British newspapers have a long history. Perhaps the most famous of them, “The Times”, started publication in 1785. Now, like all the major newspapers, you can buy it at newsstands or read it online. Unlike the case in the USA, all the important newspapers in the UK are national newspapers and you can get them everywhere. In addition, there are a large number of local newspapers and, especially in London, free newspapers. All of them almost without exception have online versions. As a result, sales of newspapers fall continually because it is easier and quicker to read them through the net.

Until the 1980s, Fleet Street in the City of London was the home of nearly all the national newspapers and was a place of intense activity, day and night. Although the newspapers have now moved to different areas of London because of problems with space, the term Fleet Street is still used as a synonym for the British national press.

British newspapers are all independent of political parties, although they present views ranging from right-wing to left-wing politics, and can be divided into two groups, the quality newspapers, like “The Guardian” and “The Daily Telegraph”, and the popular newspapers, like “The Daily Mail” and “The Sun”. As you can imagine, the popular ones have a higher circulation than the quality ones because of their style and the fact that they are not so serious in tone.

Welsh is spoken by more than 22% of the population in Wales and there are several newspapers in the language; furthermore, there are now daily newspapers in Polish and Chinese and weeklies in many other languages, due to the multicultural panorama of Britain today.

One popular newspaper that existed for over 150 years was forced to close in 2011 over allegations of phone hacking, bribery and corruption. That was the “News of the World” and its story shows how important it is for newspapers to be honest and correct, otherwise they will be in serious trouble...