In every country the press, radio and television are political weapons of tremendous power. While studying the politics of any country, it is important not only to understand the nature of the social, economic, political or any other divisions of the population but also to discover what organs of public and political opinion are available for the expression of the various interests.
Although the press in this or that country is legally free, the danger lies in the fact that the majority of people are not aware of the ownership. The press in fact is controlled by a comparatively small number of persons. Consequently, when the readers see different newspapers providing the same news and expressing similar opinions they are not sure that the news, and the evaluation of the news, are determined by a single group of people, perhaps even by one person. In democratic countries it has long been assumed that government ought, in general, to do what their people want them to do.
The growth of radio and particularly of television is as important in providing news as the press. They provide powerful means of capturing public attention. But while private enterprise predominates in the publishing fields in Great Britain, radio broadcasting monopoly, as was television until late in 1955. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a public organisation, still provides all radio programmes.
