the sun

• The Sun

  A British tabloid daily newspaper owned by News UK, a subsidiary of right-wing, Australian-born American media baron Rupert Murdoch's News Corp
• The Sun was originally published six days a week until News Corp also started producing The Sun on Sunday in 2012
• The Sun has an average daily print circulation of roughly 1.3 million copies in the UK and a daily readership of around 2.3 million
• The Sun

  An instigator, an entertainer, a cultural reference point, a finger on the pulse, a daily relationship
• The Sun

  • The format of the print paper is tabloid, and it is colloquially known as a 'red top'
  • The majority of its print audience is male, C2DE and aged between 35–64 years old
• In a recent YouGov survey, 97% of people surveyed had heard of The Sun, but only 29% liked it
• Masthead


  In block text and uses the colours red and white. Other newspapers in the UK, such as The Mirror, The Sunday People and The Daily Star, all use this design. These are termed 'red tops' as they specialise in tabloid journalism – journalism that often relies on sensationalism, celebrities, and gossip. Tabloids are also renowned for simplifying complex political issues.
• Headline "Join our jabs army"


  Uses an imperative to call readers to action, asking them to volunteer as a steward at the vaccination centres. The choice of the term "army" for the campaign frames Covid as a common, tangible enemy that the readers can help defeat. The use of military language for a medical story is typical of tabloids, who often use it in sports stories too. The use of "our" connotes that The Sun is a proactive, dynamic paper that is helping the country.
• Puff "Jabs army"


  In the shape of a heart, with a Union Flag image, making it appear like a badge the volunteers might receive or a logo they might wear to connect them to the scheme. The heart juxtaposes the term army, but it connotes that the group's actions will be caring and generous. The flag also implies that helping to 'fight' covid is a matter of national pride and patriotism.
• Main image

  A photoshopped picture of the clock face on the Elizabeth Tower (also known as Big Ben). This is an iconic symbol of British culture and would be recognised by most of the audience, especially on 1st January when many people would have heard Big Ben tolling at midnight to bring in the new year. The designer has replaced the clock hand with a syringe, which highlights that this story is about vaccinations. The needle pointing to 12 is an indication of the new year arriving, whilst also suggesting to the audience that time is of the greatest importance when it comes to distributing the vaccination. This sense of urgency is reinforced in the body copy of the article, "help get millions vaccinated rapidly".
• Pull quotes

  Carefully chosen to appeal to The Sun's mainstreamer audience. Gary Lineker and Kate Garraway are trusted celebrities with personal experiences of Covid-19 within their families, which have been widely reported in the press. Lineker is praising the campaign itself, therefore giving it his endorsement. Garraway's is more emotive and personal, "I see Covid up close with my Derek", using collective pronouns to create a sense of positivity and relatability, "let's all club together".
• Opening of the article

  On the right third of the cover, and it begins with "The Sun says...", suggesting the newspaper has real influence and reinforces their strength of opinion on this matter. The standfirst uses flattery, "our fantastic readers", to encourage the audience to get involved in the campaign. Later in the article, they build a sense of community with the use of collective pronouns, "us" and "we", whilst the continued use of direct address "YOU" reinforces the jingoistic tone of the headline.
• Off-lead story

  Pictures the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, with his thumbs up. This image connotes positivity and optimism. The byline indicates that this is a political story and will involve the government. This is supported by the headline "PM: Britain Brexpects", which is an intertextual link to two historical British leaders, Churchill and Nelson. By aligning Johnson with these two people, it is clear The Sun's ideology in this article is pro-Johnson and pro-Brexit.
• COVID-19 is a global pandemic. The disease was first identified in December 2019, before the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
• It was clear that a mass immunisation programme was essential to help prevent the spread of the disease. At the start of 2020, the world saw unprecedented levels of funding for vaccine research and development (R&D). By December 2020, the UK became the first western country to license a vaccine against Covid, which is astonishingly fast given that, on average, a vaccine usually takes 10–15 years to accomplish. By January 2021, the NHS had delivered more than 1 million vaccinations, colloquially known as jabs.
• On 23 June 2016, citizens of the UK voted to leave the European Union. This was nicknamed 'Brexit'. The vote was very close with 51.9% voting leave and 48.1% voting remain. Boris Johnson was a figurehead of the Leave campaign, which The Sun newspaper supported.
• During World War Two, Winston Churchill gave a rallying speech in which he quoted Horatio Nelson, "England expects that every man will do his duty". This was slightly altered to "Britain expects that you too, this day will do your duty" on a World War Two poster and has now become a much-quoted phrase in the tabloid press.
• Kate Garraway


  A popular TV broadcaster in the UK, having co-hosted Good Morning Britain since 2014, and appearing on numerous shows from Strictly Come Dancing to I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Her husband, Derek Draper, was left seriously ill after contracting Covid-19.
• Gary Lineker

  A former England footballer and now a popular sports presenter on BBC's Match of the Day. He has 8.5 million followers on Twitter. In April 2020, he donated £140,000 to the British Red Cross emergency response to the Coronavirus crisis in the UK.
• In its early years, The Sun nominally supported the Labour party but has moved back and forth between Labour and the Conservatives, depending on party leadership. Today, The Sun is described as having political allegiance to the Conservative party and does not support the EU. The paper has always been very vocal in telling its readers how they should act, whether voting, during lockdown or getting vaccinated.
• During the pandemic, news media played a crucial role in communicating public health and policy information. Traditional newspaper coverage and representations of issues were important amidst increasing disinformation and conspiracy theories spread online.
• Militaristic language is so embedded in the government and media's representation of the medical world that this has come to be normalised by audiences. Hospitals are the 'frontline', healthcare workers are 'heroes' and we 'fight' and 'battle' disease.
• The vaccine rollout began in December 2020 and worked in phases, prioritising the population according to vulnerability and age. The UK's rollout was among the fastest in the world.
• Covid-19 is represented as an enemy


  Media language frames the pandemic as a war
• Getting vaccinated is represented as a positive action


  The Sun encourages the public to join their "Jabs army" campaign to support the rollout of vaccinations
• Covid-19 is represented as

  An enemy, a disease to "conquer"
• Covid-19 is represented as an enemy


  To motivate and inspire action in the audience, encouraging them to join the "Jabs army"
• The Sun uses nationalistic imagery, including the Union Flag and Big Ben, to reinforce the idea that Covid is an invader
• Getting vaccinated is represented by The Sun as

  A positive action, they encourage the public to join their "jabs army" campaign
• The Sun uses endorsements and "The Sun says..." to imply


  The reader should trust its viewpoint on getting vaccinated
• The Sun represents getting vaccinated as


  A matter of urgency with the combined use of the clock face, imperative verbs, and terms such as "rapidly"
• The Sun suggests Brexit has brought "newfound freedom" to the UK, while terms such as "heralded" and "dawn" imply Britain has a great future away from the EU
• Newspapers used to be hugely profitable, but the industry was not prepared for the arrival of the internet in the 1990s
• Premium news was given away for free, and publishers didn't take control of advertising, opening up a gap for Google and Facebook to fill
• The modern business of news is in relentless decline, the bulk of advertising income is now hoovered up by Google and Facebook and newspapers have had to make significant cuts to their costs, including staff
• Newspapers are self-regulated, with editors expected to follow the Editors' Code of Practice. If readers find any content in breach of this code, they may complain to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
• Newspaper production

  1. Newsgathering

  2. Advertising

  3. Design

  4. Publishing

  5. Distribution
• Print newspapers earn revenue from their advertisements and so, in this sense, journalism is being seen more and more as a commodity, whose purpose is both profit and power
• The Sun also features advertorials – content written by journalists, which although looking like editorial copy is actually an advert that has been paid for by the brand
• As circulation figures of print news continues to drop and advertisers are choosing to leave if figures drop too low, newspapers are under increasing pressure to capture audiences