It isn’t of any surprise to me that there is only one broadsheet newspaper which is in the top 5 selling newspapers in the country. Newspapers like the guardian and the telegraph isn’t really a newspaper which everybody can read and is more towards a certain class i.e. the middle class and its unlikely your see an average person like a builder reading a paper like that. That is why The Sun is the best selling newspaper because its audience is the normal everyday person basically what is known as a commoner and outstrips the middle class by far. The broadsheet papers do cover the serious issues going on the world there will certainly be an article about it somewhere in the paper. But depending on the issue and how important they view it will be where it is put in the paper and amount of coverage it gets. As an avid reader of the sun I’ve seen what I think could be seen as important issues in a little column article whilst in other newspapers it’s been front page or at least given page coverage. But the way they set out the newspaper and amount of coverage they put in is because of what audience reads their newspaper and all paper will differ in that way.
I don’t pick up a newspaper and read it because it is full of stuff I don’t want to read or hear about I pick it up and read it because it’s the paper which gives me the stories which are interesting or worth reading. Reading The sun gives me the all the information about the important issues which I want to know about and if I don’t want to hear about it I will skip but it also gives me the other bits of news I would rather hear and finds better to read. Of course they need to cover the serious issues because it’s also a shock thing seeing it so people will pick it up and buy it to read about this serious issue. But everyone knows that depending on the views on the paper some information might not be said and it will be very biased towards what the owner of the paper thinks. To be honest I want to know about the big issues in the paper and find them interesting and its good knowing what is happening in the world around you. But I don’t want to sit there all day reading about doom and gloom not something which makes me happy that’s why I would like to be informed but also know weird funny news like a cat doing a pull up.

In a newspapers role though is to inform and let people know about the serious issues in the world because that is one of the main reasons they are about. I think it is a newspapers duty to let people know about all events going on all around the world especially as people who come here from foreign countries will want to know any news about their home country. If their role wasn’t to inform people about events or news about serious issues would there even be a point of newspapers? It’s even in their name. Although they can choose not to inform people about serious issues they mostly pick and choose which events to cover more or to put in mostly depending on what they think will sell more. I do think it is their role to do so but they will only think in terms of what will carry on selling papers. There might be a serious issue in somewhere not very well covered in the world which the paper might not view worth covering but the people might want to know about it or vice versa.
But this is then influenced by the owner and what the people will read and want to read so there has to be a balance and a sort of mutual agreement. But someone who has read the Sun for a long time isn’t just going to go that’s it I am switching over to The Telegraph it’s very unlikely to happen. This is because mainly the paper people read reflects their beliefs and what they think is right and wrong but it also influences their views as well. Such as recently I know the sun recently has stop supporting labour and has started to support David Cameron and the Conservatives and I pretty much guarantee that most of the readers have read this and have done the same thing. This is because of their role to inform people of the news in the way they view it and what they believe in a way which is very powerful and influential and people these days are like sheep they follow.
In my opinion I do believe that these shows do have a lot of influence in the country and that have a lot of power in the fields that they are in. Such as X-factor highest rating show in England people are obsessed with it and can never miss an episode of it and any person that now wins it is guaranteed to have a number hit at the Christmas time. Simon Cowell creator of the show is a very powerful man in the music industry because he knows exactly what he is doing and can create entertainment and hype about people which makes money. He is properly the only person in the country that could make" Jedward" stars in the UK as they are terrible performers but funny as hell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnyAUXx40tU
The other high rating shows is Coronation street on ITV which I cannot watch and don’t find it interesting or entertaining at all. But this show doesn’t have influence on the media or on the world you never hear in the news someone has copied something bad or good in Coronation Street in the news. Even if someone did decide to copy something or get influenced by the show it would be to sit at home and watch TV with a cuppa or to sit in the pub and chat and the last time I checked that isn’t a bad thing at all.

Most TV shows which actually have power and influence things in this country is normally actually in a positive manner. How many kids do you think watch the X-factor or Britain’s Got Talent and aspire to use their talent for something good or entertaining or to become a famous singer or dancer? So these sorts of shows should be given power and influence because it gets young people into good things and not into crime and gangs and stuff like that. Take away that influence they have people might just play Grand Theft Auto much more and decide to go on a killing rampage because they think its fun. So although I think these shows are very powerful and influential it is good because of the way they use it for positive stuff and not negative stuff.

With newspapers I think they do have influence in both a positive and negative way and they choose to use it to their advantage. Newspapers have views which they reflect onto other people in a way which changes their views to what they want people to believe which I think gives them no freedom to think for themselves. But it also their fault for following this influence and not ignoring it and having a mind of their own in a way. They are also very powerful in another way because their readers tend to have the same views if both the paper and readers don’t believe in something and want to change it they can sometimes have the power to change this. Especially in politics if people don’t agree with a decision and neither does the paper sometimes a petition will be made and the bigger it gets and more aware people become of it the more it puts pressure on political figures in this case. I know the sun have done quite a few of these in the last few years which have made people change their decision or even give tougher sentences to people.
The way that news tabloids have got this power and influence on some decisions is because of the way people have felt they have been treated and don’t feel like they have a voice. So to encourage people to come together basically makes it into one big voice which then people cannot ignore no more so the more people get disgruntled and make a issue out of something to more people cannot ignore it. Besides we are the people paying tax and make the economy keep going and so people don’t want to be ignored even if they are giving news tabloids their power which increases their power and influence. So although I agree they are given too much power they mostly use it for positive influence and in ways that people want to and if people were happy and not fed up of not being listened to or ignored them maybe these parties wouldn’t have as much power and influence as they have now.
Leave on a lighter note that I think Stacey should win X-factor as I think she deserves it more than the other people in the competition.