Censorship

 in the UK, we say we have free press meaning we don't have a system which prevents the news from posting what they want. However, if a story can be harmful to the public a paper may be authorised to not report it. An editor can also decide what is published to a paper and what is not, if a paper is right-wing leaning, the editor may remove any stories which paint right wing politicians in a bad light.

why is it important we have access to the news

• to be informed 
• to be educated
• to be challenged on your opinions
• to be able to participate in discussion

The press are often referred to as the fourth estate (the other three being the church, the state, the nobility and commoners) to reflect just how important they are in our society.

Bulmer and Katz theorized that people use media because it gratifies a particular need- they get something from it. This is called the uses of gratification theory. They came up with 4 categories:

• Diversion- escape from your routine and problems
• personal relationships- to be able to be apart of the conversation
• personal identity- to reinforce your values or change the way you feel about things
• information- to check factors which my affect your or to stay up to date

Is news important in 2020

I believe that news is more important than ever, especially in the current climate and pandemic. Journalists keep everyone informed and prevent people like politicians, media personalities and other powerful people from doing whatever they want.

"Newspapers used to own a story for 24 hours, now they own a story for 24 seconds".

• newspapers used to publish a big story each day and no other paper could replicate that.