Media in the UK

Conservative leaning papers

  • Daily Express (populist)
  • Daily Mail – voice of the suburban middle class
  • Daily Telegraph – socially conservative

Labour/Lib Dem leaning papers

  • Daily Mirror
  • Guardian – metropolitan left
  • Sunday People
  • Observer
  • Sun (flip flop)

Centre-left/pro business

  • Economist
  • FT

Influence on elections

  • The Sun case study

    • Sun famously claimed they won the election for John Major in 1992

    • They later denied having such influence

      “Anti-democratic is too strong a word…it was tasteless and wrong for us. It was wrong in fact. We don’t have that sort of power.”

      — Rupert Murdoch, 2012

    • The Sun backed Blair in 1997

      • Murdoch: “[I] never asked Mr Blair for anything, nor did I receive any favour.”
      • One study argued Sun’s decision to back Labour generated ~525k extra votes for Lab
      • 550k votes for Tories in 2010

Social media

  • Between 24 May 2024 (election called) and 4 July 2024 (general election):

    • £2.76m spent on political Google ads
      • Lab spent ~£2m, Tories spent ~£116k
    • Tories spent £1.2m on Meta ads, Lab spent £1.75m+
    • Tories spent much more on postcode-bsed targeting, Lab spread more widely
    • Lab ads highlighted manifesto promises, Tories mainly attacking Lab

  • Ofcom report 2025:

    • Younger generation

      • 12-15s receive their news: 39% from BBC, 31% from TikTok, 30% YouTube, 24% Instagram

      • 16-24s

        For young people, online platforms and social media are far more prevalent than more traditional ways for accessing news content with eight in ten 16-24-year-olds using online. Social media services remain the main way to access news with three-quarters of all young people aged 16-24 using these services.

    • Interest is lowering in current affairs

      News and current affairs as a topic of interest has been decreasing over time, declining from 48% in 2018 to 42% in 2025. However, just 6% of UK adults said they did not follow the news, primarily due to the news being ‘too depressing’ (52% of those not following the news). Three in ten of those not following the news say they find it ‘too boring’ or ‘find it difficult to trust’.

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