Curran and Seaton present the view that a free press relies on a free market where individual newspapers can compete through their political stances and points of view. 

Analyse the ways that the i and the Daily Mail attempt to establish a distinctive identity within this free market. To what extent has this been successful? 

Curran and Seaton’s summary of the theory of Liberal Free Press states that “the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions in society” This allows for no political bias in the media which suggests there will be politically balanced stories within the media, therefore expecting the press to be as “the people’s watchdog, scrutinising the actions of the government and holding the country’s rulers to account”. This theory supports the idea that the media and newspapers specifically are there to serve the public, as they need to keep the interest of their readers to stay successful and recognise that those newspapers that do not “respond to the concerns of their readers”, cannot be as successful in a competitive space than alternative news outlets that do. Curran and Seaton’s belief however, that the media is controlled by a small number of companies who are driven by: Profit, power and logic, relates to the theory of Althusser who suggests the theory of Interpolation. This theory was created by people in high social and political power, stating “an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices” suggesting that within media, there is always an ideology which is presented to the audience, often used as propaganda to make the audience believe a certain political view. This then challenges the idea that the liberal free press could ever even exist, as there will always be an imbalance in presentation of views, as each outlet will still have an urge to present their own ideologies, enhanced by the pressures of “competition, choice and new technology”; leading to a narrowing in range of opinions represented in the media, with one ultimate conglomerate owning multiple subsections with a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity. 

The Daily mail was founded in 1896 and is owned by General Trust PLC which owns multinational companies, also including the I, and DMGT, which owns all stages of production, with editing and printing in their own HQ. It circulates 1,158,192 copies, currently running as the most successful UK newspaper, with the main target audience of the lower middle class.  The daily mail also has a majority female readership, with female readers consisting of 52-55% of the total daily mail readership, and has also been shown as a middle-market newspaper, with both entertainment and information. The Daily Mail thrives off the idea that most readers would not care to factcheck articles, as they are produced in often short bites, although they known to include unreliable information, highlighted on the Wikipedia page for the Daily Mail, where “In February 2017, the Daily Mail became the first source to be deprecated as an “unreliable source” to use as a reference on the English Wikipedia”.  Furthermore, both magazines participates in advertising, including multiple fashion and entertainment pages combined with full-page advertisements. Therefore meaning even with the I being a centre left newspaper, they wouldn’t be seen including frequent strong-left political opinions because they rely on capitalism to survive. However, The Daily Mail disguise this by their use of creating original, unique articles, with sources that seem to hold strong evidence, with facts and figures, which as a result is often useful for persuading readers to adopt their political viewpoints.

An example to show the I’s moderate swing to the political left can be seen in an article for the front cover of the I edition released on November 5th, relating to the current situation with the American presidential election. The article, although appearing as only a factual piece of work, using short bullet point sentences to highlight some key points in the election, can be analysed to present a swing to the supporting of Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate. The first point states ‘poisonous legal battle begins as Trump opposes routine counting of postal ballot’, which can be understood, although subtle, as being anti-trump, as the speculation of trumps next actions were described as ‘poisonous’, which obviously holds negative connotations. The headline of the front page article also made sure to bring attention to Biden’s success by writing ‘Biden edges closer to the White House’. Whereas the Daily Mail’s headliner in their November 5th edition, known to be more right-wing aligned, highlighted Donald Trumps fight in the election, and only referenced the idea of trumps retaliation as trumps ‘campaign threatened to go to the Supreme Court’ with the phrase more so showing Trumps high authority than the huge complications he’s trying cause to bring himself back into the election. However both of these instances are intertwined into the articles so subtly, its obvious that these 2 outlets are keeping away from any strong political standpoint, as to appeal to a larger audience.

To conclude, its clear that Curran and Seatons description of the theory of the free market, is not as free as once thought, and that the idea of a truly transparent market could never exist. The Daily Mail and The i are two competing newspapers with developing ideas on how to appeal to their readers, while both maintaining individual identities. The competition between newspapers within the free market is always thriving, and consumers feed into this by purchasing the papers and engaging with articles online. The transformation of the public sphere has caused a large shift towards the political right, shown through The Daily Mail as the most popular newspaper in the UK, and the overall success of the i also in the media market.