History UsefulNotes / BritishNewspapers

These days, it presents itself as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI the voice of the "silent (moral) majority"]] or of "the ordinary man on the street", who funnily enough happens to hold the exact same opinions as the ''Mail''. Although it almost always supports the Conservatives, its tone often verges further right into UKIP and BNP territory. It also has an Irish edition that is similarly populist in its editorial policy, but doesn't necessarily have to align with the British version, leading to some humorous contradictions.\\\

They even ''doubled down'' in 2019 when the FA approached them about Anfield (Liverpool's 54,000 capacity stadium) hosting warm-up games for Euro 2020 (before the pandemic caused its postponement), something that could only be done on the condition that journalists from all newspapers be allowed into the ground. The response was broadly summarised as "go fuck yourself" and a restatement of the ban. Normally, this would be a total affront to press freedom and availability in sports, but it went totally unquestioned by the rest of the world - and was even praised in a number of quarters. That's how bad it was. Over in London, Arsenal has become another of the paper's enemies after the tabloid published a piece implying that a big chunk of its followers were Muslim terrorists after the suspect of a bombing attempt was spotted wearing an Arsenal jersey. Fans called for a ban on the ''Sun'', but it didn't seem to go anywhere, yet the paper is still held in contempt by many Gooners.\\\

* '''''Magazine/TheEconomist''''' is a weekly magazine (although it calls itself a "newspaper") owned by the Economist Group. It's mostly known in the U.S. as that magazine whose name you throw around if you want to sound smart, whether or not you actually read it. It covers foreign affairs and economic matters from a classical liberal perspective (as opposed to an American liberal one). In the British media, it is usually considered to be economically quite hard-right-wing but socially libertarian, placing it more or less halfway between the leftmost of the Thatcherite Tories and the rightmost of the Lib Dems (in the U.S. it tends to fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum). It got its dream government in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition, which it frequently praised, before going sour on it as it became a DysfunctionJunction. In terms of international news, it's much more interested in maintaining the classic Bretton-Woods post-war order, including institutions like the UN, the WHO, NATO, and the EU, while acknowledging a need for flexibility given changing circumstances. More recently, its economic coverage has tended more leftwards, bringing it closer to the centre, advising more government involvement in light of problems like the Covid-19 pandemic. Basically, if its founding principle is classical liberalism, its current guiding one is pragmatism. The news magazine is mostly a loss-leader for the very expensive, specialised, and high-quality business information and economic analysis provided by other bits of the Economist Group.

But one cannot talk about the ''Sun'' without discussing its single most infamous piece of reporting, on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster Hillsborough disaster of 1989]], a fatal human crush in the crowd at a football match that killed 97 Liverpool supporters. All official reports suggest that it was caused by horrendous crowd control and poor policing, including an assumption that victims trying to escape the crush toward the field were [[FootballHooligans hooligans]] trying to rush the pitch. The ''Sun'', on the other hand, straight-up put the blame on the Liverpool fans, claiming with [[BlatantLies no evidence or justification]] that they caused the crush themselves, attacked ambulance medics, and looted the dead and urinated on corpses. All under the headline "[-THE TRUTH-]".\\\

It's also rather provincial in its coverage, reporting on severe British weather phenomena at the expense of other more newsworthy stories, and hating the European Union with a passion (Diana ''died'' over there!), even by the standards of the generally quite Eurosceptic right-wing press. In the [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdomGeneralElection2015 2015 General Election]], the ''Express'' was the only paper to endorse the pro-independence UKIP outright. during a particularly bitter phase post-referendum, the Express published an editorial opinion column castigating what it labelled as prominently placed Remainers in government and civil service who were seeking to sabotage Brexit from within, advocated they be tried for treason, and for going Against The Will Of The People, and then consigned to the Tower of London to mend their ways, repent, and be re-educated. Yes. The Express actually advocated for concentration camps for political criminals (Remainers). \\\

A short-lived newspaper published during the General Strike of 1926 and edited by UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill. It wasn't just pro-government, it was ''published by the government'' and came into being because most regular newspapers were only available in truncated form (if at all) due to the printers being on strike, meaning the government had to resort to such measures to put its view across. Notable for the masthead, which read: "Please pass on this copy or display it" -- decades before readers of ''Metro'' got into the habit of leaving copies of said paper on train seats for others to pick up and read. The ''Gazette'' ran to only eight editions before the strike collapsed; the last edition had the headline: "General Strike Off".

It naturally can't avoid having its own political opinions, and it has a somewhat split political personality. The news pages tend to be quite left of centre -- it even co-sponsors an investigate journalism prize with the ''Guardian'' -- but it doesn't hesitate to attack the Labour Party itself (thanks to old conflicts between Hislop and the party). The cultural coverage, meanwhile, leans toward "all modern art is a con trick and all pop culture is trash" conservatism. It has a particular dislike for the American government and particularly criticizes it for its actions in Guantanamo and the Chagos Islands [[note]] Hislop memorably summed up US politics thus: "Well, you have the Democrats, who are right wing; the Republican Party, who are ''very'' right wing; and the Tea Party, who are mad." [[/note]], but it will jump even harder on the British government for doing anything remotely similar. It dislikes both the [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Royal Family]] [[note]] one notable early headline read "[-WINDSOR WOMAN IN MASSIVE £420,000 POOLS WIN-]" after an increase on the Civil List -- that one got the magazine its first lawsuit[[/note]] and Scottish nationalism. It's simultaneously Eurosceptic and anti-Brexit, although some political commentators would claim this is not a contradiction, but actually a very typical British political stance if one considers that the ''Guardian'' and the ''Mirror'' hold similar opinions -- the EU has its problems and should be criticised, but that doesn't mean the UK should actually ''leave'' it. If one accepts this consistency, this makes its anti-Brexit stance its only genuine political leaning. Basically, it's an ultra-contrarian magazine more than anything else.

It was also notorious for "chequebook journalism", with its reporters often getting discovered attempting to buy stories, typically concerning the private affairs and relationships of politicians, celebrities and high-profile criminals (before the law was changed to prevent criminals from profiting from their own crimes, the ''Screws'' and other Sunday tabloids, which usually had more money than the dailies, would routinely pay for the trail defence at big murder trials in return for exclusives from the accused). With this intention, the paper controversially serialised [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Keeler Christine Keeler]]'s memoirs and on occasion paid key witnesses in criminal trials for exclusive interviews. In 2000, the paper attracted more controversy with its "name and shame" campaign against suspected paedophiles which resulted in mob attacks against people suspected of being child sex offenders, including one instance where ''a paediatrician'' had her house vandalised, and another where a man was confronted simply because he had a neck brace similar to one a paedophile was wearing when pictured. The campaign was labelled "grossly irresponsible" by the then-chief constable of Gloucestershire.\\\

* '''''Metro''''' is the biggest such paper and has multiple local editions. It has no comment section and expresses no real political views -- aside from a vaguely pro-EU stance, which is ironic considering it's part of the ''Daily Mail'' conglomerate. Amusingly, it [[HilarityEnsues once confused a Saudi Royal with an international terrorist.]] Most of its content is an obsession with ''Series/TheXFactor'', reality TV and pop music. For many years people read it [[JustHereForGodzilla only because]] it printed ''ComicStrip/{{Nemi}}'' and a weekly column by comedian Creator/RichardHerring, but ''Metro'' dropped all of that in 2015 as a cost-cutting measure and pretty much became a straight daily gossip magazine (with token pages for local news and sports) -- which actually got them ''more'' readers, so much so that just two years later, it had even outstripped the ''Sun'' as the most-read paper in London[[note]] but it's uncertain how much of this was due to interest in ''Metro'', which is free, and how much was just Londoners' pent-up disgust at the ''Sun''[[/note]]. The "Rush Hour Crush" section, in which readers write in about people they've seen on the Tube who they fancy, is a popular ongoing feature at the bottom of the letters page.

It was also notorious for "chequebook journalism", with its reporters often getting discovered attempting to buy stories, typically concerning the private affairs and relationships of politicians, celebrities and high-profile criminals. With this intention, the paper controversially serialised [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Keeler Christine Keeler]]'s memoirs and on occasion paid key witnesses in criminal trials for exclusive interviews. In 2000, the paper attracted more controversy with its "name and shame" campaign against suspected paedophiles which resulted in mob attacks against people suspected of being child sex offenders, including one instance where ''a paediatrician'' had her house vandalised, and another where a man was confronted simply because he had a neck brace similar to one a paedophile was wearing when pictured. The campaign was labelled "grossly irresponsible" by the then-chief constable of Gloucestershire.\\\

The ''Evening Standard'' is, as the name implies, London's evening paper (and the only remaining one since 1980 when it took over its long-running rival, the ''Evening News'', although the latter title was briefly revived as a separate newspaper in 1987). It's best known for the distinctive way its sellers used to shout out its title in a single syllable, before it became a freesheet in 2009, although for all intents and purposes it's still considered to be a mid-market paper [[note]] not only for its style and history, but also because the paper is not ''precisely'' free in suburban London [[/note]].\\\

The ''Guardian'' is the UK's biggest centre-left leaning paper (though whether it's more 'centre' than 'left' may depend on where you yourself fall on the spectrum). It started life as the ''Manchester Guardian'' in 1821, only moving to London in 1964, five years after taking "Manchester" out of the title; it's now got a reputation of being particularly London-centric. It's often called the "Grauniad", a result of its former reputation for [[TyopOnTheCover frequent typos]], and its readers, who tend to be (or are at least perceived as being) trendy upmarket metropolitan types, are often called "Guardianistas" (particularly as a derogatory comment on their political leanings, analogous to the American "''New York Times'' liberal").\\\

The ''Guardian'' is the UK's biggest "left"-leaning paper (though depending on how left you lean it's arguably more centrist these days, though it nevertheless consistently adopts positions that are further left than many of the other major publications). It started life as the ''Manchester Guardian'' in 1821, only moving to London in 1964, five years after taking "Manchester" out of the title; it's now got a reputation of being particularly London-centric. It's often called the "Grauniad", a result of its former reputation for [[TyopOnTheCover frequent typos]], and its readers, who tend to be (or are at leastr perceived as being) trendy upmarket metropolitan types are often called "Guardianistas" (particularly as a derogatory comment on their political leanings, analogous to the American "''New York Times'' liberal").\\\

This last point in particular can lead to the accusation that, far from being the bastion of progressive values the paper and its editors/writers/more ardent readers like to present themselves as, they ''actually'' tend to just adopt whatever position will best enable them to get away with adopting a tone of condescending self-righteousness on the issues of the day, and which will enable them and their readers to express a form of solidarity with the oppressed masses of the world which doesn't actually inconvenience them in any way. It doesn't seem to support [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem Labour or what is currently the Liberal Democrats]] so much as it opposes the Tories, and tends to be critical of far-left positions and parties, often adopting the mainstream line on far-left governments in Latin America and Eastern Europe (though, to be ''totally'' fair, the paper has never claimed to represent far-left political views). It was also notably critical of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, in which he adopted a platform notably further-left than Labour had been since at least the 1980s (though again, considering that describing Corbyn as 'divisive' is putting it mildly, this one again may tend to depend on exactly how passionately you supported him). In recent years, its home UK branch has also come under scrutiny and complaint for promotion of transphobic viewpoints, including [[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/guardian-editorial-response-transgender-rights-uk its own American branch]]. However, it does adopt a pretty consistent anti-monarchist stance, to the point of running a special "republican" edition of the paper when the Royals are the main story of the day.\\\

Politics aside, the paper is unique in that its parent company, the Guardian Media Group, is owned by a trust which exists to ensure its editorial independence, and its actual reporting, op-eds is aside, is considered to be very good. That said, it seems to be willing to pick fights with practically every other major newspaper, from the traditionally conservative ''Daily Telegraph'' to the left-of-centre ''Daily Mirror''. It's also infamous for supporting candidates who lose in embarrassing fashion, in the UK and outside it; it once got into hot water for suggesting that its readers ring up random Americans to tell them not to vote for UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush in 2004. Elsewhere in the paper, it has a very highly regarded crossword, which enthusiasts say might be even better than that of ''The Times''.\\\

The ''Guardian'' is the UK's biggest left-leaning paper [[note]] in that it's to the left of the ''Mail'' and the ''Telegraph'' at any rate , but these days it tends to be somewhat centrist [[/note]]. It's often called the "Grauniad", a result of its former reputation for [[TyopOnTheCover frequent typos]], and its readers are often called "Guardianistas" (particularly as a derogatory comment on their political leanings, analogous to the American "''New York Times'' liberal"). It started life as the ''Manchester Guardian'' in 1821, only moving to London in 1964, five years after taking "Manchester" out of the title; it's now got a reputation of being particularly London-centric. It feels very centrist sometimes in spite of its left-leaning reputation; it doesn't support [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem Labour or the Whigs (currently the Liberal Democrats)]] so much as it opposes the Tories, and it has been critical of far-left governments in Latin America and Eastern Europe, basically following the British government stance there. The newspaper was also relentless in its criticism of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, finding nothing good or supportive to say about him or about Labour under his leadership, whilst simultaneously soft-pedalling on criticism of the party that was actually in government at the time. This leads to the accusation that they actually just tend to adopt any position that will best enable them to get away with adopting a tone of condescending self-righteousness, and so that its perceived upmarket metropolitan readership can express solidarity (in principle) with the oppressed masses, without being put to any actual inconvenience whilst doing so. The paper is also known for its anti-monarchist stance; its web portal even offers a "republican edition" when the [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Royals]] are the topic of the day. In recent years, its home UK branch has come under scrutiny and complaint for promotion of transphobic viewpoints, including [[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/guardian-editorial-response-transgender-rights-uk its own American branch]].\\\

Its owner between 2000 and 2018, Richard Desmond, ''was'' a porn baron indeed (although [[InsistentTerminology he sues people who call him that]]), and the paper advertised his former channels' programmes (he also owned the mainstream Creator/Channel5 between 2010 and 2016, when he sold it to Creator/{{Viacom}}). Ironically, the paper itself has a very reactionary stance that would oppose pornography in general terms. [[RightHandVsLeftHand This creates something of a contradiction]]. Desmond prefers to avoid bringing up his porn baron status these days - which, naturally, means that the ''Guardian'' and ''Magazine/Private Eye'' bring it up at every conceivable opportunity. His wife (at least according to ''Magazine/PrivateEye'') appeared to believe in weird conspiracy theories like [=UFOs=] or the dangers of the [[MagicalParticleAccelerator Large Hadron Collider]], which have appeared as stories on the paper's website. Desmond's friendship with the boyfriend of the late Princess might be linked to the paper's obsessive coverage of their deaths - though it continued after his departure. The paper is now owned by Reach, which publishes the ''Daily Mirror''. \\\

It was also the home of cartoon strips including ''ComicStrip/GeorgeAndLynne'', which also regularly featured topless women in its cartoons. This was dropped in 2010 and now the paper does not run any comic strips. It remains the home of "Dear Deidre", the UK's best known Agony Aunt (with the main problem storie being told by way of photos featuring men and women in various states of undress).\\\

!! The [[DirtyCommunists Communists]]

Communists are a notoriously fractious bunch, and as such they have a number of their own newspapers which may or may not still exist:
* The ''Morning Star'' is nominally affiliated with the British Communist Party (well, whichever one still exists); however, it aims for a broader audience than the radical left. It was formerly known as ''The Daily Worker'' and jumped ship from a previous Communist Party right as it collapsed. It's one of the few daily Communist papers, and it's got the highest circulation among them -- which isn't saying much.

Its owner between 2000 and 2018, Richard Desmond, ''was'' a porn baron indeed (although [[InsistentTerminology he sues people who call him that]]), and the paper advertised his former channels' programmes (he also owned the mainstream Creator/Channel5 between 2010 and 2016, when he sold it to Creator/{{Viacom}}). Ironically, the paper itself has a very reactionary stance that would oppose pornography in general terms. [[RightHandVsLeftHand This creates something of a contradiction]]. Desmond prefers to avoid bringing up his porn baron status these days - which, naturally, means that the ''Guardian'' and ''Magazine/Private Eye'' bring it up at every conceivable opportunity. His wife (at least according to ''PrivateEye'') appeared to believe in weird conspiracy theories like [=UFOs=] or the dangers of the [[MagicalParticleAccelerator Large Hadron Collider]], which have appeared as stories on the paper's website. Desmond's friendship with the boyfriend of the late Princess might be linked to the paper's obsessive coverage of their deaths - though it continued after his departure. The paper is now owned by Reach, which publishes the ''Daily Mirror''. \\\

Its strangest episode might be an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Day_Daily_Telegraph_crossword_security_alarm accidental security breach in 1944]], when the solutions to its crossword puzzle started featuring military codewords, including for the Normandy landings. It turned out that the crossword editor, who was also headmaster of a boys' school, had been picking up the words from his students, who had in turn been picking them up from the military base next door.

Its reputation as a scandal-rag long predates it being owned by Murdoch (who purchased it in 1969 following an intense biddibg war with Robert Maxwell). Originally aimed at the (then newly-literate) working classes, it was well-known even in Victorian times as a purveyor of titillation, shock and criminal news (and by the latter, we mean coverage of vice prosecutions, including lurid transcripts of police descriptions of alleged brothels, streetwalkers, and "immoral" women). It also has a reputation for sponsoring sporting events, and by 1950 it was reckoned to be the biggest-selling newspaper ''in the world''.\\\

* '''''Magazine/{{Punch}}''''' was a weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration and was heavily influenced by the experience of Britons in various British colonies, especially India. ''Punch'' gave several phrases to the English language, including the name of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace Crystal Palace]] and "curate's egg" as a means of describing something that's partly good and partly bad [[note]] this was first seen in an 1895 cartoon by George du Maurier, grandfather of [[Creator/DaphneDuMaurier Daphne]] [[/note]], and also serialised humorous works like ''Literature/TheDiaryOfANobody'' and ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat''. After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996 by the businessman Mohamed Fayed as a means of attacking ''Private Eye'' (see below) which had published many items that were critical of him, but it closed again in 2002.

Curiously, though, prior to 1971, the ''Daily Mail'' was actually taken fairly seriously as a newspaper and was in fact a broadsheet (albeit a somewhat right-wing one); it was even name-checked in "Paperback Writer " by Music/TheBeatles [[note]] "His son is working for the ''Daily Mail'', it's a steady job but he wants to be a [[TitleDrop paperback writer]] [[/note]]. The change came about because it absorbed the ''Daily Sketch'', a right-wing tabloid which was owned by the same company but which had been experiencing declining sales for many years. Most of the populist and sensationalist elements of today's ''Daily Mail'' actually come from the ''Sketch''.\\\

* '''''The New European''''' launched shortly after Britain voted to leave the European Union, aimed at the so-called "48%" of people who voted to stay. It is similar in editorial slant to the ''Guardian'' or the ''New Statesman'', and as its name would suggest, it is very heavily focused on opposing Brexit. When it does talk about other issues, it tends to take a centre-left line, with a tinge of nostalgia for Tony Blair's government and a taste for pro-Remain front-page headlines that can look superficially similar to the pro-independence front pages of the ''National''. Its most prominent contributor is Alistair Campbell, former aide to Blair and inspiration for Malcolm Tucker from ''Series/TheThickOfIt''.

* '''''Punch''''' was a weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration and was heavily influenced by the experience of Britons in various British colonies, especially India. ''Punch'' gave several phrases to the English language, including the name of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace Crystal Palace]] and "curate's egg" as a means of describing something that's partly good and partly bad [[note]] this was first seen in an 1895 cartoon by George du Maurier, grandfather of [[Creator/DaphneDuMaurier Daphne]] [[/note]], and also serialised humorous works like ''Literature/TheDiaryOfANobody'' and ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat''. After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996 by the businessman Mohamed Fayed as a means of attacking ''Private Eye'' (see below) which had published many items that were critical of him, but it closed again in 2002.