bensyd

I used to read the Guardian when I lived in the UK. I liked their international coverage, although I found the opinion and comment to generally be in the chardonnay socialist camp. I use to read the FT as well, which I thought was far better than the WSJ. The Telegraph is also a perfectly fine paper.

darkom

I was just trying to make sense of the papers, and thought comparisons would be helpful. If such a comparison isn't appropriate, then very well. I'm still a bit unsure of the various personalities of these 3-4 papers, and who exactly reads them. Do most people have one go-to? If yes, is that go-to a matter of political leaning or are there other specific traits these papers possess?

Showbizguru

The Guardian is the house journal of the Sandalistas.
So there's plenty of right-on bashing of US foreign policy and bigging up of Assange and Snowden.
Domestically there's a heavy emphasis on social services,education and the arts.
The Telegraph used to be called The Torygraph but has re-positioned itself with far more lifestyle features.Has been streets ahead of the rest of the broadsheets with its exposures about political corruption and expenses-fiddling.
The Mail is a one-off, successfully pursuing a slightly deranged editorial policy that has struck a chord with Middle England.
It runs the most successful newspaper website in the world which also has a specific US edition.
In fact all three newspapers have very good free websites which would give you a fair idea of what the real newspapers are like.

JohnnyColombia

Telegraph gets my vote, or The Guardian. Whichever way you lean politically, as Stut points out, they both appear to have floated to the top in terms of journalism. Note the online version of The Telegraph has a 20 article/month limit for free use (Or 20 articles per browser per computer)

I am completely bemused and have no idea who this Middle England is that is having its chord struck by the Daily Mail. It has long since turned into a hideous and frightening parody of itself. Big in Washington State according to the stats
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/stats

Yesterday they led with an article about Roma people defecating on Little Britain's doorstep (this is not a metaphor). Actually Americans, or at least people claiming to be in America are stoking the fury in the comments section on this article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-services.html

Daily Express is a great read if you like being told that the Atlantic is going to freeze over and by 2025 the whole of East Anglia is going to be a lake. It will also be my "go to" rag if the Portuguese police arrest Kate and Gerry again. Used to have some interesting glossy sister publications too but they were sold in 2004.

The Sun is the best newspaper to read on the toilet

Showbizguru

Clearing cookies gets around this for me.

IAN-UK

The Times has remained my choice, though it's a choice supported mainly by the crossword, my laziness and a lack of alternatives. I avoid the Sunday variant: sets my teeth on edge.

Thanks to my cheapskate nature and the generosity of Waitrose, I've discovered a surprisingly improved Telegraph and a same-as Guardian.



It's unsettling to think of visitors getting a view of Britain through the Mail, Sun et al

Raffles

There are also more subtle differences at play.

Cost - Ft is £2.50 ($4) I think which impact casual buying. Times is good value at £1.

Supplements / sport - regular supplements tend to drive sales, eg some have more football coverage on a Monday, Guardian has media features on Monday, Times has a big property supplement on Friday

Size - wide range of formats now, the fully broadsheet Telegraph does seem too big now in the age of Berliner Guardians and tabloid Times's and it is tricky to read on transport etc.

Of the serious papers, the Times is a decent allrounder, the Guardian is good but you need to share aits political leanings, the Independent has no budget and it shows - hard to justify the cover price. Telegraph always makes me feel that I should be 60 plus to enjoy it.

The best newspaper in the UK is actually the Weekend FT.

In terms of a business model, the Daily Express is something of a miracle. Quite a lot of people still pay for it. However, it carries no real news and has no journalistic staff beyond a token number. Almost all the content comes from agencies, with whole sections, eg Tv, business, supplied by third parties. Massively profitable. My brother buys it for reasons I can't imagine.

The Mail may be a shocking piece of work, morally, but you have to admire the way it does it.

lhrsfo

Agreed that the Saturday FT is the very best of the bunch. I would add that the WSJ Europe is a shadow of its US sibling.

WHBM

We put out the Telegraph and the FT each day in office reception, which seems to be an accepted combination.

The Times has really lost it, when I read it now it just seems to be written in a vacuum.

The Telegraph probably has the most competent set of journalists left in the media. It also has two star items, the cartoon on the front page each day by Matt, brilliantly done each time and which often manages to merge two current news stories together. Secondly, the real LOL 2/3 line letters at the end of the Letters to the Editor column each day. Both run to annual books at Christmas of the best of the year.

The FT does the business world well and likewise has a full set of good journalists. Don't make the mistake of not buying the Saturday edition, which is the best of the week. I also have a liking for picking up City-AM, which is a free daily circulating just in the financial districts of London, and demonstrates that free-handout newspapers don't have to be rubbish, Metro (owned behind the scenes by the Daily Mail) please take note.

As ever, the advertising is the clue to the typical readership. The Guardian is full of job ads for left-leaning public authorities and the BBC, The Times is full of ads for upmarket houses, and so on.

ajGoes

A British comedic TV show had a little educational bit about American politics once. It explained that the US has two major parties: the Republicans, which are the equivalent of their Conservative Party, and the Democrats, which are the equivalents of their Conservative Party.

ajGoes

Washington State is the home of Microsoft's Bing search engine. I bet the vast majority of the hits the Mail reports there are from Bing robots.

antichef

Yes that sounds about right for the type of reader they attract

JohnnyColombia

That's a theory, but how come DM cannot differentiate between a genuine visit and a bot. And where is the corresponding Googlebot activity in CA?

That said, and applying stereotypes here. WA certainly isn't the state that would spring to mind when picking a state that would resonate to the chime of DM's "holy bollocks we're going to hell in a handcart" brand of journalism.

Maybe it is a failed DDoS attack by the Spokane chapter of Anonymous.

dgwright99

None of them come close to the NYT. FT and Telegraph are readable. The rest are merely dreadful in different ways.

ajGoes

California shows more than half a million hits, the most of any state. But NY isn't far behind at 422,780. I guess it must be Anonymous after all. (-: