The media in the United Kingdom

Résumé du document

The term media encompasses the three principal forms of mass communication: television, radio, and the press. To illustrate the power of the mass media, let us consider this example: the average British audience in 1983 spent approximately 35 hours a week watching television, 9 hours a week listening to the radio and 10 hours reading newspapers and magazines. These numbers have probably gone up today, though. We will look more into the details of the consumption of media by the audience in this document.

Extraits

[...] The media debate Financial considerations Influence of TV on children The right to freedom of expression/ the right to privacy I. The press Newspapers History. During the last two centuries, the press in Britain gradually emerged from the power and control of the state. During the 18th century the press operated under legal and political constraints (through a series of taxes*), but as the century developed, control gradually loosened; newspaper publishers slowly began to find more lucrative forms of advertising. [...]

[...] In terms of political influence, power still resided with the small but influential circulation dailies (ex The Times). But on the last of the 19th century, the rapid growth in the number of papers resulted in the development of a politically partisan press. In the beginning of the 20th century there was an increasing popularization of the press, with a more businesslike approach. (Many readers found the press dull and wordy: often containing long political speeches and parliamentary debates). The popular press effectively began in 1896 with the launching of the Daily Mail. [...]

[...] Out of this sprung the BBC (the one we know), set up a year later by a Royal Charter; it grants the broadcasters the maximum degree of autonomy. By the 1930's, radio is the principal organ of mass communication, but it remains something of a luxury until the 1940's. Television expands slowly in the 1930's and it is not until the 1950's that it begins to overtake the radio as the principal means of communication (in the beginning of the 1950's, there are over 5 million viewers). [...]

[...] Financial considerations Critics have raised fears about the role of Rupert Murdoch's large media empire, News International. He owns 5 national newspapers and has a 20% share in the total UK press market. In addition, the company owns Sky Television which recently merged with British Sky Broadcasting. Others claim that such holdings do not pose a threat to freedom of broadcasting as both sections of his industry are in direct competition with each other and each separate market imposes its own discipline. [...]

[...] Similarly, Hallow, when comparing delinquents and non- delinquent children, found no significant difference in their choice of programmes and their subsequent behaviour. However, the research did show that emotional factors were more important in defining the behaviour of the delinquents. Finally, Belsen in a direct study of television on the adolescent concluded that high exposure to television had a soothing effect and released much of the need for violent activity. The right to freedom of expression (of the press)/ the right to privacy What is the main problem? Media in the UK give a great importance to freedom of expression. [...]