British press and its information content

The life of a modern person cannot be imagined without such media as the press, radio, television, the Internet, which are unique in reaching a diverse audience and influence on it, in a variety of topics and, above all, in the volume and activity of the use of language, which is the main means communication with the reader, viewer, listener.

The enormous social significance of the media, and newspapers, in particular, in modern society determines the relevance of their comprehensive study, including an analysis of the language, style and characteristics of the presentation of material in newspaper articles. The first newspapers in Great Britain appeared over three hundred years ago. Today more than 130 daily and Sunday newspapers, 1800 weekly and more than 7000 periodicals are published. National newspapers have a circulation of over 13 million copies on weekends, and their readership is at least two more. The British press consists of various newspapers. National newspapers, which are sold throughout the country, are published in London. In the eighties of the last century, the circulation of national newspapers declined. Some of them were closed because they did not justify the funds allocated for their publication. Other newspapers, on the contrary, increased their circulation during the same years, for example, The Sun and The Daily Star.

Residents of the UK buy more newspapers on Sundays than on weekdays and therefore Sunday newspapers have a higher circulation than daily newspapers. In addition to these newspapers, there are also evening newspapers such as the Londons Evening Standard and the Evening News. Provincial or local newspapers are read by residents of small towns and localities outside London; some of them are quite famous, such as The Birmingham Post. Most newspapers have their own political point of view. They present on their pages opinions that support a particular political party or group.

There are two main types of national newspapers in the UK - quality ones like Quality, Broadsheets, Heavies and popular ones like Popular, Tabloids, Gutter Press. This division of newspapers took place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. After the introduction of the law on universal primary education, the preconditions for the emergence of a wider circle of readers arose, for whom mass newspapers were mainly intended, cheap and having large circulation, for example, the Daily Mail, Daily Express. Wealthy and well-educated readers clustered around The Times, The Daily Telegraph, which reflected the interests of the financial and industrial circles [3, с. 104].

The quality (elite) press and the popular (mainstream) press are considered the opinion press and the news press, respectively. These characteristics incorporate the features of the audience, style, design. Traditionally, the following British national daily newspapers are classified as high-quality: Financial Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent. Mass newspapers include the Daily Mirror, Daily Star, The Star, The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Today. Let's consider the main characteristics of these two types of newspapers.

Quality newspapers are large and more expensive than popular ones. They are characterized by analytical, balanced evaluations in publications, reliability of facts and validity of opinions, restraint, calm tone of messages. Quality newspapers report on national and international events, social and cultural issues. Dedicated pages are dedicated to sports news, financial newsletters, survey and reviews; there are also pages that publish material intended only for women [1, с. 68]. High-quality newspapers, analyzing and commenting on events, appeal to the logical thinking of their readers, which is possible only if people have a sufficiently high level of education. The articles are dominated by the emotional background of deep reflection, regularity; the author discusses, interviews with his readers. The texts of high-quality newspapers are characterized by such syntactic features as the use by the author of the article of isolated constructions, complex sentences, and long chains of definitions. Information about the main character of the article, as a rule, is in the first paragraph, and later the author of the article uses a proper name or a personal pronoun when he needs to make a reference to this hero. The hero himself remains, as it were, in the shadows. The analysis and assessment of his actions, as well as their comments, are brought to the fore. This syntactic structure, according to researchers, reflects the desire of high-quality press to cover events more objectively and give them a comprehensive analysis and assessment.

As already mentioned, the readership of popular and quality newspapers differs. According to sociological research, the readers of high-quality press are people in whose hands are economic and political power. They need detailed and reliable information in order to make decisions on its basis or use it in their work for other purposes. The middle class of Great Britain, with a high level of education and culture, prefers to read quality press. In addition, this press is read by those people who believe that in modern life it is important to know about what is happening in the world and to understand it well.

Popular newspapers are much smaller in size and quality, and their cost is much lower. They are distinguished by large, bright headlines that signal the subject of the publication. Very often, imperative sentences are used as headings, prompting readers to take action or calling to join one or another point of view. This is a manifestation of the journalist's desire to establish closer, informal relations with readers already with the help of the headline, what is commonly called “in group solidarity”. Articles are most often devoted to political, criminal, sporting events, unusual incidents. Publications that are small in volume draw readers' attention to the journalist's personal opinion about the events he is describing. Considerable attention is paid to scandals, gossip, details from the lives of famous people, including the royal family, descriptions of the lives of rich people. An abundance of photographs, color pictures, cartoons, comics is the main feature of the design of popular newspapers [4, c. 278-292].

Popular newspapers, to a greater extent than quality newspapers, are characterized by a wide use of the spoken language, slang. Journalists communicate with readers at ease, try to use their emotions in the process of reading an article, make extensive use of expressive means, thereby creating a kind of unofficial relationship between a journalist and readers. In the texts of popular newspapers, the emotional background of indignation, indignation prevails, and the assessment of the facts is often superficial. Of the syntactic features of articles in popular newspapers, it is necessary to note the frequent use of ellipsis. Many sentences begin with conjunctions and, or, nor, the connection between sentences is often artificial. The sentence structure is simpler, shorter than sentences from articles in quality newspapers. Mass newspapers strive to cover events from a personal and psychological perspective, to comment on the motives of the heroes' actions.

As noted by foreign researchers, readers choose the popular press based on their everyday experience, and they are more interested in materials that correspond to this experience. Sports, entertainment, scandals will quickly attract the attention of readers than political or economic events that are not a direct part of their lives and therefore are not of particular interest to them. As a rule, readers of popular newspapers are distinguished by a low educational level, right-wing political prejudices, and prejudices against women and immigrants from other countries.

So, as we can see, the readers of popular and high-quality newspapers differ quite significantly in their social characteristics. They choose this or that newspaper depending on their preferences, as well as social status and education. The difference between popular and quality newspapers reflects these differences in British society. However, it should be noted that we are not talking about a tough opposition and confrontation between popular and high-quality newspapers. In some cases, some publications can be printed in one or another type of press, but they both have some of their own linguistic features, which will be considered in detail in the practical part of this work. And now we would like to talk in more detail about some of the general features of the newspaper text.

To summarize, the British press consists of two main types of national newspapers - quality and popular. Most newspapers have their own political point of view and support a particular party or group. The quality press is considered the opinion press, the popular press the news press. Features of the audience, subject matter, style, design are included in these characteristics of the British press [2, c. 24].

Quality newspapers cover national and international events, social and cultural issues and many other issues. The articles are dominated by the analysis and assessment of events and actions, as well as their comments. Quality newspapers are distinguished by balanced assessments, reliability of facts, restraint, and a calm tone of messages. The readership of high-quality press is people in whose hands are economic and political power, people with a high level of education and culture.

Popular newspapers focus on criminal events, sports, unusual incidents, scandals, etc. An emotional background of indignation and indignation prevails in newspaper texts. Assessment of facts is often subjective and superficial. Journalists strive to establish close, informal relationships with readers, using various linguistic means. Readers of popular newspapers are distinguished by a low educational level, right-wing political prejudices, and prejudices.

Newspaper text has a variety of characteristics. This is the most important means of forming and reflecting public opinion, influencing directly or indirectly all socio-political processes in society. The newspaper text is characterized by a situational vision of life. The main functions of newspapers are informational and influencing, which are interrelated, since any information has an impact on a person, helping to form his point of view on events, and this influence is impossible without informing. The functions of information and influence are realized using the language of newspaper text, which is characterized by high standardization and expressiveness.