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.
Curran and Seaton are two theorist which researched the power of media by creating theories that look in free press. In their book Power Without Responsibility, they state “the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society” this shows that Curran and Seaton believe that the press should be free from interference or ownership without any political control. However, currently there are many large conglomerates which control large portions of the media which are able to change the views of the public. An example of this is the Murdoch family which own fox news, sky and many more large media corporations. “the claim that the free market renders the press diverse, representative and independent” this quote can be seen to contradict current media as not everyone can produce media and it apparently enables people to “scrutinize government” which links to Noam Chomsky’s 5 filters. Chomsky’s 5 filters which state that all media which opposes the government or power will receive flack and be discarded as fake. Another theory to link to free press is Habermas and the transformation of the public sphere. In the late 1700s people started to print media which changed how people thought and interacted as people use to speak to each other in coffee shops the print media was able to convey messages to people long distances away from the public interests. The public was a place where people could interact and communicate with others underneath the government “public control of media has often been advocated on the grounds of public interest”.
My first case study is the Daily Mail which a form of media which can be seen using the internet or through newspapers which links to Habermas and how media has evolved to be seen while sitting at home compared how news use to spread through people talking at coffee shops. The Daily Mail is an English newspaper which has adapted into a North African edition called Continetial Daily and an edition in India called Mail Today. It is owned by parent company Daily Mail and General Trust which is owned by Rothermere Continuation Limited. In January 2020 the Daily Mail had the 3rd most circulations with 1,134,000. The target audience of the are mainly women aged 35+ which live in London or the rest of Great Britain. While the newspaper has a decreasing circulation, the online website has more than 218 million unique visitors per month according to Wikipedia. Daily Mail is typically a right wing however, it has released articles which are left wing for example an article headlined “Tories in turmoil over Rashford’s free school meals” which could have been done to increase the range in their audience and people that will be willing to read the paper. This headline could be seen as making fun of conservatives but also to entice people to read their paper as they may like or know about Marcus Rashford as he’s seen as a celebrity.
Another newspaper is the I it is also a British paper published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust, its target audience is “readers and lapsed readers” of “quality” newspaper for those of all ages. The I is a sister paper to the independent and claims to be politically neutral. This can be seen in the I’s sister newspaper the independent when put into a survey most people believed it was central. One article on the I website is “Lib Dems move to block Brexit bill ‘threatening UK unity”. Lib Dems are said to be more left however they are more focused on liberal vs authorial, in this article the I say they are threatening which is negative against the Lib Dems showing that the I can be seen as right and authoritarian. However, this is only one article. In another article “Lib Dem leadership result” they praise the new leader of the party and but quotes from others congratulating the party. The I has had a decline in average daily circulation from just over 300,000 in March 2013 to just over 233,000 in February 2019 but it has had 28 million average monthly readers online. The I sell for £1 on Saturday and 65p every other day, it also has a Portuguese version which won a European award for best design but has only every had 16,000 circulation in one month
In conclusion I believe the daily mail is a lot more successful having an operating profit of 63 million for nine months whereas the I make a million a month. However, both companies are on the decline along with nearly every other newspaper. This has caused each company adapt to making online forms of news and media which allows them to reach a larger audience but also allows them to collect data on each person that visits their website. Which can link to Noam Chomsky 5 filters, advertising allows big companies to sell consumers as a product so that advertisers can persuade large amounts of people to buy their product or service. I also think the newspapers use 2 step flow theory as they share their views on politics using statistics or facts which may not even be real, but consumers then talk to other people about it which allows the media to manipulate how consumers think. Overall, the daily mail and the I both share their views on politics and can manipulate the audience while receiving information and revenue off them.