As we go into this election, remember the British press is the most right-wing in Europe

The British press is the most right-wing in Europe. At least, that’s what the British people think.

Research from YouGov found that out of seven European countries, including France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, British people are the most likely to say their press is right wing.

They’re also the most likely to say the press is too negative about immigration.

People were asked about the media’s reporting on five key areas – crime, housing health, immigration and economics – and whether they thought it was too right-wing, too left-wing, or balanced.

On average out of the five areas British people were more likely than any other country to see the media as skewed towards the right (26% compared to 23% for Finland and 19% for France).

Once the percentages for the media being biased to the left were subtracted, Britain’s media is viewed as having a right-wing bias in all five areas, most of all on economics.

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Finland’s press was seen as having similar levels of right-wing bias, but in most of the other countries the media was seen as more aligned to the left.

According to the survey, around a quarter to a third of Brits on each topic said the media had the right balance, but without those there were always more people who said the press favoured the right over the left.

Crime was the area with the highest proportion of Britons who thought the media had got the balance right (32%), followed by the economy.

Respondents to the poll, carried out in January last year, were also asked about the media’s coverage of immigration, with 34% of British people saying the press was too negative on the subject, compared to 25% who said it got the balance right and 24% who said it was too positive.

(Top picture: Rex)