Media Studies - The Big Issue

220 million.

‘A hand up not a hand out.’

Homeless people or people in housing crisises.

John Bird and Gordon Roddick.

It is political, critical and rebellious - critiquing both left wing and right wing ideas, though their ideology tends to lean more left wing within their journalism. Their magazine is niche and outside the commercial mainstream, constructing unique counter culture representations.

A hybrid publication which aren’t restrained by one genre.

72% of their readers are ABC1 and are reformers/explorers so the Big Issue is comfortable assuming that their readership will understand intertextual references and easter eggs due to their wide cultural capital.

‘left, right, centre, off the map’ and they hold ‘politicians of every stripe’ accountable and encourage the every man to spend their wages wherever they may like. on the BI or otherwise.

By using business solutions to social problems, using ‘ethical capitalism’. Their mission is to dismantle poverty by creating opportunity, and they campaign on issues such as anti-globalisation, high energy bills, flaws of the welfare system and living wage arguments.

83,000 p/w.

40 million, with 40% reached in print and 51% reached via phone.

Current affairs, historical, socio-political issues, culture and entertainment.

Use of a Barcode or Slogan.

• Central images: often use of images/collages over photography.

• Composition and layout: changes with every front cover rather then having a standard layout that is recognisable as part of the magazine’s brand.

• Mode of address/lang: Often these will incorperate intertextual references to other media products or cultural traditions.

• Puffs: shapes uses help reinforces the theme of the issue and create coherence with the main image

• Cover lines: aren’t always used, when they are they are usually integrated into the main image in some way.

They aim to help those who are marginalised in society, but through ownership and target audience of the magazine there is a predominance of white, middle class, male.

They will decode the encoded meaning in the preferred way. The reader has the cultural capital to understand the intertextual references. The reader has the same ideology and values as the producer of the representation. The reader enjoys satire and is interested in social, political and cultural issues, figures and events.