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Newspaper Ownership

HugalHugal Shipmate
in Purgatory
The German company Axel Springer has bought the Telegraph here in the UK. They are a pro EU company in Berlin. The Telegraph leans quite to the right and supported Brexit and staying out. The company says that the paper will have editorial independence. One cannot help but wonder how much things will change anyway. Will there be some kind of influence by osmosis.
How much does ownership influence the editorial position of a newspaper? Do editors have a lot of independence?

Comments

  • DafydDafyd Hell Host
    As I understand it, Axel Springer also lean quite to the right - it's just in the German context that's compatible with supporting the EU.
  • LouiseLouise Epiphanies Host
    That's my understanding too.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    It seems that every time another newspaper (or other media outlet) gets bought up by some mega-rich individual or existing media empire the new owners talk about "editorial independence". I've yet to actually see it, though quite often the new owner bought that particular outlet because the existing editorial policy is in line with their views and nothing much changes.
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Dafyd wrote: »
    As I understand it, Axel Springer also lean quite to the right - it's just in the German context that's compatible with supporting the EU.
    Dafyd wrote: »
    As I understand it, Axel Springer also lean quite to the right - it's just in the German context that's compatible with supporting the EU.
    There was no incompatibility between those positions in the UK until the morons grabbed the steering wheel after that wretched referendum in 2016.

  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    So do owners have influence? Do they buy a paper that matches their views?
    I love the irony of a pro Brexit paper being owned by a pro EU company.
  • ThunderBunkThunderBunk Shipmate
    Looking the other way round, the Daily Express being owned by the same company as the Daily Mirror has not changed the views expressed (no puns intended). It depends on whether they throw their weight around - look at what's happened to the Washington Post since Bezos bought it. It's been hollowed out and become a Trump-supporters' mouthpiece.
  • chrisstileschrisstiles Hell Host
    edited March 28
    ThunderBunk wrote: »
    Looking the other way round, the Daily Express being owned by the same company as the Daily Mirror has not changed the views expressed

    The Express has moved away from outrage journalism towards more 'mainstream' rightwing positions over that time.
  • SandemaniacSandemaniac Shipmate
    chrisstiles wrote: »
    ThunderBunk wrote: »
    Looking the other way round, the Daily Express being owned by the same company as the Daily Mirror has not changed the views expressed

    The Express has moved away from outrage journalism towards more 'mainstream' rightwing positions over that time.

    Given that it's front page headline today was based on an utterance by Farage, I remain to be convinced.

    Mind you, I hold it in the same regard as the Mail*, so it's very rare I ever pay it any attention at all, I may just have spotted a particularly egregious front page.

    * ie I wouldn't wipe my arse with it for fear of defiling my shit.
  • chrisstileschrisstiles Hell Host
    Sandemaniac wrote: »
    Given that it's front page headline today was based on an utterance by Farage, I remain to be convinced.

    That's where the mainstream right in the UK is these days.
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    chrisstiles wrote: »
    Sandemaniac wrote: »
    Given that it's front page headline today was based on an utterance by Farage, I remain to be convinced.

    That's where the mainstream right in the UK is these days.

    You beat me to it. Mainstream right has moved to the right. That said Farage and co are losing pace. Some commentators are calling it right wing fatigue.
  • Jane RJane R Shipmate
    Spewing that amount of bile must be exhausting, but I'll save my sympathy for their victims.
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Hugal wrote: »
    chrisstiles wrote: »
    Sandemaniac wrote: »
    Given that it's front page headline today was based on an utterance by Farage, I remain to be convinced.
    That's where the mainstream right in the UK is these days.
    You beat me to it. Mainstream right has moved to the right. That said Farage and co are losing pace. Some commentators are calling it right wing fatigue.
    Not sure that is quite a true as people allege. It depends whether you accept Farage's attempts to label himself and his followers as 'centre-right' , rather than 'hard and opportunistic right' to be more accurate. And if you are worried that leaves nothing to describe people who are even harder right, that still leaves one 'extreme right' to describe the relatively small and irrelevant political equivalent of Tiber-jumpers and 'extremist right' for the likes of Yaxley-Lennon.

    What is more worrying is that with it becoming increasingly difficult to see what differentiates Badenoch's rump Conservatives and Farage's lot, there is either a large cluster of those who used to vote Conservative but have been deserted by the modern version of itself, or they have all followed that same path into the turquoise ether. Since, along with religion, politics is something that notoriously British people aren't supposed to talk about, I don't think anyone really knows.

  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    edited April 12
    I understand the above thread is talking mostly about the ownership of British Newspapers. Maybe your papers can do what the Spokane newspaper did.

    The Spokesman‑Review became a nonprofit newspaper because the Cowles family—its longtime owners—created a nonprofit community foundation to hold the newspaper and ensure its long‑term survival, independence, and civic mission.
    This move protects the paper from hedge‑fund buyouts, preserves local journalism, and allows it to receive philanthropic support.

    A nonprofit newspaper can: receive tax‑deductible donations; apply for journalism grants; build endowments; partner with universities and civic groups; operate without pressure to deliver profits to shareholders.

    This stabilizes revenue in an era when advertising alone can’t sustain a newsroom.

    Other US papers that have done this is

    The Salt Lake Tribune

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (via the Lenfest Institute)

    The Baltimore Banner

    The Texas Tribune
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    The Guardian is owned by a trust, but there is nothing to encourage or compel the owners of other papers to do the same.
  • Schroedingers CatSchroedingers Cat Shipmate
    There is no such thing as editorial independence. At least not in an authoritarian country (which we are - less so than some, but still moving there). Not least because they have to sell papers, and that means they have to print things that people want to pay money for.

  • DavidDavid Shipmate
    edited April 12
    Arethosemyfeet wrote: »
    The Guardian is owned by a trust, but there is nothing to encourage or compel the owners of other papers to do the same.

    No it isn't. The Scott Trust was wound up in 2008 and its assets transferred to a limited company, Scott Trust Ltd.
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    My OP is for any paper from any country
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    David wrote: »
    Arethosemyfeet wrote: »
    The Guardian is owned by a trust, but there is nothing to encourage or compel the owners of other papers to do the same.

    No it isn't. The Scott Trust was wound up in 2008 and its assets transferred to a limited company, Scott Trust Ltd.

    You're quite right, thank you for the correction.

    The legal structure is now a limited company, but it's not a profit making entity and it retains a constitution that offers some protection from potential takeover or corruption.
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