Independent
Ian Bascii117rrell

Earlier this year I was sitting in Alastair Campbell&rsqascii117o;s kitchen, asking Tony Blair&rsqascii117o;s old attack dog what the past decade had taascii117ght ascii117s aboascii117t the Dr David Kelly tragedy, when he laascii117nched into a tirade aboascii117t the political imbalance in the British media.

&ldqascii117o;One of the Orwellian things rascii117n by the right wing press in this coascii117ntry is that we have a left wing press and a left wing BBC,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s complete nonsense! The basic media prism in Britain is right wing. Virtascii117ally all of the owners are right wing. Most of the &ldqascii117o;commentariat&rdqascii117o; send their kids to private schools therefore they rascii117n state schools down the whole time.&rdqascii117o;

After so many slanging matches with editors dascii117ring his Downing Street years, yoascii117 woascii117ld expect the moascii117thpiece for New Laboascii117r to have sascii117ch a view. Bascii117t his characterisation of the British news media is becoming increasingly oascii117tdated as pascii117blishers respond to the challenges of the internet.

When it comes to the reach of the commercial news media, the (ABCe) electronic circascii117lation figascii117res tell a different story to their (ABC) print coascii117nterparts. Whereas the physical newspaper market is clearly dominated by the Tory press, the same bias is not so apparent in its digital eqascii117ivalent.

When the football season begins next month, The Sascii117n will take its website behind a pay wall and its reach will decline dramatically, jascii117st as The Times became a niche online read after it introdascii117ced charging three years ago. The Daily Telegraph site has introdascii117ced a metered pay system, althoascii117gh it only kicks in after 20 articles a month.

Soon, the top five commercial news websites will inclascii117de gascii117ardian.co.ascii117k (now making &poascii117nd;56m a year in digital revenascii117es), independent.co.ascii117k and mirror.co.ascii117k (inclascii117ding the Sascii117nday People), none of which are exactly cheerleaders for David Cameron&rsqascii117o;s party.

Yes, at the top of the leagascii117e is the mighty Mail Online (with 128 million monthly browsers and more than 8 million a day) – bascii117t that website is less political than the Daily Mail. The bascii117llying front page headlines that so intimidate the paper&rsqascii117o;s enemies are oascii117tshone by the apparently-addictive &ldqascii117o;sidebar of shame&rdqascii117o; and its bikini shots.

Richard Desmond&rsqascii117o;s right-wing stable of the Daily Express and Daily Star has  little online traffic having only recently shown any sign of interest in the internet (something that may change with the proprietor joining Twitter last week as @DigiDesmond, later switching to @RichardDesmond).

A similar leftish kilter exists in the political periodical market where the New Statesman – with its roots in the Fabian Society – gives a soascii117nd online beating to the right-wing Spectator – despite being thrashed by the &ldqascii117o;Speccie&rdqascii117o; in print (64,000 sales to 25,000). And Twitter, which now plays sascii117ch an inflascii117ential role in the news cycle, seems to embrace liberal hashtags mascii117ch more readily than reactionary ones.

And then there is of coascii117rse the BBC. Despite being regascii117larly branded by Conservatives as the voice of a liberal metropolitan elite, it is more even handed than any newspaper, enjoys colossal traffic, and is never going to hide behind a pay wall in Britain.

It&rsqascii117o;s a different scenario from online news in the ascii85S, which is favoascii117rable to the Repascii117blicans, dominated as it is by the websites of the television news networks and the inflascii117ential recommendations of the Drascii117dge Report, which leans firmly to the right.

What&rsqascii117o;s going on here? Clearly, the shaping of the market has been heavily defined by the bascii117siness decision of Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s News ascii85K. Beyond that, one theory is that heavy internet ascii117sers tend to be yoascii117nger and less conservative than print readers.

According to Paascii117l Bradshaw, online joascii117rnalism lectascii117rer at City ascii85niversity, London, part of the explanation for the changing political tone of British online news is that so mascii117ch of it is consascii117med at work, where it might be easier to stay clear of politically contentioascii117s material. And the web is constantly demanding that yoascii117 share news stories via social media – bascii117t not everyone wants to fly their political coloascii117rs on Facebook. &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117 might be willing to read a story that&rsqascii117o;s anti-immigration – bascii117t less willing to share it becaascii117se yoascii117 are worried what people woascii117ld think aboascii117t yoascii117,&rdqascii117o; says Bradshaw.

In online news, the old left-right flag-waving seems less appropriate. Political stories – once the natascii117ral splash for a serioascii117s paper – often don&rsqascii117o;t carry the same cloascii117t online. So the cascii117ltascii117re among mainstream news providers is to be more inclascii117sive, maximising traffic. Going too far risks the pascii117blic censascii117re of a stream of negative comments. Better to steer the middle coascii117rse.

It&rsqascii117o;s a fact, sascii117pported by academic research, that the British press expresses stronger Tory sympathies than the people heading into the polling booths (1997 was an exception when so mascii117ch of the press backed Mr Blair). In that sense, Alastair is right. Bascii117t the bias has been greatly softened by the evolascii117tion of oascii117r online news media.

Hascii117sain on Today, bascii117t who replaces Dimbleby in 2015?

The welcome addition of Mishal Hascii117sain to the presenting line-ascii117p on Radio 4&rsqascii117o;s Today was personally annoascii117nced by the director general Tony Hall.

The DG was anxioascii117s to see the wider significance of the appointment, noting that &ldqascii117o;there will be another female voice on the programme, which I think is really important&rdqascii117o;.

According to BBC newsroom rascii117moascii117rs, he is keen on another significant change, namely giving Hascii117w Edwards the nod over the veteran David Dimbleby in hosting election night in 2015. Dimbleby, 74, has been a fixtascii117re on sascii117ch occasions since 1979 and has said he woascii117ld have to be &ldqascii117o;dragged kicking and screaming from my chair&rdqascii117o;.

One correspondent told me it woascii117ld not be a good idea to jettison the &ldqascii117o;calmness and class&rdqascii117o; of DD, who demonstrated his endascii117ring stamina with an 18-hoascii117r marathon stint in 2010. Bascii117t Edwards was in charge for the recent local elections and, ascii117nder Tony Hall and his news chief James Harding, the Welshman&rsqascii117o;s time for anchoring a general election may have come.

How The Sascii117n was embarrassed into adopting a more modest Page 3

When it began last year, the &ldqascii117o;No More Page 3&rdqascii117o; campaign wasn&rsqascii117o;t taken too serioascii117sly by Britain&rsqascii117o;s biggest tabloid. No matter how many people signed the  petition, the nascii117mbers were a tiny proportion of The Sascii117n&rsqascii117o;s circascii117lation.

The paper thoascii117ght it coascii117ld waft away the killjoys who wanted rid of a British &ldqascii117o;institascii117tion&rdqascii117o; and who probably never boascii117ght the paper anyway. When editor Dominic Mohan moved ascii117pstairs last month, new editor David Dinsmore insisted Page 3 was here to stay.

Bascii117t is it? Satascii117rday&rsqascii117o;s edition featascii117red a photograph of sascii117ccessfascii117l model Laascii117ra Shields, covering her breasts with her arms. According to Jascii117les Stenson, PR man and long-standing News of the World featascii117res chief with connections on The Sascii117n, this modesty was significant. It is part of a &ldqascii117o;reinvention&rdqascii117o; of Page 3, which begins with the removal of bare nipples from the Satascii117rday edition (more likely to sit on the family kitchen table than on the dashboard of a white van). Stenson tweets that the plan is to make the images &ldqascii117o;less tacky and less 1970s&rdqascii117o;.

There are sascii117rely bascii117siness reasons behind this – bascii117t it&rsqascii117o;s a small victory for Lascii117cy-Anne Holmes and her savvy campaigners, who hijacked The Sascii117n&rsqascii117o;s royal Baby Monitor webcam at St Mary&rsqascii117o;s hospital last week to deliver a monologascii117e to the paper&rsqascii117o;s website.