Explain how the political context in which newspapers are produced, influences their ownership

and regulation. Refer to The Guardian and The Daily Mail newspapers you have studied to support
your answer. (10).
The free press in theory is the collective media industry being unfiltered and not restricted by
government censorship, allowing them to publish what they wish. In the UK, a Democracy, anyone is
allowed to set up a newspaper however this is not the case in many countries which have tight
regulations on the press due to dictatorial leaders and government policies. The two UK newspapers
I have studied are The Daily Mail and The Guardian, The Daily Mail has a circulation of over 1.5
million a month (Jan 2017) and is owned by Jonathon Hamsworth, Viscount Rothermore (a great
Grandson of one of the co-founders of the newspaper). The newspaper has a right-wing,
Conservative political bias which is evident from their stance on most political and social issues. The
Guardian too has a circulation of over 1.5 million a month (Jan 2017) but is managed and run by Alex
Graham who is Chairman of the Scott Trust. This is a much more democratic ownership structure
than The Daily Mail, The Guardian has a left-wing labour political bias which you too can see from
their opinion on many influential issues.

The Guardian and The Daily Mail have very different readership demographics which can be
predicted from their very different political biases. The Guardian has the smallest percentage of over
65 year old readers (out of the top 10 newspapers in the UK) with only 21%, unlike The Daily Mail
which has the greatest percentage of over 65 year old readers at 45%. Again, the newspapers are at
opposites when it comes to percentage of millennial readers, The Daily Mail has the lowest
percentage of 14% and The Guardian has the highest at 28%. Just from the age of each newspapers
readers we can see that the political bias of each is influential in audience demographics, The typical
Daily Mail reader is someone over 40 with a much more conservative view on society whereas The
Guardian’s readers are much younger, around 25-40 with liberal views.

As mentioned before, it is evident from each newspapers stance on important political and social
issues what their political bias is, as a clear and prominent example we can use the announcement of
the EU referendum result. The Daily Mail published a ‘5 AM referendum special’, this alone shows
that the newspapers readers are particularly concerned about this issue, the headline read ‘We’re
out!’ in large bold writing. This shows bias by headline, it is sympathetic to those who voted leave,
reading further we can see underneath the headline, a bullet point reads ‘UK freed from shackles of
EU’. This is clear bias by word choice, ‘shackles’, a very negative word is being used to describe our
countries part in the EU. Rather than simply reporting the result of the referendum, The Daily Mail
celebrated it. The Guardian’s political bias can also be seen from their cover on the day the
referendum result was announced, rather than highlighting the fact that the UK will be leaving the
EU, The Guardian chose to cover the news that David Cameron had resigned as Prime Minister. This
can be seen as bias by emission as the typically left-wing newspaper chose to cover the Conservative
right-wing Prime Minister’s resignation rather than the fact that Labour had lost after their remain
campaign. A subheading on the front cover also said “farewell to Europe” as if saying goodbye to a
close friend, meaning the newspaper is taking the result personally because they are obviously left-
wing, this is a sharp contrast from The Daily Mail’s “we’re out!”.

Although we can see clear evidence of the UK’s press ownership and regulation being affected by
the political context they are created in, there are bodies in place to try and limit political bias.
Before 2012 the Press Complaint Commission, a voluntary body, was responsible for investigating
abuses of the press and ensuring the rights of the reader and press are treated fairly. However there
was a huge scandal surrounding the body’s lack of action on the News of the World phone hacking
scandal. As a result of this, a judicial inquiry, conducted by Lord Justice Leveson, into the culture,
practises and ethics of the British Press was set up by David Cameron. After a series of public
hearings held throughout 2011 and 2012, the Leveson report was published, this suggested a new
independent body to replace the Press Complaints Commission which should be recognised by state
through law. 2 organisations were then set up following this, IPSO (the Independent Press Standards
Organisation) and IMPRESS, both are independent regulators of the UK’s media and aim to build on
core principles of the past to create a better future for the UK’s newspapers and magazines.