The Herald Scotland media bias and reliability
The rating organisations do not give The Herald Scotland one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. We have seen it on 50 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is The Herald Scotland biased?
The rating organisations do not give The Herald Scotland one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is The Herald Scotland left or right?
The rating organisations do not give The Herald Scotland one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is The Herald Scotland reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for The Herald Scotland are Ad Fontes Media: Very high factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What The Herald Scotland has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with The Herald Scotland’s own report linked underneath.
Ryanair is considering significant cost-cutting measures, such as temporarily freezing employee salaries, as rising fuel prices and the impact of the "Iran war" increase operational costs. The airline estimates its oil costs could rise by €2 billion next year.
The Herald Scotland reported it asWarning: Travellers should 'brace for sharp increase in cost of flying' (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
A former police officer, Derek McNee, has been jailed for rape and abuse against two women. He drugged one victim before raping her on multiple occasions and was also found with a stun gun. Reports differ on the length of his sentence.
The Herald Scotland reported it asFormer police officer jailed for rape and campaign of domestic abuse (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
The Royal Navy tracked a Russian intelligence-gathering ship, the Viktor Leonov, off the coast of Scotland. The vessel was observed monitoring NATO military exercises, leading to the deployment of Royal Navy helicopters.
The Herald Scotland reported it asRoyal Navy intercepts Russian spy ship off coast of Scotland (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Environmental activists dressed in Halloween masks gathered at Bute House in Edinburgh on Saturday, protesting the Scottish Government’s decision to allow a new 900 MW gas‑fired power station at Peterhead. Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Kate Whitaker called the approval a catastrophic failure, while a government spokesperson reiterated the net‑zero 2045 commitment.
The Herald Scotland reported it asEnvironmentalists stage Bute House demonstration over ‘scary’ fossil fuels (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
King Charles III participated in a Junkanoo festival parade in Nassau, Bahamas, while protesters called for reparations for the slave trade. He acknowledged the "great suffering of the past" and stated that Commonwealth leaders would discuss slavery's legacy.
The Herald Scotland reported it asKing arrives in Antigua and Barbuda as slavery debate persists (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
King Charles III has arrived in Guyana, the second stop on his nine-day Caribbean tour. The visit coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the UK and Guyana and renewed calls for Britain to apologise for its role in the slave trade.
The Herald Scotland reported it asCharles visits execution site of 1823 uprising against slavery (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Patrick Stewart, the British actor famous for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in 'Star Trek' and Professor Charles Xavier in 'X-Men', has died at the age of 86. His death was announced by his family.
The Herald Scotland reported it asStage and screen icon Sir Patrick Stewart dies aged 86 (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Donald Trump used vulgar language to describe Norway after not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Norwegian officials stated their government has no control over the prize, and tourism groups responded on social media. Senator Bernie Sanders called Trump mentally unstable.
The Herald Scotland reported it asToday's cartoon is Donald Trump and the Nobel peace prize (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
The Chancellor has announced plans to cut import tariffs on more than 100 products, including food staples, as part of a series of 'everyday fixes' ahead of the upcoming Budget. Other measures include changes to parental pay and carer's allowance.
The Herald Scotland reported it asMinisters unveil five ‘everyday fixes’ to help with living costs ahead of Budget (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Conservative MP Sir David Davis's reference to "IRA lawyers" during a debate on the Troubles Legacy Bill has drawn strong criticism. Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill called the remarks "shameful", while John Finucane, MP for North Belfast, demanded an apology.
The Herald Scotland reported it as‘IRA lawyers’ comment blasted as ‘shameful’ by NI First Minister (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Scotland's bus services are to be brought under public control by 2031, First Minister John Swinney announced. Legislation will be introduced next year, a move that has drawn strong criticism from bus operators. Swinney also unveiled a £30 million fund to tackle racism.
The Herald Scotland reported it asSwinney vows to bring Scotland’s bus network back into public control by 2031 (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Novelist Sally Rooney's books will no longer be supplied in the UK by her publisher, Faber. Rooney stated that fulfilling publishing contracts in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offence due to her support for Palestine Action, a group banned in the UK.
The Herald Scotland reported it asSally Rooney books no longer to be sold in UK over Palestine Action support (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Failing to approve the Rosebank oil and Jackdaw gas fields could cost the UK economy £10.8 billion over the next decade, according to research for Adura. The same study suggests 3,330 fewer jobs would be supported annually if the projects are not approved.
The Herald Scotland reported it asFailure to approve Rosebank would cost UK billions, report finds (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video of himself wrestling a tiger on his Truth Social account. This followed the death of William Chapman, who entered a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. The family of Mr Chapman has asked that images of the incident not be distributed.
The Herald Scotland reported it asDonald Trump posts footage of man being fatally attacked at UK wildlife park (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Kyler Rattray, 21, denies murdering scientist Dr Fortune Gomo, 39, in Dundee on July 5, 2025. Prosecutors allege the murder was aggravated by race and will be charged under the Hate Crime and Public Order Crime Act. A trial is set for January 2028.
The Herald Scotland reported it asMan to stand trial charged with murder of popular scientist (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Donald Trump has criticised the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay. He called the decision 'disgraceful and embarrassing' and an 'indelible stain' on Norway, claiming he had never heard of Pillay and that he deserved eight such awards for resolving conflicts.
The Herald Scotland reported it asNobel Peace Prize awarded to ex-UN human rights chief Navi Pillay (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay has criticised Donald Trump's sanctions against the International Criminal Court, calling them illegal and suggesting they were a reaction to her award. She also described the situation in Gaza as genocide and defended the UN's commission of inquiry.
The Herald Scotland reported it asNobel Peace Prize awarded to ex-UN human rights chief Navi Pillay (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
The Liberian-flagged tanker Aframax Rio caught fire off the coast of Sochi after being attacked by unmanned surface vessels, according to the Russian Transport Ministry. All 23 crew members, who were Indian nationals, were rescued without injury.
The Herald Scotland reported it asHuge fire in the Black Sea after Russian oil tanker 'hit by Ukrainian drone' (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
The Conservatives have pledged to legislate for new nuclear power stations in Scotland, aiming to overturn the SNP's current ban. Shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie stated that no part of Great Britain should miss out on nuclear renewal, criticising the SNP's approach as harmful to jobs and energy security.
The Herald Scotland reported it asConservatives vow to overturn SNP's nuclear 'ban' and bring new reactors to Scotland (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Spain's Parliament has rejected two government measures intended to tackle the housing crisis. The votes were met with protests outside Parliament, and have led to speculation about early elections.
The Herald Scotland reported it asSpain’s parliament rejects housing measures amid street protests (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
Very high factuality
Who owns it
- Newsquestunknowndirect owner
- GannettMedia Conglomerateparent group
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Glasgow, Glasgow City, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Official site
- heraldscotland.com
- Seen publishing on
- heraldscotland.com
- Access
- Free to read
- Wikipedia
- Entry
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 50
- Reports listed
- 50
- We could read
- 12
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
38 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 12 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 6 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and The Herald Scotland ran the story anyway.
Across the 51 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than The Herald Scotland’s on 1 of them. Overall it filed a median of 17 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 3 November 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 3 November 2026. Ratings pulled 6 October 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as The Herald Scotland, also publishing from United Kingdom, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where The Herald Scotland publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.