Ownership and Regulation

Companies that own more than one newspaper title:

The Barclay Brothers Press Holdings own The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph;

News Corporation own The Times and The Sunday Times;

Scott Trust Limited own The Guardian and The Observer;

Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail and General Trust PLC own the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday;

Richard Despond's Northern and Shell own Daily Express and Sunday Express;

Trinity Mirror own Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.

From the list we can see that 6 owners publish more than one national newspaper. It is noticeable that they link the titles together to make it known that they are owned by the same company. This results in the company holding a higher profile as people would recognise the similarity in the names of the newspapers and presume that they're owned by the same company. 

Ownership of the Trinity Mirror

The Trinity Mirror group went on to buy Scottish & Universal Newspapers in 1992, and in 1997 it acquired the Birmingham Post and Mail. Trinity was a company which evolved from the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo which owned newspaper titles in Canada and the US at the time, as well as interests in paper mills in Canada. The company then bought the paper mills in Canada, owned it's own newspaper distribution company and even went as far as buying up newsagents across Merseyside. In February 2010, Trinity Mirror acquired the regional M.E.N. Media and S&B Media divisions of the Guardian Media Group, containing 22 local titles across Northern England and in Surrey and Berkshire; this includes the Manchester Evening News and Reading Evening Post. In January 2012 it was announced Trinity Mirror acquired Communicator Corp, a digital communications company specialising in email and mobile communications for £8m. In November 2015, Trinity Mirror purchased Local World for £220 million, a major stakeholder in local news titles, from DMGT. Since purchasing Local World it has gained 83 print publications.

The Trinity Mirror group owns The Leicester Mercury as well as 154 other regional titles, mostly in Scotland and Wales, and in the North of England. Johnston Press are rivals of Trinity Mirror because they have 160 titles. Newsquest owns 300+ newspapers and has a network of 160 local Web sites, which includes Glasgow's The Herald, The Northern Echo (Darlington) and Telegraph Argus (Bradford), together attracting more than 5 million unique users and over 50 million page impressions per month.

It is clear from the Trinity Mirror's history of acquiring many media outlets for lots of money they follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration. they are supporting the idea that cultural production is owned and controlled by a few conglomerates who vertically integrate across a range of media to reduce risk. the company clearly want to reduce the risk of going bust or being overtaken by other companies by buying out other media outlets which as a result, increases their power and popularity.

Why is ownership a concern in the UK?

Considering more and more media industries are following the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands, it is leading to a smaller variety of opinions represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity. According to Curran and Seaton, the internet does not represent a rupture with the past in that it does not offer a level playing field for diverse voices to be heard. It is constrained by nationalism and state censorship. However, news is still controlled by powerful news organisations, who have successfully defended their control over the country as a whole.

Research some of the ideas about regulation and the importance of a free press which regulates itself. Why is regulation important? Include some of your ideas from Wednesday's lesson on your blog. Consider why this may be significant, using the academic ideas from Livingstone and Lunt.

Media regulation is the control or guidance of mass media by governments and other bodies. This regulation, via law, rules or procedures, can have various goals, for example intervention to protect a stated "public interest", or encouraging competition and an effective media market, or establishing common technical standards. the reason why we do this is not down to just one reason, it is down to many. For example:

• The management of what is arguably the key economic resource in the emerging `information society', with a very high dependence on all forms of communication.

• The protection of public order and support for instruments of government and justice.

• The protection of individual and sectional rights and interests that might be harmed by unrestricted use of public means of communication.

• The promotion of the efficiency and development of the communication system, by way of technical standardization, innovation, connectivity and universal provision.

• The promotion of access, freedom to communicate, diversity and universal provision as well as securing communicative and cultural ends chosen by the people for themselves.

• Maintaining conditions for effective operation of free markets in media services, especially competition and access, protection of consumers, stimulating innovation and expansion.