Codes and conventions:

All published newspapers follow specific codes and conventions to create a specific newspaper look. Newspapers, radio, television, magazines, and the internet have a different look, and a different method of communicating, because it’s for a different purpose, therefore different codes and conventions will be used.
Codes can be divided into two categories which are technical and symbolic. Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the font and font size in a newspaper. Symbolic for example is the size of the text in the newspaper, if a word is big and bold this symbolises that it is more important then small, thin text. And this code shows what is beneath the surface that we can see. Some media fits both categories such as music which is both technical and symbolic.
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interview quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.
Codes and conventions are used together in a study of genre; we can not just speak about codes used such as the text in the newspaper without saying how it is conventionally used.

Newspapers Codes and Conventions:

Photographs: this is there to grab attention. It may or may not be linked to the main story but more than often it is in colour.

Caption: the words below a photograph which give it a meaning.

Banner Headline: main statement which spans the full length of the page.

Byline: name of the writer who has written the article.

Masthead: the title block this includes the name of the newspaper (at the top of the page).

Pugs: the areas at the top left and top right of the page. They attract the readers eye and are used to show the date, price etc. (different colour strip line with this writing in it.

Strapline: an introductory statement just below the main headline (byline directly under this).

Standfirst: the first paragraph of report. It may be in bold print and/or the first word(s) may be in capital letters.

Splash: the main story on the front page of the newspaper.

Local newspapers generally have all the codes and conventions I’ve listed above, however local newspapers also include features such as:

-Local stories.
- Advertising local cars.
- News from local schools.
- Job section.
- Local companies advertisements.
- Classified Adverts.
- Websites.
- Local shops in the area.
- Property section.