Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

The Mass Media: Fourth Estate or Fifth Column?

  • Chapter
Governing the UK in the 1990s

Abstract

The Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle called the press the ‘Fourth Estate of the Realm’. By this he meant that it acted as a sort of watchdog of the constitution and, as such, formed a vital part of democratic government. Most modern writers would agree that the mass media should play a central role in sustaining and developing democracy: the media should present a full, fair, and accurate account of the news, they should inform and educate the general public, and they should cover a wide range of political opinions and positions (Keane, 1992). Many modern writers, however, are concerned that the mass media no longer play their proper democratic role. They believe that far from being the fourth estate, the media are becoming a sort of fifth column that threatens democracy from within. Some commentators believe that the threat is strongest in Britain. This chapter considers the competing views of fourth estate and fifth column writers in modern Britain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, V. (1986) The Media and the Falklands Campaign (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Axford, B. (1992) ‘Leaders, Election and Television’ Politics Review, 1, pp. 17–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Committee on the Future of Broadcasting (1977) Cmnd 6753, p. 272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curran, J. and Seaton, J. (1985) Power Without Responsibility (London: Methuen).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavin, N. (1992) ‘Television News and the Economy: the Pre-Election Coverage’, Parliamentary Affairs, 45, pp. 596–611.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasgow University Media Group (1976) Bad News (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, M. (1985) TV News: Whose Bias? (Hermitage, Berks: Policy Journals).

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrop, M. and Scammell, M. (1992) ‘A Tabloid War’, in Butler D. and Kavanagh, D. (eds), The British General Election of1992 (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartley, N. et al. (1977) Concentration of Ownership in the Provincial Press, Cmnd 6810, Royal Commission on the Press, 1974–7, Research Series 5 (London: HMSO).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hetherington, A. (1985) News, Newspapers, and Television (London: Macmillan).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hollingsworth, M. (1986) The Press and Political Dissent (London: Pluto Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, S. (1986) The Market for Glory (London: Faber).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, N. (1986) Strikes and the Media: Communication and Conflict (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, J. (1991) The Media and Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, J. (1992) ‘Democracy and the Media — Without Foundations’, Political Studies, pp. 116–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellner, P. and Worcester, R. (1982) ‘Electoral Perceptions of Media Stance’, in Worcester, R. M. and Harrop, M. (eds), Political Communications (London: Allen & Unwin), pp. 57–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. (1991) Media and Voters (Oxford: Clarendon Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. (1992) ‘I am What I Read’, New Statesman and Society,-24 April.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milne, A. (1990) DG: Memoirs of a Broadcaster (Oxford: Clarendon Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Negrine, R. (1989) Politics and the Mass Media in Britain (London: Routledge).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Newton, K. (1989) ‘Neutrality and the Media’, in Goodin, R. E. and Reeve, A. (eds), Liberal Neutrality (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton, K. (1992) ‘Do People Read Everything They Believe in the Papers?: Newspapers and Voters in the 1983 and 1987 Elections’, in Crewe, I. et al. (eds), British Elections and Parties Yearbook1991 (Hemel Hempstead: Simon & Schuster).

    Google Scholar 

  • Peak, S. (ed.) (1992) The Media Guide (London: Fourth Estate).

    Google Scholar 

  • Royal Commission on the Press (1977) Cmnd 6810, p. 99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seymour-Ure, C. (1974) The Political Impact of the Mass Media (London: Constable).

    Google Scholar 

  • Seymour-Ure, C. (1991) The British Press and Broadcasting Since1945 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).

    Google Scholar 

  • Snoddy, R. (1993) The Good, the Bad and the Unacceptable: The Hard News about the British Press (London: Faber & Faber).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tunstall, J. (1983) The Media in Britain (London: Constable).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walters, P. (1989) ‘The Crisis of “Responsible” Broadcasting’, Parliamentary Affairs, 42. pp. 380–398.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, H. (1984) The Sunday Times, 18 March.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Kenneth Newton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Glasgow Caledonian University, UK

    Robert Pyper (Senior Lecturer in Public Administration) (Senior Lecturer in Public Administration)

  2. De Montfort University, UK

    Lynton Robins (Coordinator of Public Administration) (Coordinator of Public Administration)

Copyright information

© 1995 Kenneth Newton

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Newton, K. (1995). The Mass Media: Fourth Estate or Fifth Column?. In: Pyper, R., Robins, L. (eds) Governing the UK in the 1990s. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23899-6_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics