The Daily Mirror - Mirror Online

• News websites


  • More instant (e.g. breaking news/live feeds)
  • Can be constantly updated throughout the day
  • Can generate revenue through advertising
  • Can decrease costs of distribution
  • Can embed video and AV to go with stories
  • Can increase viewers/readership and reach new audiences
  • More accessible
• Most online news versions are free and so can widen audiences (some are subscription based for additional content)
• Online news can appeal to 24-34 year olds who are more likely to access news online
• Online news reinforces brand identity and maintains the news title's profile
• Convergence

  Declining sales of newspapers have meant that they have needed to explore other revenue streams
• Newspaper online editions


  1. Create online editions

  2. Some are free

  3. Others have paywalls
• When newspapers operate online, there is technological and cultural convergence
• Online newspapers will use the traditional media language of newspapers-headlines, copy, photography, and so on- but also that of television through embedded video, and that of social media through readers' comments, below the line of articles, on blogs, or each other's comments
• Online versions of newspapers often differ from the print version as they take on more online attributes (such as 'clickbait')
• The Mail online, for example, is much more celebrity and gossip focused than the print newspaper
• The Daily Mirror's response to falling print revenues


  1. Created the mirror.co.uk website

  2. Created social media content such as the Daily Mirror Twitter feed

  3. Created a YouTube channel

  4. Publishes and synchronises across print, desktop and mobile platforms

  5. Provides online content for free
• Some newspapers (e.g. The Times) have a paywall on their online content which means that they charge subscription fees to read articles
• Free online news providers make money from advertising space
• The Daily Mirror's social media strategy


  1. Created in collaboration with the digital team

  2. To drive growth of their Twitter and Facebook profiles
• Created news based content


  • Updates regularly
  • Shared on social media channels
  • Includes a range of video content
  • Encourages audience involvement
• Printed newspapers cannot do this as effectively
• Digital revolution

  • Increased accessibility and smartphone ownership
  • Contemporary audiences demand access to digital news
• The Mirror's mobile first editorial policy


  News output is continuously uploaded and updated to orchestrate the live coverage feel of a contemporary news brand
• The Mirror's rebrand and repositioning


  • Repositioned as the "Intelligent tabloid"
  • Using the #madeuthink twitter hashtag to widen the paper's demographic reach to a tech savvy readership who are more likely to be better educated and younger than the paper's traditional print audience
• The Mirror's online content


  • Offers a bespoke 'celebs' web sub section
  • Interactivity enabled through reader comment features
  • Ability to personalise content based on reader location preferences
• Mobile first

  • Precedence of online news over print in contemporary newspapers
  • Priority is given to uploading and optimising live news to service smartphone consumption
• Online news is interactive, easier to access on a range of platforms like a website, and is free
• Audiences enjoy watching and listening to images and sounds that better illustrate stories
• The Mirror's online coverage of the Nicola Bulley story


  • Included six different embedded videos of scenes near where Nicola Bulley went missing
  • These had an amateur feel about them and did not have voiceovers
  • Some were clearly taken by ordinary people
• Citizen journalism


  When ordinary people create and share content
• The Mirror's online coverage included convergent links to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok
• Many young people could have followed these links from the Mirror's website to further engage with the story and create and share content
• Prosumer generation


  Consumers who also produce content
• The Mirror's online coverage was able to break the news live at 5.30 pm that the body was in fact that of Nicola Bulley, which is not possible in print editions
• The Mirror online maintains house style with brand identity of print edition (same masthead font and colour design, minus the "Daily")
• The Mirror online has increased, more invasive advertising content, tailored to browsing habits of individual readers
• The Mirror online has similar news values to print edition, with content expanded and using more graphics and embedded video, however the coverage is less intrusive and more respectful than that of some other newspapers
• Interactivity allows readers to construct their own narrative passage through the online paper by using the drop down menu and links in the articles, whereas print edition follows a rigid structure with sections for different features
• The Mirror online did not allow reader comments on articles about the Nicola Bulley story, likely to prevent inappropriate content and speculation that might be hurtful to the family
• Consumer-based regulatory approach

  The regulation of the UK press, where the Mirror is officially regulated by the independent print regulator IPSO and potentially subject to fines of up to £1 million if it contravenes IPSO's regulatory code
• IPSO's regulatory code protects vulnerable members of society, providing guidance to prevent editorial inaccuracies, privacy infringement, harassment of minors or court reportage that might identify vulnerable victims
• The Mirror adheres to IPSO's regulatory code, but its high editorial standards are perhaps more heavily influenced by audience and advertiser based concerns than those of IPSO
• The Mirror's left-leaning editorial bias ensures that the paper takes a far more cautious approach to editorial decisions than other tabloid titles, and is less likely to include sexist and homophobic representations than more right wing publications