The public voice their opinion of The Sun, leaving the paper’s reputation in tatters.
The BBC recently published [pdf] a survey, asking the public to rate news outlets in terms of trust, bias and accuracy. And the results show that tabloid newspapers aren’t faring too well. But how people rated The Sun was particularly damning. The paper was voted the least trusted, the least impartial and most biased, and the least accurate out of 28 outlets.
The Sun’s worsening reputation
This same survey carried out two years ago [pdf] highlights The Sun’s worsening reputation. In terms of trust, Facebook and The Daily Star were voted as less trustworthy than the paper in 2015. Although The Sun was still considered the least impartial source of news.
A spokesperson from The Sun reacted to the most recent survey, saying:
The Sun remains Britain’s best-selling newspaper for a reason – because every week, millions of readers put their faith and trust in us. They know we’re on their side more than any other.
But there are certainly examples that indicate why The Sun is seen in such an unfavourable light.
Examples
The Sun has been accused of using Nazi-style propaganda, making up stories, and lying about political opponents. It has also been denounced by the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, for publishing Katie Hopkins’ article describing immigrants as “cockroaches”.
There are countless examples of times when The Sun has displayed blatantly obvious bias and shockingly poor standards of reporting. What’s worse is that the right-wing paper relies on these dodgy tactics in order to stir up hatred and division. As a report from the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance pointed out, “biased or ill-founded” reporting by outlets like The Sun may be responsible for perpetuating negative “stereotypes”. The report further stated that the surge in hate crime seen following the Brexit vote was “no coincidence” given the attitudes perpetuated by elements of the tabloid press and some politicians.
Read on...
Looking at The Sun‘s track record, and taking the opinions from the public, the UN and the EU into account, it’s no wonder the paper ranks so low in this latest survey.
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