So what papers can I trust?

[Oxfordboy]

I haven't lived in England since 1992 and obviously many things have changed since then. The mighty Oxford United's home ground (and league position), technology, music tastes, fashion trends, and not least, the media.

I keep reading posts when various media sources are being quoted along the lines of:

"Well, it's the <insert name of publication here> - what do you expect?"
"The <insert name of publication here> - Labour/Tory/Liberal rag"

I say publication because I saw some comment about The Economist recently which I always considered reliable. I really don't know the political leanings of any of the UK newspapers, so is there any UK publication who provides opinions worth reading?

[geoffreys]

I haven't lived in England since 1992 and obviously many things have changed since then. The mighty Oxford United's home ground (and league position), technology, music tastes, fashion trends, and not least, the media.

I keep reading posts when various media sources are being quoted along the lines of:

"Well, it's the <insert name of publication here> - what do you expect?"
"The <insert name of publication here> - Labour/Tory/Liberal rag"

I say publication because I saw some comment about The Economist recently which I always considered reliable. I really don't know the political leanings of any of the UK newspapers, so is there any UK publication who provides opinions worth reading?

The short answer is NO.
Especially not the economist.
IMO
Geoff.

[Royal]

Unfortunately, there are no newspapers which can claim to be truly independent (politically speaking) and all have some leaning to either liberal left or conservative right. The i is probably the nearest you will get to a paper that reports news with views of both sides represented. I think that it was also the only UK paper which did not advocate voting for a particular party at the last General Election.

The i is essentially for younger readers, though.

[Royal]

NO.
Especially not the economist.

As a reader of the Economist, you would expect me to disagree.

But I don't.

I agree with Geoff.

[Oxfordboy]

The short answer is NO.
Especially not the economist.
IMO
Geoff.

Out of interest, any particular reason why?

[geoffreys]

The short answer is NO.
Especially not the economist.
IMO
Geoff.

Out of interest, any particular reason why?

It seems to be highly "remainer" biased.
Problem is that all UK newspapers are biased one way or t'other.
Geoff.

[Dominic]

The media is far too concerned about grabbing headlines. And getting "reactions". I just want the bloody facts! So many times, in all publications, the story differs markedly from the headline.

At least with something like The Economist, the bias will be on perceived economic grounds, rather than any form of jingoism.

[kingfisher]

The inexorable rise of the internet and the instant access to world news has greatly reduced the newspaper industry. Less obvious, but just as important, papers lost a great deal of advertising revenue, especially classified ads.
This has led over the past couple of decades to much cost-cutting in the industry. One of the biggest expenses was paying real journalists to do real journalism, so that suffered.
Consequently most papers are a mish-mash of light weight popular twaddle- even the once-serious papers are now more like comics. I last bought a paper in the early seventies. It was the Guardian, which was then quite a good paper. There is also an unrelated generalized dumbing-down in standards which may have something to do with “education”. In spite of "media studies" I don't detect any improvement in journalism.
The problem I see is that the internet has now taken over and access to news is in the hands of huge television companies. I have come to dislike the BBC and its bias to the left, while oozing political correctness. But at a national level I can’t change it, like I might a paper to express my disapproval- yet I would still have to pay the licence fee!

[cyprusgrump]

All media is biased to a greater or lesser degree and as others have said, the need to fill websites with 'news' 24/7 has dramatically reduced standards.

My advice would be to read/watch as wide a range of media as possible. And follow some bloggers, some of them produce the most amazing investigative journalism - something that is sadly lacking in the MSM.

[DavidatLWH]

Spectator..not everyone's cup of tea though! (it is mine).
https://www.spectator.co.uk/

Plus Private Eye. Neither newspapers in the sense of daily publications, but always interesting reading.

I still miss Punch, but that's life!

[PaphosAL]

I think the i newspaper is the most honest and unbiased concise tabloid out there, to be frank... And excellent value at only 50p Mon-Fri here in UK.

It contains loads of news and photos of what's happening around the world, too. Great crosswords and Sodukos (which is why I buy it twice weekly). So after solving the puzzles, I usually finish up reading 3 day old history, rather than yesterday's news, LOL!

My only gripe with it, is that it's fixed together with 2 large staples in the centre, magazine-style. And that the main cryptic crossword is usually located on page 22, rather than page 44 with the rest of the puzzles...

The page layout bloke is an evil son of a bitch, who probably can't even solve the 'SUN' simple crossword. So he exacts his revenge on us i readers by nearly always placing the grid TIGHT against the centre staples, rather than reversing it, and having it far left or far right of the page.

Makes it so difficult to actually WRITE your anwers in, FCS! Have complained to the Editor numerous times via email, but never any reply, sadly... Maybe it's the Editor who is arranging the page layout (and cannot solve crosswords)?

I don't think this paper is targeted at the Younger readers (as someone said above). Not with ADs for hearing aids, stair lifts, funeral plans etc!

Cheers- AL