Here you will find links to a variety of newspapers with the emphasis on value in the classroom - not as sources of news! See How to … work with newspapers for particular ideas. Hence the list begins with local and regional papers. You will also find some discussion of the context of the different types of newspapers where this is societally-specific and not obviously understood outside the UK. Buying and reading newspapers, although not as widespread as previously, is still a very popular custom and many still have the morning papers delivered to the door by school children who do it as a part-time job. Polish equivalent sites are given where possible as they provide excellent material for intercultural activities. For general media sites and books on the press see Media Links.

Media UK www.mediauk.com see website review - from here you can find links to over 900 different UK newspapers. If there is no direct link below to the one you want - here is where to find it. For a similar site giving links to the Polish press, try Onet media.onet.pl. For a brief introduction to the UK press Media UK has an article www.mediauk.com/directory/newspapers.

To find news and discussion of current issues in the press perhaps the best place is the Media Guardian media.guardian.co.uk. Up-to-date circulation figures can be found at media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/ at ABC circulation figures (down page) or via the Condé Nast ‘box’

A note on local and regional newspapers

Local newspapers have great value when investigating an aspect of life in the UK because they address people like the learners themselves on issues that are familiar to their lives. They also give an immediate sense of reality by showing specific impacts of wider issues (e.g. a national sports victory by a local team or the implications of a change in government policy on specific local schools or factories), and have the space to give a fuller picture.

In local newspapers an item may ‘run’ for several days allowing you to follow the progress of a story, items may appear in editorials, in columns or on letter pages (thus offering competing points of view). There may be more pictures and interviews as well as case studies of the impact on individuals’ lives. For teachers this may give material which is more accessible and possibly in more ‘natural’ language than the nationals. One warning: most papers unfortunately put less news on their websites than their published editions.

City evening papers

These appear on the streets from about noon with two or three editions appearing before the last arrives in time for the rush hour around 5 pm. They are often sold from stands on street corners, in bus and railway stations etc, as well as in newsagents. Every city has one and they are very popular. For a time there was competition from free newspapers funded from advertising and delivered to your door (whether you wanted them or not). Few have survived however.

A major function is their ‘small ads’/ ‘classifieds’ where a great deal of local buying and selling takes place, as well as finding a place to rent, a part time job and so on. They also give news which has happened during the day, discussion of local issues and events and the impact of national news on the local area - they are particularly good and detailed on local sport. On many days they have special supplements e.g. on jobs, buying and selling cars, houses and so on - similar to those in Poland, and these provide an excellent material for contrasts with those in Polish papers.

Some examples

The pattern ‘www.thisis(county name).co.uk’ may give a number of other local/ regional papers, or try ‘http://ic(city name).icnetwork.co.uk’.

Regional dailies

These newspapers serve the areas outside major cities - small towns and the countryside, and are morning papers delivered with the national dailies. They will always have some pages of international and national news but their focus is on the region with a strong regional, often traditional, identity which is reflected in their readers. Their editorials and columns often strongly emphasise regional interests against the national.

Some examples

The Western Morning News www.westernmorningnews.co.uk for Devon and Cornwall
The Northern Echo www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk for Northumberland and Durham
The Yorkshire Post www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

Polish equivalent sites

There is less distinction between local and regional papers in Poland and none appear in the evening like those of UK cities. Regional dailies have their own websites e.g.

· Dziennik Łódzki www.dziennikl.lodz.pl

· Gazeta Krakowska www.gk.pl

· Dziennik Bałtyki www.dziennikbaltycki.pl

· Gazeta Wrocławska www.gazetawroclawska.pl

· Gazeta Poznańska www.gp.pl

· Kurier Lublin www.kurier.lublin.pl

· Trybuna Śląska www.trybuna.slaska.pl

· Express Bydgoski www.express.bydgoski.pl

Wirtualna Polska produce www.gratka.pl with lots of the Polish equivalent of the ‘classified’ adverts (small ads) in local UK papers. They also produce www.naszemiasto.pl with home pages on many different Polish cities with links to local newspapers, entertainment guides, news etc. The pattern http://(city name).naszemiasto.pl will probably give you details on the location you want.

National dailies and Sunday papers

All national daily papers are published in London - on Fridays and Saturdays they have extensive weekend supplements. All Sunday newspapers are owned by the same companies as their daily equivalents, but are independent with have their own editors and journalists. They are separate newspapers not Sunday editions however most make use of the same websites so the difference is not obvious. Sunday newspapers have a bigger circulation than dailies and they can be very large with many separate sections - some of them magazines. Reading them is a typical UK Sunday pastime in many households - ‘catching up on the news’.

Broadsheets

· The Guardian www.guardian.co.uk + The Observer - see website review

Known as Guardian Unlimited it has an excellent and very useful free archive

· The Independent www.independent.co.uk + The Sunday Independent

· The Times www.timesonline.co.uk + The Sunday Times - see website review

A large site but the archive however is very expensive

· The Daily Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk + The Sunday Telegraph

The Financial Times news.ft.com

Tabloids

The following published by The Times can be reached via www.timesonline.co.uk

The Times Literary Supplement (TLS)
The Times Educational Supplement (TES)
The Times Higher Educational Supplement (THES)

Special interest papers (not magazines)

There are a number of these including:

The Church Times www.churchtimes.co.uk the Church of England’s weekly paper
Racing Post www.racingpost.co.uk (in fact daily) for everything about horse racing
New Musical Express www.nme.com the ever-popular popular music weekly
Private Eye www.private-eye.co.uk the long-running satirical weekly
Exchange and Mart www.exchangeandmart.co.uk for buying and selling - especially cars

Polish equivalent sites

Warsaw Voice www.warsawvoice.pl is written by Polish journalists and then professionally translated into English. Aimed primarily at wealthy business foreigners in Poland.

The Warsaw Voice presents Poland in English to an international audience (not only English-speaking natives but those using it as a lingua franca too). What do you think?

- Does it give a just presentation?

- Does it promote Polish interests?

- Does it reflect the values of those referred to in the content or the values of its international readers?

Can the English language give an understanding of Polish society to non-Poles?

London

The Standard www.thisislondon.co.uk a daily evening paper often bought for reading on the long commuter journey home by train or tube

· Time Out www.timeout.com/london a cultural and entertainment weekly for London (+ lots of information for tourists)

Wales

There are Welsh language newspapers in addition to those in English while local papers from the west and north may have some pages in English and some in Welsh. Material from a range of Welsh newspapers including The Western Mail (mostly south Wales), The South Wales Echo (evening paper) and The Liverpool Daily Post (based in Liverpool but with an edition specifically for north Wales) can be found in ic Wales icwales.icnetwork.co.uk

Ireland

Northern Ireland

Republic of Ireland

· The Irish Times www.ireland.com published in Dublin - but also read by people in the north

Scotland

Scotland has always had its own newspapers and independent journalistic traditions, though it is possible to buy those published in London there too. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh are publishing centres.

Broadsheets

Evening paper

The Evening Times www.eveningtimes.co.uk the Glasgow evening paper

‘Ethnic’ press

The Commission for Racial Equality www.cre.gov.uk/media/em_media.html publishes an extensive list of newspaper sites - and not only in English - try Arabic, Punjabi, Turkish and Chinese!

General press sites

The Media Guardian site media.guardian.co.uk has a huge range of material - explore under Press and Publishing

· ABC www.abc.org.uk A lot of newspaper information on this site and detailed circulation data but very difficult to download.

· The Newspaper Society www.newspapersoc.org.uk this organisation represents the interests of local and regional papers in the UK - good for links, discussion of issues and circulation figures. A large and comprehensive site with everything you could want to know about publishing newspapers.

· The Periodical Publishers Association www.ppa.co.uk an equivalent of the above for magazines

· Foreign Press Association www.foreign-press.org.uk

· The Press Association www.pa.press.net supplier of news to newspapers

· The National Union of Journalists www.nuj.org.uk

· For training courses for journalism try www.mediauk.com/directory/newspapers