Mass Media in the UK

Fleet Street
Fleet Street has been the home of the British press for 300 years. Here are published almost all Britain’s national newspapers. Here also are the headquarters of many magazines, foreign and provincial press bureaus, international news agencies

“The Fourth Estate”
“The Fourth Estate” means that the press is an addition to Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of power

The Independent
The Independent is a British newspaper published by Tony O’Reily’s Independent News & Media.
It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition is the Sindy.
Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers.
It is regarded as leaning to the left politically, although it has not affiliated itself to any political party.
The Independent has a reputation for its emphasis on views, rather than on news. Not surprisingly so, T. Blair once called The Independent a “Viewspaper”.

The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle market tabloid newspaper.
It is the UK’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun.
The Daily Mail was Britain’s first daily newspaper aimed at the newly literate “lower-middle class market resulting from mass education”.
It was from the outset, a newspaper for women, and is still the only British newspaper whose readership is more than 50% female.

The News of the World
The News of the World is a British tabloid newspaper published every Sunday.
It can be considered the Sunday sister paper of the Sun.
The newspaper concentrates on celebrity-based scoops and populist views.
The News of the World is the largest selling English-language newspaper in the world.

The BBC is the best known non-commercial radio and television system. It is a very large television and radio organization based in the UK. It includes five national radio stations, more than 30 local radio stations, two national television stations, the International BBC World Service and the BBC Worldwide Television.

The BBC also has two television channels BBC 1 and BBC 2. BBC 2 offers more serious programs than BBC 1. It shows discussions, different kinds of plays and films, operas and concerts. BBC 1 offers lighter plays and series, humour and sport, but there are also some interesting documentaries. The BBC documentaries like “Animal Planet”, “Discovery”, or “Wildlife” are popular in many countries of the world.

The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the UK and internationally. In January 2009 the Telegraph was the highest selling British broadsheet newspaper. It has been politically conservative in modern times, therefore the paper is often referred to as the Torygraph.

The Guardian
The Guardian is a British national daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group.
It is unique among other British newspapers in being owned by a foundation (the Scott Trust).
Founded by textile traders and merchants, The Guardian had a reputation as an “organ of the middle class”.
It is known to be to the left of political spectrum. This is reflected in the paper’s readership.
It’s nickname is Grauniad because the paper has a reputation for frequent typographical errors.

The Times
The Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785, when it was known as The Daily Universal Register.
The newspaper was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years but switched to compact size in 2004 partly in an attempt to appeal to younger readers and partly to appeal to commuters using public transport.

The Sun
The Sun is a daily tabloid published in the UK and Ireland.
It has the highest circulation of any daily newspaper in the world.
The Sun relies heavily on stories and scandals involving celebrities and the entertainment industry. It contains sections such as Bizarre (pop music stories and gossip) and TV Biz (television stories, concentrating on soap operas and reality TV).

The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British tabloid newspaper founded in 1903.
Twice in history its title was changed to read simply The Mirror.
It contains cartoon strips, comics, a letters page, a problem page, “shock issues” intended to highlight a particular news story.