Practice 2 The British are the most voracious newspaper readers in the world. They read newspapers at breakfast; they walk to the bus reading a newspaper; they read a newspaper on the bus, as they go to work; and on the way back home, after work, they are engrossed in an evening newspaper. There are many “morning papers”, both national and provincial. The most famous is The Times. Contrary to what many foreigners believe, this is not a government newspaper. The various newspapers usually have their own views on politics, but they are not organs of the political parties, with the exception of the Communist Morning Star. Bold headlines and a variety of photographs are features of the British press. Some newspapers, such as the sober Daily Telegraph and The Times (which belong to the “quality press’’) use photographs sparingly. The more “popular” newspapers, using the small or “tabloid” format, such as the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and The Sun, use pictures extensively and also run strip-cartoons and humorous drawings, some of which present striking pictorial comment on politics. Besides offering features common to newspapers all over the world, British newspapers specialize in pages devoted to criticism of the arts and a woman’s page. One feature found in many foreign newspapers is missing in British papers: the serial. Nearly all papers pay special attention to the reporting of sport and athletics. The evening newspapers (the first editions of which appear in the morning!) are often bought because the purchaser wants to know the winner of a race, or to get a good tip for a race that is still to be run. There is no censorship of the press in Britain (except in wartime), though of course all newspapers-like private persons-are responsible for what they publish, and be sued for libel for publishing articles that go beyond the bounds of decency, or for “contempt for court” (e. g. calling man a murderer while he is still being tried). Such lawsuits are infrequent. The population of the United Kingdom is now over 55,000,000. About 17,500,000 newspapers are sold every day. The British people, therefore, are great readers of newspapers. There are few homes to which one newspaper is not delivered every morning. Many households have two, or even three, newspapers every day. One newspaper may be delivered at the house, a member of the family may buy one at the station bookstall to read in the train as he goes to town, and someone else in the family may buy an evening newspaper later in the day.
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