The British press is more likely to be considered rightwing than that in Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, according to a study (pdf).
The YouGov survey asked people in the seven countries whether their nation’s media were too rightwing or too leftwing on five issues – health, crime, the economy, housing and refugees/immigration. On four of the five issues, Brits were the most likely to say the press was too rightwing (only Finland scored higher on the economy).
Almost a third of Brits (32%) said the media had “about the right balance” on crime, and just 18% – the lowest of the seven countries – said the same about refugees and immigration. Almost three in 10 Brits felt the coverage of immigration issues was too rightwing, and almost a quarter said it was too leftwing.
The net figures (the difference between those who answered rightwing and leftwing) show the British press is more likely to be seen as rightwing in all the five areas. Finland’s press is similarly perceived as having rightwing bias, while in France, Germany and Sweden the media is seen as more leftwing.
The poll also asked participants about how accurately they felt the media reported on particular groups of people – refugees/asylum seekers, ethnic minorities, immigrants, women, nurses, politicians, celebrities and young people. More than half of British respondents considered the media’s reporting on refugees/asylum seekers, ethnic minorities and immigrants to be fairly or very inaccurate.
When specifically asked whether press coverage of refugee and immigration issues was too negative or too positive, 34% of Brits said the press was too negative, 24% said it was too positive and 25% said it struck the right balance.
Other groups who the public said received poor coverage in the media were celebrities and politicians: 45% of the public felt reporting on these groups was inaccurate.
Methodology: the survey was carried out by YouGov in seven countries between 20 and 27 January 2016. Sample size: 1,694 British, 2,041 German, 999 French, 1,002 Danish, 1,009 Swedish, 1,003 Finnish and 610 Norwegian adults.
