips about how your
story can be brought.
Summarized: 1 press release = 1 theme = 1 message.
The chapter above gave an extended manual about the things you have to look out for when
you want to reach the front page of a newspaper. If you have a good story and you take into
account all the tips from this chapter, then you are already a lot further in your attempt to
reach the front page. As has been demonstrated by the graphics, the common man has
certainly a chance to be published on the front page, even in other themes than crime, police
or accidents… Especially at Het Laatste Nieuws is the success rate to reach the front page
with your good story not to be underestimated.
Let’s give it try!
72
3
Conclusion
Now that my investigation is finished and that I found an answer to all my questions, I can
formulate a conclusion. Because I divided this work in two main parts, I will divide my
conclusion equally.
In the first part of this thesis I analysed the front pages of four different newspapers. De
Standaard and Het Laatste Nieuws on the Flemish side and Le Soir and La Dernière Heure
on the Walloon side. I started by giving a short history and some background information
about the papers and groups they belong to.
This to eventually come to the actual analysis of the front pages. To make this analysis, I
collected four newspapers for three months. I counted the number of articles on the front
page, indicated whether it was an article about national or international news and classified
each article in a specific category. I put all these data into tables and converted them into
graphics. My findings were the following:
Het Laatste Nieuws publishes a lot of articles on their front page. Sports and media are the
themes whereto this paper pays the most attention. Also social news and reports about
police often are put on the front page. This newspaper also spends a lot of space on
advertisement.
De Standaard publishes only a limited number of articles on their front page. The themes
which are important for this paper are politics, economic and culture. Advertisements are
numerous present in comparison with the small number of articles on the complete front
page. De Standaard reports mostly about national news.
Le Soir brings mostly political news and pays little attention to other themes, except for
some economical articles. This paper always publishes a lot of articles on their front page,
but little advertisements.
La Dernière Heure publishes only a few items on their front page. Besides some
advertisements, the most important theme for this Walloon newspaper is sports.
After the conclusions that I made for every newspaper separately, I also made a graphic
with the data of all newspapers. This way I could easily compare the four papers. I
compared the following elements of the papers: the essential characteristics (periodicity,
topicality, universality, publicity, and continuity), the functions, the kinds of news they
bring, types and profile.
73
After a thorough comparison, these are my findings:
Based on the profile of the four newspapers, the conclusion would be that De Standaard and
Le Soir are similar and Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure are also similar. On
many levels this is true, however we can’t draw a clear line in this.
A short summary of the elements wherein the similarity is visible between De Standaard/Le
Soir and Het Laatste Nieuws/La Dernière Heure:
1) Themes on the front page: De Standaard and Le Soir spend a lot of attention to
economical and political news, Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure spend
more attention to sports, media and social news.
2) Topicality: Het Laatste Nieuws/La Dernière Heure need it slightly less to bring
topical news than De Standaard/ Le Soir. These first-mentioned papers will be
read anyway. The readers want to know every juicy detail behind each story.
3) Functions: The articles of De Standaard/Le Soir correspond mostly to the pure
communication functions, while at Het Laatste Nieuws and La Dernière Heure,
they respond rather to the psychosocial functions.
4) Kind of news: Le Soir and De Standaard rather opt for the hard news and La
Dernière Heure and Het Laatste Nieuws choose rather for the soft news.
5) Popular vs business newspaper: De Standaard/Le Soir can be put under the
category of the qualitypaper while Het Laatste Nieuws/ La Dernière Heure
belong rather to the popular newspapers.
There are thus indeed many characteristics which are similar for Het Laatste Nieuws/ La
Dernière Heure and De Standaard/Le Soir. Yet, this is not always the case:
1) Publicity: herein is a distinction between De Standaard/Het Laatste Nieuws and
Le Soir/La DernièreHeure. The first two are mostly distributed in Flanders,
while the other two are mostly being spread in Wallonia. Remarkable is that in
Flanders Het Laatste Nieuws is the most popular newspaper, while in Wallonia
Le Soir is the most sold paper. In Flanders people choose rather for a popular
newspaper, while the Walloon readers prefer a quality paper.
2) Continuity: Le Soir and Het Laatste Nieuws have on their front page a large
number of articles. Their front page looks fairly chaotic. De Standaard and La
Dernière Heure choose for a well-organized first page. One head article plus a
few smaller teasers. The result of this is that the front pages of these papers
radiate tranquillity.
74
Everything taken into account, my conclusion is:
The profile that people stick on the newspapers, are largely similar with how they are in
reality. Although the front pages of all newspapers are different in terms of layout and
content, there are many similarities between the papers. Especially Het Laatste Nieuws - La
Dernière Heure and Le Soir – De Standaard are identical in many aspects. There is a clear
difference between on the one hand the so-called popular newspapers and on the other hand
the more business/quality papers.
In the second part of this thesis I researched in which themes the common man appears the
most on the front page, also for the four newspapers. I put the collected data in graphics and
concluded the following:
At De Standaard, the common man appears mostly on the front page in the category
‘social’. Next the common man also ahs a chance to reach the front page in the sections
crime and police. This is not surprising. Murderers, criminals, victims… often are published
on the front page of the newspaper. Although, at De Standaard, these spectacle themes are
not fundamental, they cannot ignore events such as the Castle Murder. Furthermore there
are a limited number of common people who are published on the front page of De
Standaard in the themes: economics, politics, media, nature, accidents, culture and science.
The common man has a lot of chance to reach the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws. You
have the most chance to be published on the front page of this paper when you come in
contact with the police or the court of justice. Accidents and social are also themes were a
lot of common people are being published in on the front page. As Het Laatste Nieuws
reports often about emotional and human items like accidents, this is not surprising. The
social news is also an important category wherein the common man has the chance to reach
the front page. Eventually, there are also a small percentage common people who reach the
front page under the themes sports, nature and traffic.
With La Dernière Heure, it stands out that the common man reaches the front page the most
in the theme police. Besides police, a fair share of common people is being published on the
front page of La Dernière Heure in the categories crime and social news. Once in a while it
happens that the common man appears on the front page of this paper in articles from the
categories economics, media, accidents, culture or science.
Finally, at Le Soir, we see that the common man is being published on the front page mostly
in the category police. Thereafter follow the themes crime, social and accidents.
75
Very limited, but existing is the presence of the common man on the front page of Le Soir
in the categories sports, media and culture. Remarkable here is the limited variety of themes
wherein the common man reaches the front page
After analyzing the newspapers separately, I put the graphics together in one diagram so
that I could compare the papers to each other. Hereby I conclude the following regarding the
common man on the front page:
Het Laatste Nieuws is head leader in spending articles on the front page to the common
man. As well in the theme accidents as in the themes police, crime and social, this paper is
head and shoulders above the other papers. We can conclude that the common man has the
most chance to appear on the front page of Het Laatste Nieuws and this in all themes.
After the head leader, Het Laatste Nieuws, La Dernière Heure comes in the second place.
This paper also spends relatively a lot of attention to articles about the common man on the
front page.
There are certain themes wherein remarkably more common men are published. These
themes are accidents, police, crime and social. On the front page of all four papers, the
common man is mentioned the most in these themes.
The common man, in most cases, appears on the front page if it concerns bad news. If you
murder someone, if you cause an accident, if you smuggle drugs… chances are that you end
up on the front page. This is very ambiguous, of course. People, who are published on the
front page under these circumstances, didn’t act because they wanted to reach the front
page. Next to all these common men who reached the front page with negative news, there
is, fortunately, also place for other, more positive reports. We can see this for example in the
considerably large share of articles in the social news.
From all this I noticed that the common man rarely reaches the front page by only having a
good story. Still, it is not that these stories aren’t interesting; the common man certainly
does have stories that are news worthy. Various elements can be the cause of why these
stories aren’t published on the front page: people don’t always know to whom they have to
send their story, the press release of their story is not well structured, they send their article
at the wrong time to the editorial offices… Because I wanted to clear up this ignorance, I
provided in the last part of this thesis a manual with a lot of tips and explanations about how
the common man can reach the front page of the newspaper.
When you have a good story and you take into account all the tips from this chapter, then
you are already a lot further in your attempt to reach the front page.
76
4
Bibliografie
(sd). De Standaard .
(sd). Het Laatste Nieuws .
(sd). Le Soir .
(sd). La Dernière Heure .
(sd). Opgehaald van
http://www.viso.be/dokeos/courses/6TNED/document/theorie_bij_Kranten_in_de_kl
as.pdf?cidReq=6TNED
Vries, T. d. (2004). In communicatiewijzer: handboek voor schriftelijk taalgebruik. .
Anthonissen, P. F. (2005). In stop de pers! hoe de media werken, hoe werken met de
media. lannoo.
Broeck, K. V. In De persattaché is een boer: opzetten en onderhouden van persrelaties.
Caudron, J. (2011). In media morgen: de media op hun kop. lannoo.
Els De Bens, K. (2007). In De pers in België: Het verhaal van de Belgische dagbladpers
gisteren, vandaag en morgen. lannoo campus.
Dekeyser, M. (2000). In de media een pretpark. de devaluatie van het nieuws. the house
of books.
Han Soete, R. C. (2004). In media activisme: don't hate the media, be the media.
Nieuwenhuyse, K. V. (2005). In De klauw van een papieren leeuw. Een politieke
geschiedenis van de krant De Standaard.
Nolf, M. In Cursus mediamix.
77
5
Enclosures
5.1
Questions interview Peter Cuypers (editor in chief De
Standaard) and Paul Daenen (editor in chief Het Laatste
Nieuws)
De Standaard
Het Laatste Nieuws
Corelio-groep
De persgroep

Vragen over de groep en de krant in het algemeen
1) Wat is de ideologie van de groep?
2) Wat is de structuur van de journalisten? Wordt er per thema gewerkt, zijn er
subredacties?
3) Heeft oprichter (naam) zijn

Vragen over de voorpagina
1) Wie + hoe kiest de foto’s op de voorpagina
2) Wie + hoe wordt beslist welke thema’s/artikels op de voorpagina komen?
3) Wie + hoe wordt beslist hoe groot elk artikel op de voorpagina is?
4) Hoe kan ‘de man uit de straat’ op jullie voorpagina komen?
5) Wat is de verdeling nationaal/internationaal nieuws?
6) Wanneer wordt de voorpagina gemaakt?
7) Wat is het aandeel van de eindredacteur in het maken van de voorpagina?
8) Wie + hoe wordt beslist hoeveel artikels er op de voorpagina komen?
9) Wie bepaalt hoe de lay-out van de voorpagina eruit ziet? (schikking van de artikels)
78
5.2
Fully written answers interview Peter Cuypers en Paul
Daenen
Peter Cuypers: Eindredacteur De Standaard
Vroeger bevond De Standaard zich in de katholieke zuil. In de jaren ’90 werd het opschrift
AVV-VVK van de voorpagina gehaald en sindsdien is er ook sprake van de ontzuiling.
Vroeger was het niet denkbaar dat bijvoorbeeld een journalist van De Morgen overstapte
naar De Standaard. Hier wordt vandaag de dag totaal geen rekening meer met gehouden. De
politieke achtergronden die de kranten vroeger hadden, zijn vandaag niet meer relevant.
De Standaard verschilt van HLN en La Dernière Heure doordat het een kwaliteitskrant is en
de twee laatstgenoemde populaire kranten zijn.
Le Soir wordt aan Waalse kant bekeken als kwaliteitskrant. De Standaard en Le Soir doen af
en toe projecten samen.
Wat ook opvalt is dat Vlaamse kranten nog steeds in verkoopcijfer stijgen en dat de Waalse
kranten in vrije val zijn. Dit is volgens meneer Cuypers te wijten aan het feit dat Walen hun
informatie veel meer halen via televisie.
Structuur bij De Standaard:
Hoofdredactie
Nieuwsmanager
Binnnenland
Wetstraat
Buitenland
Economie
Cultuur/media
Regio
Eindredactie
Lay-out
Foto
Weekendploeg: bijlagen
De foto’s komen op de redactie binnen op 3 manieren: 1) foto’s van persbureau’s 2)
fotografen van DS zelf die foto’s trekken op bepaalde belangrijke evenementen 3) spontaan
aangeboden foto’s.
79
De persoon die verantwoordelijk is voor de foto’s kiest er een aantal uit. Uiteindelijk wordt
de beslissing genomen door 4 mensen: De lay-outer, de eindredacteur, de ‘fotoman’ en ….
Over gruwelijke foto’s wordt steeds overlegd of het verantwoord is deze op de voorpagina
te zetten. De Standaard is hierin ietwat terughoudend. Ethische kwesties vragen altijd een
grote afweging.
Om 10u30 is er iedere dag een ochtendvergadering. Hierin zitten de chefs van alle
afdelingen. Tijdens deze vergadering wordt de krant van de vorige dag geëvalueerd.
Tijdens deze vergadering zijn er vaak ook al een groot aantal mogelijkheden voor artikels
voor de volgende dag. Tijdens deze vergadering worden al een aantal opties voorgelegd
voor artikels die op de voorpagina kunnen komen.
Na de middag is er dan opnieuw een vergadering (dit om 14u45). Hier wordt het aanbod van
de vele artikels verfijnd. Ook de keuze voor de artikels voor de voorpagina wordt nu
verfijnd. Dit gebeurt door de nieuwsmanager en de eindredacteur
Op de voorpagina van De Standaard staat er normalerwijze het volgende: 1 artikel, 1 foto,
2-4 teasers (ter overtuiging voor de losse verkoop)
Om de krant er keer op keer aantrekkelijk te laten uitzien, gebeurt het natuurlijk af en toe
dat van deze standard afgeweken wordt.
Het aantal advertenties: maximum band van 5cm over 5 kolom
De graficus maakt de voorpagina. Hij beslist hoe groot de artikels op de voorpagina
geplaatst worden. Hij beslist ook waar de foto’s komen.
Foto’s staan meestal bovenaan. Dit omdat indien het omgekeerd zou zijn, er de indruk
gecreëerd wordt dat het een advertentie is + omdat als kranten geplooid liggen in de winkel,
een foto aantrekkelijker is dan enkel tekst.
Enkel bij gebeurtenissen die echt de moeite zijn wordt ere en paginagrote foto gebruikt. Dit
omdat anders het effect hiervan zou weggaan.
(vb: krant van 8feb met de lievenheersbeestjes was niet geslaagd. Link naar het artikel dat
over de lievenheersbeestjes ging was niet duidelijk vermeld. Mensen vroegen zich af wat de
diertjes op de voorpagina deden)
80
In het weekend gebeurt het soms dat men gebruik maakt van een typografische voorpagina.
Dit is een voorpagina met enkel tekst, zonder dragende foto’s.
Reden hiervoor is dat men liever de tekst wat groter zet, dan ere en ‘domme, nietszeggende’
foto bij te plaatsen.
Over de verdeling national/international nieuws weet meneer Cuypers me te vertellen dat
men altijd nieuws probeert te vinden die niemand anders heeft. Een primeur hebben uit
Amerika is dus 1000 keer kleiner dan eentje uit België. Daarom zal men er bijna altijd voor
kiezen om binnenlands nieuws op de voorpagina te zetten, het zogenaamde eigen nieuws.
Indien er zich spontaan niets aanbiedt, gaat men na de middag op zoek naar een eigen
nieuwsverhaal.
Voor populaire kranten is het niet noodzakelijk op ‘nieuws’ te hebben. Mensen lezen de
krant toch. Bijvoorbeeld met de kasteelmoord. Ook al hebben ze alles al in het nieuws
gehoord, ze zullen alles toch nog eens lezen in de krant. De Standaard zal dit nieuws niet
meer op de voorpagina zetten omdat iedereen het toch al weet.
(andekdote: zolang iemand niet veroordeeld is, mag een krant normaal gezien de
achternaamd van de beschuldigde niet volledig in de krant zetten. HLN doet dit wel, De
Standaard houdt zich aan de regels)
Om 22u15 wordt alles naar de drukker gebracht. Dit is dus ook het moment waarop de
voorpagina klaar moet zijn. Indien er toch nog belangrijke wijzigingen moeten worden
aangebracht, kan dit tot half 12. Latere wijzigingen kunnen altijd, maar dit gebeurt zelden.
Het kost dan ook enorm veel tijd en geld om de persen stil te leggen.
Wanneer er problemen zijn op de baan of als er echt heel laat nieuws is, wordt ere en
nationale uitgave van De Standaard gemaakt. Hier is dan geen apart regionieuws. Het
drukken en transporteren hiervan gaat veel sneller.
De taak van de eindredacteur in het maken van de voorpagina is de volgende: voorstellen
mee beslissen, teksten nalezen op fouten (voorpagina, de andere pagina’s worden nagelezen
door de eindredacteur per redactie). De eindredacteur heeft eveneens inspraak in het hele
proces.
81
In juli en augustus is het traditioneel de kalmste nieuwsperiode. Vanaf 21 juli tot begin
September is er geen politiek nieuws meer, waardoor een groot deel van het nieuws
wegvalt. In die periodes zal men snellen buitenlands nieuws op de voorpagina zetten of een
of andere studie bovenhalen.
Indien iemand op de voorpagina van De Standaard wil terechtkomen, is dit eigenlijk de
enige periode waarin dit mogelijk is. Meneer Cuypers zegt me dat het principieel niet
uitgesloten is voor de man uit de straat om op de voorpagina van De Standaard te komen,
maar tussen de regels begrijp ik dat dit in de praktijk nooit zal gebeuren.
Iemand zal zich eerst bekend moeten maken met bijvoorbeeld een grote uitvinding en zal
dan pas opgemerkt worden. Feit is natuurlijk dat het op dat moment niet meer gewoon de
man uit de straat is.
Vanaf 15u30 wordt de lay-out van de hele krant opgemaakt en vanaf 18u worden alle
stukken nagelezen.
Paul Daenen – eindredacteur Het Laatste Nieuws
Het Laatste Nieuws is een liberale krant. Dit niet in het opzicht van partijgebondenheid, wel
in de liberale waarden.
Het Laatste Nieuws heeft in tegenstelling tot De Standaard een open structuur. Er is een
regionale redactie, een sportredactie en een algemene redactie.
Het Laatste Nieuws is een krant dat bestaat voor een breed publiek.
Foto’s worden gekozen door Paul Daenen. Hij bekijkt het aanbod en kiest dan het geschikte
beeldmateriaal. Er wordt altijd gewerkt met foto’s van de dag voordien. Er wordt nooit
gebruik gemaakt van een random afbeelding of oud fotomateriaal.
Bij Het Laatste Nieuws gebeurt het maken van de voorpagina vanuit een buikgevoel. Er zijn
geen regels wat betreft: soort artikels die op de voorpagina komen, aantal artikels die op de
voorpagina komen, verdeling tussen national/international nieuws, hoe groot de artikels
zijn…
De voorpagina wordt gemaakt tussen 6uur en 7uur ‘s avonds. Rond 23u gaat deze dan naar
de drukker. Wijzigingen zijn mogelijk tot half 1.
De chef van de eindredactie geeft aan de eindredacteur een lijst met alle mogelijke artikels.
Het aantal artikels dat geselecteerd wordt voor de voorpagina hangt af van de nieuwswaarde
(keuze wordt enkel gemaakt door Paul Daenen)
82
De eindredacteur bij Het Laatste Nieuws beslist dus over alles wat op de voorpagina terecht
komt.
Volgens Paul Daenen bestaat het woord komkommertijd enkel in de volksmond. Het is
volgens hem niet zo dat er een kalmere nieuwsperiode bestaat. Er gebeuren elke dag dingen
en dus ook in de zomermaanden. Volgens Paul Daenen is er dan zelfs meer nieuws omdat
Vlamingen zich in verschillende landen begeven en er dan dus meer kan gebeuren.
Advertenties komen bij Het Laatste Nieuws altijd onderaan op de voorpagina en deze
mogen tien cm zijn op 6 kolom.
De man uit de straat kan altijd op de voorpagina komen als hij maar nieuws heeft.
Maar wat is nieuws?  hoofdstuk over hoe nieuwswaardig zijn!
83
5.3
Mail to final editorial offices Walloon newspapers
Cher monsieur Hamann,
Je suis une étudiante de dernière année de communication à l’école HOWEST.
Cette semestre, je dois écrire une thèse et j’ai choisi pour le sujet ‘ la une des journaux’.
Je vais analyser les unes de ‘De Standaard’, ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’, ‘Le Soir’ et ‘La Dernière
Heure’.
L’intention de ma thèse est de faire un manuel comment les revenus moyens peuvent
apparaître sur la une + comment les journaux font leur choix et leur selection pour la une.
Je suis convaincu que votre connaissance de ce sujet, peut m’aider beaucoup pour finaliser
ma thèse.
C’est pourquoi que je vous demande si vous voulez répondre mes questions.
Questions à la groupe et au journal en general:
-
Quelle est la structure des journalistes? On travaille par thème? Il y a des
subrédactions?
-
Quelle est la difference entre ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’, ‘Le Standaard’, ‘Le Soir’ et ‘La
Dernière Heure’.
Questions à la une:
-
Qui choisis les photos pour la une et comment?
-
Comment on décide quelles thèmes/articles venir sur la une et qui décide?
-
Comment on décide quelle est la grandeur d’articles et qui décide?
-
Quelle est la division entre les nouvelles nationales/internationales?
-
À quelle heure est votre ‘deadline’?
-
Que fait le rédacteur en chef dans la fabrication de la une?
-
Qui est responsable pour la mise en page de la une?
-
Comment on décide combien d’articles on va placer à la une et qui décide?
-
Il y a une période dans laquelle il y a moins de nouvelles?
-
Il y a un maximum pour les advertissements? Combien de centimetres sur combien de
colonnes?
84
Je vous remercier pour votre aide,
Sincèrement,
Charlotte De Schepper
 Deze mail werd verstuurd op dinsdag 13 maart 2012 om 9:36 naar de redacties van Le
Soir en La Dernière Heure. Toen ik na een tiental dagen nog steeds geen antwoord had,
stuurde ik hen nog een reminder. Jammer genoeg bleef ook deze onbeantwoord.
85
5.4
Figures and analysisdata front pages newspapers
5.4.1
Het laatste nieuws
31/
number
nati
intern
sp
econ
pol
me
adver
nat
acci
roy
Po
cr
Tr
so
Cu
Sci
of titles
onal
ational
ort
omic
itic
di
tising
ure
dent
alt
lic
im
aff
cia
ltu
enc
s
s
s
a
s
y
e
e
ic
l
re
e
6
5
1
13
10
3
11
9
2
10
8
2
1
2
1
10
10
0
1
1
1
6
6
0
12
11
1
1
10
10
0
10
10
9
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
3
1
1
2
1
3
1
2
2
dec
1/j
an
2/j
1
1
1
1
an
3/j
3
1
1
an
4/j
1
2
an
5/j
1
2
an
6/j
2
an
7/j
1
1
2
3
1
2
1
1
1
3
1
0
2
2
2
3
1
8
1
2
2
1
5
4
1
1
11
11
0
1
2
12
12
0
2
1
3
2
1
1
1
9
8
1
1
10
9
1
12
10
2
9
9
11
10
1
an
8/j
an
9/j
1
1
1
an
10/
jan
11/
1
2
1
jan
12/
1
3
1
1
1
2
3
3
jan
13/
1
1
3
jan
14/
1
jan
15/
jan
16/
1
jan
17/
1
2
2
1
2
4
2
1
1
1
1
1
jan
18/
1
1
1
jan
19/
1
3
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
3
2
1
1
1
jan
20/
jan
21/
1
1
1
1
jan
86
22/
jan
23/
12
12
4
10
10
10
10
0
11
11
10
2
3
1
1
1
jan
24/
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
0
2
2
10
0
1
13
13
0
2
1
9
9
0
1
1
10
10
0
1
1
3
9
9
0
1
2
8
6
2
1
3
8
6
2
1
1
1
2
12
12
0
1
1
2
3
1
1
11
11
0
2
1
2
1
2
1
10
8
2
1
2
1
1
8
7
1
2
1
1
1
11
11
0
2
1
1
3
2
10
10
0
1
11
10
1
1
8
6
2
1
9
7
12
8
1
1
jan
25/
3
1
1
1
1
1
3
2
jan
26/
jan
27/
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
jan
28/
2
2
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
jan
29/
jan
30/
2
jan
31/
1
1
1
jan
1/f
1
1
1
eb
2/f
1
eb
3/f
2
1
eb
4/f
1
2
eb
5/f
eb
6/f
1
1
1
3
1
1
eb
7/f
1
eb
8/f
1
eb
9/f
1
1
eb
10/
3
1
2
2
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
2
11
1
3
1
1
3
1
8
0
1
3
1
feb
11/
2
feb
12/
feb
13/
1
1
feb
14/
1
feb
15/
1
2
feb
16/
1
1
1
1
87
feb
17/
11
10
1
1
10
8
2
11
9
2
9
7
2
12
10
2
2
11
11
0
10
8
12
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
feb
18/
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
9
3
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
9
8
1
2
1
1
2
1
12
10
2
4
2
2
1
1
11
8
3
1
1
1
1
2
2
12
10
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
11
9
2
2
1
12
11
1
1
11
9
2
1
3
10
10
0
1
2
11
9
2
2
10
8
2
1
feb
19/
feb
20/
1
2
1
feb
21/
feb
22/
feb
23/
1
feb
24/
feb
25/
1
feb
26/
feb
27/
1
1
feb
28/
1
1
feb
29/
1
1
1
feb
1/
2
mr
t
2/
3
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
mr
t
3/
2
1
mr
t
4/
mr
t
5/
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
3
1
2
mr
t
6/
mr
t
7/
2
1
1
mr
t
8/
1
2
mr
t
88
9/
10
8
2
1
2
11
7
4
1
13
12
1
3
10
9
1
2
9
8
1
5
4
1
1
1
0
6
6
0
9
9
0
2
1
12
11
1
1
1
10
10
0
1
1
1
1
0
9
7
2
1
11
11
0
1
11
11
0
3
1
1
1
2
3
1
3
2
2
mr
t
10/
1
mr
t
11/
mr
t
12/
2
3
1
2
2
mr
t
13/
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
mr
t
14/
mr
t
15/
2
3
mr
t
16/
1
mr
t
17/
1
3
1
1
3
1
2
3
1
1
2
1
1
mr
t
18/
mr
t
19/
1
mr
t
20/
mr
t
21/
1
1
mr
t
22/
1
mr
t
23/
1
2
1
1
1
2
mr
t
24/
2
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
mr
t
25/
mr
t
26/
1
1
2
1
1
89
mr
t
27/
11
9
2
1
10
9
1
11
11
0
1
10
9
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
3
1
3
1
1
3
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
mr
t
28/
1
mr
t
29/
1
mr
t
30/
3
mr
t
5.4.2
31/
De Standaard
number
nati
intern
sp
econ
pol
me
adver
nat
acci
roy
Po
cr
so
tr
cul
Sci
of titles
onal
ational
ort
omic
itic
di
tising
ure
dent
alt
lic
im
ci
aff
tur
enc
s
s
s
a
s
y
e
e
al
ic
e
e
5
4
1
4
4
0
4
3
1
6
5
1
2
1
5
3
2
2
2
1
6
6
0
1
2
1
2
8
7
1
1
1
1
4
4
0
3
2
1
5
4
1
5
3
2
5
5
0
7
5
2
1
1
1
2
1
2
dec
1/j
an
2/j
1
an
3/j
1
1
1
1
an
4/j
1
1
1
an
5/j
an
6/j
an
7/j
2
2
1
1
1
an
8/j
an
9/j
1
1
an
10/
2
1
jan
11/
2
1
2
jan
12/
1
2
1
1
jan
13/
1
1
1
2
jan
14/
2
2
3
jan
90
15/
jan
16/
3
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
4
4
6
4
2
4
3
1
8
6
2
6
6
5
4
1
4
4
0
7
5
2
1
4
3
1
1
6
5
1
4
4
0
3
3
0
6
5
1
1
6
5
1
1
4
3
1
7
6
1
3
4
3
1
1
6
3
3
4
3
1
4
3
1
1
jan
17/
1
1
jan
18/
1
1
1
1
jan
19/
1
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
jan
20/
jan
21/
1
2
jan
22/
jan
23/
jan
24/
1
1
1
jan
25/
1
1
1
2
2
jan
26/
2
1
jan
27/
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
jan
28/
1
1
jan
29/
jan
30/
1
1
jan
31/
1
1
1
jan
1/f
2
1
1
2
2
eb
2/f
1
1
eb
3/f
1
2
1
eb
4/f
1
1
2
eb
5/f
eb
6/f
1
1
1
eb
7/f
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
eb
8/f
1
1
eb
9/f
1
1
1
1
91
eb
10/
6
5
1
2
1
2
5
3
2
1
2
1
3
2
1
1
1
6
5
1
2
2
5
2
3
6
5
1
5
4
1
6
6
5
2
3
6
4
2
2
6
4
2
1
4
2
2
5
4
1
8
6
2
1
6
4
2
1
4
3
5
1
feb
11/
1
feb
12/
feb
13/
1
feb
14/
1
1
feb
15/
1
2
1
1
feb
16/
1
2
1
1
1
feb
17/
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
feb
18/
feb
19/
feb
20/
1
feb
21/
1
1
2
2
1
feb
22/
1
1
feb
23/
1
1
1
1
feb
24/
1
1
1
2
feb
25/
1
4
2
feb
26/
feb
27/
2
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
2
6
5
1
1
3
6
6
0
1
1
9
6
3
1
1
feb
28/
1
1
feb
29/
1
1
feb
1/
1
1
mr
t
2/
1
2
1
mr
t
3/
1
2
1
1
2
2
mr
t
4/
92
mrt
5/
4
3
1
1
1
2
6
5
1
1
5
4
1
5
4
1
6
5
1
5
4
1
1
5
3
2
2
6
6
0
5
4
1
1
1
0
4
3
1
1
1
1
7
7
0
1
4
2
6
5
1
1
7
4
3
6
5
1
1
6
5
1
2
7
6
1
1
1
2
7
6
1
1
1
1
2
6
6
0
3
2
5
3
2
5
4
1
7
7
0
mrt
6/
1
2
1
1
mrt
7/
1
1
1
1
1
mrt
8/
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
mrt
9/
1
2
mrt
10/
1
1
1
1
mrt
11/
mrt
12/
2
1
mrt
13/
1
1
1
1
1
1
mrt
14/
2
1
1
1
mrt
15/
1
mrt
16/
1
mrt
17/
mrt
18/
mrt
19/
1
1
2
2
1
1
mrt
20/
1
1
1
1
mrt
21/
1
2
2
mrt
22/
2
1
1
1
1
mrt
23/
1
mrt
24/
1
1
mrt
25/
mrt
26/
1
mrt
27/
1
1
2
1
mrt
28/
1
1
1
1
1
mrt
29/
1
3
2
1
mrt
93
30/
5
5
0
1
1
1
2
mrt
5.4.3
31/
Le Soir
number
nati
intern
sp
econ
pol
me
adver
nat
acci
roy
Po
cri
so
cul
tr
Sci
of titles
onal
ational
ort
omic
itic
dia
tising
ure
dent
alt
lic
m
ci
tur
aff
enc
s
s
s
s
y
e
e
al
e
ic
e
7
4
3
10
5
5
12
7
5
12
7
11
1
2
2
2
1
4
1
1
2
4
1
5
3
2
2
2
1
8
3
3
1
1
2
1
11
6
5
4
2
2
8
6
2
1
3
1
12
9
3
2
1
3
11
7
4
1
2
5
3
13
9
4
1
4
3
2
14
12
2
1
3
6
12
10
2
1
5
12
8
4
2
1
4
1
10
6
4
1
3
3
1
11
6
5
1
3
3
14
8
6
2
3
13
7
6
3
13
11
2
1
2
dec
1/j
an
2/j
1
1
an
3/j
1
1
2
an
4/j
1
1
an
5/j
1
1
1
an
6/j
1
1
1
an
7/j
1
1
1
an
8/j
an
9/j
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
3
1
1
2
1
1
an
10/
jan
11/
1
jan
12/
1
jan
13/
jan
14/
1
jan
15/
jan
16/
1
1
jan
17/
2
1
1
3
1
1
3
1
1
1
2
jan
18/
2
2
2
2
3
2
jan
19/
1
jan
20/
2
1
1
jan
94
21/
15
14
1
2
3
2
12
8
4
13
7
13
2
4
2
2
1
5
2
1
1
6
1
2
5
2
1
2
7
6
1
2
5
2
1
2
12
8
4
2
7
1
12
11
1
1
2
5
1
9
7
2
1
2
4
1
1
11
8
3
3
4
1
2
14
10
4
2
5
2
3
2
12
9
3
2
4
2
1
14
8
6
1
2
7
11
7
4
1
2
4
1
1
11
8
3
2
5
1
1
10
6
4
2
1
4
1
12
6
6
1
1
2
12
9
3
1
2
6
12
9
3
2
1
4
13
9
4
1
4
12
10
2
1
3
11
7
4
2
12
7
5
1
12
8
4
1
jan
22/
jan
23/
jan
24/
jan
25/
jan
26/
2
jan
27/
3
jan
28/
jan
29/
jan
30/
1
jan
31/
jan
1/f
1
1
1
eb
2/f
1
3
eb
3/f
1
1
eb
4/f
1
1
1
1
eb
5/f
eb
6/f
eb
7/f
1
1
1
2
2
1
eb
8/f
1
1
1
eb
9/f
1
1
3
eb
10/
2
1
1
3
1
feb
11/
4
1
2
1
feb
12/
feb
13/
5
1
1
6
1
2
5
1
1
1
1
1
1
feb
14/
1
feb
15/
1
1
1
95
feb
16/
14
10
4
1
3
4
1
2
3
14
8
6
1
1
4
4
2
12
9
3
3
3
1
1
1
11
8
3
1
1
5
1
1
1
10
7
3
1
2
3
14
7
7
1
3
4
13
10
3
1
2
2
13
9
4
1
1
3
1
1
14
11
3
1
3
4
1
1
11
6
5
1
2
3
1
1
1
13
9
4
1
3
3
1
1
1
13
10
3
1
2
5
3
13
9
4
1
2
5
2
11
8
3
3
1
2
1
14
11
3
1
3
3
1
1
11
7
4
1
1
5
13
8
5
1
2
3
13
6
7
1
1
5
1
2
2
9
7
2
2
2
1
3
1
10
7
3
2
3
3
1
1
12
8
4
1
1
4
1
1
feb
17/
1
1
feb
18/
1
2
feb
19/
feb
20/
1
feb
21/
1
1
1
1
feb
22/
1
2
1
2
feb
23/
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
feb
24/
feb
25/
1
3
feb
26/
feb
27/
1
1
feb
28/
2
1
feb
29/
1
1
feb
1/
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
mrt
2/
mrt
3/
1
1
mrt
4/
mrt
5/
1
mrt
6/
2
1
1
2
1
mrt
7/
1
mrt
8/
mrt
9/
mrt
10/
1
1
1
1
mrt
11/
mrt
96
12/
6
3
3
1
2
1
1
12
10
2
1
3
13
9
4
1
1
0
9
6
3
1
1
1
2
1
12
8
4
1
3
2
1
1
11
10
1
1
1
3
3
1
13
12
1
2
2
2
1
13
11
2
1
2
4
11
8
3
1
11
6
5
12
9
3
1
2
3
11
9
2
2
1
3
12
6
6
2
7
12
9
3
1
4
9
8
1
3
2
10
7
3
2
3
1
mrt
13/
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
3
mrt
14/
1
4
2
mrt
15/
1
mrt
16/
mrt
17/
1
1
mrt
18/
mrt
19/
1
1
mrt
20/
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
mrt
21/
1
1
1
2
3
1
2
2
1
mrt
22/
2
1
1
mrt
23/
2
2
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
mrt
24/
1
mrt
25/
mrt
26/
1
1
mrt
27/
1
1
1
mrt
28/
1
2
2
2
mrt
29/
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
mrt
30/
1
mrt
5.4.4
31/
La Dernière Heure
number
nati
intern
sp
econ
pol
me
adver
nat
acci
roy
Po
cr
so
tr
cul
Sci
of titles
onal
ational
ort
omic
itic
di
tising
ure
dent
alt
lic
im
ci
aff
tur
enc
s
s
s
a
s
y
e
e
al
ic
e
e
3
3
4
4
1
1
1
1
1
dec
1/j
an
2/j
0
2
an
97
3/j
5
5
0
1
1
1
1
1
6
6
0
1
1
2
6
6
0
1
6
5
1
2
6
6
0
1
5
5
0
2
6
6
0
1
6
5
1
2
1
2
5
5
0
1
1
2
5
5
0
1
1
2
1
4
4
0
1
1
1
1
4
3
1
1
4
3
1
1
6
5
1
1
2
6
6
0
1
2
4
4
0
6
4
2
1
7
5
2
2
6
6
0
1
7
6
1
1
5
4
1
1
5
3
2
1
1
5
5
0
1
1
an
4/j
1
1
an
5/j
1
1
2
1
an
6/j
1
1
1
1
an
7/j
2
2
1
1
1
an
8/j
an
9/j
1
an
10/
1
2
1
1
jan
11/
1
jan
12/
1
jan
13/
jan
14/
jan
15/
jan
16/
1
1
1
jan
17/
1
1
1
jan
18/
1
1
1
jan
19/
2
1
jan
20/
1
1
2
1
3
jan
21/
1
jan
22/
jan
23/
1
3
1
jan
24/
1
2
1
1
3
1
1
jan
25/
1
jan
26/
1
1
1
1
jan
27/
1
1
1
jan
28/
1
1
1
98
jan
29/
jan
30/
5
3
2
3
1
1
4
3
1
1
6
6
0
1
6
6
0
1
6
4
2
1
5
5
0
2
5
3
2
1
5
4
1
1
5
4
1
1
6
6
0
1
5
5
0
1
5
5
0
1
2
1
1
1
6
6
0
5
5
0
1
1
1
6
5
1
1
1
2
5
4
1
1
5
4
1
1
1
5
4
1
1
1
5
4
1
2
1
5
5
0
jan
31/
1
1
1
jan
1/f
2
3
eb
2/f
2
3
eb
3/f
2
1
1
1
eb
4/f
1
1
1
eb
5/f
eb
6/f
1
1
1
1
eb
7/f
1
1
1
1
2
eb
8/f
1
1
eb
9/f
1
1
1
2
eb
10/
1
1
2
feb
11/
2
1
1
feb
12/
feb
13/
1
feb
14/
1
1
3
1
feb
15/
1
1
feb
16/
1
1
feb
17/
2
1
1
feb
18/
1
1
1
feb
19/
feb
20/
2
1
feb
21/
1
1
feb
22/
3
1
1
feb
99
23/
4
2
2
1
1
1
4
2
2
1
6
6
0
2
4
4
0
2
5
5
0
1
5
5
0
2
1
5
4
1
1
1
1
7
7
0
1
1
6
6
0
5
5
0
5
5
0
5
5
0
5
5
0
1
5
4
1
2
6
6
0
1
5
4
1
1
5
5
0
1
feb
24/
1
1
1
feb
25/
1
1
2
feb
26/
feb
27/
1
1
feb
28/
1
1
2
feb
29/
2
feb
1/
2
mr
t
2/
2
1
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
mr
t
3/
1
mr
t
4/
mr
t
5/
mr
t
6/
2
mr
t
7/
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
mr
t
8/
1
1
mr
t
9/
mr
t
10/
1
1
mr
t
11/
mr
t
12/
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
mr
t
13/
2
mr
100
t
14/
6
6
0
1
2
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
0
1
7
7
0
1
3
6
5
1
1
2
7
6
1
5
3
2
6
5
1
6
5
1
1
6
6
0
3
5
5
0
1
5
4
1
2
1
7
5
2
1
1
3
2
5
5
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
mr
t
15/
mr
t
16/
mr
t
17/
mr
t
18/
mr
t
19/
1
1
1
mr
t
20/
2
1
1
1
mr
t
21/
1
3
1
2
1
mr
t
22/
1
1
mr
t
23/
2
1
1
2
mr
t
24/
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
mr
t
25/
mr
t
26/
mr
t
27/
1
1
1
1
mr
t
28/
1
1
mr
t
29/
mr
t
30/
1
mrt
101
6
Abstract
6.1
Nederlands
Toen we in oktober vorig jaar het onderwerp moesten opgeven voor ons eindwerk, koos ik
ervoor om de voorpagina’s van kranten te analyseren. Mijn ambitie was groot en ik wou de
voorpagina’s van alle Belgische kranten onderzoeken. Na overleg met Jan Dauwe koos ik er
uiteindelijk voor om me te beperken tot twee Vlaamse en twee Waalse kranten. Aan
Vlaamse zijde koos ik voor ‘De Standaard’ en ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ en aan Waalse zijde
werden het ‘Le Soir’ en ‘La Dernière Heure’. Het doel van dit eindwerk was tweeledig en
bestond er enerzijds uit te weten te komen aan welke thema’s deze kranten het meeste
aandacht gaven op hun voorpagina. Aan de hand van deze vraag kon ik dan nagaan of het
profiel dat de kranten met zich mee dragen, strookt met de werkelijkheid. Anderzijds
onderzocht ik of het mogelijk was om als ‘gewone man uit de straat’ op de voorpagina van
(een van) deze kranten te komen.
Voor het eerste deel van dit eindwerk analyseerde ik drie maand lang de vier kranten. Ik
koos voor een analyseperiode van drie maand omdat deze periode lang genoeg is zodat
specifieke evenementen (zoals daar waren de ramp met de Costa Concordia en de busramp
in Zwitserland) niet de bovenhand nemen in de eindresultaten. Ook is een tijdspanne van 3
maand lang genoeg om een trend waar te nemen. Ik hield bij hoeveel artikels er telkens op
de voorpagina kwamen, welk soort artikels er op de voorpagina stonden (sport,
economie,politiek…) en of deze artikels binnenlands of buitenlands nieuws bevatten.
In het eerste hoofdstuk startte ik met het geven van enige achtergrondinformatie over de
kranten en de krantengroepen. Het ontstaan en de levensloop van de kranten en de groepen
waartoe ze behoren, worden in dit hoofdstuk uit de doeken gedaan. Dit geeft de lezer een
breder kader van het bestudeerde onderwerp.
Vervolgens ging ik in het tweede hoofdstuk dieper in op de kranten zelf: Wie zijn hun
lezers? Wat is de politieke achtergrond van de kranten? Wie is de eindredacteur? Hoe hoog
is de oplage? Deze en nog een aantal andere vragen worden in dit deel beantwoord. Het
tweede hoofdstuk geeft dus de structuur van de kranten weer en zorgt er opnieuw voor dat
de lezer een goed beeld krijgt van de achtergrond van de dagbladen.
In een volgend hoofdstuk beschreef ik wat ik wilde analyseren: Ik zou nagaan wat de
wezenskenmerken van iedere krant zijn, welk soort nieuws ze brengen, of de kranten belang
hechten aan de zuivere communicatiefuncties of eerder aan de psycho-sociale functies, of
het profiel dat de kranten hebben klopt…
102
Om op deze vragen een antwoord te vinden, zette ik alle gegevens die ik over de
voorpagina’s had verzameld in een grafiek. Ik had namelijk de artikels onderverdeeld in 14
categorieën (sport, economie, politiek, wetenschap, cultuur, verkeer, advertenties, natuur,
crime, royalty, media, ongelukken, politie en sociaal) en in de grafieken kon ik duidelijk
zien hoeveel artikels bij iedere krant gewijd waren aan een bepaald thema.
Om ieder artikel in de juiste categorie te plaatsen, maakte ik gebruik van de kwantitatieve
inhoudsanalyse. Volgens de theorie van Krippendorff ontwikkelde ik een
waarnemingsinstrument zodat ieder artikel consequent kon worden vastgehangen aan een
bepaalde theorie.
Eens de grafieken gemaakt waren, was het tijd om conclusies te trekken. Voor ‘Het Laatste
Nieuws’ kwamen volgende zaken uit de bus: op de voorpagina van deze krant staan veel
artikels. Ze hechten vooral belang aan sport en medianieuws. Ook sociaal nieuws en
berichten rond politie staan hier vaak op de voorpagina. Deze krant besteed eveneens veel
ruimte aan advertenties.
Voor ‘De Standaard’ waren dit de conclusies: Er staan slechts een beperkt aantal artikels op
de voorpagina. De thema’s die dit dagblad belangrijk vindt zijn politiek, economie en
cultuur. Advertenties zijn ook hier talrijk aanwezig in vergelijking met het kleine aantal
artikels op de volledige voorpagina. ‘De Standaard’ bericht vooral over nationaal nieuws.
Wat ‘Le Soir’ betreft waren volgende zaken belangrijk: Deze krant brengt vooral politiek
nieuws en besteedt naast nog wat economisch nieuws weinig aandacht aan andere thema’s.
Deze krant zet steeds veel artikels op de voorpagina. Bij dit dagblad zie je weinig
advertenties op de eerste bladzijde.
Tot slot is er nog ‘La Dernière Heure’: Bij dit Waals dagblad staan slechts enkele items op
de voorpagina. Naast enkele advertenties is het thema sport voor deze krant het
allerbelangrijkste.
Om een algemene conclusie te kunnen geven, maakte ik een grafiek van de 4 kranten
samen. Ik onderzocht de krant ook op verschillende zaken nl. Periodicity, topicality,
universality, publicity, continuity, functions, the kind of news, profil…
Uiteindelijk waren dit de bevindingen: Op basis van het profiel van de vier kranten luidde
het besluit dat De Standaard en Le Soir overeenkomstig zijn aan elkaar en dat Het Laatste
Nieuws en La Dernière Heure overeenkomstig zijn. Op veel vlakken is dit inderdaad zo,
maar toch kunnen we hierin geen eenduidige lijn trekken. Op een aantal kenmerken zijn er
namelijk toch verschillen:
103
Publicity: hierin is een onderscheid tussen De Standaard/Het Laatste Nieuws en Le Soir/La
Dernière Heure. Deze eerste twee worden voornamelijk in Vlaanderen verspreid terwijl de
andere twee kranten vooral in Wallonië worden verdeeld.
Opmerkelijk hierbij is hetvolgende: In Vlaanderen is Het Laatste Nieuws de populairste
krant, terwijl in Wallonië Le Soir de meest verkochte krant is.
In Vlaanderen kiest men dus eerder voor een populaire krant, terwijl de Waalse lezers
eerder opteren voor een kwaliteitskrant.
Continuity: Le Soir and Het Laatste Nieuws have on their front page a large number of
articles. Their front page looks fairly chaotic. De Standaard and La Dernière Heure choose
for a well-organized first page. One head article plus a few smaller teasers. The result of this
is that the front pages of these papers radiate tranquillity.
Mijn uiteindelijke conclusie was devolgende: Het profiel dat de kranten aangementen
krijgen, stemt in grote mate overeen met hoe ze in werkelijkheid zijn. Hoewel de
voorpagina’s van alle kranten verschillend zijn qua lay-out en inhoud, zijn er toch veel
gelijkenissen tussen de dagbladen. Vooral Het Laatste Nieuws/La Dernière Heure en Le
Soir/De Standaard komen in veel aspecten overeen. Er is dus een duidelijk onderscheid
tussen enerzijds de zogenaamde populaire kranten en anderzijds de meer
zakelijke/kwaliteitskranten.
In het tweede deel ging ik dieper in op het hoe en wanneer de gewone man of vrouw op de
voorpagina kwam van de onderzochte kranten.
Om dit te weten te komen, bekeek ik de voorpagina van iedere krant en haalde ik er elk
artikel uit waarbij het onderwerp handelde over de gewone man/vrouw en waarbij deze met
foto of naam vermeld stond. Al deze gegevens zette ik opnieuw in tabellen en zo kwam ik
tot volgende conclusies:
Bij De Standaard komt de gewone man/vrouw het meest op de voorpagina in de categorie
sociaal. Vervolgens heeft de gewone man/vrouw ook kans om de eerste pagina te halen in
de rubrieken crime en police. Dit hoeft niet te verwonderen. Moordenaars, criminelen,
slachtoffers… halen vaak de voorpagina van een krant. Hoewel bij De Standaard deze
sensatie-thema’s niet van primordiaal belang zijn, kan deze krant toch niet heen om
gebeurtenissen als bijvoorbeeld de kasteelmoord.
Verder zijn er nog een beperkt aantal gewone mensen die de voorpagina van De Standaard
halen in volgende thema’s: economie, politiek, media, natuur, accidenten, cultuur en
science.
Bij Het Laatste Nieuws heeft de gewone man/vrouw veel kans om de voorpagina te halen.
104
Het meeste kans om bij deze krant op de voorpagina te komen, heb je door in contact te
komen met politie of gerecht.
Vervolgens komen ook veel gewone mannen en vrouwen op de voorpagina in de thema’s
accidenten en sociaal. Aangezien Het Laatste Nieuws vaak bericht over emotievolle en
menselijke onderwerpen zoals accidenten is dit niet zo verwonderlijk.Verder is ook het
sociale nieuws een belangrijke categorie waarin de gewone man/vrouw de kans heeft om de
eerste pagina te halen. Uiteindelijk is er nog een klein percentage gewone mannen/vrouwen
die de voorpagina bereiken in de thema’s sport, natuur en traffic.
Bij La Dernière Heure valt het op dat de gewone man/vrouw het meest de voorpagina haalt
in het thema police. Daarnaast bereikt ook een behoorlijk aandeel gewone mannen/vrouwen
de eerste pagina van La Dernière Heure in de categorie crime en sociaal nieuws. Net zoals
bij de vorige kranten hoeft ook dit resultaat ons niet te verwonderen aangezien ook deze
krant veel aandacht besteedt aan deze thema’s en crime jammer genoeg een
veelvoorkomend thema is.
Af en toe gebeurt het ook dat de gewone man of vrouw op de voorpagina van deze krant
komt met nieuws over economie, media, accidenten, cultuur of wetenschap.
Bij Le Soir tenslotte zien we dat de gewone man/vrouw de voorpagina het meest haalt in het
thema police. Vervolgens komen de thema’s crime, sociaal en accidenten. Erg beperkt, maar
wel bestaande is de aanwezigheid van de gewone man/vrouw op de voorpagina van Le Soir
in de categorie sport, media en cultuur. Opmerkelijk hier is de beperkte verscheidenheid in
thema’s waarbij de gewone man/vrouw de voorpagina haalt.
Wanneer ik alle kranten afzonderlijk had geanalyseerd, was het tijd om de grafieken samen
te voegen en de kranten met elkaar te vergelijken. Hierbij kwam ik tot volgend besluit wat
betreft de gewone man/vrouw op de voorpagina:
Het Laatste Nieuws is koploper in het spenderen van artikels op de voorpagina aan de
gewone man/vrouw. Zowel in het thema accidenten als in de thema’s police, crime en
sociaal steekt deze krant er met kop en schouders bovenuit. De gewone man/vrouw heeft
dus het meeste kans om op de voorpagina van Het Laatste Nieuws te komen en dit in alle
thema’s.
Naast koploper Het Laatste Nieuws, komt op de tweede plaats La Dernière Heure. Ook deze
krant besteedt relatief veel aandacht aan artikels over de gewone man/vrouw op de
voorpagina.
Er zijn bepaalde thema’s waarin opmerkelijk meer gewone mannen/vrouwen aan bod
komen. Het gaat hier over volgende rubrieken: accidenten, police, crime en sociaal. Op de
105
voorpagina’s van alle 4 de kranten staat de gewone man/vrouw het meest vermeld in deze
thema’s.
De gewone man/vrouw verschijnt dus in de meeste gevallen op de voorpagina als het gaat
om ‘slecht’ nieuws. Als je iemand vermoord, als je een ongeval veroorzaakt, als je drugs
smokkelt… is de kans dus groot dat je op de voorpagina komt. Dit is natuurlijk erg dubbel.
Mensen die onder zulke omstandigheden de voorpagina halen, begingen hun daad niet
omdat ze op de eerste pagina van een krant wilden staan.
Naast al deze gewone mannen/vrouwen die met dit negatieve nieuws de voorpagina halen,
is er gelukkig ook plaats voor andere, meer positieve berichtgeving. Dat zien we aan het
eveneens aanzienlijke aandeel waarin de gewone man/vrouw op de voorpagina komt in het
thema sociaal nieuws.
Uit dit alles zien we dat de gewone man/vrouw maar weinig op de voorpagina komt door
gewoon een goed verhaal te hebben. Toch is het niet zo dat deze verhalen niet interessant
zijn, de gewone man/vrouw beschikt wel degelijk over nieuwswaardige verhalen.
Verschillende elementen kunnen er echter voor zorgen dat deze verhalen de voorpagina niet
halen: mensen weten niet naar wie ze hun verhaal moeten verzenden, het persbericht dat ze
rond hun verhaal maken, is niet goed opgebouwd, ze versturen hun bericht op een verkeerd
tijdstip naar de redacties…
Om deze onwetendheden uit de wereld te helpen, geeft het laatste deel van dit eindwerk een
handleiding vol tips en uitleg over hoe je als gewone man/vrouw de voorpagina van een
krant kan halen.
106
6.2
Français
Quand on nous a demandé en octobre de l’année passée de présenter un sujet pour notre
travail de fin d’année, j’ai choisi d’analyser les premières pages des journaux.
Mon ambition était grande et je voulais examiner les premières pages de tous les journaux
Belges. Après concertation avec Jan Dauwe, j’ai finalement choisi de me limiter à deux
journaux Flamands et deux journaux Wallons. Comme journaux Flamands j’ai choisi De
Standaard et Het Laatste Nieuws et du coté Wallon Le Soir et La dernière heure.
Le but de ce travail de fin d’année était double, et consistait à savoir à quels sujets étaient
donnés le plus d’attention sur la première page. A partir de cette question je pouvais
vérifier si l’image que se donnent ces journaux correspondait avec la réalité.
Aussi, j’ai examiné s’il était possible pour le simple homme de la rue de figurer en première
page d’un de ces journaux.
Pour la première partie de ce travail de fin d’année j’ai analysé pendant trois mois ces
quatre journaux. J’ai choisi une période d’analyse de trois mois parce que cette période est
suffisamment longue pour que des évènements spécifiques (comme les tragédies récentes
avec le Costa Concordia et le bus avec les écoliers en Suisse) ne prennent pas le dessus dans
mon analyse finale. Une période de trois mois est aussi assez longue pour distiller une
tendance. J’ai noté combien d’articles figuraient en première page, quelle était la nature de
ces articles (sport, économie, politique, etc. …) et si ces articles comportaient des nouvelles
nationales ou internationales.
Dans le premier chapitre j’ai commencé à donner quelques informations de base concernant
les journaux en question. Leur apparition, leur histoire et les groupes auxquels ils
appartiennent sont commentés dans ce chapitre. Ceci donne au lecteur une idée plus
générale du sujet étudié.
Ensuite, dans le deuxième chapitre, j’ai approfondi la nature même de ces journaux :
Quels sont leurs lecteurs ? Quelle est leur image politique ? Qui est leur rédacteur en chef ?
Quel est leur tirage?
A ces questions et à d’autres est donnée une réponse. Le deuxième chapitre donne donc une
idée de la structure de ces journaux et permet au lecteur de mieux connaitre
l’environnement de ces journaux.
Dans le chapitre suivant j’ai décrit ce que je voulais analyser. Je voulais connaitre les
caractéristiques de chaque journal, savoir quel sorte de nouvelles ils apportent, s’ils
accordent de l’intérêt aux fonctions purement communicatives ou plus tôt psycho sociales et
si l’image que se donnent ces journaux correspond avec la réalité.
107
Pour trouver une réponse à ces questions j’ai présenté les données que j’ai rassemblées sur
les premières pages dans un graphique. J’avais, à savoir, réparti les articles en 14 catégories
(sports, économie, politique, science, culture,
mobilité, publicité, nature, crime, royales, média, accidents, police et social) et avec ce
graphique je pouvais voir clairement combien d’articles étaient consacrés par chaque
journal à chaque évènement. Pour situer chaque article dans la bonne catégorie, j’ai utilisé la
méthode quantitative d’analyse de contenu. Selon la théorie de Krippendorff, j’ai développé
un instrument de d’observation pour lier chaque article à une théorie bien définie.
Une fois les graphiques finis, il était temps d’en tirer les conclusions.
Pour Het Laatste Nieuws il apparait que beaucoup d’articles figurent en première page.
Ce journal attache beaucoup d’importance au sport et aux nouvelles médiatiques.
Les nouvelles sociales et articles sur l’aspect policier figurent souvent en première page.
Ce journal donne aussi beaucoup de place à la publicité.
Les conclusions pour De Standaard étaient les suivantes. Il n’y a qu’un nombre limité
d’articles en première page. Les thèmes que ce journal estime importants sont la politique,
l’économie et la culture. Les articles publicitaires sont très bien représentés par rapport au
nombre réduit d’articles sur l’ensemble cette première page. De Standaard apporte surtout
des articles sur des sujets nationaux.
En ce qui concerne Le Soir, les choses suivantes étaient importantes: Ce journal apporte
surtout des nouvelles politiques et consacre, à coté de quelques sujets économiques, peu
d’intérêt à d’autres thèmes. Ce journal présente toujours beaucoup d’articles en première
page avec peu de publicité.
Finalement il y a encore La Dernière Heure. Dans ce journal Wallon on ne trouve que
quelques thèmes en première page. A coté de la publicité, le thème sport est pour ce journal
le plus important.
Pour tirer une conclusion générale j’ai fait un graphique global des 4 journaux.
J’ai examiné les journaux aussi sur d’autres points comme la périodicité, les topiques,
l’universalité, la publicité, la continuité, les fonctions, la nature des nouvelles, le profil, etc.
Finalement les conclusions étaient les suivantes: Sur base du profil des quatre journaux il
s’avère que De Standaard et Le Soir sont comparables et Het Laatste Nieuws et La Dernière
Heure aussi.
Ceci est vrai en général mais sur un certains nombre de points il y a quand même des
différences. Il y a une différence entre De Standaard/Het Laatste Nieuws et Le Soir/La
Dernière Heure en ce qui concerne la publicité.
Les deux premiers journaux sont distribués principalement en Flandre tandis que les deux
108
autres sont distribués principalement en Wallonie. Het Laatste Nieuws est en Flandre le
journal le plus populaire tandis qu’en Wallonie Le Soir est le journal le plus vendu.
En Flandre on choisi donc plus tôt un journal populaire tandis qu’en Wallonie on préfère
un journal de qualité. En ce qui concerne la continuité, Le Soir et Het Laatste Nieuws ont
sur leur première page un grand nombre d’articles. Leur première page a un aspect un peu
chaotique.
De Standaard et Le Soir optent pour une première page bien organisée, un article principal
avec quelques articles de moindre importance. Le résultat d’est que la première page de ces
journaux respire la tranquillité.
Ma conclusion définitive est donc la suivante :
Le profil de ces journaux converge en grande partie avec ce qu’ils sont vraiment.
Bien que les premières pages sont différentes en matière de lay-out et de contenu, il y a
quand même des ressemblances entre les journaux. De Standaard/Het Laatste Nieuws et Le
Soir/La Dernière Heure se ressemblent dans plusieurs domaines. Il y a une différence
prononcée entre les sois disant journaux populaires et les journaux de qualité plus tôt
économiques.
Dans la seconde partie j’ai étudié le moment et la manière de laquelle les hommes de la rue,
hommes ou femmes, apparaissent en première page des journaux concernés. Pour savoir
cela, j’ai sortie de la première page tous les articles qui traitaient d’un homme ou d’une
femme avec mention de leur nom et qui étaient accompagnées d’une photo de la personne
en question.
J’ai de nouveau fait des graphiques et je suis arrivé aux conclusions suivantes :
Dans De Standaard la personne apparait le plus souvent en première page dans la catégorie
social. Par la suite elle a le plus de chances d’apparaitre en première page dans les rubriques
crime et police. Ceci ne doit pas nous surprendre.
Les assassins, criminels et victimes apparaissent souvent en première page des journaux.
Bien que chez De Standaard ces rubriques sensationnelles ne sont pas d’ordre primordial,
ce journal ne peut pas laisser passer un évènement comme par exemple « l’assassinat au
château » sans lui donner une certaine importance.
En plus il y a encore une certaine catégorie de gens qui apparaissent en première page
du journal De Standaard dans les rubriques suivantes : économie, politique, media, nature,
accidents, culture et science.
Dans Het Laatste Nieuws les hommes de la rue, ont beaucoup de chance
d’apparaitre en première page. On a le plus de chance d’apparaitre en première page si on
109
entre en contact avec la police ou la justice.
Ensuite beaucoup de gens apparaissent dans les rubriques accidents et social.
Du fait que Het Laatste Nieuws traite souvent de sujets émotionnels et humains, comme des
accidents ceci n’est pas anormal. Les nouvelles sociales sont un autre sujet ou l’homme de
la rue à des chances d’apparaitre en première page.
Finalement un petit nombre de gens apparaissent en première page dans les rubriques sport,
nature et mobilité.
Dans La Dernière Heure il est marquant que l’homme de la rue apparait le plus souvent en
première page dans la rubrique police.
Ensuite apparaissent un nombre important de gens dans les rubriques crime et nouvelles
sociales. Comme chez les autres journaux, ces résultats ne doivent pas nous surprendre
puisque ce journal consacre beaucoup d’intérêt à ces thèmes et que, malheureusement, le
crime est un évènement régulier.
De temps en temps l’homme de la rue apparait en première page avec des nouvelles sur
l’économie, les accidents, les média, la culture ou la science.
Chez Le Soir finalement, l’homme de la rue apparait le plus souvent dans la rubrique
police.Viennent ensuite les rubriques crime, social et accidents.
Peu en nombre mais existant quand même est la présence de ces gens en première page du
Le Soir dans les catégories sport, média et culture. Le peu de rubriques ou l’homme de la
rue apparait en première page est ici remarquable. Après avoir étudié tous les journaux
séparément il était temps de rassembler les graphiques et de les comparer.
Ainsi suis-je venu aux conclusions suivantes quand à l’apparition de l’homme de la rue en
première page. Het Laatste Nieuws est le leader pour accorder de la place en première page
aux articles concernant l’homme de la rue. Aussi bien dans les rubriques police, crime et
social, ce journal prend la première place. L’homme de la rue a donc le plus de chance
d’apparaitre en première page dans Het Laatste Nieuws et ceci dans toutes les rubriques.
Après Het Laatste Nieuws, la deuxième place revient à La Dernière Heure.
Ce journal, aussi, consacre beaucoup d’attention aux articles concernant l’homme de la rue.
Il y a beaucoup de rubriques ou, remarquablement, plus d’hommes de la rue apparaissent,
accidents, crime, police et social. Sur la première page de ces quatre journaux, l’homme de
la rue apparait le plus souvent dans ces rubriques.
L’homme de la rue apparait donc le plus souvent en première page quand il s’agit de
mauvaises nouvelles.
Si vous tuez quelqu’un, si vous trafiquez des drogues ou si vous êtes la cause d’un accident,
la chance est grande que vous allez apparaitre en première page.
110
Ceci ne veut pas dire, pour autant que les gens qui commettent ces actes le fassent pour
apparaître en première page d’un journal.
A coté de tous ces hommes de la rue qui apparaissent en première page avec ces nouvelles
négatives, il y a, heureusement, de la place pour d’autres nouvelles, plus positives celles-là.
Cela se voit par la place importante qui est réservée à l’homme de la rue dans la rubrique
nouvelle sociale.
De tout cela ressort que l’homme de la rue à peu de chances d’apparaitre en première page
seulement du fait qu’il a une belle histoire.
Cela ne veut pas dire que ces histoires ne sont pas intéressantes. L’homme de la rue a bien
souvent des histoires qui mériteraient d’être citées en première page.
Il y a beaucoup de raisons pour lesquelles ces histoires n’atteignent pas les premières pages.
Les gens ne savent pas à qui envoyer leur histoire, ou le compte rendu de l’évènement est
mal structuré, ou même le moment est mal choisi pour la rédaction du journal.
Pour remédier à ce mal, la dernière partie de ce travail de fin d’année donne un guide avec
des consignes et explications comment l’homme de la rue peut accéder à la première page
d’un journal.
111
Fase 3: Uitvoering
Student(en): De Schepper Charlotte
Afstudeerrichting: Pr-Events/voorlichting
Keuzetraject: woordvoerder
Promotor: Jan Dauwe
Korte beschrijving van het werkplan + timing:
Eind december startte ik met het bijhouden en analyseren van de voorpagina’s van de
kranten. Dit drie maand lang. Begin maart maakte ik een afspraak met Peter Cuypers
en Paul Daenen (eindredacteurs van De Standaard en Het Laatste Nieuws). Diezelfde
periode bezocht ik ook enkele bibliotheken zodat ik voldoende informatie had om me
op te baseren. Vanaf midden maart startte ik dan met het schrijven van de
bachelorproef. Logischerwijs schreef ik hoofdstuk per hoofdstuk.
Competenties die bereikt worden met de bachelorproef:
LR4: communicatie van, binnen en rond organisaties opzoeken, analyseren en
synthetiseren met het oog op communicatie-advies.
LR12: de persoonlijke leerbehoeften analyseren en deze reflectie vertalen in
initiatieven om zich te professionaliseren op het terrein van het snel evoluerende
communicatielandschap. Nieuwe trends inzake communicatiemanagement op de voet
volgen.
(*) In te dienen tijdens het contact moment met de promotor in semester 6.
Goedkeuring promotor of bemerkingen:
Handtekening van de student:
Datum: 30/05/2012
112
PUBLICATIE VAN DE BACHELORPROEF
Ik, ondergetekende, Charlotte De Schepper geef de Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen hierbij
wel/ niet (*) de toelating om het eindwerk met als titel: The analysis of the front page,
evenals alle nuttige en praktische informatie omtrent dit eindwerk op te nemen in een
daartoe speciaal opgezette databank (http://dspace.howest.be) en deze databank via het
internet toegankelijk te maken voor alle mogelijke geïnteresseerden.
Ik geef de hogeschool eveneens de toelating het eindwerk of stukken daaruit te gebruiken
voor afgeleide producten, zoals daar zijn: abstractenverzamelingen en catalogi.
Voor de opname van de samenvatting van mijn eindwerk in de databank en voor het gebruik
van de afgeleide producten vraag ik geen vergoeding aan de Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen.
Mijn toestemming geldt voor de hele beschermingsduur van mijn eindwerk.
Indien ik in de eerste examenkans niet geslaagd ben en het eindwerk moet herschrijven,
vervalt deze toelating automatisch.
Ik verklaar dat mijn werk onuitgegeven is en garandeer aan de Hogeschool WestVlaanderen het volle en onbezwaarde genot van de afgestane rechten, tegen welke
verstoring, vordering of ontzetting ook, zowel voor de teksten als voor de documenten die
ze illustreren. Ik zal de Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen vrijwaren tegen alle aanspraken van
derden.
(*) Motivatie bij niet akkoord: /
Datum: 30/05/2012
Plaats: Lochristi
Handtekening student:
113

View/Open - DSpace

Transcription

Similar documents

Join us and comment on Inside this issue

Klik hier voor 12 dagen naar Zuid Ethiopië voor 4 personen

pdf

met mijn armpjes open... - ICT

Einde schooljaar 2013 - Wontergem - Grammene

RWK® Einbauküchen

to - 0024 WatchWorld

VLIERODAM WIRE ROPES Ltd. - Welkom bij Maasmond Maritime

INHOuD - Bouwkunde

Downloaden - Dolls House Nederland

Downloaden - Dolls House Nederland

EPLAN NEWS

Muller Magazine - Muller Afbouwgroep

cXML Users Guide.book - ariba.com

Hot News nr.2 - 2014 - Sgt.Peppers Jazzclub

Land Rover Defender 90-110 1984-2006

I Zweeds - the political avenue