Research activity

Who are the major players in terms of news providers in the UK and what exactly do they own?

News providers:

Broadcast-

·         TV- BBC news, Sky news, ITV news

·         Radio stations- BBC radio 1

Print-

·         Newspapers- The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, Press Association, The Guardian (all owned by Murdoch’s News Corp)

E-media-

·         Social networking as a news provider (Twitter, Facebook...)

·         The online news sites such as BBC news

·         Online newspapers such as the Guardian

 

Commercial institutions want to maximise profit such as platforms like print which are newspapers like The Sun and The Guardian. The aim for News Cooperation is to make as much money as possible. Broadcasters such as Sky news also aim to maximise profit in order to produce more programmes. However the BBC is a public service broadcaster and does the same but this is because everybody has to pay for a TV license in order to watch the news which is non-biased as the BBC provides for the nation, therefore it could be classed as non-commercial. Channel 4 is a commercial public broadcaster and they also have channel 4 news.  There are now 228 radio stations with FM broadcast licenses that are licensed by Ofcom.

Non-commercial institutions such as newspapers like The Metro are provided free for the public mainly on public transport, this is because they are more interested in giving people the opportunity to read the latest news so everyone is aware of the issues going on in the nation/world as this is very important. Radio is a broadcast platform; Community radio stations typically cover a small geographical area and run on a not for profit basis. The Freeview channels are non-commercial such as Freesat, Freeview, Virgin.

 These are the major players in terms of news providers, institutions such as News Cooperation which owns the majority of the UK newspapers. The BBC broadcasts some of the most successful dramas and documentaries and is most watched for the news.