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Mass media in Great Britain

In some countries, newspapers are owned by government or by political parties. This is not the case in Britain. Newspapers here are mostly owned by individuals or by publishing companies, and the editors of the papers are usually allowed considerate freedom of expression. This is not to say that newspapers are without political bias. Papers like The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, for example, usually reflect Conservative opinions in their comment and reporting, while the Daily Mirror and The Guardian have a more left-wing bias. In addition to the 12 national daily newspapers there are nine national papers which published on Sundays. The “quality” Sunday papers devote large sections to literature and the arts. They have colour supplements and are in many ways more like magazines than newspapers. They supply quite different world of taste and interest from the “popular” papers. Most of the “Sundays” contain more reading matter than daily papers, and several of them also include “colour-supplements” – separate colour magazines which contain photographically-illustrated feature articles. Reading a Sunday paper, like having a big Sunday lunch, is an important tradition in many British households.

Local and Regional Papers

Besides, nearly every area in Britain has one or more local newspapers.

England

Local morning papers have suffered from the universal penetration of London-based national press. Less than 20 survive in the whole England, and their combined circulation is much less than that of “The Sun” alone. Among local daily papers those published in the evenings are much more important. Each of about 70 towns has one, selling only within a radius of 50 to 100 kilometers. The two London evening papers, the “News” and “ Standard”, together sold two million copies in 1980, but they could not survive, and merged into one, now called “The London Evening Standard” with a circulation of 528,700. It covers national and international news as well as local affairs. Local weeklies include papers for every district in Greater London, often in the form of local editions of an individual paper.

Wales

Wales has one daily morning newspaper, the “Western Mail”, published in Gardiff, with a circulation of 76,200 throughout Wales. In north Wales “the Daily Post”, published in Liverpool, gives wide coverage to events in the area. “Wales on Sunday”, published in Cardiff, has a circulation of 53,100. Evening papers published in Wales are the “South Wales Echo”, Cardiff; the “South Wales Argus”, Newport; “The South Wales Evening Post”, Swansea;

The weekly press (82 publications) includes English-language papers, some of which carry articles in Welsh; bilingual papers; and Welsh-language papers. Welsh community newspapers receive an annual grant as part of the Government’s wider financial support for the Welsh language.

Scotland

Scotland has six morning, six evening and four Sunday newspapers. Local weekly newspapers number 115. The daily morning papers, with circulations of between 85,900 and 740,000, are “The Scotsman”; the “Herald”; the “Daily Record”. The daily evening papers have circulations in the range of 10,400 to 164,330 and are the ”Evening News” of Edinburgh, Glasgow’s Evening Times, Dundee’s “Evening Telegraph”, Aberdeen’s “Evening Express”, the “Greenock Telegraph”

The Sunday papers are the “Sunday Mail”, the “Sunday Post” , the “Scottish Sunday Express (printed in Manchester) as well as quality broadsheet paper.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has two morning newspapers, one evening and three Sunday papers, all published in Belfast with circulations ranging from 20,000 to 170, 567. They are the “News Letter”, the “Sunday News”, the “Sunday World”. There are bout 45 weekly papers.

Most local daily papers belong to one or other of the bog press empires, which leave their local editors to decide editorial policy. Mostly they try to avoid any appearance of regular partisanship, giving equal weight to each major political party. They give heavy weight to local news and defend local interests and local industries.

The total circulation of all provincial daily newspapers, morning and evening together, is around eight million: about half as great as that of the national papers. In spite of this, some provincial papers are quite prosperous. They do not need their own foreign correspondents; they receive massive local advertising, particularly about things for sale.

The truly local papers are weekly. They are not taken very seriously, being mostly bought for the useful information contained in their advertisements. But for a foreign visitor wishing to learn something of the flavour of a local community, the weekly local paper can be useful. Some of these papers are now given away, not sold out but supported by the advertising.

The four most famous provincial newspapers are “The Scotsman” (Edinburg), the “Glasgow herald”, the “Yorkshire Post” (Leeds) and the “Belfast Telegraph”, which present national as well as local news. Apart from these there are many other daily, evening and weekly papers published in cities and smaller towns. The present local news and are supported by local advertisements.

The Weekly, Periodical and Daily Press

Good English writing is often to be found in the weekly political and literary journals, all based in London, all with nationwide circulations in the tens of thousands. “The Economist”, founded in 1841, probably has no equal everywhere. It has a coloured cover and a few photographs inside, so that it look like “Time” or “Newsweek”, but its reports have more depth and breadth than any these. It covers world affair, and even its American section is more informative about America than its American equivalents. Although by no means “popular”, it is vigorous in its comments, and deserves the respect in which it is generally held. “Spectator” is a weekly journal of opinion. It regularly contains well-written articles, often politically slanted. It devotes nearly half its space to literature and the arts.