The press

In Britain newspapers differ greatly from each other in the type of news they report and the way they report it.

On the one hand, there are "quality" newspapers: The Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph. These papers report major national and international news stories, with the world of politics and business and with the arts and sport. On the other hand, there are "populars" or "tabloids", so called because of their small size. Popular papers (The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Daily Star) pay much attentionto sensational news, extraordinaryevents, catastrophes, accidents, private livesof royalty and nobility, of people of art, ofmusic and movie stars.Popular papers use many photographs andcartoons. It is often said that the popularpress aims to entertain its readers ratherthan inform them. In addition to 12 national daily newspapers there are 9 national papers which are published on Sundays. Most of the Sundays papers contain more reading material than the daily papers, and several of them include colour supplements – separate colour magazines which have special supplements with articles on music, TV, sports and a lot of advertisements of consumer goods. Reading a Sunday paper, like having a big Sunday lunch, is an important tradition in many British families. Nearly every area in Britain has one or more local newspapers – in England alone there are around 90 daily papers and over 850 which are published once or twice a week. Local newspapers report local news and advertise local business and events. Newspapers in Britain are privately owned and the editors of the papers are usually allowed considerable freedom of expression. The offices of most papers are situated in Fleet Street in the City of London, which is the centre of British journalism. British papers are bought and read not only in the United Kingdom, but also in many other countries.