UK: The official yearbook of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland > 2003

Social and cultural affairs
17 The media and communications
41 million paid-for newspapers and distributes
over 29 million issues of free titles each week.
Over 90 per cent of local and regional titles are
now available online.
London has one paid-for evening paper, the
Evening Standard. Its publisher (Associated
Newspapers) also produces a free daily newspaper,
London Metro, launched in 1999. There are also
local weekly papers for every district in Greater
London; these are often different local editions of
one centrally published paper.
Around 650 free distribution newspapers, mostly
weekly and financed by advertising, are published
in the UK. Top free weekly titles include the
Manchester Metro News, Nottingham & Long Eaton
Topper and Edinburgh Herald & Post.
There is a broadly based daily and weekly
newspaper industry in Scotland covering local,
Scottish and UK as well as international issues.
The Daily Record has the highest circulation and
there are also broadsheet newspapers including
the Scotsman (based in Edinburgh) and the Herald
(in Glasgow). The press in Wales includes Welsh-
language and bilingual papers; Welsh community
newspapers receive an annual grant as part of the
Government’s wider financial support for the
Welsh language. Newspapers from the Irish
Republic, as well as the British national press, are
widely read in Northern Ireland.
Many newspapers and magazines in the UK are
produced by minority ethnic communities. Most
are published weekly, fortnightly or monthly. A
Chinese newspaper, Sing Tao, the Urdu Daily Jang
and the Arabic Al-Arab, however, are dailies. Afro-
Caribbean newspapers include The Gleaner, The
Voice, New Nation and Caribbean Times, each
published weekly. The Asian Times is an English
language weekly for people of Asian descent.
Publications also appear in other languages,
particularly Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi and Punjabi.
The fortnightly Asian Trader is a successful
business publication, while Cineblitz International
targets those interested in the South Asian film
industry.
The periodical press
There are around 9,000 separate periodical
publications that carry advertising. They are
generally classified as either ‘consumer’ titles,
offering readers leisure-time information and
entertainment, or ‘business and professional titles,
which provide people with material of relevance
to their working lives. Within the former category,
there are general consumer titles, which have a
wide appeal, and specialist titles, aimed specifically
at groups of people with particular interests, such
as motoring, sport or music. A range of literary
and political journals, appearing monthly or
quarterly, caters for a more academic readership.
There are also many in-house and customer
magazines produced by businesses or public
services for their employees and/or clients.
Press institutions
Trade associations include:
■ the UK Publishing Media, representing those
involved in local, regional and national
newspapers and publishers of business,
professional and consumer magazines;
■ the Scottish Daily Newspaper Society;
■ the Scottish Newspaper Publishers
Association; and
■ the Associated Northern Ireland Newspapers.
Other organisations representing the views of
those working in the media include:
■ the Society of Editors;
■ British Society of Magazine Editors;
■ National Union of Journalists;
■ Graphical Paper and Media Union;
■ Foreign Press Association; and
■ the Press Association, the national news
agency of the UK and Irish Republic.
A number of other British and foreign agencies
and news services have offices in London, and
there are smaller agencies based in other British
cities. Most regional agencies are members of the
National Association of Press Agencies.
Press Complaints Commission
A policy of press self-regulation, rather than
statutory control or a law of privacy, operates in
the UK. The Press Complaints Commission, a
non-statutory body whose 16 members are drawn
from both the public and the industry, deals with
complaints about the content and conduct of
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