Tuesday 14 July 2015

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%




3 comments:

  1. Great piece - Illuminating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for this article. Useful

    ReplyDelete
  3. Harold Evans knew about Murdoch immediately he took over the times.

    ReplyDelete