‘newspapers and magazines must respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business’ pg 326

‘noted that the national press was overwhelmingly right wing’

‘the internet has enhanced the freedom to publish by lowering entry costs.’ – The Liberal theory of press freedom pg 327

History: The i has taken under control of JPIMedia the day after Jhonston Pres filed for administration on 16th November 2018. The paper and website were bought by the Daily mail and General trust on 29th November 2019 for £49.6 million.

Format: The i is presented as a hybrid of a Tabloid and a broadsheet because there is lots of information as well as gossip and images.

Editors: The editor of The i is Oliver duff.

Political stance: The stance of the i seems to focus on inequality however it claims to have a balance on the political spectrum.

Target Audience: The i had 22 million in the year of 2018 October to 2019 September in Great Britain. The target audience was to a vary of age groups from teens to adults (15-35) however the audience that read the paper more often was adults of over 35.

Cost: The cost of The i increased from 60p to 65p in 2017 then again to 80p.

Circulation: The i amount of papers sold was 221,083 in October 2019.

Profit: The paper is making at least 1milllion a month as of December 6 2017. https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/johnston-press-says-it-is-now-making-1m-a-month-profit-from-i-newspaper/

• Launched in 2010 as a sister newspaper to The Independent
• Editor = Oliver Duff
• Owner = Daily Mail (as of late November 2019)
• Claims to be politically neutral and instead of publishing news stories about specific parties, they try to focus more on social issues and inequality
• First edition of the newspaper costed 20p
• Current price = On 14 September 2019, The iweekend price rose from £1 to £1.20
• The paper and its website were bought by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) on 29 November 2019, for £49.6 million
• “i is specifically targeted at readers and lapsed readers of quality newspapers and those of all ages,”
• Targeted at commuters who don’t have much time
• In December 2017, the owners of The I announced that they were bringing in a monthly profit of around £1 million
• Circulation = the amount of copies that a newspaper distributes in a day
• The I’s Circulation = 221,083 (October 2019)

• prices are determined by individual businesses with little to no government control
• people can buy and sell anything
• eg black market

-UK regards press freedom as absolute freedom, the government leaves it down to the market forces to decide which press products survive.

-In the case of the press, with certain limited expectations, no legal restriction is placed on the right to buy or launch a newspaper. This ensures, in liberal theory, that the press is free, diverse and representative (Curran and Seaton).

In this view of freedom of expression, it is the interests of the press, not of its readers nor the subjects of its coverage which are fundamental.

Curran and Seaton – the idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic and power. The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media production.

Book = mass media and democracy

Habermas

• early modern capitalism turned into an arena of public debate
• Public sphere – public space between private domain and the state where public opinion was formed

Media watchdog

• role of the media is to act as a public watchdog overseeing the government (informs the public of government affairs eg the tories bracing for drubbing due to fed up voters)
• Most important function of the media
• public service broadcasting