Researching Current Affairs Magazines: The Spectator

The front covers of The Spectators magazines are similar to those of The Weeks. They are often mostly white with an exaggerated cartoon depiction of something that has recently happened. They slightly resemble chapters / covers of story books. The mast head is in the top middle of the cover in a bold red font. There is a slim red banner at the top that often contains titles of other topics that are going to be mentioned in the magazine. Compared to the rest of the front cover, there is usually only one image that takes up 70 to 80% of it.

The stories mentioned and included are usually social concerns or current debates in the news (usually political). The magazines and website are aimed at adults as they are about politics and most things included would not appeal to or be appropriate for children.

The contents of the magazines contain a mixture of exaggerated cartoon images and real images with no relation to the importance of the related news article. The news is still serious and goes into detail on some subjects that others may overlook. On their website, the main articles are first then the smaller ones are in rows below them. The website also promotes their podcasts and other ways you can access and stay up-to-date with their news. They also have featured news stories, these are often the most important ones or the ones that people need to be aware of (currently it is updates and situations related to the coronavirus). The featured stories are displayed first so people notice them. Some issues of the Spectator magazine have interesting layouts, using stories or themes and incorporating them into the layout of the news.