Ranking the UK's newspapers

Hi all, for politics work we have to rank the UK's newspapers in terms of overall quality. I have made this list and was interested in what others think.

1. The Times
2. The Guardian
3. The Telegraph

(Really after this it's just a matter of ranking the least worst ones)

4. The Mirror
5. The Mail
6. The Express
7. The Sun
8. The Star

There's also the free Metro paper which I think is good quality but I've never read it, I don't really know where you get it from can't find it anywhere...

Reply 1

Fullofsurprises

I basically agree with your list, apart from The Times, which just isn't consistently as strong as it used to be. Especially in recent years it has increasingly served as a another Murdoch mouthpiece.

I hate to say it, because I hate it, but sometimes the Mail is better now than the Telegraph - it is more investigative and especially in the last year or so since they got rid of their dreadful extreme reactionary editor, Dacre, they have become a bit more critical of the Tories and scrutinise them.

Reply 2

username402722

It is a matter for debate whether you call The Sun, The Mirror and the Daily Mail newspapers. Comics would be insulting to illustrators, so perhaps tabloids is the best word to use.

Telegraph sports coverage has often been good.

Reply 3

BlueIndigoViolet

1.
2.
.
.
.
∞ - The Sun and Daily Mail

Reply 4

username5027880

The list I pretty much agree with. Except I would put the mail at 3, and the Telegraph at 5.

Reply 5

Rakas21

I prefer to read the Telegraph followed by the Times. The Guardian in recent years has become difficult to read with pages devoted to hating the straight white male. I did like the Independent.

I would not pay for the other filth mentioned.

City AM and Financial Times are also of good quality.

guardian

Original post by Glaz

guardian

Guardian headline
"World ends tomorrow..women most affected"
About sums it up.

Reply 8

Johnny Tightlips

Original post by Just my opinion

Guardian headline
"World ends tomorrow..women most affected"
About sums it up.

https://somuchguardian.tumblr.com/

This is peak comedy

Reply 9

Just my opinion

Original post by Johnny Tightlips

https://somuchguardian.tumblr.com/

This is peak comedy

Hahaha. Thank you, that's superb. 😆👍

Reply 10

BasicMistake

Original post by Rakas21

City AM and Financial Times are also of good quality.

I'd personally put the Financial Times at the top. I haven't come across more in-depth political and economic journalism anywhere else.

Probably why it's locked behind a paywall but I've been using my university subscription for the past three years and I'll be sad to lose it.

Reply 11

Drewski

Original post by nemofoot

How are you defining quality in this context?

Reply 12

Reality Check

Original post by BasicMistake

I agree. The FT is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the quality and accuracy of their reporting. It helps that I agree with their general editorial stance. I've read it for years now, and it seems to get better. Let's hope Lionel Barber's replacement can continue in the same vein.

Original post by nemofoot

The Times is really the only one of any quality there. The Grauniad has too strong a voice for me, and the Torygraph has only ever really appealed to retired army Majors in the shires. They are also far too close to their advertisers and this affects their impartiality too much to consider the Telegraph a reliable source any longer. A terrible shame, as it has an illustrious history and was (still is) the other 'newspaper of record'.

Out of the rest, the Daily Express is the worst by a mile. It has a small circulation, almost exclusively to elderly racists, but its out-and-out racism, dog-whistling, censure for printing false stories about Madeline McCann and others and weird desire to return this country to 1953 makes it highly nefarious. It also still occasionally prints stories about Princess Diana, despite being nicknamed 'The Di'ly Express' for obvious reasons. 'The Star' really doesn't deserve to be in this list. Before Reach, it was published by Express Newspapers and was described as 'The Daily Express off its meds'. That's a pretty accurate summary to me.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 13

Napp

Original post by nemofoot

Hi all, for politics work we have to rank the UK's newspapers in terms of overall quality. I have made this list and was interested in what others think.

3. The Telegraph

Not something i would use as toilet paper let alone read. theres a damn good reason those ghastly Barclay brothers are having trouble offloading it.

(Really after this it's just a matter of ranking the least worst ones)

5. The Mail
Gossip rap

7. The Sun

Softcore porn making pretenses at news.

There's also the free Metro paper which I think is good quality but I've never read it, I don't really know where you get it from can't find it anywhere...

almost any station

as to the papers in general, this is a timeless overview of whom reads what .. you can thus judge for yourself there err respectability.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M

Reply 14

the bear

the Independent is not a newspaper

Reply 15

Reality Check

I know - it's embarrassing, isn't it. I'd say the only thing that comes close on the continent is Bild (which sometimes I will sneak behind my Frankfurter Allgemeine :laugh: