The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk which provides access to ‘Guardian Unlimited’. Left of centre view but often some detailed analysis of key issues. Good media section on Mondays.
The Independent: www.independent.co.uk As its title suggests, probably the least biased of the broadsheets/compacts. Does a particularly useful ‘for and against’ full page analysis of a topical issue usually twice a week.
The Times: www.timesonline.co.uk Part of Rupert Murdoch’s News International Empire and, like The Guardian, offers particularly good online news coverage.
The Daily Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk Highest circulation of the roadsheets/compacts and its right-of-centre stance is a good contrast with The Guardian.
Three of the key tabloids, with large circulations, are:
The Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk Castigated by the left for its right-of-centre/ ‘Little Englander’ stance but a big seller and hugely influential as the supposed ‘voice of Middle England’.
The Mirror: www.mirror.co.uk Traditionally unwavering support for the Labour Party but has lost out to The Sun in the circulation wars.
The Sun: www.thesun.co.uk Top selling daily newspaper from News International and inclined to switch political allegiances to support the party most likely to win a general election.
Politicians offend at their party’s peril.
Sunday papers with more extensive coverage include:
The Independent on Sunday: Sunday version of the daily.
www.independent.co.uk/news/a-new-independent-on-Sunday-451023.html
The Observer: www.observer.guardian.co.uk. Guardian on Sunday but under a different title.
The Sunday Times: www.sunday-times.co.uk. Perhaps not the hard-hitting investigative
journalism of the past but usually useful coverage of current affairs.
TV news programmes vary to some degree in presentation, style and content but all are required to offer much more impartial news coverage than newspapers. Nevertheless, the news has to be edited and decisions are made about priority items. Both BBC and Sky offer 24-hour news and, with their capacity to bring ‘breaking news’ TV can satisfy our desire for immediate information and pictures from round the world.
BBC: news.bbc.co.uk
ITV: www.itv.com
Channel 4: www.channel4.com/news - claimed by some to be the most informative and
analytical daily news broadcast.
Channel 5: www.news.five.tv/uk
Sky: www.news.sky.com
