The Scotsman media bias and reliability
The rating organisations do not give The Scotsman one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Leans left; Media Bias/Fact Check: Centre. We have seen it on 16 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is The Scotsman biased?
The rating organisations do not give The Scotsman one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Leans left; Media Bias/Fact Check: Centre. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is The Scotsman left or right?
The rating organisations do not give The Scotsman one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Leans left; Media Bias/Fact Check: Centre. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is The Scotsman reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for The Scotsman are Ad Fontes Media: High factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What The Scotsman has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with The Scotsman’s own report linked underneath.
Michael Marra has been named the new leader of Scottish Labour, succeeding Anas Sarwar. He defeated Joe Fagan in the leadership contest. Scottish Labour currently holds 17 seats in the Holyrood parliament.
The Scotsman reported it asMichael Marra named new leader of Scottish Labour leader (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru, and Sinn Féin met in Cardiff to sign a memorandum of understanding calling for self-determination and independence referendums. The meeting followed US President Donald Trump's public support for Irish unity.
The Scotsman reported it asWhy Andy Burnham and the BBC need to stop being so ignorant about Scotland and the SNP (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
The second series of The Celebrity Traitors has an official premiere date of Thursday, October 1, 2026. The show will air weekly on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, featuring a new segment and a cast including Amol Rajan and Bella Ramsey.
The Scotsman reported it asWhen does Celebrity Traitors 2026 start? Here's the official series 2 release date (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
The Bayeux Tapestry, a 70-meter-long embroidery from the 11th century, has arrived in London for an exhibition at the British Museum. Tickets have sold out for months, with the museum anticipating one million visitors before the exhibition closes in July 2027. The tapestry depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
The Scotsman reported it asThe real winners of the Battle of Hastings? (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
The UK government is reportedly close to approving the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. The project, previously blocked by courts over climate concerns, could produce up to 6% of the UK's gas output.
The Scotsman reported it asNorth Sea: UK Government set to approve Jackdaw oilfield (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Scottish ministers knew UK military lacked aerial firefighting ability, says Justice Secretary
Trust 65Scotland's Justice Secretary Neil Gray has stated that Scottish ministers were aware the UK military did not possess aerial firefighting capabilities when they requested assistance for the Cairngorms wildfire. The request was made to explore all available options, Gray said.
The Scotsman reported it asCairngorms community 'delighted' at wildfire helicopter plans (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Anas Sarwar, who led Scottish Labour until July 2024, resigned from Holyrood to take a seat in the House of Lords and a post as UK trade minister. He was sworn in on 12 September, wearing traditional robes and taking the title Baron Sarwar of Maxwell Park. His appointment drew criticism from Scotland’s first minister.
The Scotsman reported it asAnas Sarwar introduced to House of Lords as Baron of Maxwell Park (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
BBC Scotland journalist Elizabeth Quigley, wife of First Minister John Swinney, has resigned from her role on health grounds. She cited trigeminal neuralgia, a condition causing facial pain, alongside her existing diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
The Scotsman reported it asElizabeth Quigley, wife of John Swinney, resigns from BBC Scotland on health grounds (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
A U.S. federal judge has postponed the trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The delay is due to newly discovered evidence that defense attorneys need to examine.
The Scotsman reported it asFamilies of Lockerbie bombing victims 'absolutely floored’ as trial postponed (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Jason Arday, Cambridge’s youngest Black professor, died days after resigning amid plagiarism allegations. His death has reignited discussions about the underrepresentation of Black academics in UK higher education and the scrutiny they face, with outlets divided over whether racism or academic standards were the driving force.
The Scotsman reported it asIt’s always easy to blame the media but that is not where the fault lies (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Actress Hayden Panettiere, 36, was found dead in her Greenville, South Carolina apartment on 16 August 2026. Police and the coroner’s office reported no signs of foul play. Her father confirmed her death in a statement to ABC News, and tributes followed from co-stars and fans.
The Scotsman reported it asHayden Panettiere, US actress and star of Heroes and Nashville, dies aged 36 (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Count Binface, a comedic candidate whose real name is Jon Harvey, is running in the Clacton-on-Sea special election after Nigel Farage resigned his seat. The major UK parties are boycotting the vote, leaving Binface as the default challenger to Farage.
The Scotsman reported it asNigel Farage has already lost, no matter the result in Clacton (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak between 12 and 13 August 2026, with up to 100 meteors per hour visible. A partial solar eclipse will occur on 12 August, offering a rare dual celestial event. Outlets varied in emphasis on timing, visibility, and the eclipse's coincidence.
The Scotsman reported it asDate Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak this week - and the best time frame to look for the Perseids (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
The UK government must decide whether to approve production at the Jackdaw gas field after a public consultation closes on 12 August 2026. Environmental groups warn of climate risks, while industry and unions argue the move would protect jobs and energy security. The Conservatives previously approved the project, but a court overturned the decision in 2025.
The Scotsman reported it asUK Government urged to 'end the madness' as oil and gas consultation ends (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
Anas Sarwar said leading Scottish Labour was harder than leading the UK Labour Party in opposition, during his first public appearance since resigning as an MSP. He urged the three candidates vying to replace him to avoid infighting, as Labour recorded its worst Scottish Parliament result since 2003.
The Scotsman reported it asAnas Sarwar says 'my interest is in government' as he defends joining Lords (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
A man accused of killing Elisabeth Jane Ross and concealing her body in a suitcase in Athens is due in court on Wednesday. The 38-year-old Scottish woman was found in an abandoned building on 18 July. All nine reports confirm the court appearance but differ on details of the discovery.
The Scotsman reported it asMan arrested in connection with death of Edinburgh woman in Greece (opens The Scotsman 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.
High factuality
Who owns it
- JPIMediaMedia Conglomeratedirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Official site
- scotsman.com
- Seen publishing on
- edinburghnews.scotsman.com, scotsman.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
- 16
- Reports listed
- 16
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
16 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 0 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 1 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and The Scotsman ran the story anyway.
Across the 16 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, another outlet was always ahead of The Scotsman: its report arrived a median of 16 hours after the earliest one we logged.
Measured 19 September 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 19 September 2026. Ratings pulled 4 September 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as The Scotsman, 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 Scotsman 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.