UK TOPIC #11: THE MEDIA
Early Days
1) The original “newsmen” were town criers, whose origins can be traced back to the Spartan Runners of
Ancient Greece. Town criers in Britain are thought to have made their first appearance in 1066 when news of
William of Normandy's invasion was passed from town to town. They also came to be known as “bellmen”, as
they used hand-bells to attract people’s attention. As the literacy of Britain's population remained low well
into the late 19th century, people came to rely on them as a useful way of hearing about laws and news.
“Oyez, oyez, oyez” (pronounced OH yes) became a familiar call in town squares and public meeting places all
over Britain. Town criers were considered so important that harming one was a treasonable offence. As
literacy spread, the crier's role was eventually taken over by newspapers and modern media.
Newspapers
2) There have been newspapers in Britain since 1621 (!) but for about 300 years they were only read by a tiny
minority of the population. It was only in 1896 that a new kind of newspaper appeared which was produced in
great numbers and at such a low cost that ordinary people could afford to buy it- this was the Daily Mail, the
“mother” of all tabloid papers and one that is still popular today. By the 1930’s over two- thirds of the
population read a daily paper, and even more read a Sunday paper.
3) The most famous British newspaper (and probably the most famous paper in the world), The Times, was
established in 1785 but its readership is less than one third of The Daily Mail’s, and about one fifth of that of
the UK’s most popular paper, The Sun. In Britain, the newspaper industry is dominated by the
national“dailies”, of which there are about ten, and which together have a greater circulation than all the
local and regional daily papers, of which there are more than 70. The exception is in Scotland, where the
Scotland- only papers, such as The Sunday Post, The Sunday Mail and The Daily Record sell more than most
of the UK- wide papers (which are usually in special Scottish editions anyway).
4) The Brits have always been known as great, if not the greatest, newspaper readers- but that doesn’t mean
they are readers of great newspapers. Papers can generally be divided into two types: the popular, or tabloid,
newspapers, and the quality, or broadsheet newspapers. The terms tabloid and broadsheet actually refer to
the size of the paper- tabloid paper being smaller. However, until 2004, when two quality papers, The Times
and The Independent, adopted the tabloid format, the quality papers were always printed on the larger
broadsheet paper and the popular papers on the smaller tabloid sheets, and so the terms became
synonymous.
5) So what’s the difference? Well, the popular papers have less print and more pictures than the quality
papers. The Sun is well- known for its pictures of topless young women on page 3 of every edition; its rival,
The Daily Star, has them too. Tabloids have larger and more dramatic headlines and far simpler language.
Perhaps most importantly, they concentrate more on “human interest” stories, which often concern sex,
scandal, or the lives of celebrities, and less attention is paid to “serious” news. Thus, tabloids are considered
to be written for less educated people and quality papers for the better-educated, which may sound snobbish,
but when you see what’s written in some of the popular papers...
6) Interestingly, in 2012 the most popular Sunday tabloid, The News of the World, “went bust”- there was a
scandal about its reporters “bugging” people’s private conversations and using them in reports, so the paper
had to close down following an inquiry involving the owners including the media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch
(owner of several papers including The Sun, The Times and TV channels such as SKY). There is, perhaps, a third
category- the conservative “middle market” tabloid such as The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, the papers
of outraged respectability which generally harp on about how rotten and bad everything is nowadays and how
the country is “going to the dogs”...
7) One very interesting British institution is the morning “paper round”. Traditionally, as the Brits like to sit at
their breakfast table, drinking tea with milk, they want to read the morning paper. Just as there are milkmen
who deliver their milk (notably Sean Connery) so there are teenagers who earn a bit of pocket money by
getting up at 5.30 on wet, grey winter mornings and going out to deliver newspapers.
1
8) Although they have, and express, differing political outlooks, no main UK newspaper is either owned by or
is an organ of a political party. The main papers are listed as follows:
Popular papers
Readers (millions)
Quality papers
Readers (millions)
The Sun (Conservative)
2.95
The Sunday Times (Con)
1.04
The Daily Mail (Con)
2.15
The Daily Telegraph (Con)
0.83
The Mail on Sunday (Con)
2.00
The Times (Con)
0.59
The Daily Mirror (Labour)
1.38
The Sunday Telegraph (Con)
0.59
The Sunday Mirror (Lab)
1.38
The Observer (centre-left)
0.41
The Daily Express (Con)
0.69
The Guardian (LiberalDemocrat)
0.31
The Daily Star (right)
0.61
The Independent (centre-left)
0.19
The People (Lab)
0.61
The Independent on Sunday
(centre-left)
0.18
The Daily Star – Sunday (right)
0.30
The Financial Times (Con)
0.14
Readers: 2008 figures Political affiliation: 2010 Election
You can see which kinds of newspapers are the most popular!! Perhaps this is proof of British antiintellectualism!! For many British people, newspapers are not for “serious” news- if they want comment, they
might turn to magazines like The New Statesman (a left- oriented weekly magazine) or The Spectator (a
conservative weekly) or the fortnightly Private Eye if they want satire. If they actually want to know what’s
going on, they turn to broadcasting.
The BBC
9) For many people, the BBC (also known in Britain as “Auntie” and “The Beeb”) is a symbol of Britain, partly
because it is through the BBC that they are in touch with the country. It has a reputation for impartiality and is
rather proud of the fact that it gets complaints from both sides of the political divide- which is also a sign of its
independence. Independence? Granted, the BBC doesn’t depend on advertising or (directly) on the
government for its income, but on the TV licence fee that all telly owners have to pay; yet it’s the government
who decides who will be the director-general and governors of the BBC and who not only has the right to
veto BBC programmes before they are broadcast but also has the right to take away the BBC’s right to
broadcast!
10) The story behind the BBC’s independence is that when it was founded in 1922 the politicians didn’t really
recognise the potential significance of the radio as a way of capturing a mass audience for “serious”
programmes such as discussions with writers and thinkers, as well as the broadcasting of “high culture”
besides popular entertainment. Yet these were precisely the aims of the first director-general, John Reith,
who saw the radio as a means of educating and challenging the masses besides introducing them to, for
example, drama and classical music.
11) In 1932 the BBC World Service was set up and broadcast first to the empire and then to other parts of
the world, and it came to play an important role in the Second World War. The World Service still broadcasts
around the world, in many other languages besides English.
Most viewed TV programmes in 2012
RankChannel
Programme
1
BBC1 Olympics 2012: closing ceremony
2
BBC1 Olympics 2012: opening ceremony
Viewers
24.5m
24.2m
2
Most viewed TV programmes in 2012
RankChannel
Programme
3
BBC1 Euro 2012: England v Italy
4
BBC1 Olympics 2012: men’s 100m final
5
ITV1
6
7
8
BBC1
BBC1
BBC1
9
ITV1
10
ITV1
11
ITV1
12
13
14
BBC1
BBC1
BBC1
15
ITV1
16
BBC1
17
ITV1
18
BBC1
19
BBC1
20
ITV1
Viewers
20.3m
17.3m
16.3m (inc 100,000
Euro 2012: England v Ukraine
on ITV1 +1)
The Diamond Jubilee Concert
15.3m
Euro 2012: Sweden v England
14.2m
Olympics 2012: women’s 400m final
13.6m
13.1m (inc 600,000
Britain’s Got Talent
on ITV1 +1)
12.6m (inc 100,000
Euro 2012: France v England
on ITV1 +1)
12.5m (inc 300,000
Coronation Street
on ITV1 +1)
Olympics 2012: closing ceremony countdown
12.5m
Euro 2012: Spain v Italy
12.4m
Olympics 2012: Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford win gold12.3m
12.1m (inc 400,000
Downton Abbey
on ITV1 +1)
The Voice UK
11.9m
11.8m (inc 300,000
I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!
on ITV1 +1)
Strictly Come Dancing
11.5m
Wimbledon 2012 men's final:
11.5m
Murray v Federer
The X Factor
11.4m (including 500,000 on ITV1 +1)
Source: Barb data, viewing figures including seven-day catch-up on digital video recorders, up to Sunday 9 December 2012
Radio and Television
12) The BBC has 10 national radio stations in Britain, as well as a number of local ones. Listen to Radio 1 if
you want to hear the latest pop music, Radio 2 for “softer” and less up-to-date pop music, Radio 3 for classical
music, Radio 4 for drama, radio documentaries and more detailed news, and Radio 5 for sports! The BBC also
has two flagship television channels, BBC1 and BBC 2 and a number of digital channels.
13) There is no advertising on BBC television but ITV (Independent Television) which started in 1954, gets its
money from advertisements. ITV is actually a network of TV companies each broadcasting in different parts of
the UK and often sharing programmes. Importantly, the news on ITV is not made by the companies but by ITN
(Independent Television News), which is a separate company- this means that it is protected from the
interests of the TV advertisers. ITN and BBC news are not terribly different from each other in style or content.
14) The five main TV channels are: BBC 1, founded in 1936, which broadcasts a variety of programmes
including “sitcoms”, soap operas and films; ITV, founded in 1954, and the big rival of BBC 1, also broadcasting
a lot of films, comedies and soap operas; BBC 2, founded in 1964, which includes “serious” programmes on
current affairs as well as “high culture”; Channel 4, founded in 1982, originally focussed on alternative
popular entertainment but switched to broadcasting mainstream shows such as Big Brother (until 2010); and
Channel 5, founded in 1997, another general entertainment channel, which now delights the Brits with Big
Brother and the like.
15) As in other countries, Britain’s main newspapers and TV channels are not having the best of times. Fewer
and fewer people are reading these papers or watching these channels. What? Fewer people watching TV? No
one disputes the massive role the telly plays in our lives, but just as newspapers have to compete for our
reading them, so TV channels have to compete: against cable or satellite channels; against other forms of
entertainment that have now become affordable and, significantly, against the internet, which not only
provides entertainment but is an important alternative source for news. Many people voice concerns that
over-use of these media will have a variety of harmful effects, especially on young people. No doubt you’ll
have heard many of these concerns...
3
4