Mission and coverage priorities

Our mission is simple to state and demanding to keep: to give readers in every country we serve fast, accurate and fair news in their own language, free to read and held to standards anyone can check.

What we cover first

Each title sets its own priorities, guided by what matters to its readers. Across all of them, the following come first.

• The news that shapes daily life: decisions of government and parliament, prices, wages, housing, health and the services people rely on.
• Public power held to account: what authorities, courts, the police and the institutions of public life do in the public's name.
• Crime and the courts, reported with care for victims and with respect for the presumption of innocence.
• Money and consumer affairs that help readers make better decisions for themselves and their households.
• Sport, from the national teams to the leagues and events readers follow week by week.
• Entertainment, culture and the Royal Houses, reported with the same accuracy as any other news.

International news

We report the world as it matters to our readers. A title explains what an event abroad means for its own country and its readers, and gives priority to the neighbours, partners and places its readers have ties to.

How we decide

A story earns its place by its significance to readers, by what is new in it and by how firmly it can be established. We do not publish to fill space, and we do not chase attention at the cost of accuracy. A story that is widely talked about but not established is reported as unconfirmed, or not reported at all.

Free to read

Everything our titles publish is free to read, with no account and no paywall, because news that informs the public should be open to all of it.