UK Media Landscape

The media landscape in the United Kingdom is large, complex and mature, arguably ranking second globally to that of the USA. This status is derived to some extent from the use of English as the primary natural language of production and content. Although none of the major global media conglomerates is based in the UK, a number of media organisations, notably Reuters and the BBC, have international standing in their own right. UK activities also contribute significantly to the operations of global conglomerates, such as NewsCorp, Bertelsmann and Time Warner. A desire to be present in emerging global media markets led to increasing deregulation under both Conservative governments (1979-1997) and the Labour administrations of Tony Blair (1997 to date).

The UK media sector is relatively open, with participants from many countries active in almost all aspects – newspapers, television, magazines, radio, film, books, advertising, music and public relations. At the same time, UK media organisations have interests in many parts of the world. Since the late 1990s, successive Labour governments have attempted to elide the distinction between culture and commerce, leading to the adoption of the idea of the ‘creative industries’. This has been accompanied by widespread and vociferous concerns about media quality.

It should be remembered that, while, in many respects, the UK media landscape is a single entity, there are distinctive English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh dimensions, reflecting the composition of the State itself, and heightened by devolution in the late 1990s. The UK’s adult population numbers 47.5 million.

1. WRITTEN PRESS

Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the written press is the existence of a large national newspaper sector, comprised of ten daily and ten Sunday titles. In February 2006, the total sales of national newspapers were 11.25 million daily and 12 million on Sundays.
This press is commonly divided into three sectors – ‘quality’, ‘middle market’ and ‘red-top tabloid’. For more than 20 years, all the papers in the latter two categories have been tabloid in size. More recently, three of the ‘quality’ titles abandoned the broadsheet format and adopted either a ‘compact’ (The Independent and The Times) or Berliner (The Guardian) size. This change stimulated much debate over whether the national press was abandoning ‘serious’ journalism in pursuit of popularity.

The distinctive characteristic is a dominant national press based in London. Regional and local newspapers comprise 98% of titles in circulation. The entire national newspaper press is owned by eight companies, of which the largest two (News International and Daily Mail and General Trust) had 55% of market share in 2005. With Trinity Mirror (16%) and Northern and Shell (14.5%), the top four owners control 85% of the market. A similar concentration of ownership is evident in the regional and local press. Newspaper sales are generally declining and have been for more than 40 years. Attempts to attract readers with alternative formats began in 1999 when Associated Newspapers launched the free commuter paper Metro in London. By 2003 total distributions of a series of Metro titles in British cities totaled 840,000, making it the world’s largest free newspaper.

The magazine sector is large and expanding. There is an estimated number of 8,800-10,000 titles, the two-third of which are ‘business and professional’ titles, the rest are ‘consumer’ magazines.

2. AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

Television
The UK’s audiovisual media’s major defining characteristic is the existence of a strong public service broadcaster, the BBC. Supported by a universal compulsory television licence free, BBC is a major force in both radio and television. In all, it operates 14 television channels, an interactive TV set-up, a datacast operation, Ceefax. In all, BBC television attracts about a third of the total TV audience.

Overall around 70% of UK households have access to multi-channel television, and around 400 channels are available thus audience fragmentation is commonplace. BSkyB, controlled by NewsCorp, is the major satellite provider with around 8 million homes connected. NTL-Telewest provides cable services to about 3 million homes. Freeview, a set-top box system jointly owned by the BBC, BSkyB and Crown Castle, reaches 5million homes. Sky operates 26 channels of its own, including nine movie channels and five sports channels. Others available include those from the BBC and ITV and Channels 4 and Five, plus global offerings such as Cartoon Network, CNN, Discovery, DW-TV, Fox News, MTV, Nickelodeon, TCM and VH1.

Radio
The BBC operates five national radio stations; another five digital-only stations; the World Service; regional stations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (including stations broadcasting in Welsh and Scots), and 30 local stations.

Radio is also characterised by a multi-faceted commercial presence alongside that of the BBC. Radio services are now provided as well via Freeview, DAB, cable, satellite, mobile telephony and the internet. About 300 commercial radio stations broadcast across these platforms, the vast majority being local. The major national commercial radio station is Classic FM, reaching more than 6m people (compared to 13m and 10m for BBC Radio 2 and Radio 1). On the other hand, the reach of local commercial radio is about two-and-a-half times that of local BBC services. To help community radios, in 2005 the government initiated an attempt to persuade the hundreds of ‘pirate’ stations which broadcast illegally to convert into legitimate not-for-profit stations by offering five-year licences and start-up money.

3. DIGITAL SERVICES

Television is leading the ‘dash to digital’ with 17m homes connected since its introduction in 1998. Analogue TV signals are due to be switched off from 2008, a process which will see the end of analogue television in 2012. A projected switch-off for analogue radio signals has been mooted for 2014.

4. NEWS AGENCIES

London is a major global communications hub, and many news and picture agencies, working for all media, are located there. It is the world headquarters of Reuters, and a base for a number of other international agencies, including AFX, APTN and Getty Images. Pacemaker, which has an international reputation chiefly for photography, is based in Northern Ireland. Among the international agencies operating London bureaux are Agence France-Presse; Agencia EFE; AP; Bloomberg; Dow Jones; DPA; IRNA; ITAR-Tass, and Xinhua. The national agency is the Press Association (PA), based in London and with offices in Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow. There are more than 100 local agencies, supplying mainly the UK media. The National Association of Press Agencies is the industry body. In addition, many journalists work as freelancers.

5. ONLINE MEDIA

All significant media have online presences, a trend started in 1994 with the Electronic Telegraph followed by Guardian Unlimited, whose site has made the paper the most widely read in the world. BBC Online is one of the world’s most visited sites. BBC Online has almost 10 million unique users and Guardian Unlimited more than a million.

In 2005 the UK was the fastest-growing market for broadband connections. At the beginning of 2006 13.9 million UK households (57%) had internet access, of which 69% were broadband. It is government policy that every home in the UK will have access to online services by 2010.

6. MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS

The most prominent organizations represent media owners and operators, including online, radio, magazines, books, newspapers and independent producers. Trades unions and professional bodies represent media workers. Many organizations provide specialist services to the media.

7. MEDIA POLICIES

The UK identifies the media as part of a wider creative industries sector. Two government departments – Culture, Media and Sport and Trade and Industry – cover the media.

The future of public service within an increasingly commercialised media is a matter of debate. The paradoxical situation is highlighted by the continuing commitment to a large public service broadcaster, the BBC, which has also vigorously pursued a strategy of commercialisation and digitalisation. While the BBC is the UK’s most enthusiastic large-scale media innovator, a significant exporter and a provider of highly popular content and services, it is said by many to distort the market.

Liberalisation of media environments has been accompanied by partial deregulation. In 2003 a complex system of media regulation and oversight was partially rationalised through the creation of Ofcom to police broadcasting and telecommunications (replacing five separate bodies).

8. ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS

Voluntary and statutory accountability systems co-exist. It is estimated that more than 140 pieces of legislation have direct relevance to the media, and litigation is a favoured method of bringing the media to account. Privacy was not recognised as such in UK law; however, cases could be brought for breaches of confidentiality. Freedom of expression is protected under the 1998 Human Rights Act which enacted into UK law the European Convention on Human Rights, and a Freedom of Information Act came into force in 2005. The 1998 Act also introduced privacy as a statutory right.

External ‘watchdog’ bodies are an important element. Organizations seeking to explore media issues include the MediaWise Trust (ethics); Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom; Campaign for Freedom of Information; the Runnymede Trust (diversity), and the London International Research Exchange.

9. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

Recent UK governments have attempted to bolster national media against competition from overseas predators. At the same time, it has been accepted that the biggest media are not national but global, and governed primarily by the market. Younger audiences are turning away from ‘big’ media and prefer niche digital services. The future of the BBC as a publicly funded, public service is in doubt. It is an unanswered question whether the BBC would continue as a publicly-funded national body or would become a commercial media entity from 2016. There is a lively debate about the quality and role of journalism and the media ‘dumbing down’ to try reduce costs and offer new ‘lite’ content.

10. SOURCES

The hard copy starting-point for research is the annual Media Directory published by The Guardian. There are several publications directed at trade and technical audiences. Historical and contemporary directories are held in the British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale, north London. Accessible journals include: the British Journal of Photography, British Journalism Review, Free Press (published by the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom); Press Gazette; Broadcasting, and Campaign. The Guardian has a weekly media supplement and an associated web site http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk. All the main media and media organisations maintain web sites.

11. AUTHOR

Michael Bromley is Professor of Journalism and Deputy Head of the School of Journalism and Communication at The University of Queensland (Australia). A former journalist, he has published widely on journalism and the media, and has worked as a consultant with the European Journalism Centre.