ABSTRACT
Scholarly discussion of journalists is dominated by the belief that what they do is terribly important for the functioning of modem society. The serious functions of the journalist are normally attributed to reporting of political and social news. Over time they have diverged increasingly in their major news-values from the much more obviously 'serious' quality press and there is really very little ground today for the claim that they are at all the same sort of cultural artefact. There can be little doubt that the ideas and attitudes articulated by the popular elements of the press have implications for the serious parts. The shift in the balance of journalism away from the production of serious material towards entertainment is certainly not a new phenomenon. To a very considerable extent the serious press was and still is addressed to, and in Britain read by, the national ruling class and their elite servants and hangers-on.
