Author Topic: British newspapers (Read 324 times)

Tarmac · « **on:** February 22, 2003, 02:14:13 PM »

There have been a lot of British newspapers and media sources quoted, cited, and linked here lately. Could some Brits give me a rundown on the newspapers you guys have over there? Which papers are the generally left-leaning ones, which are the right-leaning ones, and which are tabloids?

What about TV? I seem to remember British TV consisting of 3 BBC channels, a "channel 4" and a "channel 5." I think there was an ITV in there somewhere too. Didn't watch much TV when I was over there, though, so I might be way off. How do these generally lean politically? Are there the same perceived differences as fox/cnn/abc/nbc/cbs over here?

bounder · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2003, 04:18:35 PM »

Be a pleasure since I read a lot of em.

Sun, Times - Owned by Rupert Murdoch (news international/ fox) right leaning Sun - populist tabloid, Times - pompous boradsheet.

News of the World - quick to latch on to lowest common denominator, famous for instigating witchhunts

Daily Mirror - left leaning ,used to be pro Tony Blair, less so now, never misses an opportunity to hitch self to bandwagon.

Daily Telegraph, Right leaning but with strong libertarian slant. Xenophobic in parts.

Guardian, left leaning, whingeing and handwringing, hopelessly soft on difficult issues. Terribel record for typos - hence Nickname "Grauniad" (actually a result of industrial dispute - was printed one day with "the Grauniad" accross the top!)

The independent - centrist , nickname the Indescribablyboring libertarian streak moderated with some socialist tendencies. A hard paper to categorise compared to the others, but lacking 'fire'.

Dail Mail - rabidly right wing xenophobic tabloid

Dail Express - on its last legs, right of centre mainly obsessed with celebrities and the like.

Now, all this is in my very humble opinion. For quality news reporting (not opinion/editorial) the main broadsheets (Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times) are all pretty good. Times suffers from having to always chime with the rest of Murdochs empire - not the paper it used to be.

bear in mind this is my viewpoint, other UK residents should post their understanding below for completeness.

Financial Times, moderate right wing economically oriented, good impartial news reporting.

swoopy · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2003, 04:38:00 PM »

U forgot the Daily sport

and the Daily Star

We have 5 chanels on terestral tv, bbc1, bbc 2, itv, channel 4 and 5. ie channels u can get without cable or sky.

Dowding · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2003, 04:39:10 PM »

I think I agree pretty much with everything Bounder says here.

Tabloids such as the Sun and Mirror rarely use words with more than two or three sylables and tend to be almost completely band-wagon driven. Piers Moron, editor of the Mirror, is the most loathsome, sanctimonious and humourless human being on the planet.

The Times used to be faultless, but is now degraded by repeated plugs for the Dirty Digger's empire (Rupert Murdoch).

Financial Times is good. I've started to like the Independent.

Editorials aside, broadsheets are pretty good at reporting and are generally accurate.

Tabloid editorials are a load of crap. Writers such as Julie Birchill, Peter Hitchens, Tony Parsons are good for their comedy value - I'm sure you have your equivalent in the US. These are the kind of people who might get their own radio shows, if they were Americans.

Oh yeah, Daily Sport is the only tabloid that doesn't take itself seriously. That's because they have topless girlies all the way through the paper, and advertisements for Swedish noodle Enlargers ("that not my bag, baby"). Also they feature stories like, "London Bus found on Moon". Always good for a laugh - and their editor is funny too.

Replicant · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2003, 05:27:22 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Dowding
Also they feature stories like, "London Bus found on Moon". Always good for a laugh - and their editor is funny too.

No, get it right, Wellington Bomber found on the moon! I think it was London Bus found at the North Pole?! Of course you could be right and I could be wrong!

Now for something completely different!

bounder · « **Reply #5 on:** February 23, 2003, 05:44:21 AM »

Yeah that's right - Bus at the north pole, HItler was found living on the moon...

Nashwan · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2003, 06:33:17 AM »

It was WW2 bomber found on the moon, with a faked picture of a B52 to prove it, which struck me as particularly funny.

I've always found the Independant to be left wing, not centrist, and it's worth pointing out that all of Murdochs papers are strongly supportive of Blair, except on Europe. Murdoch hates the Euro, and his papers reflect that.

qts · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2003, 06:55:20 AM »

Bounder is way OTT about the Daily Mail. It is currently having a campaign about asylum seekers. It's mostly mildly right-wing.

The Mirror is rabidly left-wing (not necessarily socialist).

Dowding · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2003, 07:35:43 AM »

The Daily Mail is rabidly right wing, and likes to take a view not unlike "It wasn't like this in Queen Victoria's day". Home of reactionaries and yesteryear dreamers.

lazs2 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2003, 09:55:03 AM »

We don't have a decent newspaper here but they work well with windex on mirrors and glass. Without exception they all have the same political views and all claim to be non biased and factual. If you read anything in any one of our papers you can count on it not being entirely accurate and having a left wing slant. Our current crop of "journalists" feels that their job is to improve the world not inform. They don't feel that actual observation or investigation should get in the way of their mission.

With DVD... who needs any stations? I do like the "shield" tho.

How can a paper with libertarian leanings moderate with socialism... sounds really schitzo to me.
lazs