A huge march against the Far Right

I know those guardian readers who nod along when it describes men as women, or that vandalism of Jewish businesses is simply 'small acts of perty symbolism' but what can you do.

Cumbrianmale56

The whole thing I hear about right wing media is exaggerated. Yes there is The Sun, the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph that openly support the Conservatives or Reform, but there are alternatives. Also broadcast media, except GB News, is impartial.

🤣🤣 You’re brave Cumbrianmale56 - even mentioning GB News will give many on here an attack of the vapours”. 🤣🤣

Cumbrianmale56

The whole thing I hear about right wing media is exaggerated. Yes there is The Sun, the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph that openly support the Conservatives or Reform, but there are alternatives. Also broadcast media, except GB News, is impartial.

The BBC is certainly not impartial although it is more careful since Trump challenged them, the Mail Telegraph and the others are very right leaning, between them they influence a lot of Reform opinions. Nobody supports Starmer and Reeves,
I don't support all their ideas but they are closest to my Centrist opinions

Primrose53

Cumbrianmale56

The whole thing I hear about right wing media is exaggerated. Yes there is The Sun, the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph that openly support the Conservatives or Reform, but there are alternatives. Also broadcast media, except GB News, is impartial.

🤣🤣 You’re brave Cumbrianmale56 - even mentioning GB News will give many on here an attack of the vapours”. 🤣🤣

It exists for those viewers who want an alternative to the other news services. I wouldn't mind if someone like Owen Jones set up a news channel as it would balance out GB News and attract a following.
People should have a choice and not want to ban or control opinions they dislike. I don't watch GB News because it doesn't interest me and also they charge for their website, but would never say close it down or go on a rant over its audience.

Jones did have a podcast at one stage. I have no idea if it is still going.

Yes it is. I just checked, he has 841k followers. I’m not one of them. Weirdly it is virtually the same number of followers as GB News daily viewer numbers, at 860,000. Spooky coincidence.

Casdon

Yes it is. I just checked, he has 841k followers. I’m not one of them. Weirdly it is virtually the same number of followers as GB News daily viewer numbers, at 860,000. Spooky coincidence.

So Owen has the same amount of viewers as GB News. This means tthey balance each other out.
While I don't agree with Owen on many things, I would never condone a violent homphobic attack on him in London 10 years ago by extreme Right wingers. These are the sort of people I'd cross the road to avoid.

Broadcast media are not impartial. Apart from the BBC they depend on advertising revenue or donations to survive, so are reluctant to antagonise the people who keep them going.

The BBC licensing model is far from perfect, but their independence of commercial and ideological influence is one of the reasons I would hate to see it go. It's not just about quality drama (although that is worth the licence fee in itself) it is about their ability to report news that might get buried if it implicated advertisers.

As a hypothetical example - if a drug were found to cause birth defects, or a domestic cleaning product to cause breathing difficulties in dogs, there would be a huge disincentive to report on it if the producers also made convenience food, shampoo, beauty products, baby things, washing up liquid, soap and bath products and washing powders and capsules. It's not hard to imagine how much advertising revenue could be lost if they pulled the ads for all their products.

Where is impartiality when that has to be taken into account?

Cumbrianmale56

The whole thing I hear about right wing media is exaggerated. Yes there is The Sun, the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph that openly support the Conservatives or Reform, but there are alternatives. Also broadcast media, except GB News, is impartial.

I think bias is a bit more subtle than just which party a paper supports.

There’s research showing differences in tone and framing. Examples include work from Loughborough University, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Ofcom.

What they generally find are consistent right-leaning bias in major UK newspapers, especially during elections. For example, Loughborough’s content analysis of multiple UK general elections found that papers like Daily Mail, The Sun, and Daily Telegraph gave more favourable coverage to Conservatives and more negative or critical coverage of Labour. This isn’t just about endorsements, it’s based on coding thousands of articles for tone (positive/negative/neutral).

It's worth thinking about what bias actually includes. Mechanisms such as:

Story selection – what gets covered vs ignored
Framing – e.g., immigration framed as “crisis” vs “policy issue”
Language choices – adjectives, headlines, imagery
Source selection – which voices are included

These are some of the tools used. Even if two outlets cover the same topic, these factors can produce very different impressions.

One of my favourite political moments is the interview between Jones and Alastair Campbell, with Jones screeching 'Iraq' and behaving like a 3 year old. He made Campbell look good which is some achievement.

Galaxy

One of my favourite political moments is the interview between Jones and Alastair Campbell, with Jones screeching 'Iraq' and behaving like a 3 year old. He made Campbell look good which is some achievement.

I would support Owen Jones on condemning the Iraq war, even if his behaviour was odd. Alastair Campbell was Blair's spin doctor for many years and a control freak who was widely disliked. I do recall him squaring up to Jeremy Vine in a BBC radio car because he didn't agree with one of his questions.

Oh I loathe Campbell, I find his new position as some sort of wise sage on TRIP utterly baffling.

Galaxy

Oh I loathe Campbell, I find his new position as some sort of wise sage on TRIP utterly baffling.

Totally agree 👍

GrannyGravy13

Galaxy

Oh I loathe Campbell, I find his new position as some sort of wise sage on TRIP utterly baffling.

Totally agree 👍

I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.
Which isn't far.

I think he has mellowed. Disclosure of his depressions, and the effect they had/; I dont find the man the same now. I'm not saying I'm a fan, but there is change (and always can be, so am prepared to see him as he is now)

Whereas Tony Blair' choices - well not a credit to himself at all.

I think he is exactly the same I am afraid, his behaviour on X is often deeply unsettling, particularly when Brexit is mentioned. He finds it difficult to cope with views that challenge his world view.

Wyllow3

I think he has mellowed. Disclosure of his depressions, and the effect they had/; I dont find the man the same now. I'm not saying I'm a fan, but there is change (and always can be, so am prepared to see him as he is now)

Whereas Tony Blair' choices - well not a credit to himself at all.

He lied or at least was economical with the truth
This had consequences, people died and the consequences are still happening today.

Galaxy, I read The Guardian

Chocolatelovinggran

Galaxy, I read The Guardian

Was it actually true there were thousands of editions printed with THE GRAUNIAD?

Well yes, that's the point I was making, a poster was decrying the readers of the telegraph for believing anything, I was demonstrating that applies to any paper and their readers. I used to read the Guardian.

Cumbrianmale56

Chocolatelovinggran

Galaxy, I read The Guardian

Was it actually true there were thousands of editions printed with THE GRAUNIAD?

I don't think so. the 'Graun' jokes were just because the typesetters in the olden days used to get things wrong a lot.

Doodledog

Cumbrianmale56

Chocolatelovinggran

Galaxy, I read The Guardian

Was it actually true there were thousands of editions printed with THE GRAUNIAD?

I don't think so. the 'Graun' jokes were just because the typesetters in the olden days used to get things wrong a lot.

I thought it was some urban myth as it would have been very embarassing seeing such a highly regarded paper with this mistake on its cover.
The Guardian and The Times were available most days in the school library and I can remember reading both in my breaks. Typically someone would say why can't the school buy The Sun, but the argument was buying in broadsheets meant pupils could read about something more in depth than a scandal involving a pop star and last night's Coronation St.

Cumbrianmale56

Chocolatelovinggran

Galaxy, I read The Guardian

Was it actually true there were thousands of editions printed with THE GRAUNIAD?

No, it was a joke originating from Private Eye.

twaddle

Cumbrianmale56

Chocolatelovinggran

Galaxy, I read The Guardian

Was it actually true there were thousands of editions printed with THE GRAUNIAD?

No, it was a joke originating from Private Eye.

Yes, they also referred to the Indescribablyboring and the Torygraph amongst others I forget.

The sun was also banned because of "page 3" in schools, probably!