Who reads the papers? - Yes, Prime Minister - BBC comedy
Why Hacker News recommends it
Posted as a joke and a reference whenever threads discuss newspaper bias and media pandering to readers.
What it is
A short clip from the BBC sitcom Yes, Prime Minister in which Jim Hacker explains which kind of person reads which British newspaper. It is a satirical take on press readership and bias.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2010 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends Zenst · 2025-10 · on “One-man campaign ravages EU 'Chat Control' bill”
The quote from Yes, Prime Minster - "The only way to understand the press, is to remember that they pander to their readers prejudices" which makes those news aggregations sites more appealing, though cheaper to stick with other avenues for balance. So much wisdom on comedy, even 80s comedy Who reads the papers? - Yes, Prime Minister - BBC comedy: [this video]
Cites belorn · 2017-02 · on “Handful of “highly toxic” Wikipedia editors cause 9% of abuse”
Honest question, what alternative do you use instead? HN mostly links to news article, and I would question if current politics and ongoing events are more accurately written by news media and with less bias. I don't know about polish news companies, but its not uncommon elsewhere that news companies are openly biased towards one political party or bias their articles towards their main customer group (UK example from Yes, Minister: [this video] ). We have books or research papers, but meta research generally acknowledge that researchers include bias into their work, often linked to the opinion of those that funds the research. Meta research is thus generally a bit better, especially the meta-met
Cites belorn · 2018-05 · on “A Wikipedia editor's long-running campaign”
> non-partisan news organizations. Generally, their news is relatively unbiased; One has to be very careful about who their readership are and whom the journalist cater to in their writing. For example we had this study done for reporting on the 2016 election and its only a small selection in green that indicate nonpartisan target audience: [LINK] It should be noted that the map do not show official endorsements which some of the green marked organization (or owners) made. We also have the classic "Who reads the papers?" from Yes, Prime Minister. ( [this video] ) Its a joke of course but one that rings quite true for a lot of people. The audience influence the paper which in turn incentives the w
Cites gowld · 2018-09 · on “Gell-Mann amnesia effect”
[this video] "In this timeless clip, Prime Minister, Jim Hacker explains to Sir Humphrey and Bernard the importance of the papers and who reads which one." [LINK] Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices. Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know exactly who reads the papers. * The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. * The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country. * The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country. * The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. * The Financial Times is read by people who own the country. *
Cites CM30 · 2019-04 · on “Zuckerberg’s Rules Would Hurt Everyone but Facebook”
Is it? We've had tabloids here in the UK for years, and it seems the more extreme ones have generally had higher circulation numbers than their more moderate rivals. And the media here have been aimed at partisans for a long time. [this video]