Britain: An official handbook > 1993

THE PRESS
circulations ranging from 20,000 to 134,000.
They are the News Letter (unionist), the Irish
News (nationalist), the evening Belfast
Telegraph, the Sunday News, Sunday Life and
Sunday World (Northern Ireland edition).
There are about 45 weeklies. Newspapers
from the Irish Republic, as well as the British
national press, are widely read in Northern
Ireland.
Free Distribution Newspapers
More than 750 free distribution newspapers,
mostly weekly and financed by advertising,
are published in Britain; over half are
produced by established newspaper
publishers. They have enjoyed rapid growth
in recent years and now have an estimated
total weekly circulation of about 37 million.
Ethnic Minority Publications
Over 60 newspapers and magazines in Britain
are produced by members of the ethnic
minorities. In the main these are published
weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Two Chinese
newspapers, Sing Tao and Wen Wei Po, the
Urdu Daily fang (see below) and the Arabic
Al-Arab, however, are dailies.
The Asian Times and Indiamail are English
language titles for people of Asian descent
and are published weekly; the Sikh Messenger
and Sikh Courier are both produced quarterly.
Afro-Caribbean newspapers include The
Weekly Gleaner, a local edition of the long-
established Jamaican Gleaner, and West Indian
Digest. The Voice and Caribbean Times, both
weeklies, are aimed at the black population in
general. The Weekly Journal, the first ‘quality’
broadsheet aimed at Britain’s black
community, was launched in April 1992.
Leading ethnic language newspapers in
Britain include the Urdu Daily Jang, an
offshoot of the largest circulation paper in
Pakistan, and the weekly Gujarat Samachar, a
Gujarati tabloid. Publications also appear in
Bengali (examples are the weeklies Jagoran
and Janomot)-, in Hindi (the weeklies Amar
Deep, Hind Samachar and Navin Weekly); and
in Punjabi (the weeklies Des Perdes and
Punjab Darpan and the monthlies Rachna and
Perdes an).
British provincial newspaper groups are
examining the possibility of printing special
editions for their local populations. In 1989
the Leicester Mercury started publication of a
daily Asian edition, incorporating news from
the South Asian sub-continent, while in
January 1992 The People produced the first
national newspaper especially for the Asian
community in Britain.
The Periodical Press
The 7,000 periodical publications are
classified as ‘consumer general interest’,
‘special interest’ and ‘business-to-business’.
There are also several hundred ‘house
magazines’ produced by industrial
undertakings, business houses or public
services for the benefit of their employees
and/or clients. Directories and similar
publications number more than 2,000. The
‘alternative’ press comprises a large number
of titles, many of them devoted to radical
politics, community matters, religion, the
occult, science or ecology.
Consumer general and specialist
periodicals comprise magazines for a wide
range of interests. These include women’s
magazines; publications for children; religious
periodicals; fiction magazines; magazines
dealing with sport, motoring, gardening,
teenage interests and pop music; hobbies;
humour; retirement; and computer
magazines. Also included are the publications
of learned societies, trade unions, regiments,
universities and other organisations.
The weekly periodicals with the highest
sales have traditionally been Radio Times and
TV Times, which carry full details of the
forthcoming week’s television and radio
programmes, including the satellite schedules.
The Radio Times/ TV Times listings duopoly
came to an end in early 1991, and the advent
of competition has led to a reduction in the
circulation figures of both magazines. In June
1992 the Radio Times had a circulation of
L6 million, the TV Times one of 11 million.
Rival publications include TV Quick and
What's on TV (L4 million). Of monthly
magazines, Reader’s Digest has the highest
circulation (L5 million).
Woman’s Weekly, Woman’s Own, Woman,
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