I was just on a business trip to London, and enjoyed reading the London Times and The Guardian.
I generally read three NY papers, and have my stereotypes of them well set. The Wall Street Journal is Republican, pro-business, and stodgy. The New York Times is liberal but moving more the the center, and stodgy. The Post is comically right-wing, barely respectable, has great sports writing, and is nuts.
How would you characterize some of the London papers? How is the Guardian regarded? Are any of the tabloid format papers, other than the London Times tabloid edition, regarded as legitimate newspapers?
We get the British papers here (censored and late). I favor (or Favour) the Telegraph as Conservative (in all senses) paper. Comparable to the New York Times.
In a pinch I will read the Guardian. More like the Washington Post. Serious news plus amusing features.
There’s only one true ‘London newspaper’, the Evening Standard. The others are all national papers - it’s just The Times, not the London Times.
Basically, the four national broadsheets have a left-to-right swing in the order Guardian - Independent - Times - Telegraph. The Guardian (originally the Manchester Guardian, so certainly not a London paper) and Independent are well to the left of any mainstream American media. Indeed, ‘Guardian-reading’ crops up as a light-hearted insult, meaing wooly bleeding-heart commie-sympathising liberals (like me )
All four are well-respected and trusted for the quality of their journalism, keeping a firm distinction between objective news reporting and opinioinated editorial pieces.
The tabloid press is a uniquely British beast, revelling in gossip, sensationalism etc. The two main tabloids are the Sun and the Mirror - the latter has made an effort in the past few years to be considered more respectable, including a strong anti-war stance in the past couple of years. Traditionally, the Mirror is left-wing and Labour-supporting, and the Sun right-wing and Conservative-supporting, although these unswerving allegiances have pretty much disappeared. Both massively outsell the broadsheets.
Somewhere in the middle are the Express and the Mail - both with tabloid tendencies and pretentions of respectibility. Both are right-wing.
Thank you for the clarification on the name of the Times. I think New York Times readers call it the ‘London’ Times so not to confuse it with the NY Times. My pet name for the NY Times is **“The Marxist-Leninist Gazette.” **
As of right now, the Independent is going entirely tabloid in format, breaking the old rule that the “broadsheets” are the serious papers. This BBC article discusses the problems this gives rise to in conveniently characterising them now. There’s a general expectation that the Telegraph may also go tabloid, but that’s up in the air while its ownership remain in doubt.
With a few exceptions at the bottom of the market, all the papers are “legitimate” to some degree. The Daily Mail is seen as particularly influential, though everybody of a liberal persuasion finds most of it laden with prejudice. Traditionally, the Daily Express was grouped with the Mail, but in recent years it’s been owned by Richard “Dirty” Desmond, who made his money via pornography, and become perceived as tarnished in consequence.
Even the two major daily “red-top” tabloids have clout. Indeed, the leading news story in the country this evening is that the editor of the Mirror has had to resign because he published fake pictures of British soldiers allegedly beating up an Iraqi. His resignation is a direct reflection of the fact that even the tabloids are expected to be able to get the facts roughly correct when they cover a major political story. Morgan’s been given little more leaway over the reliability of his “exclusive” than the editor of, say, the Telegraph would get.
On the issue of “London” papers, I’d rate the Metro as more important than the Evening Standard these days. They’re both from the same owners, but the former is free in Tube stations every morning. In my experience, it’s extremely widely read amongst Londoners, though it has less impact on national coverage than the Standard.
Well, you know how those London newspapers are. Shiftless. Too lazy to work. Won’t get off the dole. Oh, but when it comes to stealing, they work like stevedores, don’t they? You see a London newspaper about, keep one hand on your wallet! Now, I’m not prejudiced! You won’t see me calling anyone “yellow journalism” or trash like that. I’m just telling it like it is. C’mon, be honest. Would you want your daughter reading a London newspaper? Yeah, thought not.
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and, oh yeah, I forgot about the Financial Times, but I guess the name says it all.