Popular Press - Institution

• Institutions are the companies who produce newspapers.
• They operate as profit-making businesses.
• They make money partly through the cover price of the newspaper, but mainly
through selling advertising space in the newspaper / on the website.
• The advertising should appeal to the same specific audience group that the
newspaper targets.

Key Institutions connected to the Press

• News International Ltd. Owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, it publishes The Sun, The News of the World, The Times, and The Sunday Times.

• Associated Newspapers. A subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust, it publishes the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Metro and London Lite.

• Express Newspapers. Owned by Richard Desmond they publish the Daily Express,
• Sunday Express and Daily Star.

• Trinity Mirror plc. A large British newspaper and magazine publisher. As well as 240 regional titles, it publishes the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, the People, Sunday Mail and the Daily Record.

• The Press Complaints Commission (PCC). Funded by the newspaper industry, it acts as an independent regulatory body.

• National Readership Survey (NRS).The NRS is a non profit making organisation which provides estimates of the number and habits of people reading newspapers and
• magazines.

• Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF). An independent
• organisation set up to promote a diverse, democratic and accountable media.

Political Allegiance

Most newspapers are considered to have some political leanings; in fact, with the exception of the Mirror, the popular press espouse conservative views. With a General
Election due in 2010, an interesting area of study is the political or ideological function of the Popular Press. It has been known for newspapers to shift their political position. Famously in 1997, the Sun switched its traditional political allegiance and supported New Labour under Tony Blair. Lately, it has decided to back David Cameron’s Conservative Party.

Consider the effect of Cameron-supporting Rupert Murdoch owning the country's most popular newspaper, The Sun, as well as the established broadsheet, The Times - and then consider he has a 38% stake in BSkyB...