Media industry

The Big issue Foundation is an independent charity working alongside the magazine distribution network It is written by professional journalists and sold by homeless individuals. The Big Issue is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or individuals at risk of homelessness, the opportunity to earn a legitimate income, thereby helping them to reintegrate into mainstream society. One of the companies main aims is to end poverty and exclusion for Big Issue vendors 

Media Language

Magazine codes and conventions are similar to that of newspapers in some areas. They have qualities of a masthead, plugs, splash and subheadings (or straplines).Things individual to a magazine include a menu, secondary lead, sidebar, spread and tags. 

In the example below The Big Issue has conventions similar to a newspaper such as columns, images, headings and subheadings. The layout varies however as the conventional newspaper format is not used.  

Media Audience 

The audience for the Big Issue is typically women rather than men. The majority of readers (61%) are aged between 18 and 39. On their website it states that the audience is  'young at heart, educated and loyal'. Compared to the general population, The Big Issue reader is more likely to be: A high income earner (48%), a professional or manager (34%) or have a university degree or diploma (66%).