The British Press
Although
British people watch a lot of television, this doesn’t mean that they have
given up reading. They are the world′s third biggest newspaper buyers, only the
Japanese and the Swedes buy more.
The
national press is very crucial for British people and newspaper publication is
dominated by the national press. Nearly 80% of all households buy a copy of one
of the main national papers every day. There are more than 80 local and
regional daily papers, but the total circulation of all of them together is
much less than the combined circulation of the national "dailies".
Most
local papers don’t appear on Sundays, so on that day the dominance of the national
press is absolute. The "Sunday papers" are so called because that is
the only day on which they appear. People couldn′t be expected to do without
their newspapers for even one day, especially a day when there was more free
time to read them. The Sunday papers sell slightly more copies than the
national dailies and thicker. Some of them have 6 or more sections making up a
total of well over 200 pages.
Talking
about the morning "paper round", more than half of the country′s
readers get their morning paper delivered to their door by a teenager.
There
are two types of national newspaper. The "quality papers", or "broadsheets",
cater for the better educated readers. And the "popular papers", or
"tabloids", sell to a much larger readership. They contain far less
print than the broadsheets and far more pictures. They use larger headlines and
write in a simpler style of English. While the broadsheets devote much space to
politics and other "serious" news, the tabloids concentrate on "human
interest" stories, which often means sex and scandal. Both types of paper
devote equal amounts of attention to sport. The difference between them is in
the treatment of the topics they cover and in which topics are given the most
prominence. And also they have different shapes. The broadsheets are twice as
large as the tabloids.
One
of the main characteristics of the national press is politics. Although
different papers have different political outlooks, none of the large
newspapers is an organ of a political party. All of the newspaper publishers
are in the business first and foremost to make money. Their primary concern is
to sell as many copies as possible and to attract as much advertising as
possible. The British press is controlled by a rather small number of extremely
large multinational companies. This fact helps to explain two notable features:
1)
Freedom from interference from government influence;
2)
The press is so powerful in this respect that it is sometimes referred to as
"the fourth estate", the freedom of speech is a basic constitutional
right.
None
of the big national newspapers "belongs" to a political party. However,
each paper has an idea of what kind of reader it is appealing to. But the press
tends to be owned by Conservative party supporters. In any case, a large number
of readers buy it for the sport, or the human interest stories, or for some
other reason.
The
other feature of the national press which is partially the result of the
commercial interests of its owners is its shallowness. Apart from sport, their
pages are full of little except stories about the private lives of famous
people. Sometimes their "stories" are not articles at all, they are
just excuses to show pictures of almost naked women.
The
emphasis on revealing the details of people′s private lives has led to
discussion about the possible need to restrict the freedom of the press. This
is because, in behaving this way, the press has found itself in conflict with
another British principle – the right to privacy. Complaints regarding
invasions of privacy are dealt with by the Press Complaints Commission. This organization
is made up of newspaper editors and journalists. It follows a Code of Practice
which sets limits on the extent to which newspapers should publish details of
people′s private lives. However, against the right to privacy the press has
successfully been able to oppose the concept of the public′s "right to
know".
References:
• Horizons:
A practical Course
in Spoken and
Written English: Учеб. пособие для студентов
специальности "Современные иностранные языки" учреждений,
обеспечивающих получение высшего образования / Авт.-сост. Е.П. Михалева и др –
7-е изд. – Минск: Лексис, 2011
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