Role of The Sun as a Tabloid in the Industry - Case Study Example

Research Based Critical Review Table of Contents Introduction 3 Overview of the Newspaper- “The Sun” 4 Role of “The Sun” As a Tabloid in the Industry4 Popularity of “The Sun” Among the Consumers 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction The involvement of mass media in the social as well as political developments, especially the newspapers, has been remarkable since its industrial inception during the 17th century. In the later periods, with greater participation of the newspaper publications in the political, social, and even military conflicts gave rise to the power held by newspapers as a ‘food for thought’ to the critiques worldwide. In the words of Van Dijk (1995), “Media power is generally symbolic and persuasive, in the sense that the media primarily have the potential to control to some extent the minds of readers or viewers, but not directly their actions”. As a commonly known fact, with power, there comes a great amount of responsibilities as well. In case of newspapers, the responsibilities are identified in terms of journalism attitudes and philosophies. Ever since the newspapers have been acting as a key mass media, its prime role can be identified as conveying various political, social, military along with economic facts to its readers. Evident from the historical presence of newspapers behind various revolutions, it becomes apparent that the conveyed facts can easily persuade a mass towards social dilapidation as well as exceptional developments. It thus turns out to be the responsibility of the tabloids to preserve fairness towards the disclosed facts, concentrating on the need of development of the overall humanity rather than signifying the interests of a few (Curran & Seaton, 2009). Based on this ideology, the discussion hereafter will attempt to develop a critical understanding of the role played by “The Sun”, a renowned tabloid in the United Kingdom; taking into consideration the degree of power it possesses to persuade the society. Overview of the Newspaper- “The Sun” The Sun is a daily national newspaper of repute in the United Kingdom. The newspaper tabloid was incepted in the year 1964 that currently covers regional or local news, jobs, sports, business and community events among others. The Sun is owned by an Australian company named News Corporation which is renowned as one of the publicly traded organisations performing its business operations globally (Mondo Code LLC, 2012). The former editor of The Sun, Mr. Sydney Jacobson, considered the newspaper as a radical one in the UK and stated that its ideology predicting that the tabloid would be completely autonomous in functioning as a powerful media channel and will not possess any kind of partiality concerning the political parties or the movements. Furthermore, he also made it distinct that the newspaper would be entirely free in order to employ its own thoughts and activities (BBC, 2005). Since then, The Sun has been playing its role based on the idioms of transparency and impartiality in the British newspaper industry. Role of “The Sun” As a Tabloid in the Industry The concept of tabloids is principally considered as an aggressive tool that executes sensationalism and provides importance to any issue that arouses public interest. The different events that include scandals, crimes, sports, politics and even economic specifications fall under the categorisation of tabloids. The introduction of tabloids in UK was initially traced in the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, Mr. Rupert Murdoch, the Chairman of News Corporation continued the aspect of tabloidization in print media industry of Britain through The Sun. In general, as can be witnessed in the British Newspaper Industry, the idea of tabloidization has been viewed simply as a media transition rather being a composite phenomenon which is driven by the agenda in relation to public welfare and has been like wisely considered by The Sun. Furthermore, it presents dissimilar cultures as well as lifestyles which contribute to the human incorporation as well as the tolerance of other cultures in the long run (Authority of the House of Lords, 2008). The media has an essential part to play in democracy functioning where a few of the observers argue that by delivering substantial number of political news as well as opinions, the media can significantly affect ‘free flow of information’ and educating the citizens politically. The media sector, especially in UK, is recognised to be comparatively open where the different media organisations belonging to the British newspaper industry possess deeper interests to cover various issues across the world. In this context, The Sun, as a UK based national tabloid, attempts to highlight the various social and political as well as economic issues to the common public in such a manner that the individual’s can be factually acknowledged with sufficient and reliable information related to social disputes, illegal conducts, politics and economics as well. It has been recognised that a few of the newspapers of the UK strongly believe that they hold a significant influence upon their readers at the time of elections. In this regard, The Sun, which is regarded as amongst the biggest selling tabloids in the UK, is a noteworthy one. Since its initiation in the year 1964, the newspaper was apparently involved with various issues associated with the political parties such as the Labour Party as well as the Conservative Party among others. It has been viewed that during the period of 1979 to 1990 under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, The Sun was one of the cheerleaders in favour of Conservatism (Rooney, 2010). In this context, The Sun, which dynamically supported the Conservative Party during that period, claimed that they contributed significantly towards the victory of the political party. This also implied that the newspaper provided editorial support to the Conservative Party during the electoral movements through which the readers were encouraged to vote for the leaders that ultimately led them towards the victory. This particular acclamation by The Sun, reflecting on its support to the Conservatives, ultimately made the newspaper to participate actively in political disclosures in the then political milieu of UK (Rooney, 2010). Hence, it can be stated that The Sun possessed an absolute power in order to persuade the public which ultimately proved beneficial especially for the Conservative Party considering the fact of their victory in the general election. Though the newspaper holds the power to convince the public, it laid more emphasis upon the aspect of favouritism by a significant extent. This can be witnessed with reference to the fact that The Sun favoured the Conservative Party in comparison to the Labour Party which proved that the newspaper was influenced by a sense of partiality. Instead of being an unprejudiced newspaper, The Sun adopted the facet of favouritism by supporting solely to the Conservative Party, even though gauging its support on behalf of the social interests. The influential power of The Sun portrayed its opinionated behaviour in relation to the support of the Conservative Party that depicted its lacuna of impartial newspeak (Rooney, 2010). In relation to the role of The Sun as a tabloid in the print media industry, it has been observed that the popular newspapers in the UK usually control their distinctive power as well as responsibilities, procedures and morals led by social and political impacts. The objective of the newspaper has been thus to attract huge audiences and contribute considerably on the social improvements at large. In this regards, The Sun generates value to the customers by offering sensible empirical evidences along with scrutinising the vital interrelation between entertainment and news. The Sun as a tabloid often generates huge attention in the UK by attracting criticism relating with various fields that include journalism, politics, finance as well as law. The newspaper subsists in dissimilar cultural and social settings that determine the chief dimensions of national variances. It has further been recognised that the overall newspaper market in the UK is dominated by the national tabloids that ultimately raises strong competition within the industry (Brichta, 2011). The role of The Sun as a tabloid can be illustrated by emphasising upon the media reporting in relation to case of Peter Connelly who is popularly acknowledged as Baby P. This particular coverage ultimately influenced the policy associated with child death cases due to the negligence and mistreatment in the UK. Notably, the newspaper played an imperative role in relation to the case of Baby P while determining the coverage of child deaths. It regarded itself as a major player in providing valuable information to the public or readers associated with social issues. This particular case possessed huge coverage levels that raised crucial concern about child abuse, debates in regard to the protection of the child and also generated discontentment amid the public about the role of the state in defending the children. In this context, according to Elsley (2010), The Sun reported that “No-One realised the danger he was in. And NO-ONE saved him”. This particular reporting by The Sun in the industry depicted that the concerned professionals were not performing their duties effectively. Thus, the newspaper had to witness negative responses from the professional readers, especially the social workers linked with the case of Baby P. However, the negative media coverage of The Sun relating with the case of Baby P ultimately imposed a noteworthy impact upon the social grounds in the UK (Elsley, 2010). It has been identified that The Sun published a larger number of articles in comparison with other tabloids which recorded 848 articles in reference to the case of Baby P. It possessed an influential power and deciphered immense responsibility concerning the need for societal developments making bold statements linked with the case which can be directly linked with the vision committed by Mr. Sydney Jacobson. The Sun raised its strong voice on the responsibilities of the professional workers instead of raising the particular fact as a conventional issue or rather providing any proposal or counsel which might have not created a long lasting impression on the minds of its audiences and thus would have faded within a short-while similar to any other unimportant news. As a result, various negative thoughts were generated amid the accused workers about the unprejudiced behaviour of the newspaper by a certain extent. Additionally, The Sun reported the case of Baby P in such a way that showed its grievance towards the professional workers along with other social workers associated with the case. This particular case once again reminded the case relating with the Conservative party in which The Sun acted as an unprejudiced personality by an extent (Rooney, 2010). Popularity of “The Sun” Among the Consumers The nationwide newspaper press in the UK is controlled by eight organisations out of which the influential organizations include the General Trust, News International and Daily Mail which possessed an accumulated market share of 55% in the year 2005. This entire national press of the UK is usually segregated into three particular sectors that include “middle market”, “quality” and “tabloid”. The Sun falls under the group of tabloids that holds the largest market share amid the nationwide daily newspapers in the UK. The Sun is often read by the individuals associated with skilled as well as unskilled occupations, even with the clerical workers. Furthermore, in the year 2009, it has been viewed that the circulation of The Sun in the tabloid market stood at 2,958,000 copies keeping behind its other major competitor in the tabloid segment i.e. of Daily Mirror. Notably, the circulation of the Daily Mirror was 1,260,000 copies which were quite lower in comparison to that of The Sun (Rooney, 2010). This in turn depicts that the newspaper has been widely accepted by the public as it offers amazing coverage of local or regional news, jobs, sports, community events, gossips of the celebrities and scandals to its valued customers or readers. Due to its remarkable features, the newspaper is viewed to be one of the largely circulated daily national newspapers in the world. Moreover, The Sun is also considered to be the chief daily circulated newspaper especially in the UK in comparison with its chief competitors. In the year 2012, the circulation of The Sun is amounted to 2,821, 618 copies that clearly depicts the popularity of the newspaper amid the consumers (Mondo Code LLC, 2012). Conclusion It can be stated that there lies immense power of the media possessing the ability to raise considerable public interest in relation to various issues or perspectives. The media often makes an essential involvement in the working procedure of a modern social system which includes several basic as well as sensitive political along with public perspectives. The various responsibilities of media are maintaining security and order, developing the cultural quality, serving the requirements of the government and preserving the aspects of international obligations along with human rights by a significant extent (Franklin, 2009). On the basis of the above discussed facets, The Sun acts as a tabloid in the print media industry of the UK which offers their readers with broad assortment of political, social as well as economic issues. The newspaper gained immense popularity amid the consumers due to its vision to disclose facts in an analytical manner rather than provide a narrative acclamation to the sequence of events. The support to the political party of Conservatives in their general selection and the case relating with Baby P ultimately raised its importance as a chief tabloid newspaper in the industry of the UK. References Authority of the House of Lords, 2008. The Ownership of the News. Volume I: Report. BBC, 2005. 1964: The Sun Newspaper Is Born. Stories. [Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15/newsid_3068000/3068749.stm [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Brichta, M. K., 2011. Background Contexts. Audience Responses to Tabloids in the UK and Germany. [Online] Available at: http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts1885/ts1885_1.pdf [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Curran, J. & Seaton, J., 2009. Power Without Responsibility: Press, Broadcasting and the Internet in Britain. Taylor & Francis. Dijk, T. A. V., 1995. Power. Power And The News Media. [Online] Available at: http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Power%20and%20the%20news%20media.pdf [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Elsley, S., 2010. Introduction. Briefings. [Online] Available at: http://www.childprotection.ed.ac.uk/publications/briefings/Briefing%208%20-%20Media%20&%20Child%20Deaths.pdf [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Franklin, B., 2009. The Future of Newspapers. Routledge. Mondo Code LLC, 2012. Sun. World. [Online] Available at: http://www.mondotimes.com/1/world/uk/142/4217/10392 [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Rooney, R., 2010. Discussions and Conclusions. News Media and Ideology in the UK. [Online] Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27250311/UK-News-Media-and-Ideology-Richard-Rooney [Accessed June 18, 2012]. Bibliography Eldridge, J., 1993. Getting the Message. Routledge. Fidler, R., 1997. Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media. Pine Forge Press. Read More