Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

OK, this was sparked by comments on another thread regarding the relative merits of newspapers in keeping us, the hoi polloi, informed about important news events. I have argued that the tabloids do not serve this purpose as well as the broadsheets (and now compacts). I contend that the tabloids focus on populist agendas with little coverage of background issues, whilst the broadsheets, of whatever political hue, provide more in depth and reasoned coverage.

To get a snapshot picture I have looked at all the main dailies today and below is either their front page leads (where I can determine them) or the lead domestic story on their website. I've focused on domestic stories purely because it's difficult to tell on some sites what is the overall lead, but it's usually a domestic story.

Daily Express http://www.express.co.uk/ Labour Threat To State Pension

The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,169,00.html Parties Warned Against Inflaming Race Tension

Financial Times http://news.ft.com/home/uk/ UK Consumer Inflation Highest For Seven Years

Daily Mirror http://mirror.co.uk Caught Again! (Rio Ferdinand and Chelsea)

Daily Telegraph http://telegraph.co.uk Howard Pledges £1.7bn Pension Boost

The Guardian http://guardian.co.uk Blair Retreats From EU Vote

The Sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2...410028,00.html Why Was He Out? (Hobson Case)

The Independent http://independent.co.uk Immigration May Cause Race Riots, Howard Says

Daily Star http://megastar.co.uk Doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t actually appear to have any current affairs coverage!

Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk Mother: Jackson Fooled The World


Headlines are not an ideal way of determining the validity or otherwise of coverage, but do give some idea of the agendas being followed.

So, tabloids or broadsheets folks?!

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Different newspapers have areas of strengths and weaknesses in the subject matter they contain so there is no "best" newspaper. Political affiliation and personal agendas also flavour the news dependent on which paper you are looking at. Front pages can change throughout the night as editions change and new stories emerge.

These days I tend to hardly ever buy a newspaper. Last one I bought was for the free CD given away with it. The internet and television has brought instantaneous news to us, usually before the papers have even gone to print.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

What was the headline on the sport? :D

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

But would you make a call on broadsheets versus tabloids in the specific arena of current affairs coverage?

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

'Best' in this context is impossible to answer objectively. What's best for a well-read university graduate is not best for someone who left school at 16 with no GCSEs and has spent his life since then tacking up plasterboard on building sites. For example, if you argue persuasively in favour of the razor-sharp political analysis of the Telegraph, you may be right (somehow I doubt you would do that though ;) :D ), but the Telegraph is no use to someone who hasn't had the training necessary to follow the development of an argument over the course of 1,500 words. Far better for him might be a column penned by Trevor Kavanagh of the Sun, who works for a paper that has a deliberate policy of explaining things concisely and with a reduced vocabulary.

Note that I am not necessarily speaking in favour of either the Sun or the Tele, simply demonstrating the folly of calling something the unqualified 'best'.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Well I've checked the website but it wasn't too much help! I'm guessing they've gone with a picture story which, unless they've got a truly sensational scoop, does not feature any of the three main political party leaders! :)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I buy the Sunday Telegraph and the News of the World every Sunday - I am neither a uni graduate, nor a plasterer. Which category would you put me in?

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

...and in a manner that favours its proprietor. Many years ago I heard Kavanagh on the radio being asked who his personal hero was - 'Rupert Murdoch' came the answer. However tailored to the intellectual level of its readership, if the facts aren't given, or are twisted or downright contradicted then the journalism is poor. Case rested.

We could approach this on a basis of papers most often caught talking rubbish - this isn't easy to do though, as they don't tend to admit it much. The Evening Standard's "45 Minutes From Attack" screaming headline is an obvious example - in fact, comparing the reporting of particular stories is another interesting way to compare journalistic aptitude. I'll dig around.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I am too out of touch with the content of newspapers these days to really comment. Having spent a number of years working with the newspaper industry through its transformation from hot metal and getting free copies of all the newspapers every day it never seemed right to have to buy them when that phase of my life ended some ten years or so ago.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I buy The Mirror on a Saturday (but that's pretty much purely for the football section :) ) and The Observer on a Sunday.

For a Sunday paper, I personally feel that The Observer is very good in reporting but, through conversation with a few people over time, the least-politicised (or, at least, the most-rounded) is The Telegraph. Having read it only very rarely, I can't really comment but, at the end of the day, I personally don't think it matters particularly which of the bunch informs us best - most people will just stick to the paper that they've always read.

Having said that, I wish that I could get my folks out of buying the Mail on Sunday, but that's just my opinion :D

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I wouldn't presume to categorise you OB. :angel: I took two extreme examples by way of showing that different people have different needs.

Actually your example just further serves my point I think. People want different things from different papers, making it even harder to say which is 'best'.

If there is such a thing as the best paper, it is the one that most successfully matches its content to its target audience. If you take sales as an indication of that, News of the Screws is the 'best' paper.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

That a very fair argument to a point, but there is nothing to stop the tabloids including more information within their news stories and presenting it in a concise and easy to understand way. But, generally they don't. I have said before that I think that The Sun, for example is exceptionally well written and brilliant at what it does, for example, but what it and the other tabloids do not generally do is inform us in any great detail or useful way about current affairs.


And I'm not asking people to say one paper is better than another, but whether one type of paper is better than another in covering current affairs.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Whoops, now I've got a mental picture of the three party leaders involved in the kind of situation the Sport likes to write about :disturbd:

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Ah, but do you buy the NOTW for its current affairs coverage? That's what I'm getting at. Not that some papers are better at sport, entertainment or whatever.
__________________

Write?! The Sport is, erm, a picture led title!

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I think 'tabloid' and 'broadsheet' are too imprecise as definitions of what type of paper is best, and not just because the Inde and the Times are now tabloid, and I still think your question is too imprecise. When you say 'best' or 'better than', do you mean 'contains most detail', 'gives the best analysis' or 'argues its editorial line most effectively'?

The big problem in this context is that our newspapers are partisan so it's hard to know whether you're getting a truly balanced view of any particular event.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

There is a blurring of definition in the mid-market camp, but I personally would put the Mail and The Express in with The Sun, Mirror and Star. The Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Indie and FT in broadsheets.

Detail and analysis wouyld be my indicators, rather than successfully pushing an editorial line. I guess my point with the tabloids is the amount of current affairs information they don't publish which is as important as the stuff they do. In promoting an editrorial line, the broadsheets will tend to provide a much fuller picture rather than simplistically punting that line.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Dunno, but knowing the Sport, it was probably something like "Juicy Lucy watched me have sex on moonbase"...

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

So very true.

When most people say that a particular newspaper is best at covering current affairs, particularly political, they are really saying that the newspaper has the same views as themselves.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

But that's not the question I'm asking. I'm interested in whether people think broadsheets per se are better at keeping us informed than tabloids per se, not whether one particular paper is better than another.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Actually, I personally buy that good old Tory tabloid the Evening Standard..

At weekends, usually the Mirror and the Times. Sometimes, the Guardian.

As for which keeps me informed of current affairs best. Well, I would have to say "The Times", and for local current affairs, the Evening Standard.

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Evening Standard = the Daily Mail, freed from the obligation to bother publishing news about the wretched provinces.

And I loathe the way the BBC refers to it so much in its own news coverage, as if the rest of us are meant to have seen a copy of it!

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

:LOL: A brilliant analysis although not strictly on topic?!

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Sorry, just needed to get it off my chest. Now I'm living in Scotland it is more apparent to me than ever that BBC News has almost totally disappeared up its own metropolitan anus.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

The Evening Standard is a strange paper. It continually bashes Ken Livingstone on every single issue and never provides an alternative view. I like it though.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I think the tabloids are better at covering a range of stories but the broadsheets are better for the more in-depth coverage. Overall I prefer the broadsheets but don't discount other papers for having a (IMO) populist outlook and catering for the lowest common denominator.

Personally I read the Herald as a paper and look at the Sun, Guardian and Times websites.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

The only thing that really matters to a newspaper is circulation first with maybe political and personal agendas a secondary factor. Advertising is a major factor but is largely reliant on circulation. Provision of information is way down on the list of priorities unless it seriously affects the areas mentioned.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

The tabloids do a better job of informing people as they have a wider audience. But if you mean which papers best inform a reader then broadsheets usually have more facts, more in-depth reporting and less bias. Tabloids tend to spin there news and omit facts and do this as quickly and as concisly as possible. Although if someone simply gets there news from tabloids they can be very mis-informed

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Firstly, as someone mentioned, a headline isn't indicative of the paper as a whole. A headline is meant to grab attention, as it is something that is always read (as opposed to page 14), which is why papers like the Sun.

I'll read The Times quite happily, its a well-written paper, as is The Telegraph. No Littlejohn or Clarkson though, so I have to admit to be forced to buy The Sun on tuesdays, fridays and saturdays. I don't tend to rely on newspapers as my main source of information about current affairs, so I treat them more as entertainment, to give myself something interesting to read, so i'll read anything. Yes even the bloody Guardian if its free and I am bored enough.

For information about current affairs I mainly use the Internet and TV, with whatever paper I happen to be reading.

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I still think it's not that easy, and it doesn't all boil down to an individuals intellect/education..(I think that (apart from the Daily Telegraphs cryptic crossword), the Sun has the most difficult crossword of all the dailies). Every one has a different style/preference on how they digest information. I have no time/patience to read the Telegraph during the week. So the tabloids (and TV news stations) keep me updated. However, on a sunday, I have the time to spread my broadsheet across my lounge floor, make a mess and read all the supplements. And I don't feel less informed, whichever paper I read. :shrug:

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I read whatever paper takes catches my eye, or is nearby if I am out and about. I regularly read the Sun (Littlejohn is just excellent and Ally Ross is hilarious, Clarkson is... just Clarkson); I also read the News of the World. At the other extreme, I read the Times on Sunday and often the Independent; occasionally I will read the Mail (if somebody has it nearby) or the Telegraph (ditto).

I don't think any is "better" than the rest; all have strengths and weaknesses. Tabloids have poorer rugby coverage, but are always best for a quick read. The Times is great if you want a huge amount of in-depth info, but what if you don't? There is a difference between having "all" the facts, and "sufficient" facts.

But one thing does grate a little, and that is when people refer to "Sun readers" as if they are of a lower intelligence. My own IQ is (if I say so myself) extremely high, and I am quite capable of a thought process. The image of Sun readers as neanderthals with knuckles dragging on the ground is about as accurate as Times readers all wearing pin-stripe suits and bowler hats, or Guardian readers all wearing sandals!

We are what we are, not what we read. But back on-topic, I think a paper has to suit your needs. If you need a quick read with thinner coverage, then go tabloid; if you have more time and want bountiful information, go broadsheet.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

None.

all papers serve their own agenda,

whether that is a politcal agenda or the main object of selling papers.

Even your local rag will sensationalise something beyond all reason if there's a sniff of a good story.

All media do this.

What I can't stand, And it's usually radio news bulletins that do this, is when they pass off speculation as news.

"we may be heading for this" or " scientists advise that its probable" or "a report issued today could change the way we may live in the future"

All bulloocks.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Tabloids are for gossip and innuendo.Broadsheets are great for laying on the lino when you have just washed it... ;) After you have spent Saturday/Sunday afternoon underneath them on the sofa. :D

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Some interesting opinions emerging.

Damien, I would have to disagree that the tabloids inform more (on current affairs) because they are wider read. If you want to know whether Coldplay Chris and Gwyneth have had a row then you'll be informed; if you want to know, say, the background to the immigration debate, then you will not (well you'll be highly selectively and often misleadingly informed whereas the right wing broadsheets will put their view into some context).

O/B, your lack of time to read a broadsheet depresses me. It could restrict your world view as, for example, foreign news is noticeable largely by its absence in the tabloids.. Love or loathe The Guardian or whatever will bring new ideas to the fore and provide the background to the major issues of the day.

I take on board those who use t'internet and news channels as sources. I'd be lost without the BBC site myself and the 24 hour channels let you catch up pretty much at your convenience. But the pleasure of sprawling in front of a paper is not one I'd readily give up.

Coggy, I'd personally recommend the Sunday Times. Could sleep a small army under all those supplements over several afternoons (although you devour a rainforest in doing so ;) )

Still not sure I've got too far in getting people to opine on whether the b/sheets are better at informing, specifically on current affairs, than the tabs. If it's celeb rumour and gossip - and sport perhaps - I concede the tabs win hands down, although there's Heat out there too!

C'mon you fence sitters!

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Or the agenda of the reporter who is writing the story. I read the Times and have read complete rubbish about subjects that I obviously know more about than the pieces author does. This makes me doubt the accuracy/impartiality of the rest of the Times's articles. If this is true for the Times then what hope is there for the rest of the newspapers?

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Personally I find a lot of sport coverage in the broadsheets is better than the tabloids.

A few years back I used to take the FT and the Sun every day. The FT was for business reasons, but it surprised me how often the Sun had something in the business pages that the FT didn't. I also regularly took the Independent to read on the train at another stage of my life. A very good read.

One remark I would make is that the news as a whole is a vast subject. No single paper covers everything, presumably partly through lack of space. So purely reading a broadsheet might not necessarily give more information. Sure it will IF that particular item is covered, but not every item is.

As for the tabloid being good for celeb gossip, sure they have some in there. They also have a problem page. But the broadsheets have obituary columns... and what exactly is the point of that to most of us mere mortals? They rarely mention people who are known to the masses?

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Actually you get some very interesting life stories in the Telegraph obituary column, and the fact that often they are people you have never heard of is part of the interest. What drives the selection of people who are featured is normally that they have done, or been connected to, something that you probably have heard of. For instance, I once read in the Tele the obit of the man who invented the font used for many years by the Post Office. Completely random, but strangely interesting. And a few years back, when a friend's dad died, she sent in his details for the regular paid-for obits service, and was phoned back by the Obituary editor (yes, the Telegraph has one!). Her dad was a member of the BEF unit that was sacrificed at Dinkirk to hold back the Germans and allow the rest to escape. He spent the entire war in a PoW camp. The obits editor told my friend that he thought it was about time the story of that unit got an airing, and asked if he could work up her three-line submission into a full story. She supplied a photo of him in uniform and some more biographical detail and it ended up as about 1/3 of a page.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Chris, I have no doubt that there is interest in the obits... I was amazed when an old school friend featured (sadly) in there, as I had no idea just how much he had achieved since losing contact. My point was in relation to the fact that different people have different interests. There are a lot of people who are as fascinated by the "celebrity circuit" as there are with the "Society circuit". It's just different interests, that's all.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Very true. :)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I think Obits do fit within a generally accepted if loose definition of Current Affairs because they feature people who have made a significant contribution to society. They therefore perform a function of informing us of a significant person's death and their life achievements. On the other hand Britney Spears pregnancy....... :)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

And I suppose the Society diary in one particular paper enriches everybody's day to day existence?

Why not just be tolerant and accept that different things interest different people? How would you like it if somebody mocked what interests you just because they thought it too low-brow?

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Looking at the past few posts I think we're getting a bit sidetracked. In post#1 I asked about which papers kept us best informed about "important news events". Maybe I should have defined that a little tighter - I'm thinking about the political issues of the day - v. pertinent at the moment obviously! - stories like the Rover closure etc. Whilst I appreciate people may well be interested in Britney Spears' pregnancy I personally wouldn't class it as an important news event.

Hopefully that clarifies my reasoning for starting the thread.

As you were! :)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Not at all, sadly. The key to the confusion lies in the fact that you, personally, don't class Britney Spears' pregnancy as an important news event. I would argue that except over the biggest, hugest world events (911, perhaps, or the Olympics), there is no consensus about what is important news. Therefore there cannot possibly be a consensus over which newspaper, or type of newspaper, covers it best.

If you are a 14-year-old girl, for example, Britney Spears is your idol and role model (I think, no idea if that's actually still the case, but you get the idea), and therefore anything and everything that happens in her life is of vast importance. Any newspaper that gives you the details of Britney's latest exploits, will in the opinion of that person, be 'the best'.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Well yes I personally don't regard Britney Spears pregnancy as an important news event, and yes it might be of import to a 14 year old girl. However, I'm not aware of there being many 14 year old girls contributing to CF and in particular to its Current Affairs thread (and where would you post stuff about Britney here - Current Affairs, Entertainment or Lifestyle?). But if you think that it is sensible to equate Britney with, say, the election or Darfur or crime figures, then I guess we should abandon the arbitrary boundaries in the CF Basement and indeed this thread ;)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Today's Guardian, research by Loughborough University..

"...........This sense of drift is also reflected by the extent to which the tabloid press has become less interested in the election as polling day has drawn nearer. Over the past four weeks more than three-quarters of tabloid front pages have featured stories other than the election. Among the red tops, the number of non-election front pages rises to 87%.

"The lack of coverage, particularly in the tabloids, has to be noted as a defining characteristic," Prof Golding said.

"You can point to other stories such as Posh and Becks and the Guildford stabbing, but they have had their equivalents in previous campaigns. The coverage is significantly down and that's not trivial."

The Sun and the Daily Mirror each devoted more than 10 times as many column inches to the Beckhams' marriage than to the leaking of Lord Goldsmith's legal advice on the legality of war in Iraq."

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/sto...474748,00.html

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I think that is more to do with the general mood being the election is boring with not enough real issues to stimulate a meaningful debate.

Everyone knows the war was sold on a lie and the truth would be massaged to suit whatever agenda had been decided but there is not enough choice out there for it to be a meaningful election issue (Sadly, I'd love to vote for an anti-war party but the rest of their policies are garbage)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

I'd agree to a point - dreadful election campaign - but that doesn't explain why the broadsheets have covered such issues, which remain important, and the tabs haven't

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Important, to you. You can't measure everyone by your own yardstick. There are people out there who genuinely think that Beckham's marriage troubles are more important than the election, and Goldsmith's memo.

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Yep, I know some people who haven't watched the news or read a paper since the election was announced as they are that fed up with it (and politics in general)

How many people do you know who, when an election message comes on TV, say they wish it was all over?

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

But referring back to my previous post (and indeed #1) do Posh & Becks fulfil 'current affairs' criteria. Would you post something about their marriage (not the legal issues raised) in Current Affairs, Lifestyle or Entertainment here?

Are you suggesting pretty much anything can be defined as Current Affairs? Of course we set our own yardsticks otherwise we could not debate. But my yardstick is better than yours, so there! ;)

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

Well, I wasn't trying to categorise the Beckham's marriage troubles as anything, but as it is happening now, then surely it would count as current affairs. Not everything fits into one category. If the Beckhams count as entertainment, then If a soccer player murders someone, is that sport? Anything that is recently happened, or currently on-going, is current affairs, despite wether people think they are important than not.

The point I was trying to make (it appears now I didn't need to, sorry about that), was that, in the way you said "important" you seemed to dismiss anyone who thinks that anything else is important, which I thought was a bit unfair.

Re: Which Newspapers Inform Us Of Current Affairs Best?
 

When I read a newspaper for the first time (e.g. an English language paper abroad, local paper in a city I haven't been before, etc.) I look for the following:

• Is there a clear line drawn between editorial and reporting? In other words, can I tell when it's going beyond the facts and moving into opinion?
• Are the facts supported by cross reference - names with quotes, clear references to studies so I can check them myself if I want to?
• Do the opinion pieces address contrary arguments and come to a conclusion, rather than simply pretend that there's an easy answer?
• Does the paper avoid assuming that you agree with its editorial opinion?
• Does the paper regularly run editorials by different writers with conflicting viewpoints?

On that basis I read The Times, but I also like to occassionally read The Mirror and The Sun to keep a different viewpoint in mind. I used to read the Guardian and occassionally the Telegraph but in the last couple of years they've started to assume that their readers share their views about everything - I don't like that in a paper.

BBC News is generally good, except on Iraq; they seem to be still trying to adopt a 'we were right all along' attitude, which I don't find convincing.

Strangely, there don't seem to be any Sunday papers at the moment that fulfill all my criteria; the Sindy used to a few years ago but it's always been so poorly written (nothing to with the opinions, just the actual 'getting your point across in words' side of things).

What I find particularly odd is that the News International dailies tend to be pretty good (The Sun is exceptionally well written too) but their Sundays are really poor; I'd like to see Sunday editions of the Times and Sun - not the ST or NOTW which don't hold a candle to their daily equivalents.

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The Sun - Strongly supported the war in Iraq, hence won't give much coverage to anything which portrays the war, or the decisions leading up to the war, in a bad light (such as the AG's advice etc etc).


The Mirror - Was strongly against the war (under Mr Moron especially), but...it's a traditionally Labour-supporting paper, & we're heading up to an election. So, although the legal advice & other stuff is relevant, I think they've chosen not to cover it much as it's not good for Blair & the Government.

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That's an explanation. But what about the lack of coverage of other election issues that this research reveals? To ignore, or at least not provide effective coverage of a General Election campaign does kind of highlight a) how divorced from the importanvce of politics people seem to have become and b) what a sham our democratic system has become (and that's without talking about proportional representation!). As an aside, TV news audiences also drop at election time.

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On that basis I read the Indie becasue it does reflect different opinions and has some valid points in its editorials. They allow contrary arguments for i.e., the war in Iraq etc., and also give thourough news coverage.


I read a paper becasue I enjoy the way it reports things. I don't want to read a paper that glories in celebrity lifestyles, they do not interest me.


The election decline in readership and viewing figures is interesting. I seem to watch more news casts and buy less paper during the election. Maybe its becasue I find a viewable opinioneasier to digest and think about than a readable one ?

Sian.