The British Mass Media

T H E B R I T I S H M A S S M E D I A

Newspapers, radio, television, internet and the other media are very important for us. We can get through them the newest information from the wholE world even if we are in the remotest village. Some people disown media, but they are very important to keep this world working.

Newspapers

Newspapers are the oldest of the mass media (they have been there from the end of the 17th century).

In Britain, there are about 120 daily and Sunday newspapers, and over 4000 periodicals (weeklies, monthlies and quarterlies). They cover a big number of interests, from woman´s magazines to magazines specializing in science, politics, finance, and economics.

In most daily newspapers readers can find home news, foreign news, editorials, human interest stories, financial news, a woman´s page, sport news, news on the arts and pop music, TV programme guides, letters to the editor, and great many advertisements.

The daily press in Britain is divided into two groups: the quality press and the popular press.

Quality papers are thick and serious. They are bought and read by a smaller group of well informed readers. The most important quality papers are THE TIMES, which is Britain´s oldest newspaper, founded in 1785, THE GUARDIAN, THE TELEGRAPH, THE INDENPENDENT, and THE FINANCIAL TIMES. They have smaller circulation than the popular ones.

Popular papers have millions of readers. They adress the lower classes, have fewer pages, shorter articles with big headlines and lots of illustrations and are written with a simple language. They are about sport, fashion, sex and crimes. The most important papers are: THE SUN, DAILY MIRROR, DAILY EXPRESS and DAILY MAIL.

Some papers come out only on Sundays and are known as Sunday papers. The most important are THE OBSERVER and THE SUNDAY TIMES. They are quite bulky and have several special sections with reviews of books, plays, films, art events, business and sport news.

The weekly periodicals with the highest sales are: THE RADIO TIMES and TV TIMES and some of the woman´s magazines.

The main political weeklies are THE ECONOMIST and THE SPECTATOR.

Radio

In Britain radio and television broadcasting in mainly provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC has provided radio broadcasting services since 1922.

There are four national wide radio stations operated by the BBC:

Radio 1 broadcasts pop music and programmes especially for a young audience.

Radio 2 is a light programme for all age groups, it´s especially for housewives and workers. Radio 3 plays almost only classical music.

Radio 4 offers news, discussions about current internatinal and national affairs (political and social events) and quiz programmes.

Another public radio is the IBA, the Indenpendent Broadcasting Authority. The IBA controls the operation of network of indenpendent local radio stations. There are 62 of them, in London and other areas (densely populated). They provide popular programmes, national and local news, programmes of local affairs and community activities.