The Press in Britain

Newspapers. We love to criticize them. A famous British Labour politician, Aneurin Bevan, once called newspapers ‘my only form of continuous fiction’. Yet we buy millions the them: national, regional, local, daily and weekly, morning and evening papers. Some people will buy any paper just because its front page catches their eye but, generally speaking, most people buy the same newspapers, or subscribe for them, that is, have them delivered to their home, every day. Whether we like it or not, newspapers and magazines, influence our views, perception and even lives. Perhaps, that is the reason why the press is often referred to as the ‘fourth estate’.

Britain is often given as an example of a country that has a national press. The daily circulation of papers in Britain is just over 14 million copies. The British national press is often referred to as Fleet Street, although no national press is now produced in this London street. National newspapers cater for a wide variety of tastes and interests. All British papers can be classified into two major groups: quality and popular papers.

A quality paper is a serious national paper aiming at the educated reader. Quality papers or ‘broadsheets’ emphasize detailed news coverage, comment and authoritative editorials; they contain a wide range of topical features written by experts in their field, arts and literary reviews and much professional advertising. Among them are The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Financial Times. The latter is to be distinguished from the Times, because it is an international business paper mainly concerned with economics, but with a good news service. An interesting difference is its colour: it is pink.

As distinct from the quality press a popular paper is a newspaper the format and contents of which is designed for the undemanding reader. Most popular papers are tabloids, i.e. papers with small-size pages. They carry brief and direct news reports emphasizing facts and a large number of photographs. Emphasis is laid on personal stories, especially when they are sensational, or involving a figure in the public eye such as a member of the royal family. They are distinguished by large illustrations, bold captions and a sensational prose style. Much consideration is given to sports and to entertaining figures such as cartoons and contests. Among the ‘populars’ are The Sun, The Star, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express. Many dailies have their Sunday supplements.

Ownership of the press in Britain is in the hands of individuals or a few large publishing groups. It is rather easy to launch a newspaper in Britain provided you have funds and a license. The editors of the newspapers are allowed considerable freedom of expression but that does not mean that newspapers are without political bias. The political tendency of quality newspapers varies from conservative (The Daily Telegraph) or independent/conservative (The Times, The Financial Times) to centre (The Independent) and liberal (The Guardian). Most popular tabloids usually reflect conservative opinion in their comment and reporting, while The Daily Mirror has a more left-wing bias.

No newspaper anywhere can compete with Britain’s formidable news agency, Reuters. Across the world its name has become an assurance of impartiality, accuracy and reliability. Although run from London, Reuters deliberately avoids the image of being an English institution with English news values. As day progresses, its news file is edited from three different cities, switching time zones from Hong Kong to London and to New York. Its reports are filed in French, German, Arabic and Spanish, as well as English.

(from The Power To Inform)

Exercise 4

Discuss the text making use of your questions. Work in pairs.

Exercise 5

What do you think? Answer the questions below, discuss them with the class:

1. What did Bevan mean when he called newspapers his ‘only form of continuous fiction’?

2. Why is the press often referred to as ‘the fourth estate’?

3. What is implied by national press? Is there national press in Russia?

4. Why do you think the press in Britain is referred to as Fleet Street?

5. How do the level of education and the job people do influence their choices of newspapers?

6. Are newspapers dependent in their views on anyone? Who and why?

7. Why do nearly all newspapers publish advertisements?

8. How much are advertisers interested in social classes and their concerns?

9. Should newspapers be politically biased or can they be independent?

10. Why has Reuters become an assurance of impartiality, accuracy and reliability?

Exercise 6

Define precisely the meaning of these words and phrases in English, give their Russian equivalents:

daily circulation; news coverage; editorial; topical feature; format and content; bold caption; entertaining feature; supplement; bias and impartiality; news file.

Exercise 7

Find in the text words and word combinations corresponding to the following equivalents:

to satisfy many preferences; to be called; not to mix; a newspaper with small-size pages; a known personality; a guarantee of objectivity; on purpose; to manage a newspaper; to start a newspaper; politically oriented prejudice.

Exercise 8

Translate the following sentences from the text.

1. Some people have them (newspapers) delivered to their home every day.

2. A quality paper is a serious national paper aiming at the educated reader.

3. Quality papers or ‘broadsheets’, as they are often referred to, emphasize detailed news coverage.

4. Newspapers contain a wide range of topical features written by experts in their field …

5. The latter is to be distinguished from the Times because it is an international business paper mainly concerned with economics.

6. They carry brief and direct news reports emphasizing facts and a large number of photographs.

7. Ownership of the press is in the hands of a few publishing groups.

8. Although run from London, Reuters deliberately avoids the image of being a British institution with English news values.

Exercise 9

Prove that the following might (not) affect the age or sex of the readership of a newspaper:

a) the kind of news it chooses to print; b)the general interest articles (features) that it offers; c) its visual presentation; pictures, size of headlines, etc.; d) its attitude to various issues such as prices and consumer affairs, health, education, leisure, etc.; e) the kind of advertising in the paper.

Exercise 10

Now read the article below about the American press and say if the following statements are true or false. Work in pairs.

1. There are as many tabloids in the USA as there are in Britain.

2. The American press is independent of the state.

3. The circulation of the American newspapers is so low that there are no newspapers in the USA which might be considered national.

4. All American newspapers are provided with the news and stories from one news source.

5. There is a great trend towards concentration of ownership in the US.

6. The American press believes itself to be most objective in reporting news.