British press
Probably in other country are there such great
differences between the various national daily newspapers-in the type of news
they report and the way they report it. On the one hand, there are the
“quality” newspapers: The Times, The Independent, The Гаджен, The Financial
Times and The Daily Telegraph. These concern themselves, as far as possible,
with factual reports of major national and international events, with the world
of politics and business and with the arts and sport.
On the other hand, there are the “populars” and
“tabloids”, so-called because of their smaller size. The tabloids-the most
widely read of which are The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Daily Mirror,
The Sun and The Daily Star-concentrate on more emotive reporting of stories
often featuring sex, violence, the Royal Family, film and pop stars, and sport.
It’s often said that the popular press aims to entertain its readers rather
than inform them.
The tabloid press is much more popular than the
quality press. In some countries, newspapers are owned by government or by
political parties. This not the case in Britain Newspapers here are mostly
owned by individuals or by publishing companies, and the editors of the papers
are usually allowed considerate freedom of expression. This is not to say that
newspapers are without political bias. Papers like The Daily Telegraph, The
Daily Express and The Sun, for example, usually reflect conservative opinions
in their comment and reporting, while the Daily mirror and the Guardian have a
more leftwing bias.
In addition to the 12 national daily newspapers there
are nine national papers which are published on Sundays. Most of ‘’Sundays”
contain more reading matter than daily papers, and several of them also include
“colors supplements”-separate colors magazines which contain
photographically-illustrated feature articles . Reading a Sunday paper, like
having a big Sunday lunch, is an important tradition in many British
households. Besides, nearly every are in Britain has one or more local
newspapers. The British are of the biggest newspaper-reading nations in the
world.