Ownership and Regulation

Ownerships of national newspapers:

·      The Guardian, The Observer – Scott Trust Limited

·      ­The Daily Telegraph – Barclays Brothers Press Holdings

·      The Daily Mail, The Mail On Sunday – Lord Rothermeres Daily Mail And General Trust Plc.

·      The Sun, the Sun on Sunday, The Sunday Times, The Times – News Corporation Chairman And CEO, Rupert Murdoch

·      The Sunday Express, The daily express, The Daily Star  – Richard Desmond’s Northern And Shell

As seen above, many companies own more than one national newspaper. Links can be seen in the titles of newspapers held under the same company. For example, most newspapers have a Sunday equivalent, still held under the same company.

Scott trust LTD owns the guardian ad the observer, newspapers that are both centre left wing newspapers; this can show a link between the titles because of their ownership. This can also be seen in Rupert Murdoch’s papers, which are all right wing newspapers.

Local companies instead of larger companies own regional newspapers such as the Leicester mercury. The Leicester mercury group Ltd owns the Leicester mercury, The Liverpool daily post and echo owns the Liverpool echo etc.

Hesmondhalgh’s theory states that cultural industries must branch out over other media outlets to cover the costs of failure in their other outlets. Through research I found out that less than twenty publishers now account for almost 90 per cent of all regional press titles in Great Britain, proving Hesmondhalgh’s theory correct.

Referencing to Curran and Seaton’s theory, ownership is becoming increasingly concentrated, especially on national newspapers as shown above. This is a problem as smaller ranges of opinions can be heard on a national scale. The migration of some newspapers to the Internet, such as the independent, does not allow a level playing field for media outlets because of state censorship. News is still controlled by successful companies with high reputations. With growing companies taking over these outlets, creativity and quality is overlooked because of the pursuit for profits.