Bronze-level articleDaily Telegraph

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The Daily Telegraph is a British daily broadsheet newspaper. The Telegraph (and its sister edition the Sunday Telegraph) consistently supports the Conservative Party and takes a centre-right position. The paper, however, is far more Eurosceptical than the mainstream of the Conservative Party, and as a result has earned the nickname "Torygraph." The Telegraph's circulation has fallen steadily over the past decade,[1] and it currently ranks fifth among British newspapers by circulation, first among broadsheets.

The Telegraph is strongly anti-Murdoch, and has the wonderful distinction of having published an article which heavily links to RationalWiki.[2]

Contents

[edit] Ownership

The paper is currently owned by identical twins brothers David and Frederick Barclay who have an estimated net worth of £1.8bn. Although British nationals born in London they have attracted some criticism for being tax exiles living on the Channel Island of Brecqhou or Monaco. The Barclays also own the weekly current affairs magazine The Spectator.

[edit] Columnists

While the main reporters of the Telegraph show a candid, but restrained, support for the Conservative Party, a disdain for the European Union and some skepticism about climate change (one of their bloggers is notable denier James Delingpole), their columnists certainly rival their counterparts at the Daily Mail for wingnuttery. Christopher Booker, when he's not too busy ranting about the Human Rights Act, splits his time equally between denouncing climate change as a scam and denouncing the EU as, well, whatever accusations he fancies pulling out of his arse.[3] Meanwhile, the paper's editorials are simply propaganda. Half of the time, this propaganda is aimed at the general public, trying to convince them that the Tories are the only safe option to govern Britain. The other half seems to be aimed at the party elite and hard-line supporters, being very much against "Tory modernisers" and encouraging the party to stick to Thatcher's legacy.[4][5] Their "chief political commentator," though often quite reasonable in his predictions of what the coalition government will face, is part of the, "Christianity is oppressed!" brigade, often writing columns about "Islamisation" and the role of Christianity in the state.[6] Meanwhile, online Nile "Vile" Gardiner[7] has become somewhat of a Tea Party favourite, having written anti-Obama[8] and pro-batshit[9] articles consistently since mid-'09.

[edit] Investigative journalism

The Daily Telegraph is well known for leaks and whistle-blowing, as well as "sting" operations to reveal wrongdoing. It was the main outlet for the leaked details of British MPs' expenses, which caused great embarrassment for many parliamentarians and even led to legal proceedings. The Telegraph also caused huge controversy by sending journalists to flirt with members of Parliament at their constituency meetings, eventually ridiculing and embarrassing multiple Liberal Democrat MPs, most notably Vince Cable.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45045&c=1
  2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6408927/Internet-rules-and-laws-the-top-10-from-Godwin-to-Poe.html
  3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/
  4. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8230436/A-timely-lesson-from-history-for-Mr-Cameron.html
  5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/8224533/David-Cameron-must-unite-his-party-behind-him.html
  6. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/peteroborne/
  7. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/nilegardiner/
  8. "Barack Obama is firmly on course to become a one term president" Well guess what happened with that?
  9. "The Tea Party is the movement of the decade"
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