Editing Edwardian era (section)

===Newspapers===
The turn of the century saw the rise of popular journalism aimed at the lower middle class and tending to deemphasise highly detailed political and international news, which remain the focus of a handful of low-circulation prestige newspapers. These were family-owned and operated, and were primarily interested not in profits but in influence on the nation's elite by their control of the news and editorials on serious topics.<ref name="R.C.K. Ensor, England 1936 pp 309-16">R.C.K. Ensor, England, 1870–1914 (1936) pp 309–16.</ref>

The new press, on the other hand, reached vastly larger audiences by emphasis on sports, crime, [[sensationalism]], and gossip about famous personalities. Detailed accounts of major speeches and complex international events were not printed. [[Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe]] was the chief innovator.<ref name="R.C.K. Ensor, England 1936 pp 309-16"/> He used his ''[[Daily Mail]]'' and ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' to transform the media along the American model of "[[Yellow Journalism]]". [[Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]] said he was "the greatest figure who ever strode down Fleet Street".<ref>Lord Beaverbrook, ''Politicians and the War, 1914–1916'' (1928) 1:93.</ref> Harmsworth made a great deal of money, but during the [[First World War]] he also wanted political power. For that he purchased the highest prestige newspaper, ''[[The Times]]''.<ref>J. Lee Thompson, "Fleet Street Colossus: The Rise and Fall of Northcliffe, 1896–1922." ''Parliamentary History'' 25.1 (2006): 115–138.</ref> [[P. P. Catterall]] and [[Colin Seymour-Ure]] conclude that: 
{{Blockquote|More than anyone [he] ... shaped the modern press. Developments he introduced or harnessed remain central: broad contents, exploitation of advertising revenue to subsidize prices, aggressive marketing, subordinate regional markets, independence from party control.<ref>P. P. Catterall and Colin Seymour-Ure, "Northcliffe, Viscount." in John Ramsden, ed. ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics'' (2002) p. 475.</ref>}}