Scholars read the periodical press as much for what it says about a particular idea, person, or event as for what it can tell people about British imperial culture more broadly. This chapter examines divergent ways of looking at the British Empire through the lens of the press within scholarship. One group of researchers is interested in understanding the press as a means of forging connections between those who share a common sense of Britishness. Studies of empire and the press reflect trends in the broader field of imperial history and literature that situate the colony and metropole in one analytic frame. Benedict Anderson's notion of imagined community remains useful in determining how the press functioned to create connections between colony and metropole in colonial contexts. Studies of the Irish nationalist press demonstrate the complexity of Ireland's colonial relationship to Britain.