Newspapers

[Numberfour]

I come from a country that had two or three daily newspapers so it was easy enough to work out who supported what and where their loyalties lie. In England, I can gauge some of them, but not all.

Which papers give balanced and fair reporting? I have found that I like The Independent and get irritated with the Daily Mail. What about the others: The Times, The Observer, etc

The Independent is about the best, really. Guardian and Mirror are left-wing and the rest are various shades of right-wing. The Sun is a circulation tart... currently right-wing because that's the way the wind was blowing this year! The BBC is soft-left but not overtly so.

If you take a variety of sources, ignore any opinions and form your own based on the facts presented, you'd be OK.

clip from Yes Minister old but good.

Thanks so much!

Megcleary, that made me laugh out loud!! I had not seen that one before. Thanks a million!

The Guardian was left-wing - but it came out for the LibDems before the last election. It's much more balanced than it was 10 or so years ago, I think. It's my paper of choice, but I suspect a lot of that is familiarity.

I don't think there is any such thing as unbiased journalism but personally I always buy the guardian - it's the only one that doesn't make me screw my face up when I read it, although haven't tried the Independent.

Papers also have interests that go against the party that they might be supporting.

For example News International (The Sun, News of the World, The Times, Sunday Times) is a part of Murdoch's business empire and because of that hates the BBC with a passion.

Meanwhile the Independent rents office space and services from the Daily Mail's parent company so you won't find it being too harsh on what they get up to.

I like the Daily Mail. It's a bastion of common sense, and very different from the rest of the spinners

Daily Mail is the newspaper equivalent of people who use the phrase 'It's political correctness gone mad'.

The other papers are indeed 'political correctness gorn mad'. The Daily Mail is an oasis of calm in a desert of political correctness.

should have said calm and reason, to do it full justice

I prefer Private Eye and Viz