Daily Mail

The Daily Mail Rated Lean Right in September 2025 Editorial Review

An Editorial Review of The Daily Mail by a panel of six expert reviewers on the left, center, and right trained to spot bias returned an average rating of Lean Right (1.48) for The Daily Mail. As a result, the outlet’s AllSides Media Bias Rating was moved from Right to Lean Right.

During the Editorial Review, panelists generally agreed The Daily Mail leans to the right, and the entire panel agreed that a clear defining bias associated with the outlet was sensationalism – a type of bias associated with sharing shocking, exciting or exaggerated language used to make a story seem more interesting.

Notably, the sensationalism – as strong as it was – was not exclusive to being favorable to the right. Reviewers on the right argued that its sensationalism was more stylistic rather than strictly partisan, while reviewers on the left said it more often served perspectives on the right.

A Left panelist said, “[The Daily Mail] mostly picked stories that the right would be interested in, and used extreme and dramatic language consistently… I would categorize this outlet as being biased towards drama and tabloid-esque gossip.”

A Lean Right panelist said, “They are just sensationalist, not necessarily politically biased.” The panelist also agreed that they sensed more coverage on the right. Another Lean Right panelist argued “they have a slightly greater volume of [Democratic] criticism.”

A Center panelist said, “Lots of sensationalism, though a lot of the articles are quite balanced, and it consistently covers stories most of the right doesn’t.” In a similar tone, the other Center panelist agreed that “...some stories were surprisingly balanced and covered the facts of the story without much embellishment.”

Apart from sensationalism, the most common bias types identified were story choice, word choice, opinion presented as fact, spin, and viewpoint placement. The latter refers to a type of bias in which a journalist highlights a certain idea by giving it a more prominent position in an article.

Examples of bias found in the review:

• A story about Jimmy Kimmel’s response to being taken off the air after comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination presented opinion as fact and sensationalism in saying “...[Kirk’s] assassin was a liberal who seethed with hatred at Kirk over his conservative, Christian ethics.”
• Sensationalism and spin bias in the opening line of an article about Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations: “The View fans were left raging…”
• A story on the Trump administration’s announcement about autism in the U.S. and claims of Tylenol being a risk factor engaged in bias by viewpoint placement, in which it outlined viewpoints of the Trump administration in much detail before including skepticism from the medical community further down.
• Spin and word choice bias in a story about a shooter at an ICE facility, in which the outlet described someone as having “raged against gun rights.”

Daily Mail Rated Right in Aug. 2022 Blind Bias Survey

The Daily Mail was rated Right by people across the political spectrum in the Aug. 2022 Blind Bias Survey.

On average, respondents who self-identified as being on the Right rated the Daily Mail as Lean Right. Respondents in all other bias categories – Left, Lean Left, Center, and Lean Right – rated it as Right.

Democrats and Independents rated the Daily Mail as Right, on average, and Republicans rated the Daily Mail as Lean Right.

A total of 771 people from across the political spectrum rated the bias of the Daily Mail. The weighted average was 3.73, which is in the Right category. The middle 50% of responses lied between 1.88 (Lean Right) and 5.42 (Right) – an interquartile range of 3.54.

Aug. 2021 Independent Review Finds Sensationalism

During an August 2021 Independent Review, an AllSides editor noted the Daily Mail has a sensationalist, tabloid bent, often choosing to highlight individual stories that elicit shock or heightened emotions.

The Daily Mail is a British daily tabloid newspaper with much of its coverage about entertainment and pop news, and politically is a traditional supporter of Conservatives. It also considers BBC News to have a left bias. It is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and is published in London. It was first published in 1896 by the Harmsworth brothers, Alfred and Harold. It is the United Kingdom's second-largest selling daily newspaper after The Sun. In its founding, the Daily Mail was aimed at the literate lower-middle class and had a high volume of advertising revenue. 

Third Party Accusations of Bias and Misinformation

In 2017, Wikipedia's editors banned citations of the Daily Mail, saying it was "generally unreliable and its use as a reference is to be generally prohibited, especially when other more reliable sources exist." Arguments preceding the ban reportedly cited its "reputation for poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication."

Daily Mail is owned by Daily Mail and General Trust or DMGT. Lord Rothermere, Jonathan Harmsworth is the chairman of the Board of Directors of DMGT.

Financing and ownership information last updated March 11, 2021 If you think this information is out of date or needs to be updated, please contact us.