British and American Press

5. British and American Press Nearly 80% of all households in Britain buy a copy of one of the main national papers every day – the British are the third biggest newspaper readers. Newspaper publications are dominated by the national press. Non-national, local and regional papers, with significant circulations are published mostly in the evenings, when they don’t compete with national ones. â€Å"The Sunday papers† are mostly national, they sell slightly more copies and thicker.British â€Å"paper round† is organized to provide people with their morning papers delivered to their door by a teenager who gets up at around half-past five every day in order to earn a it of extra pocket money. There are 2 types of national papers: â€Å"broadsheets† or â€Å"quality papers† cater for the better educated readers, and â€Å"tabloids† sell to a much larger readership with more pictures than print. Broadsheets devote much space to politics and à ¢â‚¬Å"serious topics†, they are twice as large as tabloids which concentrate on â€Å"human interest stories† like sex and scandal and cover it in a simpler style of English.None of the big national newspaper â€Å"belongs† to a political party. However each paper has an idea of what kind of reader it is appealing and has a fairly predictable political outlook. If you go into any well-stocked newsagent’s in Britain, you will find rows and rows of magazines catering for almost every imaginable taste and specializing in almost every imaginable pastime. Among these publications there are a few weeklies dealing with news and current affairs, and they manage to achieve a circulation of more than a hundred thousand.The most influential British daily paper is THE TIMES. It was founded by John Walter in 1785 as THE DAILY UNIVERSAL REGISTER, then renamed THE TIMES in 1788. Was also called as THUDERER for its formidable editorials (was the 1st paper to employ foreig n correspondents). Its prestige raised due to marketing slogan TOP PEOPLE READ THE TIMES. Now is owned by the international press magnate Rupert Murdoch. Its published in London with a circulation of almost 450  000. American Press. Newspapers have declined in their influence and penetration into American households over the years.The U. S. does not have a national paper. Although the Times' primary audience has always been the people of New York City, the New York Times has gradually become the dominant national â€Å"newspaper of record. † With very few exceptions, all the newspapers in the U. S. are privately owned, either by large chains such as  Gannett  or  McClatchy, which own dozens or even hundreds of newspapers; by small chains that own a handful of papers; or in a situation that is increasingly rare, by individuals or families.Most general-purpose newspapers are either being printed one time a week, usually on Thursday or Friday, or are printed daily. Weekl y newspapers tend to have much smaller circulation and are more prevalent in rural communities or small towns. Major cities often have â€Å"alternative weeklies† to complement the mainstream daily paper(s), for example, New York City's  Village Voice  or Los Angeles'  L. A. Weekly, to name two of the best-known.Major cities may also support a local business journal, trade papers relating to local industries, and papers for local ethnic and social groups. Probably due to competition from other media, the number of daily newspapers in the U. S. has declined over the past half-centuryIn particular, the number of evening newspapers has fallen by almost one-half since 1970, while the number of morning editions and Sunday editions has grown.