Unit 67 Tandem Formacio Ün

UNIT 67
THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH (1): JOURNALISTIC STYLE. THE

PRESS: QUALITY PAPERS AND POPULAR PAPERS
0.- INTRODUCTION
1.- THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH: THE PRESS
1.1.- The Press
2.- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
3.- JOURNALISTIC STYLE
4.- THE PRESS IN THE UK: QUALITY PAPERS AND POPULAR PAPERS
4.1.- National press
4.1.1.- Quality vs. Popular papers
A. Quality papers
B. Semi-popular papers
C. Popular papers
D. Daily vs. Sunday papers
1. Daily papers: quality and popular
2. Sunday papers: quality and popular
4.2.- Regional and local papers
4.3.- Journals and magazines: Weekly vs. Periodical press
5.- THE PRESS OUT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: THE
U.S 6.- BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.oposicionestandem.com Pg. 1
0.- INTRODUCTION
Unit 67, aims to provide a useful introduction to the mass media in English which
comprises the main means of communication: press, radio and television. Yet, we shall
namely concentrate on the press as one of its main manifestations.
In order to do so, we shall start by briefly analyzing the press within the scope of
mass media. We shall then move on to look into the press from a historical perspective,
trying to understand the evolution it has undergone since its origins. Next, the Journalistic
style will be dealt with in an attempt to scrutinize the main structures, features and aims of
the language portrayed in the press. Finally, quality and popular (yellow press) will be
analyzed, first in the UK and then in the USA.
A set of the most influential scholars in the field have been used in order to examine
the topic at stake, namely Vaughan-Rees, In Britain (1995); Bromhead, Life in Modern Britain
(1962); Oxford Guide to British and American Culture (2000); and the reliable webpage
www.britannica.com (2004).
1.- THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH: THE PRESS
The mass media comprises three types of modern communication, that is, the press,
the radio, and the television. In terms of percentage, the press is curiously much more
demanded than the radio or television; actually, according to Bromhead (1962:179), "the
British people buy more newspapers than any others except the Swedes and Japanese."
Figures show that over 80% of households receive at least one daily newspaper, and despite
that fact that people usually get the first news from radio or television, newspapers are
more and more demanded in terms of explanatory and background information.
Newspapers, radio, television, internet, advertising, music, posters, books,
magazines, the theatre and cinema are all communicating methods for reaching people with
information. That is the meaning of 'media': it is the Latin plural of medium, meaning 'the
means by which something is communicated'. By adding 'mass' it gives the notion of large
quantity, in this case, people (regardless of age, social status or race).
1.1.- The Press

Newspapers, magazines and books have been called the "slow media". Their mass
influence is delayed by the time required to read and react to the reported details of an
event.
Since its introduction in England by William Caxton in 1475, the printing press has
enjoyed a lot of improvements. In the decade of the 1920's, the rise of the radio brought
about a fierce competition. Nonetheless, despite possible damage coming from radio, TV or
the internet, newspapers have proved to be still attractive to consumers. Moreover, the fact
that you can select the information you want and you can read it whenever and wherever
you want is a huge advantage that 'slow media' has.
2.- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The history of the development of the press and of the written mass media begins in
TH
the 15 century with the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg. It is a capital
development of modern Western civilization connected with the spirit of capitalism and the
new political trends inaugurated with the Protestant Reformation.
The printing press was not only a capital invention for the spread of books and
writing material but it produced the written newspaper, the vehicle for the expression of
political, cultural and economic ideas directly connected with the private interests of
different groups of people. The influence works both directions, from the press towards the
public and from the public towards the press.
The activity of preserving information through a lasting technique is connected with
the dawn of historical civilizations. First writing and an alphabet to reproduce words is
thought to have appeared in the Sumerian civilization around 3500 B.C, but the modern
alphabetical system was the work of the Phoenicians who introduced symbols for sounds,
not symbols for ideas (ideographs or pictographs).
European writing went through several stages, using different tools and on different
materials, but the most significant event connected with the diffusion of writing records,
books and later papers, was the invention of printing from movable type, considered the
work of Johann Gutenberg around 1450. Apparently Gutenberg did not realize or knew that
this was already done in China. The effect of the advent of the printing press upon life in
Western Europe was tremendous. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the scientific
revolution, almost every aspect of what we can call modern civilization, was made possible
through the availability of printed material. Furthermore, the printing press was in Western
civilization used for the creation of a range of materials developed through it and only
through it: newspapers and magazines. Nothing of the sort appeared in the far East, where
the printing press was only a tool to produce a greater number of writing materials, not the
tool through which a totally new system of human communication was conveyed.
The first systematic attempt to collect and distribute information was Acta Diurna,
the hand-lettered "daily gazette" posted regularly in the Roman Forum between 59. B.C and
A.D. 222. The reports told both of senate votes and popular events. The longest continuing
information program on record was in China, where from, approximately, A.D. 750, the
imperial court published semi-annual reports in addition to monthly bulletins and calendars.
These bulletins, known as Tching-pao, were published weekly from 1360, and from 1830
they had become daily publications.
The printing press produced a dramatic change in the spread and use of information
in Western Civilization because it enabled private persons to spread news and use them for
their own particular purposes, at the same time freeing the people from an altogether
governmental press. The spirit the press developed, or the spirit it followed is the private
use of information by a large mass of people, for their own private interests and purposes
quite often contrary to the official press.
The first book printed by Gutenberg was the Bible. The Protestant Reformation with
its political and religious use of the vernacular language, popularized the reading of the Bible
through a variety of books and pamphlets. Lutheran writings accounted not only for the
education of the people but also made a large use of the emotional quality conveyed
through the written word. The large influence of the printing press on the general public and
its emotional appeal on the masses who were not sufficiently educated was quite early seen
as a dangerous tool and thus the printing press became in most countries controlled by
governments who were both afraid and conscious of its power.
The publication of newspapers and magazines in Western civilization was from its
beginnings a private business under the control of the editor, the printer and the journalist,
who depended on the reading public for the success of their business. Thus the press was
from its beginning the product of the spirit of capitalism which rested on profits and
earnings and thus the intellectual venture was from the beginning an economic enterprise.
Permanent newspaper was the novelest product of the printing press. As it began to
develop its role of providing news and entertainment, it became the primary catalyst of the
printing press for influencing social and political change. The story of the print media merges
in our own time with those of the visual and electronic media, equally important today as
agents of change. Central to their influence is their transmission of information and news.
TH
Under 20 century standards a true newspaper must meet the following
qualifications: regular publication on a daily or weekly basis, dedicated to a general-interest
audience rather than a specialized one, and offering timely news. Thus "true newspapers" in
the 17" century are slow to appear.
The oldest known and preserved copies of a titled and regularly published newssheet
were produced in Germany in 1609. Between 1610 and 1661, titled newssheets appeared in
Switzerland, England, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Holland, Sweden, Italy, and Poland. The
first daily newspaper began in 1616, The Frankfurter Oberpostamzeitung, it continued till
1866 when it merged with Frankfurter Zeitung.
In America the introduction of the press was the work of Spaniards. The oldest
known preserved record of a current event describes a 1541 storm and earthquake in
Guatemala. Although the development of a regular periodical press was delayed in America
by Spanish censorship and high cost, there appeared noticiarios, hojas volantes and gacetas
in Lima, Mexico and Guatemala in the 18" century. They were short-lived but provided the
foundation for the strong Spanish-language press of the future.
It is significant that the first newspaper first flourished in areas where authority was
weak, as was the case of Germany, a patchwork of small principalities, or the Low Countries
were rulers were more tolerant. In countries with a strong central authority the press, and
the printing of books, was curtailed for a long time. The "prior restraint" (printers required
to have a royal permission before setting up shop) became law under Henry VIII, and Queen
Mary established the Stationers Company, a trust of publishers and dealers in books, distinct
from printers, who controlled the printing houses and reported of criminal activities run by
printers.
The very rudimentary prototypes of the modern newspaper appeared in London. The
primitive newssheets were called corantos". The reports of the Thirty Years' war attracted
the attention and interest of the English people and the first corantos were produced in the
Low Countries and distributed in England. They encountered royal disclaim because they
favored a certain turn of politics which was not followed by the king, James I. Nevertheless,
the first "authorized" corantos appeared in 1621.
The long struggle for parliamentary power, the rise of the middle class, the effects of
the Puritan Revolution, all of the most important facts of the 17" and 18" centuries, fostered
and gave winds to the development of the press. The beginning of the party system, the
apparition of the new political man, the trader, the merchant, grouped in different classes,
Whigs, Tories and dissenters all of them required the press as the tool for disseminating and
communicating their purposes and needs.
The first daily newspaper was the Daily Courant issued on March 11, 1702, and his
editor was Samuel Buckley. The Courant met the requirements of the modern newspaper, it
printed news not rumours, dated and localized its articles, covered foreign information and
made money through advertising.
Other type of newspapers was the "essay papers", the Tatler and the Spectator, by
Richard Steele and Joseph Anderson, the real educators of the uncouth middle class, and the
greatest journalist of the period was Daniel Defoe, the editor of the Mist's Journal.
The first genuine American newspaper was the Boston News-Letter that began in
1704. In 1719 Appeared the Boston Gazette, and in 1721 the New England Courant
published by James Franklin, elder brother of Benjamin Franklin, and in whose printing shop
Benjamin Franklin did his apprenticeship as journalist and editor.
The first American newspapers were connected with the official post of postmasters.
James Franklin was the first one not to print "by authority" but in spite of it. All previous
publishers, despite the end of actual licensing, had bowed to authority while Franklin
attacked authority represented by the Mathers, when he died he had an inscription ready to
be carved on his tombstone, in it he called himself "A Printer".
In 1728 Ben Franklin opened his own printing office in Philadelphia, he had learned
about the business of printing while working, since age 12 with his brother James. He was a
fully skilled printer by the age of 17. Ben Franklin printed newspaper he called The
Pennsylvania Gazette and the Poor Richard's Almanac.
He had a lot of new ideas for printing, more books and newspapers, he began
printing cartoons and illustrated news stories, which he became famous for. He encouraged
communication by introducing letters to the editor, and believed in the power of the press.
He used his printing press to bring the news to the people. He was a strong supporter of
reading and was the founder of the first Public Library in 1731. He wanted to use the
printing press to help all people to understand the word around them.
3.- JOURNALISTIC STYLE
The main aim of mass media elements is not only to transmit information, that is,
what, but also how to do it. Regarding what to transmit, mass media means report the latest
events around the world, from international to local level. That report traditionally answers
the set of wh- questions: what? who? when? where? why? what for? and how? among
others (i.e. how much? how many? and so on). The information report must be a complete
piece of news or enlarged bits of information according to a decreasing interest order. On
the other hand, how to transmit leads us to the question of objective and subjective
information. This bias can exist because Britain is a free country with an elected
representative government, and the mass media is free putting forward various points of
view to be transmitted through different mediums with their own structural features.
In short, the aim is to provide as much information as possible to the recipients of
the news, that is, the audience, which is regarded as the market of news in a commercial
sense. Thus, it is important not only what to write but also how to write it taking into
account that each means of communication has a particular framework and a characteristic
mode of address.
The determination of the particular mode of address will depend on the particular
type of audience since there must be a reciprocity between producer and receiver. As a
result, we find the three main types of communication means: the press, the radio and the
television with a common way of expression: the journalistic style.
The concept 'journalistic style' must not be confused with 'journalistic language'
since both of them refer to mass media means, but in different ways. First of all, the
journalistic language refers to the particular way language is used by the press, radio and
television whereas the journalistic style refers to the ways of expression, that is,
informative, literary, and that of public opinion. Therefore, the latter comprises the three
types of media in terms of style whereas the former does it in terms of language, form and
structure.
It must be bear in mind that journalistic communication is expressed by means of
written texts (newspapers and magazines) and oral texts, which are further divided into
audio texts (radio) or audiovisual texts (television, video). Hence, the freedom of press
becomes an essential condition for journalistic communication fulfil a social aim, that is, the
possibility of spreading true sorts of information and opinions without any kind of
censorship.
The main aims of journalistic communication are three. First, to satisfy the need of
informing about matters of common interest which any well-organized society has; second,
to spread the news; third, though informative objectivity is very difficult to reach, different
mass media is aimed to cultivate the audience's opinion, by interpreting the information
spread and by using different semiotic devices. This is specially felt when they support some
particular ideological or political position, together with the information and their opinions.
Hence their propagandistic purpose to attract converts to the ideology or policy they are
interested in, which is supported by the freedom of press.
Journalistic language makes reference to the particular channel each means of
communication uses. This means that each text (oral or written) has its own particular rules
and ways of expression in the sense that each type of text shares some exclusive and
general features no matter how many different channels it has. For instance, within the
press, all the different types of newspapers (national vs. regional/local; quality vs. popular)
shall present common features.
Hence there is a threefold formulae called 'the three c's code', that is, the journalistic
language must be clear, concise and correct.
This is so for the item of news to be understood by any reader no matter what their
cultural level is, and also because in this type of communication the important thing is the
content rather than the form, which must just be a transparent means of transport of the
former. Actually, there are three main aspects that journalistic texts should avoid in style:
literalizing (adjectives, metaphors), vulgarizing, and technifying (using non
comprehensible words for the audience).
Similarly, there are six main features of journalistic style which, strictly speaking, are
the result of the linguistic reflection mentioned above. Thus,
1) correctness, since journalistic language is non-literary and must be close to
cultivated colloquial language;
2) conciseness, since short sentences are often the most appropriate in
journalistic language;
3) clarity, since one can achieve communicative efficiency by using suitable
verbs in the active form and the indicative mood;
4) to hold the attention of the receiver, since articles of an informative nature
have a peculiar structure which is used in order to attract the reader's
attention from the first line to the last;
5) language produced in groups. Note that all the messages in collective
communication are produced by different authors, some of them have
greater responsibility than others in the final result which is offered to the
receivers; and finally,
6) the use of a mixed language, since the plurality of concurrent codes drives
the different languages to depend on each other. The leading code (the
articulated language in written or oral representation also suffers at the same
time the influence of smaller codes.
Once a text is conceived, it undergoes a process of elaboration before it is edited so
as to transform the text into its own style without interfering directly. Since it is difficult to
inform objectively, the text appearance exposes objectivity by means of extralinguistic signs
whose existence permits us to speak about journalistic semiotic. The following set of
semiotic devices may be used to accompany an item of news in order to guide and judge it,
even though the linguistic expression may be the narration of events in a totally impartial
way (i.e. images in commercials).
Thus, the context where the text appears (page, radio dials, TV commercial).
Actually, in written texts, the most important location is the front page or the first page of
each section (home vs. International policy, domestic life, sports, fashion, culture). Note that
the pieces of news appearing on uneven pages, within each section, are rather relevant.
Also, the number of columns (or radio/TV commercials) expresses the hierarchy which the
text allows it. The item of news is, no matter what their length is, more relevant than the
one published in just one place. Then the way we highlight the news (typeface, height of
letters, intonation/emphasis in radio/TV) is also a sign of importance given by the text.
Finally, in audio-visual texts, photographs and images illustrating a piece of news make it
more relevant.
All these manipulations are the editorial staff's responsibility so as to value, depreciate, give
prominence or reduce the importance of the text. As a result, the published text is believed
to present a general journalistic language which gathers several characteristics unique to
each type.
Within journalism there is a great variety of genres, which have particular features
with regard to content and expression. Among the most outstanding ones we include:
report, interview, chronicle, editorial, article, column and review. Thus,
a) reports, which are defined as a vivid narration of what a journalist has seen
and heard about something which must interest public opinion. It may not be
of immediate current affairs, which is what we expect from a piece of news.
Sometimes a report may be of denouncing character, usually with negative
connotations (i.e. bad news). Often, reports are illustrated with photographs.
b) Interviews, which include dialogues between the journalist and the person
whose opinions or secrets may be interesting for the audience. Note that
they are usually reported in indirect style.
c) Chronicles, which tell a series of events that have taken place during a certain
time (daily, weekly) and which are interesting to considers (i.e. a session held in
Parliament, Royal events, car races). Like reports, they are usually signed.
d) Editorial texts are a written piece without signature. They appear in a fixed
and outstanding place, where the view of the paper about an important
matter is exposed. The person in charge of the editorial is the newspaper
director, radio manager, the editorial advisor, or TV director.
e) Articles are written by journalists or collaborators, where within certain
length the author's thought is exposed about any topic which may interest
people because it is up-to-date or for just historical, artistic, scientific, or
philosophical reasons. This is said to be the most subjective journalistic
genre, since the quality of the language and the suggestive strength of the
content are very much appreciated.
f) Columns are a fixed space reserved to reporters or collaborators who, daily
or very often, comments on current matters in a rather subjective tone.
There are column reporters considered as greatly influential on public
opinion. Note that columns are the synonyms of daily or weekly
collaborations in radio and television.
g) Finally, reviews are carried out by journalists or collaborators who judge
books, films, plays, concerts, sports, or any other show through oral or
written texts.
Depending on the type of article and the type of newspaper, the style will change
considerably. Let us take look at the journalistic treatment of a typical piece of information
that are found in a newspaper to analyze them in general terms.
A news report is the basic material for the media, and the news story the basic form
of writing; it demands simple, straightforward prose, complete understanding of the subject,
conciseness and precision in the use of language. There are thousands of events that take
place daily, but only a few of them deserve to be given the treatment of 'news item'. Those
news items must conform to some of these criteria:
 Impact (events affecting people's lives will have more impact)
 Prominence (celebrities always make news)
 Proximity (home stories are more interesting than foreign affairs)
 Conflict (arguments and fights make news)
 The unusual (strange arguments draw our attention)
There is a traditional formula to summarize what every news story should convey. It
should answer 5 Ws and 1 H: What, When, Where, Who, Why and How. The reader will
demand information for those questions, and the journalist must include all of them if
possible.
As far as the structure is concerned, the goal of any proper structure is to convey
information quickly, and to allow the reader to move through the story easily. Some of the
ways to attain this are the following:
1
 Headlines and leads : they are the key for the reader to keep on reading the
article. They must be catching and strikingly enough.
 The body (of the article): it is developed in a chronological order, presenting
the relevant facts at the beginning and the less important/relevant at the
end. Besides, one thing a good journalist must never do is mention something
in the lead and forget to explain it in the body. Thus, everything that is in the
lead must be in the body.
 The story of the event must also be presented in a chronological order, so as
not to confuse the reader.
 Journalists must also avoid first person pronouns, that is, he must never
assume anything, just report what has happened.
 News stories must also be accompanied by the voices of the protagonists
through quotations (words quoted literally) whenever possible. Nothing must
1
Headline: first part of the article, written in a telegraphic way, avoiding articles, prepositions and even verbs. Lead: the first sentence/paragraph in the piece of
news, in which the essence of the event is summarized.
be made up or taken out of context. Quotations must be relevant to the
story; if it does not add anything new, it should not be included.
 Conclusion: an article should always have a coherent and correct ending (this
is not applicable to the breaking news because they are bound to continue
the following day). It should not be a mere repetition of the body but the
consequence of it.
So as mentioned previously, a news story should be CLEAR (all people from different
social classes must understand it), CONCISE (say as much as possible with the smallest
number of words), CORRECT (no inventive is allowed) and COHERENT (well structured).
4.- THE PRESS IN THE UK: QUALITY PAPERS AND POPULAR PAPERS
Though the press in Britain is aimed to guard its freedom to print, there are some
rules that restrict its scope of information. So, among these restricting features we include:
 the laws of libel, by means of which a newspaper or periodical can be sued in
the law courts for damages if it publishes a harmful untruth about someone;
 the Official Secrets Act (OSA), a law which restricts the reporting of some
military and government matters;
 the government requesting newspapers not to publish information about a
sensitive public matter;
 legal restrictions on reporting certain court proceedings or commenting on a
trial in progress in case the publicity would be unfair to the people on trial.
Finally,
 the influence of the Press Council, an official organization which was first set
up in 1953 with the aim of maintaining high standards in the press. It hears
complaints from the public about the behavior of journalists and the stories
newspapers sometimes print. The Council is intended to safeguard the
privacy of the individual as well as the freedom of the press.
There is a wide variety of newspapers at the level of national vs. regional/local press,
which depend on several variables, among which we shall focus on the distinction between
daily vs. Sunday press, and weekly vs. periodical press. Yet, it is worth noting that the one
which actually marks the difference over other similar European countries is the distinction
between 'quality' papers and the mass-circulation 'popular' tabloids. Hence 'quality' and
'popular' papers will be classified into 'daily' vs. 'Sunday papers', and 'weekly' vs. 'periodical'
papers. Also, we shall examine other types of press like magazines.
Broadly speaking, within the press, there are about 130 daily and Sunday
newspapers, over 2,000 weekly newspapers and some 7,000 periodical publications in
Britain. That's more national and regional daily newspapers for every person in Britain than
in most other developed countries. The major papers, twelve national morning daily
newspapers (5 qualities and 7 populars) and nine Sunday papers (4 qualities and 5 populars)
are available in most parts of Britain. All the national newspapers use computer technology,
and its use in the provincial press, which has generally led the way in adopting new
techniques, is widespread.
4.1.- National press
Because of the small geographical area of the UK, and the good travel infrastructure,
there are many national newspapers, in contrast to the policy of the United States where
most newspapers are printed and published locally. Actually, out of the 1386 British
newspapers, 'national' papers, based in London, altogether sell more copies than all the
eighty-odd provincial papers combined" (Bromhead, 1962:179). Note that UK papers are
generally grouped into three types within the national scope: quality papers (broadsheets),
middle-market tabloids (or semi-popular papers) and popular papers (also called tabloids or
mass market tabloids).
The national press is dominated by large companies, some of which have other
interests besides (commercial television, Canadian forests, package holidays, North Sea oil)
as a national newspaper needs a strong financial base. In one sense its total daily sales in
England amount to 13 million, or three papers sold for every four households. Yet their
financial position was not always successful and their financial difficulties were not resolved
by the 1980s. Thus, attempts to cut their costs by using more efficient production processes
have caused several strikes. In 1976-84 all the London national papers had some periods
when they were not published.
On the other hand, most of the significant regional newspapers are 'evening' papers,
each publishing about four editions between about mid-day and 5 p.m. London like every
other important town has one. All these 'evening' papers are semi-popular, but none has a
circulation approaching that of any popular national paper.
4.1.1.- Quality vs. Popular papers

With the press, people in all parts of England choose one or more of the eight
national papers according to their preferences which are based on various factors, among
which national sport reports are probably more influential than politics, and certainly more
influential than anything to do with the region.
The contrastive pair 'quality' and 'popular' papers is further extended into a
threefold distinction since a third type, middle -market tabloids, is included in between.
Hence we find three main types of newspapers (also called papers): quality papers
(broadsheets), middle - market tabloids (or semi-popular papers) and popular papers (also
called tabloids or mass market tabloids).
A. Quality papers
Broadly speaking, they are also called 'broadsheets' because of its size. They are
probably the most famous to readers overseas as they contain a special emphasis on news
about business, political relations, cultural tendencies, scientific, social and political matters
at an international level. They are also characterized by an aura of dignity and stability which
is shown in their semi-academic style and their serious tone, which tends to assume the
intelligence of the readers.
According to Mervill (1981), quality papers show several features which make them
unique, such as: a wide range of international news about culture, economy, science and
education; lack of sensationalism; excellent printing; an analytical and deep approach to
news; lack of hysteria; high cultural standard; unbiased and factural approach; imagination,
decency and general awareness of the problems of human beings; excellent editorial pages;
and a detached orientation from sensationalism and provincialism. In short, quality papers
are famous for being serious, intellectual and cosmopolitan.
Among quality papers' main functions we include: first, the fact that they are the
reference for other newspapers which will not produce their own ideas and judgements
about a particular issue without having consulted the opinion of quality newspapers,
although they do not say so in so many words; second, that they are the ideal vehicle for
political leaders, social institutions and national associations when they address leading
groups in the country; and finally, that they are very useful in embassies and diplomatic
institutions so as to know about the country's situation. Hence the quality press is said to be
linked to the certain public voices of democratic government and be able to fall within a
party's doctrine or ideas.
Regarding semiotics, an edition of quality papers might consist of forty pages, of
which 20 might deal with foreign and home news and opinion, 8 with business and sports
news, and 12 with other features and advertisements. Among these other features there
will be theatre and film reviews, obituaries, TV pages, crosswords and advertisements. Over
the past decade, as competition for readership has increased, the percentage of purely
news-orientated pages has decreased steadily, and many of the quality papers have run
competitions for their readers along the lines of the Bingo competitions first set up by the
Daily Mirror and the Sun.
B. Semi-popular papers
Though traditionally regarded as popular tabloids, the Daily Mail and The Express,
are (possibly thankfully) concerned with a very different readership - that of affluent women
and, as a result, they are framed up within the category of middle -market tabloids.
Weekend supplements and carefully-placed sponsorship ensure that these titles are a cheap
alternative to a magazine, while sports supplements aimed at the husband aim to broaden
their readership.
C. Popular papers
Popular papers, also known as mass-market tabloids and defined as yellow
journalism, is characterized by "the use of lurid features and sensationalized news in
newspaper publishing to attract readers and increase circulation" (Britannica, 2004). Since
they respond to their estimates of the reader's interests, they show particular features such
as the use of enormous banner headlines, colored comics and copious illustrations to thrive
on the excitement of the readers.
Also, they include "leading items of each day, which are one day political, one day to
do with crime, one-day sport, one day some odd happening. They have their pages of
political report and comment, short, often over-simplified but vigorously written and
(nowadays) generally responsible" (Bromhead, 1962:183).
With respect to typographical resources we highlight the make-up of the first page,
which aims to heighten sensationalism by emphasizing human interest on fantasy and other
unusual issues (i.e. The so-called 'Page Three girl' in The Sun). For instance, usual tools are
the unbalanced lay-out of the pages (large headlines vs. little text), exaggeration of the news
(epic on occasions), a treatment of news which pays little or no attention to the truth and to
tact, illogic design and distribution of spaces, and an unclear division between information
and opinion. With this background in mind, let us examine these main features within each
type of paper, both quality and popular within the further distinction of daily and Sunday
press.
D. Daily vs. Sunday papers
1. Daily papers: quality and popular
Also, "the gap in quality is not so much between Labour and Conservative, as
between the levels of ability to read and appreciate serious news presented seriously." At
national level, regarding daily morning papers, five quality newspapers are distinguished:
The Times, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, and The Independent in
contrast to the six popular papers: The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, the Daily
Mail, the Morning Star, and the recent Manchester-based The Sport.
Within the quality group, The Times, though being the UK's oldest national
newspaper (founded in 1785), is not the most popular of all British newspapers (c. 350,000
readers). Since it had to suspend its publications in 1978 because the workforce would not
accept the management's plans for modernization, it has been the paper of the
"Establishment", which uses it "for announcements of births, marriages and deaths"
(Bromhead, 1962:185). "In 1981 it was taken over by the Murdoch group, though its
editorial independence was guaranteed." Politically speaking, though it is said to be
independent, it is sympathetic to the Conservative Party. Yet, it has a big minority of non-
Conservative readers.
The Guardian, originally called 'the Manchester Guardian' up to 1959, developed into
a modern national paper when moved its base to London, and hence its change of name. It
is said to be equal with The Times. In quality, style and reporting (c. 450,000 readers).
Politically speaking, though it is said to be non-committed, it has been described as 'radical'
since it has been related to the Liberal Party and humanitarian attitudes. "It has made great
progress during the past thirty years, particularly among intelligent people who find The
Times too uncritical of established interests" (Bromhead, 1962:185).
The Daily Telegraph, known affectionately as the Daily Torygraph because of the
staunch support to the Conservative Party, is bought by the majority of Conservative middle
-class readers (c. 1,300,000 readers). "It contains much more reading matter than the
popular papers" and its circulation is said to be greater than that of The Times and The
Guardian because of its low price.
The Financial Times is a financial newspaper which, incidentally, is not related to The
Times in any way. It has "recently shed its old commercial specialism and has become a
major quality paper, enjoying a reputation rivalling The Times. Its circulation, though small
(c. 200,000 readers), has grown enormously. Its success in recent years has rivalled the Sun's
at the opposite end of the scale" (Bromhead, 1962:185).
The Independent is the newest of the broadsheets, and has quickly established a
reputation for unbiased and interesting reporting. It shows the similar large format of the
previous newspapers, similar content, though it pays little or no attention to the activities of
the Royal Family, and a good selection of news.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that "Scotland has two important 'quality' papers,
the Scotsman in Edinburgh and the Glasgow Herald. The Glasgow Daily Record survives: two
other 'popular' papers have disappeared. On Sundays the Sunday Post, of Dundee, claims to
be read by four-fifths of the Scottish population. Scotland's cultural distinctness is reflected
in its press" (Bromhead, 1962:179).
On the other hand, regarding the daily popular press we analyze the main features
of: The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Morning Star, and the
recent Manchester-based The Sport.
The Sun, which appeared in the mid-1970s, is regarded as the successor of the old
Daily Herald, which was a quasi-official organ of the Labour Party until the 1960s. Following
Bromhead (1962:184), "after several changes of status and ownership The Sun was taken
over by Mr. Rupert Murdoch, whose first big newspapers were in Australia. Before his firm
took over The Sun it already owned the News of the World, a British Sunday paper which
pays special attention to reports of crimes and whose sales once exceeded 8 million copies."
With similar features to the daily popular press, it keeps minimum contents such as politics
and maximum about football, sports, horseracing, but above all, pictures and girls built on
nudity and bigger headlines (c.4,200,000 readers).
The Daily Mirror appeared in the 1940s and soon became a serious rival of the
Express and Mail in popular journalism. Following Bromhead (1962:183), "it was always a
tabloid, always devoted more space to pictures. It was also a pioneer with strip cartoons.
During the war it was the Government's fiercest and most effective critic, and at one time
Churchill was tempted to use the Government's special wartime powers to suppress it. He
was indeed sorely tempted; but he left it free. After 1945 it regularly supported the Labour
Party. It soon outdid the Express in size of headlines, short sentences and exploitation of
excitement. It also became the biggest selling daily newspaper. For many years its sales have
been above 4 million; sometimes well above (c.3,500,000)."
The Daily Express and the Daily Mail are the two archetypal popular papers with circa
2,000,000 readers each. Both of them were "built up by individual tycoons [rich
businessmen] in the early twentieth century. Both had a feeling for the taste of a newly-
literate public: if a man bites a dog, that's news. The Express was built up by a man born in
poverty in Canada. He built up his newspaper in Britain, not only on crime and human
interest stories, but on his simple message about the greatness of the British Empire. He
became a great man in the land, a close friend and associate of Winston Churchill, a
powerful minister in his war Cabinet. The circulation of the Express at one time exceeded 4
million copies a day. Now the first Lord Beaverbrook is dead, the paper is searching for a
new identity, and the daily sales are not much more than half of their highest figure. The
history of the Daily Mail, with its more conventional conservatism, is not greatly different.
Both of these papers have become 'tabloids' (printed on smaller sheets of paper) within the
past ten years" (Bromhead, 1962:183).
The Morning Star belongs to the Communist Party and "might well be placed beside
the Express and Mail. But the Morning Star's circulation is said to be about 60,000 -only a
small fraction of that of any other national paper; most people would scarcely regard it as a
national paper at all. It supports all strikes, condemns all the social evils it can find -and sells
more copies in Eastern Europe (where it is the only permitted British paper) than in Britain."
Finally, just mention a relative newcomer, the Manchester-based The Sport, which deals
with sport news and keeps the same format and style as the other tabloids. It is closely
linked with the pornography industry, and consists mainly of a diet of fanciful stories, any
stories or trials connected to sex, and a diet of nude women on almost every page, although
no pubic hair is shown. Advertising seems to consist of sex products and services.
2. Sunday papers: quality and popular

On the other hand, among the Sunday press, we include three qualities and four
popular. According to Bromhead (1962:179) "almost no papers at all are published in
England on Sundays except 'national' ones": three 'quality' and four 'popular' based in
London. Regarding the former type, we find The Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, and
The Observer whereas within the second type we include News of the World, the Sunday
Mirror, the Sunday People, and the Sunday Express.
On the one hand, the 'quality' Sunday papers devote large sections to literature and
the arts so as to review new books, the London theatre, new films and music. Also, they
bring information and comments about politics and business throughout the world. They
have color supplements and are in many ways more like magazines than newspapers. They
largely depend on the advertisements to finance them. On the other hand, 'popular' papers
supply quite different worlds of taste and interest from 'quality' ones. They are famous for
reporting scandals, sports, and legal matters involving sex and violence as daily versions do.
4.2.- Regional and local papers

Following Bromhead (1962:186-7), "local morning papers have suffered from the
universal penetration of the London-based national press. Only sixteen survive in the whole
of 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
seventy towns has one, selling one within a radius of 50 to 100 kilometers. The two London
evening papers, the News and the Standard, together sold two million copies in 1980, but
they could not both survive, and merged into one, now called The Evening Standard."
"Most local daily papers belong to one or other of the big 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. A Bristol paper must
vigorously support the Concorde aircraft, which is built in Bristol."
"A European visitor to Britain may be surprised to see no kiosks on the pavements.
Some people buy their morning or evening papers in shops, others have them brought to
their homes not by the mail service but by boys or girls who want to earn money by doing
'paper-rounds'. In towns evening papers are sold by elderly men who stand for four hours
on the pavement, stamping their feet to keep warm."
"The total circulation of all the provincial daily newspapers, morning and evening
together, is around 8 million: about half as great as that of the eight 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 of things for sale; some
(not all) of them have persuaded their printing staffs to accept the efficient production
methods which the London unions will not accept on any reasonable terms. If a national
paper's compositors refuse to work new machines unless each man is paid larger wages,
that national paper's costs must rise beyond reasonable limits."
"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 flavor of a local community, the Friday local paper can be
useful. Most of the daily and weekly newspapers are owned by large companies which also
own national papers, as well as large shares in the regional commercial television
companies. The dominance of these few big firms in the whole world of public information
is often criticized, but they have become sensitive to the criticism and take care to avoid
giving cause for complaint."
4.3.- Journals and magazines: Weekly vs. Periodical press
Weekly and periodical press refer respectively to journals and magazines. Following
Bromhead (1962:187-8), "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 anywhere. It has
recently adopted a colored cover, and has a few photographs inside, so that it looks like
Time and Newsweek, Der Spiegel and L'Express, but its reports have more depth and breadth
than any of these. It covers the world's affairs, 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 universally held. Its circulation rose in the 1970s, and reached 240,000
in 1984 - more than half outside Britain. The New Statesman and Spectator are weekly
journals of opinion, one left, one right. They regularly contain well-written articles, often
politically prejudiced. Both devote nearly half their space to literature and the arts. Both lost
circulation after other weeklies had disappeared." It is worth noting that "these specialist
papers are not cheap. They live off an infinite variety of taste, ambition, desire to know,
create and buy" and their production, week by week and month by month, represents a
fabulous amount of effort.
"The Times has three weekly 'Supplements', all published separately. The Literary
Supplement is devoted almost entirely to book reviews and covers all kinds of new
literature. It makes good use of academic contributors, and has at last, unlike the Economist,
abandoned its old tradition of anonymous reviews. The Times Educational and Higher
Education Supplements are obviously specialist, and useful sources for any serious student
of these fields of interest. New Society and New Scientist, both published by the company
which owns the Daily Mirror, sometimes have good and serious articles about sociological
and scientific research, often written by academics yet useful for the general reader."
"One old British institution, the satirical weekly Punch, survives, more abrasive than
in an earlier generation yet finding it hard to keep the place it once had in a more secure
social system. Its attraction, particularly for the intellectual youth, has been surpassed by a
new rival, Private Eye, founded in 1962 by people who, not long before, had run a pupils'
magazine in Shrewsbury School. It is so scurrilous that some main chains of newsagents will
not sell it, but its scandalous material is admirably written on atrocious paper and its
circulation rivals that of the Economist.'"
"Weekly or monthly picture magazines cater either for women or for any of a
thousand special interests. Almost all are based in London, with national circulations, and
the women's magazines sell millions of copies, encouraging people to buy new wallpapers,
carpets and equipment for their kitchens -and, of course, new clothes. These, along with
commercial television, are the great educators of demand for the new and better goods
offered by the modern consumer-society. For every activity with any human following, there
is a magazine, supported mainly by its advertisers, and from time to time the police bring a
pile of pornographic magazines to local magistrates, who have the difficult task of deciding
whether they are offensive."
There are also other types of magazines which are addressed to young people. For
instance, 15-year-old magazines are Just Seventeen, Smash Hits, Shout, TV Hits, and More,
among the best sold. Other magazines are linked to the radio and, actually, the best-selling
magazine is the Radio Times which, as well as listing all the television and radio programmes
for the coming week, contains some fifty pages of articles. Other publications include
computer magazines (PC Weekly), other TV listing magazines, and women's magazines.
5.- THE PRESS OUT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: THE U.S.
The most outstanding example of the press out of the United Kingdom is to be found
in the United States. The reason is that Americans hold the press in high regard and that
their newspapers have gained greater public and professional recognition for offering
unbiased and comprehensive coverage of news, as well as editorial opinion in support of
basic principles of human freedom and social progress. Yet, it is important to highlight the
fact that there is hardly any truly national newspaper since competition with broadcast
media (radio, TV) and restrictions for most dailies to their local or regional area due to
nationwide distribution issues, determine some of the features of American newspapers.
However, they also distinguish three main types of publications: daily, tabloids and
magazines. Following Vaughan-Rees (1995), the most famous daily newspapers include: The
New York Times, which tells news with integrity and completeness, has a virtually nation-
wide distribution due to its high prestige; The Washington Post, which covers national and
foreign news, has won recognition as one of the most influential of the liberal, intellectual
newspapers in the country thanks to its editorial page; The Los Angeles Times, one of the
oldest newspapers (founded in the late nineteenth century), is acknowledged as an
independent-minded publication for his high-regarded editorial position; The Wall Street
Journal, a financial daily newspaper, has been solidly edited since its foundation in the late
nineteenth century. It was broadened to include written summaries of important national
and world news, as well as comprehensive articles interpreting trends in industry; finally, the
USA Today, which is the first attempt at a serious national daily newspaper of general
interest.
Among the well-known tabloids, The New York Daily News is the one with the largest
circulation, and among the publication of journals and magazines, these may be launched
weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Though some of them are consumer magazines, others are
devoted to trade and business. Among periodical papers, the best-selling types include: top
mass magazines (TV Guide, Reader's Digest), women's general magazines (Cosmopolitan,
Working Woman), news and opinion (Time), and business (Business Week, Fortune), among
others.
6.- BIBLIOGRAPHY
 BROMHEAD, P., Life in Modern Britain, London: Longman, 1984
 BROMHEAD, P Life in Modern America, London: Longman, 1988
 EMERY, MICHAEL and EMERY, EDWIN; The Press and America. An Interpretative History of the
Mass Media, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1988.
 GOLDING, P., The Mass Media, London: Longman, 1974
 MCLEAN, A. Profile UK. Heinemann, Oxford: OUP, 1993
 TEBBEL, J., The Media in America, New York: Cromwell Company, 1984
 WELL, A., Mass Communication; A World View, Cambridge: CUP.
 VAUGHAN-REES, M. In Britain. Richmond Publishing Editors, 1995.
 Other sources include:
o OXFORD GUIDE TO BRITISH AND AMERICAN CULTURE: CD ROM, 2000.
o ENCICLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA: "British Empire." Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia. 2004. Encyclopaedia Britannica Premium Service. 28 May 2004.
APPENDIX
YELLOW PRESS
The period after the civil war saw the rise and development of a new kind of
journalism called the "new journalism". The leading editors and owners of the period are
Pulitzer and Hearst. Both of them, in different ways, made use of what is considered
"sensationalism" in journalism, effectively providing the reading public with the kind of
stories they were demanding, and placing newspapers at the center of popular and political
life. Sensationalism went together with a keen sense of the function of a newspaper as a
sort of pulpit or chair, from which to criticize and even condemn public affairs, crime,
corruption ... Really an effective power, effective law officers, and politicians who owed their
jobs and positions not to elections but to the favor of the public, whose ideals, aims, and life
newspapers supported more effectively than the courts or Congress. The influence of
journalism in politics and public affairs was immense.
What we call "yellow journalism" was born through the sensationalist treatment of
stories, and at its worst was the new journalism without a soul. The new journalism had a
genuine interest on public behavior and the welfare of the people. Pulitzer used sensation to
attract readers not to confound them, the editorial staff was highly professional and
objectivity was a main concern. It was William Randolph Hearst, the son a Californian
pioneer who made a fortune in mines, the promoter or the inventor of this kind of
journalism. When he arrived in New York he began a competition with Pulitzer, who was
then successfully running the Sunday World, a Sunday newspaper. He had started a regular
comic section and used color.
The most successful artist was Outcault whose "Hogan's Alley" depicted life in the
tenements. The central figure in each drawing was a toothless, grinning kid with a yellow
night shirt, the "Yellow Kid". When Hearst began competition with Pulitzer he bought away
Outcault, as many other reporters and journalist from the World. The World hired another
artist to continue the Yellow Kid series and both papers, the World and the Evening Journal,
used posters of the Yellow Kid for his circulation people. The term "yellow journalism" began
to be used as a synonym for this kind of press by the public and the professionals all over
America
NEWSPAPER IN AMERICA: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

In 1990 the press celebrated its 300th anniversary as an American institution. The
first newspaper in the colonies, Publick Occurrences: Both Foreign and Domestick, lasted
only one day in 1690 before British officials suppressed it. But other papers sprang up, and
by the 1730s the colonial press was strong enough to criticize British governors. In 1734 the
governor of New York charged John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal,
with seditious libel. Zenger's lawyer, Alexander Hamilton, argued that "the truth of the
facts" was reason enough to print a story. In a decision bolstering freedom of the press, the
jury acquitted Zenger.
By the 1820s about 25 daily newspapers and more than 400 weeklies were being
published in the United States. Horace Greeley founded the New York Tribune in 1841, and it
quickly became the nation's most influential newspaper. Two media giants, Joseph Pulitzer
and William Randolph Hearst, began building their newspaper empires after the
American Civil War (1861-65). Fiercely competitive, they resorted to "yellow journalism"
sensational and often inaccurate reporting aimed at attracting readers. Early in the 20th
century, newspaper editors realized that the best way to attract readers was to give them all
sides of a story, without bias. This standard of objective reporting is today one of American
journalism's most important traditions. Another dominant feature of early 20th-century
journalism was the creation of chains of newspapers operating under the same ownership,
led by a group owned by Hearst. This trend accelerated after World War II, and today about
75 percent of all U.S. daily papers are owned by newspaper chains.
With the advent of television in the 1940s and 1950s, the new electronic medium
made inroads on newspaper circulation: Readers tended to overlook the afternoon paper
because they could watch the day's news on TV. In 1971, 66 cities had two or more dailies,
usually one published in the morning and one in the afternoon. In 1995, only 36 cities had
two or more dailies.
Overall, the number of dailies dropped from 1,772 in 1950 to 1,480 in 2000, and the
number of Sunday papers rose from 549 in 1950 to 917 in 2000. The combined figure is the
highest number of newspapers with the highest total circulation 115 million in the world.
Nonetheless, the largest U.S. newspapers have been losing circulation in recent years, a
trend that can be attributed to the increasing availability of news from television and other
sources.
The top five daily newspapers by circulation in 2000 were the Wall Street Journal
(1,762,751), USA Today (1,692,666), the New York Times (1,097,180), the Los Angeles
Times (1,033,399), and the Washington Post (762,009). The youngest of the top five, USA
Today, was launched as a national newspaper in 1982, after exhaustive research by the
Gannett chain. It relies on bold graphic design, color photos, and brief articles to capture an
audience of urban readers interested in news "bites" rather than traditional, longer stories.
New technology has made USA Today possible and is enabling other newspapers to
enlarge their national and international audiences. USA Today is edited and composed in
McLean, Virginia, then transmitted via satellite to 32 printing plants around the country and
two printing plants serving Europe and Asia. The International Herald Tribune, owned jointly
by the New York Times and the Washington Post, is a global newspaper, printed via satellite
in 11 cities around the world and distributed in 164 countries.
In 1992, the Chicago Sun-Times began to offer articles through America Online, one
of the first companies that connected personal computers with the Internet. In 1993, the
San Jose Mercury-News began distributing most of its daily text, minus photos and
illustrations, to subscribers to America Online; in 1995, eight media companies announced
formation of a company to create a network of online newspapers. Now, most American
newspapers are available on the Internet, and anyone with a personal computer and a link
to the Internet can scan papers from across the country in his or her own home or office.
MAGAZINES IN THE US
The first American magazines appeared a half century after the first newspapers and
took longer to attain a wide audience. In 1893, the first mass-circulation magazines were
introduced, and in 1923, Henry Luce launched Time, the first weekly news magazine. The
arrival of television cut into the advertising revenues enjoyed by mass-circulation magazines,
and some weekly magazines eventually folded: The Saturday Evening Post in 1969, Look in
1971, and Life in 1972. (The Saturday Evening Post and Life later reappeared as monthlies.)
Magazine publishers responded by trying to appeal more to carefully defined
audiences than to the public at large. Magazines on virtually any topic imaginable have
appeared, including Tennis, Trailer Life, and Model Railroading. Other magazines have
targeted segments within their audience for special attention. TV Guide, Time, and
Newsweek, for example, publish regional editions. Several magazines are attempting to
personalize the contents of each issue according to an individual reader's interests.
This specialization has brought an upswing in the number of magazines published in
the United States, from 6,960 in 1970 to 13,878 in 2001. Ninety magazines had a circulation
of over one million in 2001. The top two in circulation were both aimed at retired persons:
NRTS/AARP Bulletin (21,465,126) and Modern Maturity (18,363,840). Rounding out the top
five were Reader's Digest (12,558,435), TV Guide (9,259,455), and National Geographic
(7,738,611).
In 1993, Time became the first magazine to offer an on-line edition that subscribers
can call up on their computers before it hits the newsstands. In 1996, software magnate Bill
Gates started Slate, a magazine covering politics and culture that was intended to be
available exclusively on-line (Slate's publisher soon decided to add a print version).
Meanwhile, a new hybrid of newspaper and magazine became popular starting in the
1970s: the newsletter. Printed on inexpensive paper and often as short as four to six pages,
the typical newsletter appears weekly or biweekly. Newsletters gather and analyze
information on specialized topics. Southern Political Report, for example, covers election
races in the southern U.S. states, and FTC Watch covers the actions of the Federal Trade
Commission. Newsletters can be the product of small staffs, sometimes only a single
reporter who produces the issue by computer.
The newsletter has been joined by the "zine," highly personalized magazines of
relatively small circulation, sometimes with contents that are meant to shock. Afraid, for
instance, is a monthly zine devoted to horror stories.

Unit 67 Tandem Formacio Ün

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Unit 67 Tandem Formacio Ün

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

UNIT 67

THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH (1): JOURNALISTIC STYLE. THE

1.- THE MASS MEDIA IN ENGLISH: THE PRESS

1.1.- The Press

2.- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

3.- JOURNALISTIC STYLE

4.1.- National press

4.1.1.- Quality vs. Popular papers

2. Sunday papers: quality and popular

4.2.- Regional and local papers

4.3.- Journals and magazines: Weekly vs. Periodical press

NEWSPAPER IN AMERICA: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

You might also like