The Portrayal of the North-South Divide in the British Press
Keywords:
North-South divide, deindustrialization, inequality, recession, unemployment, public sectorAbstract
In recent decades beginning with the 1980s, Britain has witnessed a rise in inequality accompanied by a decline in social mobility. In the course of this process the historical North-South division and its aspects have become more prominent. While the South in general has grown more affluent, the North has suffered the consequences of the closure of traditional industries in the 1980s and struggled with mass unemployment and lower living standards. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the coverage of the North-South divide by the British press, namely four major national dailies (The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Mail) as well as BBC News. The analysis is based on five indicators of the quality of life (life expectancy, poverty, education and skills, employment, housing) as postulated by social geographer Danny Dorling. The paper aims to demonstrate whether and how the portrayal of the divide is influenced by the political leanings of the individual media outlets.
References
Bachelor, Lisa. “City Properties Now More Affordable, but North-South Divide Persists.” The Guardian, March 31, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/mar/31/house-prices-north-south-divide. Accessed August 3, 2012.
Briggs, Helen. “Liver Disease Deaths Reach Record Levels in England.” BBC News, March 22, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17465403. Accessed July 23, 2012.
Brown, Jonathan. “Oop Oop ‘n’ Away as North Rises to the Challenge of Modern Tourism.” The Independent, May 3, 2012. http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/entertainment/oop-oop-n-away-as-north-rises-to-the-challenge-of-moderntourism-7711081.html (accessed September 1, 2012).
Curtis, Polly. “A Level Results: Record Year for A Grades That Highlights North South Divide.” The Guardian, August 15, 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/15/alevels.schools. Accessed August 23, 2012.
Dorling, Danny. “Persistent North-South Divides.” The Economic Geography of the UK. London: Sage, 2010, 12-28.
Doughty, Stephen. “Why the UK Financial Divide Means Those in the South Are 25% More Likely to Live to 75.” The Daily Mail, June 9, 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2000923/Why-UK-financial-divide-means-South-25-likelylive-75.html. Accessed September 1, 2012.
Easton, Mark. “Spending Cuts to Hit North Harder.” BBC News, September 9, 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11141264. Accessed August 23, 2012.
Easton, Mark. “The North/South Divide on Antidepressants.” BBC News, August 2, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19076219. Accessed August 23, 2012.
Kynaston, David. A World to Build. Austerity Britain 1945-48. London: Bloomsbury, 2008.
Macnamara, Jim. “Media Content Analysis: Its Uses, Benefits and Best Practice Methodology.” Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal 6(1), 2005. http://snap3.uas.mx/RECURSO1/LibrosElectronicos/BIBAS%20PERIODISMO%-20%20DIGITAL/ART%D6CULOS/Media-Content-Analysis-Paper.pdf. Accessed August 5, 2012.
Martin, Ron. “The Political Economy of Britain’s North-South Divide.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 13. London: Wiley, 1988, 389-418. http://www.jstor.org/stable/622738. Accessed July 24, 2012.
Massey, Doreen. “A New Class of Geography.” Marxism Today, 1988, 12-18. http://www.unz.org/Pub/MarxismToday-1988may-00012. Accessed August 3, 2012.
“North-South Gap Divides in Home Repossessions.” The Independent, June 25, 2012. http://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/business/northsouth-gap-divides-in-homerepossessions-7880669.html. Accessed August 3, 2012.
O’Brien, Liam. “People in Wealthy Regions Live 20 Years Longer Than Those in Deprived Areas.” The Independent, May 21, 2012. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/people-in-wealthy-regions-live-20-years-longer-than-those-indeprived-areas-7769682.html. Accessed September 1, 2012.
Poulter, Simon. “The Junk Food Divide: the North Spends Least on Fruit and Vegetables.” The Daily Mail, July 10, 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198735/The-junk-food-divide-North-spends-fruit vegetables.html. Accessed September 1,
Ward, David. “The North-South Divide Moves North.” The Guardian, October 24, 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/24/britishidentity.socialexclusion. Accessed August 3, 2012.
“Warning on ‘Structural’ North-South Jobs Divide.” The Daily Mail, June 13, 2011. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-1726670/Warning-on-structural-North South-jobs- divide.html. Accessed September 1, 2012.
