A fresh report just dropped from the pointy-headed bods over at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism about the demography and political beliefs of hacks in Britain. Want to guess?
The survey of 1,130 UK journalists shows that scribblers have become – staggeringly – even more left wing over the past decade: in 2015, 54% self-identified with the political left and this has now risen to 77%. Shocker…
The study goes on: “The survey data show that the median UK journalist in 2023 was white, university educated, over 40, not affiliated to any religion, from a privileged socio-economic background, and left-leaning.” Sounds about right. It continues:
“Looking at education, the 2023 survey found that 91% of journalists who responded had a university degree, up from 86% in 2015. The percentage of those with higher degrees such as a Masters also rose from 32% to 41%. A higher percentage of UK journalists were privately educated (13% at primary, 22% at secondary schools) than is the case for the general population (6%). Comparative data from 2015 for this is not available.”
No wonder the authors of the first draft of history failed to spot Brexit, Trump and so many other upsets coming down the track. The Guido newsroom is a UK anomaly, young and based…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”