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Journalism covers a massive range of output across all media and is recognizable as a form of communication in almost every country of the world. It is estimated that 80 per cent of adults in Britain read at least one national newspaper regularly, and 75 per cent read a Sunday newspaper (McNair, 1999: 19). Most people rely on journalism for surveillance – to inform them about what is going on in the world.
Very few have direct experience of events and, just as importantly, they need to know what has not happened – if, when they wake and hear the breakfast-time bulletin leading on a relatively 'unexciting' story, they can be satisfied that 'nothing much has happened overnight. Journalism also has an important influence on their views and attitudes.
Most people cite television as their most important source of news (ibid.) even if, as we have seen, audiences for the main TV news programmes have declined in recent years. As will be argued in Chapter 7, radio remains an essential source of news for most people, with almost all stations carrying a regular news service, and has a unique strength and some limitations as a news media. Then, of course, there are hundreds of local and regional newspapers, periodicals of all kinds and, increasingly important, online/Internet services.
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