United Kingdom

Cultural life > Media and publishing

The communications media—press, publishing, broadcasting, and entertainment—reach audiences ranging from the millions for television, radio, and national newspapers to small minorities for local papers, specialist periodicals, or experimental theatre and film. In addition to their presence in print, most newspapers disseminate information through the Internet, to which access grew rapidly during the late 1990s. By the early 21st century about one-third of all households had personal computers with access to the Internet.

• ·
  Introduction
• ·
  Land
  • ·
    Relief
    • ·
      The highland zone
    • ·
      The lowland zone
  • ·
    Drainage
  • ·
    Soils
  • ·
    Climate
  • ·
    Plant and animal life
• ·
  People
  • ·
    Ethnic groups
  • ·
    Languages
  • ·
    Religion
  • ·
    Settlement patterns
    • ·
      Rural settlement
    • ·
      Urban settlement
  • ·
    Demographic trends
    • ·
      Population growth
    • ·
      Migration patterns
• ·
  Economy
  • ·
    Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
    • ·
      Agriculture
    • ·
      Forestry
    • ·
      Fishing
  • ·
    Resources and power
    • ·
      Minerals
    • ·
      Energy
  • ·
    Manufacturing
  • ·
    Finance
  • ·
    Trade
  • ·
    Services
  • ·
    Labour and taxation
  • ·
    Transportation and telecommunications
• ·
  Government and society
  • ·
    Constitutional framework
  • ·
    Regional government
  • ·
    Local government
  • ·
    Justice
  • ·
    Political process
  • ·
    Security
  • ·
    Health and welfare
    • ·
      The National Health Service
    • ·
      Cash benefits
  • ·
    Housing
  • ·
    Education
    • ·
      Primary and secondary education
    • ·
      Private schools
    • ·
      Higher education
• ·
  Cultural life
  • ·
    Daily life and social customs
  • ·
    The arts
  • ·
    Cultural institutions
  • ·
    Sports and recreation
  • ·
    Media and publishing
    • ·
      Newspapers
    • ·
      Broadcasting
• ·
  History
  • ·
    Ancient Britain
    • ·
      Pre-Roman Britain
      • ·
        Neolithic Period
      • ·
        Bronze Age
      • ·
        Iron Age
    • ·
      Roman Britain
      • ·
        The conquest
      • ·
        Condition of the province
        • ·
          Army and frontier
        • ·
          Administration
      • ·
        Roman society
        • ·
          Economy
        • ·
          Towns
        • ·
          Villas
        • ·
          Religion and culture
      • ·
        The decline of Roman rule
  • ·
    Anglo-Saxon England
    • ·
      The invaders and their early settlements
      • ·
        The social system
      • ·
        The conversion to Christianity
      • ·
        The golden age of Bede
    • ·
      The heptarchy
      • ·
        The supremacy of Northumbria and the rise of Mercia
      • ·
        The great age of Mercia
      • ·
        The church and scholarship in Offa's time
      • ·
        The decline of Mercia and the rise of Wessex
    • ·
      The period of the Scandinavian invasions
      • ·
        Viking invasions and settlements
      • ·
        Alfred's government and his revival of learning
    • ·
      The achievement of political unity
      • ·
        The reconquest of the Danelaw
      • ·
        The kingdom of England
      • ·
        The church and the monastic revival
    • ·
      The Anglo-Danish state
      • ·
        The Danish conquest and the reigns of the Danish kings
      • ·
        The reign of Edward the Confessor and the Norman Conquest
  • ·
    The Normans (1066–1154)
    • ·
      William I (1066–87)
      • ·
        Resistance and rebellion
      • ·
        The introduction of feudalism
      • ·
        Government and justice
      • ·
        Church–state relations
      • ·
        William's accomplishments
    • ·
      The sons of William I
      • ·
        William II Rufus (1087–1100)
      • ·
        Henry I (1100–35)
    • ·
      The period of anarchy (1135–54)
      • ·
        Matilda and Stephen
      • ·
        Civil war
    • ·
      England in the Norman period
  • ·
    The early Plantagenets
    • ·
      Henry II (1154–89)
      • ·
        Government of England
      • ·
        Struggle with Thomas Becket
      • ·
        Rebellion of Henry's sons and Eleanor of Aquitaine
    • ·
      Richard I (1189–99)
    • ·
      John (1199–1216)
      • ·
        Loss of French possessions
      • ·
        Struggle with the papacy
      • ·
        Revolt of the barons and Magna Carta
      • ·
        Economy and society
  • ·
    The 13th century
    • ·
      Henry III (1216–72)
      • ·
        Minority
      • ·
        Early reign
      • ·
        The county communities
      • ·
        Simon de Montfort and the Barons' War
      • ·
        Later reign
    • ·
      Edward I (1272–1307)
      • ·
        Law and government
      • ·
        Finance
      • ·
        The growth of Parliament
      • ·
        Edward's wars
      • ·
        Domestic difficulties
    • ·
      Social, economic, and cultural change
  • ·
    The 14th century
    • ·
      Edward II (1307–27)
    • ·
      Edward III (1327–77)
      • ·
        The Hundred Years' War, to 1360
      • ·
        Domestic achievements
      • ·
        Law and order
      • ·
        The crises of Edward's later years
    • ·
      Richard II (1377–99)
      • ·
        The Peasants' Revolt (1381)
      • ·
        John Wycliffe
      • ·
        Political struggles and Richard's deposition
    • ·
      Economic crisis and cultural change
  • ·
    Lancaster and York
    • ·
      Henry IV (1399–1413)
      • ·
        The rebellions
      • ·
        Henry and Parliament
    • ·
      Henry V (1413–22)
      • ·
        The French war
      • ·
        Domestic affairs
    • ·
      Henry VI (1422–61 and 1470–71)
      • ·
        Domestic rivalries and the loss of France
      • ·
        Cade's rebellion
      • ·
        The beginning of the Wars of the Roses
    • ·
      Edward IV (1461–70 and 1471–83)
    • ·
      Richard III (1483–85)
    • ·
      England in the 15th century
  • ·
    England under the Tudors
    • ·
      Henry VII (1485–1509)
      • ·
        Economy and society
      • ·
        Dynastic threats
      • ·
        Financial policy
      • ·
        The administration of justice
    • ·
      Henry VIII (1509–47)
      • ·
        Cardinal Wolsey
      • ·
        The king's “Great Matter”
      • ·
        The Reformation background
      • ·
        The break with Rome
      • ·
        The consolidation of the Reformation
      • ·
        The expansion of the English state
      • ·
        Henry's last years
    • ·
      Edward VI (1547–53)
    • ·
      Mary I (1553–58)
    • ·
      Elizabeth I (1558–1603)
      • ·
        The Tudor ideal of government
      • ·
        Elizabethan society
      • ·
        Mary, Queen of Scots
      • ·
        The clash with Spain
      • ·
        Internal discontent
  • ·
    The early Stuarts and the Commonwealth
    • ·
      England in 1603
      • ·
        Economy and society
      • ·
        Government and society
    • ·
      James I (1603–25)
      • ·
        Triple monarchy
      • ·
        Religious policy
      • ·
        Finance and politics
      • ·
        Factions and favourites
    • ·
      Charles I (1625–49)
      • ·
        The politics of war
      • ·
        Peace and reform
      • ·
        Religious reform
      • ·
        The Long Parliament
      • ·
        Civil war and revolution
      • ·
        Commonwealth and Protectorate
  • ·
    The later Stuarts
    • ·
      Charles II (1660–85)
      • ·
        The Restoration
      • ·
        War and government
      • ·
        The Popish Plot
      • ·
        The exclusion crisis and the Tory reaction
    • ·
      James II (1685–88)
      • ·
        Church and king
      • ·
        The Revolution of 1688
    • ·
      William III (1689–1702) and Mary II (1689–94)
      • ·
        The revolution settlement
      • ·
        A new society
      • ·
        The sinews of war
    • ·
      Anne (1702–14)
      • ·
        Whigs and Tories
      • ·
        Tories and Jacobites
  • ·
    18th-century Britain, 1714–1815
    • ·
      The state of Britain in 1714
    • ·
      Britain from 1715 to 1742
      • ·
        The supremacy of the Whigs
      • ·
        Robert Walpole
        • ·
          George II and Walpole
        • ·
          Foreign policy
        • ·
          Religious policy
        • ·
          Economic policies
      • ·
        The electoral system
      • ·
        Walpole's loss of power
    • ·
      Britain from 1742 to 1754
      • ·
        The Jacobite rebellion
      • ·
        The rule of the Pelhams
      • ·
        Domestic reforms
    • ·
      British society by the mid-18th century
      • ·
        Joseph Massie's categories
      • ·
        Urban development
      • ·
        Change and continuity
      • ·
        The revolution in communications
    • ·
      Britain from 1754 to 1783
      • ·
        Conflict abroad
      • ·
        Political instability in Britain
      • ·
        The American Revolution
      • ·
        Domestic responses to the American Revolution
    • ·
      Britain from 1783 to 1815
      • ·
        William Pitt the Younger
      • ·
        Economic growth and prosperity
      • ·
        The Industrial Revolution
      • ·
        Britain during the French Revolution
      • ·
        The Napoleonic Wars
      • ·
        Imperial expansion
  • ·
    Great Britain, 1815–1914
    • ·
      Britain after the Napoleonic Wars
      • ·
        State and society
      • ·
        The political situation
    • ·
      Early and mid-Victorian Britain
      • ·
        State and society
      • ·
        The political situation
        • ·
          Whig reforms
        • ·
          Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League
        • ·
          Peel and the Peelite heritage
        • ·
          Palmerston
        • ·
          Gladstone and Disraeli
      • ·
        Economy and society
      • ·
        Cultural change
        • ·
          The development of private life
        • ·
          Religion
        • ·
          Leisure
    • ·
      Late Victorian Britain
      • ·
        State and society
      • ·
        The political situation
        • ·
          Gladstone and Chamberlain
        • ·
          The Irish question
        • ·
          Split of the Liberal Party
        • ·
          Imperialism and British politics
        • ·
          The return of the Liberals
        • ·
          The international crisis
      • ·
        Economy and society
      • ·
        Family and gender
      • ·
        Mass culture
  • ·
    Britain from 1914 to the present
    • ·
      The political situation
      • ·
        World War I
        • ·
          The Asquith coalition
        • ·
          Lloyd George
      • ·
        Between the wars
        • ·
          The election of 1918
        • ·
          Harsh peace and hard times
        • ·
          Ireland and the return of the Conservatives
        • ·
          The Baldwin era
        • ·
          Baldwin and the abdication crisis
        • ·
          Foreign policy and appeasement
      • ·
        World War II
        • ·
          The phases of war
        • ·
          Political developments
      • ·
        Britain since 1945
        • ·
          Labour and the welfare state (1945–51)
        • ·
          Economic crisis and relief (1947)
        • ·
          Withdrawal from the empire
        • ·
          Conservative government (1951–64)
        • ·
          Labour interlude (1964–70)
        • ·
          The return of the Conservatives (1970–74)
        • ·
          Labour back in power (1974–79)
        • ·
          Thatcherism (1979–90)
        • ·
          John Major (1990–97)
        • ·
          New Labour and after (since 1997)
    • ·
      Society, state, and economy
      • ·
        State and society
      • ·
        Economy and society
      • ·
        Family and gender
      • ·
        Mass culture
• ·
  Sovereigns of Britain
• ·
  Prime ministers of Great Britain and the United Kingdom
• ·
  Additional Reading
  • ·
    Geography
    • ·
      Land and people
    • ·
      Economy
    • ·
      Administration and social conditions
    • ·
      Cultural life
  • ·
    History
    • ·
      General works
    • ·
      Ancient Britain
    • ·
      The Anglo-Saxon period
    • ·
      England from 1066 to 1485
    • ·
      England in the 16th century
    • ·
      Britain in the 17th century
    • ·
      Britain, 1714–1815
    • ·
      Britain, 1815–1914
    • ·
      Britain since 1914