News - The Purpose of News

What is the purpose of news?:

• Entertain
• Profit
• Influence/Persuade
• Educate
• Inform

Facts:

• Newspapers are NOT PSB (like the BBC) they are in fact commercial publications. Over three quarters (77.8%) of the British press is owned by a handful of billionaires. Over a quarter (27.3%) of the press is owned by Lord Rothmere and 24.9% is owned by Rupert Murdoch - between them the two of these men have over 50% of the printed press.
• Newspapers and their online publications (example of synergy/convergence) are not legally obligated to provide and un-biased public information service. There are ethical and moral codes of press conduct but the printed press is self regulatory industry.

The History of News:

• News used to be something that was only to be watched and witnessed, but now people can engage far much more. People can not only read news, they can also share news or create news.
• 150 years ago the French Revolution occurred, and they wanted freedom of the press so that the views and opinions of the common public could be spread freely without bias. England later adopted this.