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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think UK national print media doesn't have an overall left wing bias?

14 replies

Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 15:44

I see a lot on here & in other places about left wing bias in UK media. I'm a left-leaning centrist myself and I don't see this.

We have the Times and Telegraph (right-wing), the Guardian (left-wing), the Observer (left-wing), the Independent and i which I'd say are quite balanced often but lean more to the left, then the Financial Times which I don't usually read but I think is right wing. Then there's the Daily Express (right-wing), Daily Mail (right-wing), the Sun (right-wing), and the Mirror (left-wing). So broadsheets are more balanced to the left if you count the Independent and i as left-wing, but this is offset by more populist papers and tabloids being overall right-wing.

I wrote print media in the title as I think the BBC & other news channels are a separate issue.

AIBU?

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Ablondiebutagoody · 14/09/2026 15:54

You may see it as a separate issue, but the posters you are talking about would definitely be including the BBC when they talk about left wing bias. So I don't really understand your AIBU.

Original poster
Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 15:55

Personally, I have a theory that some people who say this have generally read mostly left wing media like the Guardian and overlooked that both types of media have biases and blind spots. Then, they have an awakening over an issue that was clearly reported in a biased way (eg. Trans issues by the Guardian aside from a few sterling people like Bindel, Moore, Sodha and Freeman), and realise left wing media is has biases too but at least subconsciously they still of 'the media' as 'left wing media', so speak as if overall British media has a left wing bias when bias is pretty equally spread (at least print-wise)
For example, when the Iran war started I saw posts criticising British media for being 'woke' and not reporting on the various detailed contextual things about the wider extremist links of the Iran regime. Their basis for this accusation was that the Guardian and Independent hadn't reported on these things. But British media is bigger than left wing papers- had right wing papers like the Times and Telegraph reported on these contextual issues? As far as I could see, they hadn't. So most likely the fact that context hadn't been reported in as much detail ad those posters wanted was due to things other than 'wokeness'- newsroom underfunding, pressure to get articles out quickly to get clicks etc. Blaming everything on 'wokeness' can be misleading.

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Original poster
Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 15:57

Ablondiebutagoody · 14/09/2026 15:54

You may see it as a separate issue, but the posters you are talking about would definitely be including the BBC when they talk about left wing bias. So I don't really understand your AIBU.

I know what you mean, a lot of these kinds of posts are about the BBC. But they usually talk about print media too.
Maybe I should have included the BBC in this but I just feel it is somewhat different to print media and would be easier to discuss separately. And there's lots of threads on BBC bias already.

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PaulineBrady · 14/09/2026 16:01

You are correct. It has an overwhelmingly right wing bias, hardly surprising when you see who owns it. Even the BBC is right leaning now. Take a look at the structure of the board. All the noise about it being on the left is a distraction for idiots who have no capacity for critical thinking. There’s even a few of those on here.

Ablondiebutagoody · 14/09/2026 16:06

I don't think it really matters. Left or right, both will have publications that pander to the views of whoever consumes it. Trying to rage-bait their way to a profit.

hotmumshit · 14/09/2026 16:08

I think of the Independent as being purely centrist

Guardian/observer one paper. The Mirror.

The rest are right wing

Dadalus · 14/09/2026 16:11

I don't think many people believe UK print media has a strong left wing bias. I would say this is a (possibly accidental) straw man argument.

Original poster
Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 16:23

hotmumshit · 14/09/2026 16:08

I think of the Independent as being purely centrist

Guardian/observer one paper. The Mirror.

The rest are right wing

The Observer is separate now, isn't it?

I think the separated after Tortoise Media bought the Observer.

https://www.theguardian.com/info/2025/apr/07/observer-faqs

More information about the Observer moving to Tortoise Media

https://www.theguardian.com/info/2025/apr/07/observer-faqs

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Original poster
Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 16:25

PaulineBrady · 14/09/2026 16:01

You are correct. It has an overwhelmingly right wing bias, hardly surprising when you see who owns it. Even the BBC is right leaning now. Take a look at the structure of the board. All the noise about it being on the left is a distraction for idiots who have no capacity for critical thinking. There’s even a few of those on here.

'It has an overwhelmingly right wing bias'

  • the Guardian, Observer, Independent, i are right wing? No.

Broadsheets at least definitely don't have a right wing bias overall.

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MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack · 14/09/2026 16:28

Print media is overwhelmingly biased to the right if you look at circulation numbers. The bias is considerably less pronounced if you include access to online newspapers but overall, it still tilts right.

hotmumshit · 14/09/2026 16:28

Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 16:23

The Observer is separate now, isn't it?

I think the separated after Tortoise Media bought the Observer.

https://www.theguardian.com/info/2025/apr/07/observer-faqs

Show quote history

Oh i didnt know that! Wow end of an era - I no longer read the guardian really

I would read The Times but deleted the app and unsubscribed (cheap subscription) when they caused the death of Jason Arday. (I am a sen mum).

I am a lefty, having grown up on a council estate

I just dont bother with it all tbh but if I needed emergency facts, would use the bbc (ignoring any bias) or guardian.

Original poster
Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 16:44

Personally I wonder if some people commenting this online (maybe not here so much, but other places) are misapplying the US situation to ours.

In the US, some of the major print media like the New York Times, Washington Post did demonstrably shift to the left in the early 2020s. This didn't happen in the UK in the same way. The US also doesn't have popular right wing tabloids the way we do, Fox News & other stuff fills that role more, so it's a different balance.

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luckylavender · 14/09/2026 16:48

Ablondiebutagoody · 14/09/2026 15:54

You may see it as a separate issue, but the posters you are talking about would definitely be including the BBC when they talk about left wing bias. So I don't really understand your AIBU.

except it's print media

Original poster
Jane3212 · 14/09/2026 16:52

hotmumshit · 14/09/2026 16:28

Oh i didnt know that! Wow end of an era - I no longer read the guardian really

I would read The Times but deleted the app and unsubscribed (cheap subscription) when they caused the death of Jason Arday. (I am a sen mum).

I am a lefty, having grown up on a council estate

I just dont bother with it all tbh but if I needed emergency facts, would use the bbc (ignoring any bias) or guardian.

Show quote history

Yes, I think it's a shame re the Observer. Tortoise Media made a big splash investigating Neil Gaiman & The Salt Path but will they be viable long-term? I like that the Guardian is owned by a trust.
Re The Times, I didn't realise they had covered Arday so heavily. I think it would have been fair to report any findings but the amount of coverage was clearly disproportionate. Unfortunately as papers rely on clicks more now it incentivises them to ignore the potential effect on the peoppe they're reporting on.

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