the state of the fourth estate
The newspaper
During the 18th century – The Press and
in Parliament, Edmund Broadcasting in Britain,
industry – the
Burke is reported to have the press is more likely
press – has been
stated that the Fourth to wield ‘power without
in decline for the
Estate, the press, was the responsibility’; or, in Marxist
most important Estate of terms, it is responsible
last 30-40 years
all. The other three are only to the owners of the
and the ubiquity
the Courts, Religion and means of production – the
Parliament. The Fourth newspaper proprietors.
of the internet has Estate, Burke argued, acted With the exception
accelerated this fall
as a check on abuses of The Guardian, which
of power by the other is operated by a Trust,
to such an extent three Estates, by holding newspapers exist
that it’s been argued
them accountable to the primarily to make their
electorate and providing owners money. They
that newspapers as
information to ensure are also desirable for the
we know them might
democracy is allowed to impact and political
operate efficiently. influence they can exert.
be defunct within the
The extent to which this For example, it is likely
next 10 years. Nick
was ever truly the case that The Times has been a
Lacey explores.
is debateable, although loss-maker for many years;
it’s certainly true that however, its proprietor,
newspapers still uncover Rupert Murdoch of News
Government corruption: International, is sanguine
in 1995 The Guardian about this because of the
revealed that Jonathan influence the newspaper
Aitken, a Government has. Its readership of
minister, had corrupt 1 702 000 (NRS July 2006
dealings with an arms -June 2007, http://www.nrs.
dealer. (Aitken notoriously co.uk/top_line_readership)
took the newspaper to is nowhere near the
court and sued them for 7 768 000 readership of The
damages; his suit failed and Sun – also a News Corp.
he was jailed for perjury.) publication. However The
However, as Curran and Times readership does news has undoubtedly available. Like much of the
Seaton (2003) show in include a large proportion accelerated the fall in internet, these websites
their essential book Power of politicians and business their circulation. During rely on advertising for
Without Responsibility leaders, who, unlike the vast the 1970s, the only way revenue; newspapers
majority of Sun readers, do of accessing on-demand that have experimented
wield power. news was teletext. By with subscription-only
A newspaper’s the early 1990s the arrival web access have had little
income is generated by of satellite and cable success.
both cover price and television, with its 24-hour
advertising revenue. rolling news channels, had
Repositioning
For the so-called ‘quality’ made newspapers distinctly the ‘quality’ press
press (The Guardian, ‘yesterday’; their ‘news’ was The importance of
The Independent, The palpably ‘olds’. Of course, providing news has
Telegraph and The Times) the internet has usurped declined in the middle
the advertising revenue the newspapers’ role of market and ‘quality’
will be by far the most news provider even further. sectors; hard news has
significant. For freesheets, Recognising this, been far less significant
such as The Metro available newspapers, spearheaded to tabloids for many
in many cities, advertising by The Guardian, have years. Newspapers have
revenue is the sole source established web presences therefore repositioned
of income. (London also often to the extent that themselves as providing
has two other mainstream the whole newspaper ‘lifestyle’ information,
freesheets.) can effectively be read offering consumer advice,
The decline of online free of charge, features, fashion and
newspapers’ importance with a massive archive of celebrity coverage. This
as the most significant previous stories (a brilliant has been most evident
and speedy provider of resource for research) also in the Saturday editions,
english and media centre | February 2008 | MediaMagazine 25
MM23S&G13.02.08.indd 25 14/2/08 12:31:11
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