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? Refer to the specific edition of your case study – for both papers – as well as, on-line versions of these publications.

James curran and Jean Seaton came up with the theory of the liberal free press – this is the idea that the media should have the right to be exercised freely. In order to have a free press there must be no government interference. They argue that the media should work for the public’s interest to inform them with correct information (especially to do with the government, authority and control) and not purely in a commercial interest. Beveridge suggested ‘the work of broadcasting should be regarded as a public service for a social purpose’, which Curran and Seaton are known to support. The public wants a free market when it comes to the news, however laws have to be implemented to prevent them from publishing or broadcasting untrue or offensive information. Curran stated in his book Media and Democracy Revisited ‘The media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality, and became a further means by which the public was sidelined’. However, if the government implements too many laws then the news becomes controlled by the state. Therefore it can be argued whether we have a free market or if we don’t have a free market.

Regardless, newspapers can still operate and compete through their political stances. For example, the Daily Mail, the UK tabloid news paper is known to lean to the right of the political spectrum supporting conservative ideologies. The daily mail was founded in 1896, their average daily circulation is 1,134,184 copies in addition to having 218 million website visits, making it the most highly circulated UK news paper. They are a middle market newspaper that has an audience with an average NRS social grade of ABC1, which is also the same average social grade as people that vote conservative. They are owned by a company called DMGT who also own other news platforms, one of which being a newspaper called the i. The i is a less popular broadsheet  newspaper with an average daily circulation of 221,083. It was founded in 2010 but was bought by DMGT in 2019 for £49.6 million. The i writes its articles from both left and right wing perspectives, claiming to have a political stance in the middle of the spectrum. Nick Clegg, former UK prime minister and Lib-Dem leader is a columnist for the i, along with conservative columnist John Hawkins – which shows the paper provides different perspectives in current affairs. For example, the headline on the front page of the i newspaper for the 9th of november read ‘Hello, Mr president’ referencing the new US democratic president-elect Joe Biden, they are referencing the results of the election in a positive way which is considered left wing.  This demonstrates that using political stances in the newspaper market has helped different companies to establish a distinctive identity.

This concentration of ownership (DMGT owning multiple newspapers) raises further questions on whether we have a free market or not. 71% of UK major newspaper tiles are owned by 4 companies, with fewer people owning many assets in one industry the public are at risk of being manipulated. As Chomsky and Said explain in their agenda setting model, the media filter and shape reality and consent is manufactured for social, economic and political policies. This concentration of ownership in the UK newspaper market can also be applied to Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, he presents his ideas on how certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than others, usually in line with the dominant ideas, the dominant groups and their corresponding dominant interests. 

In conclusion, the i has proved successful in establishing a distinctive identity because it is unlike others as they have a neutral perspective. We know it is successful as they have a daily circulation of 221,083 which results in a profit of 1million GBP per month. The daily mail have also proved successful competing through their right wing stance, as they are the most highly circulated UK news paper.