Is there such a thing as a decent newspaper?

One think I have noticed recently on Foot.ie is a lot of frustration regarding the various newspapers available to us. Recently we have seen plenty of examples of spin/poor reporting/terrible reporting etc ranging from the Irag war, Irish politics, Brian Kerr, the Church etc. I am based in the UK but can pick up the Irish broadsheets if I can be bothered. Is there any newspaper left that will give me the cold hard accurate facts, thats all i want I will then make up my own mind about the subject. I do not want it spun to the journalists tune/editors gripe or the owners friends point of view. I have tried them all The Times, Telegraph, Independent (Irish and UK version) Guardian etc and have found them all wanting because of the above. Has anybody any other suggestions or do I just log onto the web and try to pick my way through that. I am almost certain the answer is the above just hope someone can convince me otherwise? :confused:

Newspapers naturally have a bias, there's no way around it and there are no exceptions. All you can do is try to take other "side" on board by reading their points of view too. It's next to impossible to do, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Didn't we have a "what paper do you read" thread somewhere?

adam

I think the problem is that traditional lines between broadsheet and tabloid jorunalism is blurring leaving us with a hybrid of both. Tabloids are getting worse and Broadsheets seem to be lowering standards? I don't know what can be done about it but standards do seem to be slipping? Its not just a problem with papers but with many aspects of life.

Gave up on tabloids a while back.
Even the sports coverage wasn't worth it. Was disappointed by the Irish Independent, thinks its trying to turn itself into the sun or something.
So i'm giving the examiner a go now.

Dennis Skinner, the radical Left wing English Labour MP, used to say that everyone should read the Financial Times because 'the b*st*rds don't tell each other lies'.

The Saturday edition has quite a lot of reading for ordinary punters. The news stories are well covered and are from a world perspective. The analysis is a lot sharper than a lot of other papers; there is no point trying to spin to people who know the situation.

I think Simon Kuper, who does a sports column on Saturdays, is one of the best sports writers around

The standard of newspapers in Ireland is particularly poor. The Indo is a glorified tabloid - the day there was a picture of posh spice and the fool on the cover was the end of it. Saying that, it was always useless.

I read the Examiner - best of a bad bunch.

Still feel the Irish Times is best irish paper. It obviously has its own bias but at least attempts to have its own journalists.

I hate the way the Indo just buys everything off wire services.

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Originally Posted by pete

I hate the way the Indo just buys everything off wire services.

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So does the Times. Most of their sport comes from the Guardian Service as does a lot of their international coverage.

The Sunday Business Post is the only Irish paper I trust (must be 'cos it's owned by Corkies. ;) )

KOH

Reading The Guardian for seven years now and The Observer on Sundays. Started to dabble with The Turbine on Sundays again - brutal for footie but some, repeat some, of its journos aren't three bad.

Hate anything in the Indo stable. The Star on Tuesdays is great for Junior and under age footie.

Now using blog thingys a lot more. Newshounds, Media Matters, Crooks and Liars, Guardian on line and loads of others.

Footie is my number one venue each day 'cos you guys (and gals) know so much about the world wide scene in football and always have new and interesting news and viwes.

Take a bow, cool Footiepersons.;)

daily ireland.
the rest are dire.bar mirror solely for el coverage on fridays and star or sun for el coverage too. but for actaul news, daily ireland

The Irish Times is the only decent paper in Ireland in my opinion.

The Sunday Business Post is the only Irish paper I trust (must be 'cos it's owned by Corkies. ;) )
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the sbp is indeed wery good, but as far as football coverage goes, or sport in general, its virtually non existent, tribune isnt all that bad for sport, but as dailys go, the've all decended into tabloid journalism as far as im concerned:mad:

It is a business newspaper though monkey magic. Perhaps they could do more stuff on the business of football and sports in Ireland? If you think so, why not email them?

adam

thats true, and the few articles they do on the business of football, do tend to be good, but they do also have a kind of lifestyle section (cant for the life of me remember its name) which i feel would benefit from more sports coverage/analysis. also have to say their computers in business monthly mag makes a good read..

i dont personally believe in emailing large organisations, particularily media org's about their content makes any difference, would much prefer to bitch about it on here;)

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Originally Posted by monkey magic

i dont personally believe in emailing large organisations, particularily media org's about their content makes any difference

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It really does mm. Obviously they're not going to change it based on the feedback of one user, but if they get hundreds or thousands of individual opinions essentially stating the same thing, they /have/ to change. It's just good business. And if they don't know there's an untapped market out there, how are they supposed to cater to you?

So you should email in your opinion, or write it out on that paper stuff with one of those pen things, and fire it in. (Or just type it and print it!) And, like I'm encouraging you to complain, you should encourage others. Not spammy "campaign" encouragement, just general encouragement like I'm doing here.

adam

i think the indo has really gone downhill since guy from herald took over...in particular the sports coverage which is now full of OTT opinion pieces with not much grounding in any actual facts.

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Originally Posted by REVIP

Dennis Skinner, the radical Left wing English Labour MP, used to say that everyone should read the Financial Times because 'the b*st*rds don't tell each other lies'.

The Saturday edition has quite a lot of reading for ordinary punters. The news stories are well covered and are from a world perspective. The analysis is a lot sharper than a lot of other papers; there is no point trying to spin to people who know the situation.

I think Simon Kuper, who does a sports column on Saturdays, is one of the best sports writers around

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The FT is the most 'no-nonsense' paper available. Its serious and acurate and devoid of the kind of spin you'll find in other British papers (particularly in realtion to the EU).

The Irish Times is great IMO. Sometimes its a bit limp-wristed, but it is still a broadsheet in name and in nature. The Saturday and Monday sports sections are good. If only they published a Sunday edition...

IT still good enough for me. Grand for lunch on your own. For world news I tend to get it online. Guardian online being the starting point (although its hardly unbiased....)

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Reading The Guardian for seven years now and The Observer on Sundays. Started to dabble with The Turbine on Sundays again - brutal for footie but some, repeat some, of its journos aren't three bad.

Hate anything in the Indo stable. The Star on Tuesdays is great for Junior and under age footie.

Now using blog thingys a lot more. Newshounds, Media Matters, Crooks and Liars, Guardian on line and loads of others.

Footie is my number one venue each day 'cos you guys (and gals) know so much about the world wide scene in football and always have new and interesting news and viwes.

Take a bow, cool Footiepersons.;)

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Bit stuck for irish news there, arent ya?
Out of curiousity, where is Beeslow?
I've been actively trying to find a regular newspaper for me recently.
All the criticisms people have told me about the individual papers have proved correct.
What do ye think of the Examiner?
Trying it lately and i'm a bit impressed.

beeslow is balinaslow from a guess:D