The Mass Media Of Great Britain

THE MASS MEDIA LANDSCAPE OF GREAT BRITAIN

Thursday, November 5, 2009

INTRODUCTION

Who are we?

WHERE IS GREAT BRITAIN?

QUICK OVERVIEW Full name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland Population: 61 million (UN, 2008) Capital: London Area: 242,514 sq km (93,638 sq miles) Major language: English Major religion: Christianity Life expectancy: 77 years (men), 82 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 pound sterling = 100 pence Main exports: Manufactured goods, chemicals,

foodstuffs GNI per capita: US $42,740 (World Bank, 2007) Internet domain: .uk International dialing code: +44 More media specific stats to come up later

HISTORY:

Transition from major world imperialist power at the start of the century to a 2nd degree

power of considerable economic and military strength

POLITICS

Constitutional Monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II, as the symbolic head of state and Gordon

Brown, as the Prime Minister

BRITISH CULTURE

Ethnically diverse and multicultural; prominent exporter of youth culture; rich literary and

music heritage

Welsh flag

BRITISH POPULAR CULTURE

BRITISH MASS MEDIA:

Large, complex, diverse, mature

Open in structure, participants from many countries active in almost all aspects

British media largely a single entity but distinctive regional dimensions exist too

THE BRITISH PRINT MEDIAPrint

Media

Newspapers

Magazines

Books

99% of the adult (male and female) population is literate (2008, CIA WFB)

The British press is amongst the largest and oldest in the world

BRITISH NEWSPAPERS

• Earliest known newspaper of British origin: The Oxford Gazette, 1665

• 3 sectors: Broadsheets (Quality Press), Middle Market and Red-Top Tabloids (Popular Press)

• Formats: Broadsheet, Berliner & Compact• Total sales: 11.25 m for weekly

newspapers & 12 m for Sunday titles • Regional and local newspapers comprise

98% of the total circulation• Ownership concentrated amongst 8

major media conglomerates• Newspaper sales generally on the decline

since past 40 years

Quality Press

Broadsheet

The Daily Telegraph 

(est. 1855)  – owned

by David & Frederick

Barclay – Conservative

Financial Times 

(est. 1888) – owned

by Pearson PLC. A

business-oriented

daily. Economically liberal.

The Sunday Telegraph 

(est. 1961) – owned

by David & Frederick

Barclay – Conservative

The Sunday Times 

(est. 1822) – owned

by Rupert Murdoch's Ne

ws Corporation. C

entre-Right.

Berliner

The Guardian (est. 1821) —

owned by the Scott Trust; The

Guardian switched to

Berliner size on 12

September 2005. Left-of-

centre, socially liberal

The Observer (est. 1791) —

owned by the Scott

Trust; switched to Berliner size on 8 January

2006. Left-of-

centre, socially liberal

Compact

The Independent (est. 1986)  – Daily compact

from May 2004. Centre-left, liberal

views.

The Times (est. 1785) – Daily

compact from November 2004. Owned by Rupert Murdoch's News

Corporation. Centre-right, Conservative.

Independent on Sunday 

(est. 1990) – Sunday paper compact from October 2005.

Centre-left, liberal views.

Middle-Market

DailyDaily Express (est. 1900) —

owned by Richard

Desmond's Northern &

Shell; broadsheet until 1977, now published in the compact

format. Conservative.

Daily Mail (est. 1896) — owned by Lord Rothermere's D

aily Mail and General Trust

plc; broadsheet until 1971, now published in the

tabloid format. Conserv

ative

SundaySunday Express 

(est. 1918) — owned

by Richard Desmond's Nort

hern & Shell; broadsheet until 1977, now published in the compact

format. Conservative.

The Mail on Sunday 

(est. 1982) — owned by Lord Rothermere's D

aily Mail and General Trust

plc; published in the tabloid

format. Conservative.

Tabloids

Daily

Daily Star (est.

1978) - owned

by Richard

Desmond's North

ern & Shell

The Daily

Mirror (est.

1903) — owned

by Trinity Mirror.

Socialist Pro-

Labour.

The Daily Sport

The Sun (est.

1964) — owned

by News Corporation. pop

ulist.

The Morning

Star (est.

1930) — a far-left newspap

er owned

by the Peop

le's Press

Printing Society 

(an indepen

dent readers'

co-operativ

e)

Sunday

Daily Star

Sunday - owned

by Richard Desmond's North

ern & Shell;

The People 

(est. 1881) — owned

by Trinity Mirror

Sunday Mirror (est.

1915) — owned

by Trinity Mirror.

Socialist pro-

Labour.

The Sunday Sport

News of the

World (est.

1843) — owned

by News Corporat

ion. Populist.

BRITISH MAGAZINES

Large and expanding sector 8,800-10,000 titles covering most topics Two-third of are ‘business and professional’

titles, the rest are ‘consumer’ magazines Famous examples include Private

Eye, Hello!, The Spectator, the Radio Times and NME

1.What's On TV (3.4m) 2. Radio Times (2.6m) 3. TV Choice (1.7m) 4. TV Times (1.6m) 5. Auto Trader (1.2m) 6. TV Quick (1.0m) 7. Nuts (0.9m) 8. Zoo (0.7m) 9. The Big Issue (0.6m) 10. TV Easy (0.5m) 

Weekly magazines 1. Sky Magazine

(7.5m) 2. Sky Sports (3.0m) 3. Sky Movies (2.3m) 4. National Geographic (2.0m) 5. BBC Top Gear (1.9m) 6. Saga magazine (1.7m) 7. Reader's Digest (1.6m) 8. FHM (1.6m) 9. BBC Gardeners' World (1.4m) 10. Men's Health (1.1m)

Monthly magazines

According to the National Readership Survey, these are the most-read magazines in the UK. This shows readership, and not sales, and these figures represent the

twelve months to June 2009.

PUBLISHING/BOOK INDUSTRY Oldest yet most dynamic and

considerably influential mass media in the UK

Origins: William Caxton,1476, owner of earliest known British mechanical press

Two kinds of markets : mass and literary Devise distinction between the two is

the centre of an ideological debate about the role of books

Industry has survived and strengthened despite gloomy predictions on the arrival of every subsequent new mass media

British publishing houses: Long, illustrious history, 100s in total number, publishing approx. 100,000 books per year

ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN THE UK

The UK has a strong tradition of public-service broadcasting and an international reputation for creative programme-making

Wide reach:• 60 m households (or 70% of all

UK homes) have multichannel TV sets

• 40.2 m Internet users

Electronic Media

TV

Radio

Internet

BRITISH TELEVISION• Commercial TV begun in the UK in 1955, with the launch of

IPTV• Today, out of a total of 60 m TV sets, 40.8 m households

(68%) have digitally linked TV sets Cable: 3.5 m households (Virgin Media Subscribers) Satellite : 8.3 m households (Sky Subscribers) Digital Terrestrial Television (DDT) : 9.6 m households

(Free view services)• 940 television broadcasts stations; 400 different TV

channels on offer – audience fragmentation hence a common feature

THE SWITCH TO DIGITAL

• Once dominant Terrestrial TVV now face strong competition from digital satellite, cable and DDT

• Britain's media regulator, Ofcom, has set a timetable for a switchover from analogue to digital TV broadcasting, hoping to completely turn off the analogue TV signal by 2012.

MAJOR BRITISH TV CHANNELS: BBC

Broadcasting dominated by a strong public service broadcaster which is supported by a universal compulsory television license free

BBC operates 14 different television channels (including 8 digital channels and 6 nation-wide channels), an interactive TV set-up and a datacast operation (Ceefax)

In all, attracts about a third of the total TV audience.

MAJOR BRITISH TV CHANNELS: ITV

ITV stand for “Independent TV’ Split into three commercial television

national stations – Channel 3 (digital), Channel 4 (analogue), and Channel 5 (digital)

CABLE, SATELLITE AND DTV IN THE UKCable TV: Cable companies usually provide both television

and telephone services. Few cable-specific stations - around 5 or 6 outside

London, and a further 10 or so London-specific channels.

Biggest player: Virgin Media, 3.5 m subscribers, 2nd largest pay TV service provider

Digital Satellite TV Launched: October 1998, on a platform provided

by Sky Digital, part of B Sky B. Pricing: maximum of £34.99 a month Biggest player: British Sky Broadcasting, 8.3

million subscribers, Largest pay TV service provider, offers in access of 25 channels of its own

More than a third of the BSkyB equity is owned by News Corporation

…CONTINUED…CABLE, SATELLITE AND DTV IN THE UK

Digital Terrestrial TV: Launched: November

1998, as “On Digital” on a part free, part subscription model

Re-launched in 2002 after financial crisis as “Freeview” which is now available for a one-time subscription fee of £90

Freeview is consortium of Castle Communications and BBC, offers 30 free channels

NATURE OF POPULAR BRITISH TV CONTENT

Soaps: Home-grown soap operas have long topped

the TV ratings, two of the most popular British soaps are: Eastenders : Depicts the ups and downs of life in

east London's Albert Square, produced by BBC, Coronation Street: Depicts northern-English

working-class life, produced by ITV

…CONTINUED…NATURE OF POPULAR BRITISH TV CONTENT

Reality TV Programmes which catapult ordinary people

into the public eye are enjoying a wave of popularity, popular reality TV shows include:

Britain's Got Talent, Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor

BRITISH RADIO

Broadcasted on AM, FM & digital platform, divided into public sector and commercial radio

Public Sector Radio: BBC: operates more than 40

stations that comprise 50% of all radio listening in the UK

Channels include: 5 national radio stations; 5 digital-only stations; the BBC World Service; regional stations in Scotland, Wales, Northern and 30 other local stations

BRITISH RADIO…CONTINUED…

Commercial Radio: Started in 1970s, now includes over 300 private stations 3 national services - (Classic FM, Virgin Radio and Talk

Sport), around 10 'regional' services (generally covering three major cities) and 170 local services

There are also over 100 temporary radio stations per year that are used for either special events (the Glastonbury Festival), football clubs (Radio Latics) or monthly stations (either used by licence-wannabies or student stations)

NEW MEDIA: INTERNET IN THE UK The Daily Telegraph was the first

newspaper to go ‘online’ in 1994, today all significant media have online presences

Big names: Guardian Unlimited, 1 million

unique users BBC Online, 10 million unique users

13.9 million UK households (57%) have internet access, of which 69% are broadband.

Government policy intends that every home in the UK will have access to online services by 2010.

MEDIA REGULATION IN THE UK Voluntary and statutory accountability

systems co-exist. Ofcom, a media regulatory body,

oversees commercial media BBC is jointly publically funded but

editorially impartial and self-regulating More than 140 pieces of legislation

have direct relevance to the media; litigation is a favored method of bringing the media to account.

Privacy not recognized as such in UK law; however, cases are brought for breaches of confidentiality.

MEDIA FREEDOM IN THE UK Freedom of expression is protected

under: 1998 Human Rights Act which enacted into

UK law the European Convention on Human Rights,

2005 Freedom of Information Act, the 1998 Act also introduced privacy as a statutory right.

British media considered free and able to report on all aspects of British life

External ‘watchdog’ bodies seeking to explore media issues include: MediaWise Trust (ethics); Campaign for

Press and Broadcasting Freedom; Campaign for Freedom of Information; the Runnymede Trust (diversity), and the London International Research Exchange.

FUTURE TRENDS/RECOMMENDATIONS National vs. Global Media? Public vs. Commercial Media? Serious vs. Tabloid Media? New vs. Old Media?

WEBLIOGRAPHY:

European Journalism Centre, www.ejc.net Media UK, www.mediauk.com CIA World Fact Book, www.ciafacts.com The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board,

www.barb.co.uk National Readership Survey, www.nrs.co.uk Wikipedia Enclyopedia, www.en.wikipedia.org BBC News Online, www.bbcnews.com Guardian Unlimited Online,

www.guardian.co.uk And a host of other websites, which we can’t

possibly list here!

BIBLIOGRAPHY: