Facts about UK newspapers - owned by billionaires & supporting the Tories

In the words of A J Liebling, renowned American journalist - "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one". So it is worth noting that: -

1. 47.5% of combined print & online press is owned by just two billionaires - Rothermere and Murdoch

2. 75.1% is owned by just six billionaires

Billions of pounds are spent on advertising and PR annually because they are powerful tools to change behaviour. The same equally applies to newspapers and voting. So it is also worth noting that:-

1.  71.5% of combined print & online press supported Tories, Tory-led coalition or UKIP at election

2. 21.3% supported Labour

(Contrary to the Tory mythology about the BBC, it amplifies rather than  counteracts the political bias of the press.  As Robert Peston has said, BBC News is "completely obsessed by the agenda set by the newspapers....If we think the Mail and Telegraph will lead with this, we should. It's part of the culture.")

Below are three tables compiled from publicly available information.

UK national paper(s)	Average weekly print readership NRS	Website only Comscore	Combined print and website (removing duplicates) % of total	Effective owner/s	Info about owner/s	Political support General Election 2015
Daily Mail & Mail on Sunday	8,724,000	5,691,000	13,255,000  17.6%	Lord Rother-mere	Billionaire.Lives in France. Non-Dom. Alleged tax avoider.	Tories
The Sun & Sun on Sunday	10,344,000	339,000	10,602,000  14.1% (Scotland alone estimate 1.2%)	Rupert Murdoch	Billionaire. Lives in US. Alleged tax avoider.	Tories except in Scotland where SNP
Metro	7,315,000	992,000	8,108,000  10.8%	Lord Rother- Mere	Billionaire. Lives in France. Non-Dom. Alleged tax avoider.	Tories
Mirror & Sunday Mirror	5,346,000	2,222,000	7,329,000    9.7%	Trinity Mirror plc	Public Limited Company.	Labour
Guardian & Observer	2,349,000	5,171,000	6,998.000    9.3%	Scott Trust Ltd	A company with purpose to secure Guardian’s independence	Labour
Telegraph & Sunday Telegraph	2,709,000	4,277,000	6,577,000    8.7%	David and Frederick Barclay	Billionaires. Live on private island near Sark. Alleged tax avoiders.	Tories
London Evening Standard	3,801,000	649,000	4,340,000     5.8%	Alexander & Evgeny Lebedev	Alexander is a billionaire, ex-KGB and lives in Russia. His son, Evgeny lives in UK	Tories
The Independent & Independenton Sunday & i	2,034,000	2,479,000	4,316,000 (Indy alone estimate   2,500,000)   5.7% (Indy alone estimate   3.3%)	Alexander & Evgeny Lebedev	Alexander is a billionaire, ex-KGB and lives in Russia. His son, Evgeny lives in the UK	Indy -Tory/Lib-Dem Indy on Sunday & i - no endorse-ment
The Times & Sunday Times	3,540,000	239,000	3,748,000   5.0%	Rupert Murdoch	Billionaire. Lives in US. Alleged tax avoider.	Tories
Express & Sunday Express	2,298,000	849,000	. 3,110,000   4.1%	Richard Desmond	Billionaire pornographer. Alleged tax avoider	UKIP
Star &  Star on Sunday	2,171,000	567,000	. 2,722,000   3.6%	Richard Desmond	Billionaire pornographer. Alleged tax avoider	No endors-ment
Financial Times	2,200,000 (PwC Nov 2011)	285,000 subscribers	2,485,000 Estimate   3.3%	Pearson PLC	Public limited company	Tory/ LibDem
Daily Record & Sunday Mail	1,326,000	451,000	1,724,000     2.3%	Trinity Mirror plc	Public limited company	Labour
TOTAL			75,314,000

Effective Owner(s)	%  of combined print and online
Lord Rothermere	28.4
Rupert Murdoch	19.1
Trinity Mirror plc	12.0
Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev	11.5
Scott Trust	9.3
David and Frederick Barclay	8.7
Richard Desmond	7.7
Pearson plc	3.3

Political Support at General Election 2015
Tory	60.8%
Tory led coalition with Lib Dems	6.6%
UKIP	4.1%
Labour	21.3%
SNP	1.2%
No endorsement	6.0%