United Kingdom

The communications media—press, publishing, broadcasting, and entertainment—reach audiences ranging from the millions for television, radio, and national newspapers to small minorities for local papers, specialist periodicals, or experimental theatre and film. In addition to their presence in print, most newspapers disseminate information through the Internet, to which access grew rapidly during the late 1990s. By the early 21st century about one-third of all households had personal computers with access to the Internet.

Newspapers

In both sales and reputation the national papers published in London dominate. Within the national newspaper business in the United Kingdom, a distinction has developed between popular papers (often tabloids) with multimillion circulation and quality broadsheet papers with relatively small sales. Generally, British newspapers are not formally tied to specific political parties. However, most display clear political sympathies that are usually determined by their proprietors. The tabloid Daily Mail" class="md-crosslink">Daily Mail and the broadsheet The Daily Telegraph" class="md-crosslink">The Daily Telegraph have consistently supported the Conservative Party, while the tabloid The Daily Mirror" class="md-crosslink">The Daily Mirror and the broadsheet The Guardian" class="md-crosslink">The Guardian (published in both London and Manchester) have normally supported Labour. The Times of London is one of the world’s oldest newspapers. The Sun—long the United Kingdom’s biggest-selling newspaper, whose popularity since it was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News International company in 1969 has stemmed from a diet of sensational personality-based news stories, show-business gossip, lively sports reporting, and pictures of scantily dressed young women—supported Labour in the early 1970s, switched to the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and switched back again to Labour in the late 1990s only to return to the Conservatives by the early 21st century. Metro, a free paper launched in 1999, now rivals The Sun in terms of circulation. In England there are also several regional dailies and weeklies and national weeklies—some targeting particular ethnic communities.

The Welsh press includes several daily papers (e.g., the Western Mail and the South Wales Echo) as well as a number of weekly English-language, bilingual, or Welsh-language newspapers. Scotland has national daily newspapers based in Edinburgh and Glasgow with wide circulation (e.g., The Scotsman, the Daily Record, and The Herald) and a number of regional weeklies as well. Northern Ireland’s daily papers (e.g., the Belfast Telegraph and The Irish News) are all published in Belfast. There is a large periodical press in the United Kingdom that ranges from such traditional publications as The Economist, The Spectator, and New Statesman to more specialized and, often, more mercurial journals.

Broadcasting

The BBC, which had been established as an independent public corporation in 1927, held a monopoly of both radio and television broadcasting until 1954, when the Independent Television Authority (ITA) was established to provide the facilities for commercial television companies. The ITA’s successor today is the Office of Communications (Ofcom). Created by the Communications Act of 2003, Ofcom is responsible for regulating all commercial radio and television services, including satellite and cable, as well as all wired, wireless, and broadband telecommunications. Commercial television broadcasters include Channel Four and the ITV network. Almost every household receives the terrestrial television channels, and by the early 21st century about one in four households also could receive several dozen additional channels by satellite or cable. The satellite and cable market is dominated by Sky PLC (formerly BSkyB), which is partly owned by Murdoch’s News International. Sky, which serves Austria, Germany, Ireland, and Italy as well as the United Kingdom, also operates a 24-hour news channel and several sports channels.

Workers leaving British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) headquarters in London.© IR_Stone/iStock.com