Most popular UK

newspapers
1. Daily Mail – 23million readers a month

2. The Sun – 20 million readers a month

3. Daily Mirror – 17million readers a month

4. Telegraph – 16 million readers a month

5. The Guardian – 16 million readers a month

How left/right wing are newspapers
Ownership

 Daily Mail - Viscount Rothemere owns it but Harold Johnathan

Esmond Vere Harmsworth also has shares.
 The Sun – owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp
 The Times – is also owned by “ “
 The Guardian – Scott Trust Limited
 The Telegraph – Press Holdings and Holyrood Holdings Limited
 Opinion & Bias

 Owen Jones - “largely run by a very small group of very right-wing media moguls who defend the
status quo of which they are part. If you are on the Left and want to change society, the media
will always come and get you”.
 People who are extremely right wing will go into a shop and buy a right wing newspaper.
 We all complain about ‘bias in the news’. The fact is, despite the journalistic ideal of ‘objectivity’,
every news story is influenced by the attitudes and background of its interviews, writers,
photographers and editors.
 Not all bias is deliberate.
 The same story can have two completely different headlines. ie) BREXIT DISASTER and THANK GOD
FOR BREXIT.
 Think about where the stories have come from, the story can be over exaggerated.
Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced,
influences their ownership and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and
The Daily Mail newspapers you have studied to support your answer.

 Different newspapers have different views and biases from each other. Press
freedom ensures that these newspapers can get their message and point of
view across without being second guessed, which correlates with
representative democracy. For example, if a newspaper is more right-wing,
such as The Daily Mail, then they can say positive things about The
Conservatives during election time to prolong the positive image and voting
audience for the party. The guardian is more left-wing so they will be bias to
Labour or the Liberal Democrats left-wing views.
 Who are the two newspapers owned by? The Daily Mail is owned by the British
media company Daily Mail and General Trust. The guardian is owned by
Guardian Media Group (GMG), a mass media company which also owns The
Observer. The group is wholly owned by Scott Trust Limited, which exists to
secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian.
FAKE NEWS

 Fake news manipulates audiences to believe false content.

 The writers purpose is to draw in viewers and broaden audiences. If there is
an eye catching headline then people will automatically be drawn to it,
even though the story is mostly fake.
 An example of fake news is after the Manchester attack at the Ariana
Grande concert, in the hours after the bomb went off a fake list of missing
people was widely circulated which included a woman who was
murdered 4 years before.
 Another example is the ‘lorry attack and gunshots’ at Oxford Circus,
people thought that it was a terrorist attack when it wasn’t.
CULTIVATION THEORY

 The widespread influence of TV became a concern for many scholars and

policy makers.
 Over time TV reinforces peoples ideas.
 2 order effects: first order effects- general beliefs about the world day.
Second order effects: specific attitudes and judgements. This divides
viewers into 2 levels: light views, heavy viewers.
 Heavy viewers’ demographics: young people, low socio-economic
groups, those watching TV more than 4 hours a day, being affected by
MEAN WORLD SYNDROME (they see the world as a nastier and more violent
than what it really is).
REGULATION vs FREE PRESS

 Regulation- rules
 Free press – freedom to publish anything ( pre WW2 Nazi Germany)
 There have been some scandals in the past, including newspapers
hacking celebs phones and even PM David Cameron. This kicked off the
Leveson Enquirery
 In 2011, Milly Dowler went missing and was murdered but no one knew she
was dead, newspapers hacked her phones voicemail and printed stories
about her and then were deleting messages from her friends so more new
messages could come through and they could get a new story.
 In 2012, there was no press regulation, as a result of this newspapers were
hacking peoples phones such as Huge Grant
Leveson Inquiry

 Found phone hacking, newspapers recklessly pursued sensational stories,

families of actors and footballers also have rights to privacy, condemns covert
surveillance, failure of compliance and governance at the News of the World,
complainants not taken seriously enough.
 The recommendations were, new watchdog independent of MPs and
newspapers, with statutory underpinning, the possibility of a first amendment-
style law, libel resolution unit and membership
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/nov/29/leveson-report-key-points
 IPSO – Independent Press Standards Organisation –regulations make sure they
cover accuracy, privacy, harassment and many more. They will receive
complaints from public and then show them to the editors to that certain
newspaper.
 IMPRESS- plagiarism, children, similar to IPSO.
 HISTORY

 Licensing Act - The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 is an Act of the Parliament of England. "An Act for preventing the frequent
Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Printing
Presses."

 The Observer- The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its
sister papers The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in
1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues.

 Tax on Newspapers - The first bill in parliament advocating a tax on newspapers was proposed in 1711. The duty eventually
imposed in 1712 was a halfpenny on papers of half a sheet or less and a penny on newspapers that ranged from half a sheet
to a single sheet in size.

 Reduction of the stamp tax - In the House of Commons, John Roebuck led the campaign against taxes on newspapers. In
1836 the campaigners had their first success when the 4d. tax on newspapers was reduced to 1d. The same year Parliament
agreed to remove the tax on pamphlets.

 The press council - The Press Council was a British voluntary press organisation founded under threat of statutory regulation
as the General Council in 1953, with a non-binding regulatory framework.