The British media has always been a provocateur of it's audience. Every since I have been able to read (yes make a witty remark now) I have found the British media, press to be more specific, to be completely frustrating. I remember asking my father as a child, why the newspapers always had negative stories as the headlines on the front page. His reply was something like, thats how they sell them. Confusing for a child.
Now I realise he may have had a point, as the British press works almost like the Greek tragedies, it's all about the drama and shock of the story not necessarily about the actual people involved, reporting the news, or changes in history. It's just the same as reading a fictional book.
Today I saw this article on the front of the daily mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1320545/Sledgehammer-gangs-daring-daylight-jewellery-raid-foiled-50-angry-shoppers.html
Firstly it grabbed my attention as my dad used to work in shops like this and had many incidents with organised crime gangs, and secondly the fact that it was shoppers on the street that actually helped stop this. What a surprise (adding a bit of drama to a rather common story).
It is funny however, the different varieties of newspapers. The Guardian stands out to me as quite an opinion based newspaper, where as in complete contrast the Daily mail (above) is an entertainment paper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/14/hate-hipsters-blogs
(This article in itself is doing something quite interesting, it is provoking it's own audience to comment and defend their social status how very sneaky of you Guardian!)
My main point of this post, it when did this segmentation of the British press happen, and why does it exist. All answers below please.
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