News

                                                 What is News?                                                                          6/03/20

L/O: to explore the nature and ownership of the news industry

 What is the purpose of news?
- Inform
- Educate
- Entertain
- Make money/profit
- Persuade

1. "News was not a spectator sport" - what does Stephens mean by this?
We didn't use to watch or listen to the news, people used to get told it by other people

2. What development 150yrs ago made it possible for people to make a business selling news?
The printing press and the telegraph

3. We can now access news anywhere, from our own ideas and opinions and even contribute ourselves. Stephens says this is "mostly a wonderful thing." Why? Do you agree?
There's a lot of fake news and theres a smaller gap between ordinary people and professional journalism.

• Over three quarters (77.8%) of the British press us owned by a handful of billionaires
• Over a quarter (27.3%) of the press is owned by Lord Rothermere and (24.9%) by Rupert Murdoch. Between them these two men have over 50% of the printed press
• Newspapers and their online publications (example of synergy/convergence) are not legally obliged to provide a un-bias public information service
• There are ethical and moral codes of press conduct but the printed press is self regulatory industry

There are three ownership models : 

• 'Media Barons' - owned by wealthy individuals or proprietors. E.g. Rupert Murdoch
• Trusts - a legal arrangement that transfers funds from the owner to a 'trustee' to manage and control the running of the paper. E.g. Scott Trust (GMG) The Guardian
• Cross-Media converged conglomerates - global institutions that own numerous media outlets. These may be owned by Media Barons. E.g. DMG & Lord Rothermere

What is news?

News is information that is given out to inform, educate, profit from and persuade people.

What are the disadvantages of news being a commercial industry?

The quality of the newspaper and want their audience wants won't be in their interest as they care more about the profit.

What are the advantages to news being a commercial industry?

There'll be competition between all the newspaper companies as they want their newspaper to sell so some will make their prices cheaper, more accessible for the public and sometimes the quality can be better

What are the disadvantages of newspapers/online newspapers being self-regulatory?

Gives them more power on what they can include. So they can be very bias and inaccurate.

What are the advantages of newspapers being self-regulatory?

We have freedom of the press

Why is ownership important?

It's important because it means power and influence from a small percentage of people owning our press

- fake news is when there is no real facts being presented but its shown as factually correct

- you can spot fake news by 

- there is more fake news now than 30yrs ago because there is more media 

                                                                                                                                      13/03/20
                         Newspaper, Ownership, Funding & Regulation

L/O: to explore the impact of newspaper ownership, funding and regulation on the printed press

- The Observer was in the broadsheet category of newspapers in 1960s
- The Observer is still a broadsheet but in a tabloid format


How do newspapers make money?

• people buying newspapers (circulation, sales)
• advertisement
• subscriptions/membership/paywalls
• donations
• events & other sales
• sponsored content

Media ownership and the printed press in the UK

Newspaper outlets are normally owned by one of three types of owners:
1) Media Barons
2) Media Conglomerates
3) Trusts


How does media ownership contribute to news bias?

• Commercial advertising ties
• Political opinion of owner
• Business interests of owners/friends
• Profit: newspapers are not PSB - new is not 'non fiction' it is stories designed to sell

The Guardian - fairly left wing 

The Mirror - fairly left Wing

The Independent - middle

The Times - left Wing

The Telegraph - right Wing

The Sun - right Wing

The Daily Express - very right Wing

The Daily Mail - very right wing