Political representation and bias: the Labour Party vs its rising opposition, Reform UK

Political bias can occur in news media through lack of neutrality and selectiveness of information to push readers towards a certain political agenda.

‘Selection bias refers to the tendency of a news outlet to choose certain events to cover while ignoring others’ (Galeazzi et al., 2024, p.1 Introduction).

Bias in political representation can be made apparent through media analysis of content published by news platforms which unveils hidden biases which can impact political opinions in today’s democracy.

This is a critical analysis of GB news and how its digital media platform aims to explore the political representation toward the Labour party and its rising opposition- the Reform Party. I will be looking into the framing of the Reform UK party and the possibility of negative framing and defamation of the Labour party.

I will be focusing primarily on articles published between 19th to 22nd January 2026 from the GB News official website. There are also references from other newspapers of journalists conducting in depth media analyses and investigations of GB News.

These articles reflect real-time coverage to allow for contemporary analysis. However, it is a short-time frame which may not reflect GB News’ long-term coverage.

GB News is a right-leaning British broadcaster launched in 2021, covering their first general election campaign in 2024. The outcome of the election, whereby Reform UK garnered four million votes may indicate that extremist right-wing views are being pushed into mainstream news media. In an article by Henry Mance for Financial Times (2024), he states that

‘GB News has become influential. Half of Conservative party members watch it regularly.’

Supplementary information from the Political Quarterly (Heath, Prosser, Southall & Aucott, 2025) shows that ‘According to the British Election Study Internet Panel, nearly 80 per cent of people who voted for Reform in 2024 had voted for the Conservatives in 2019.’

GB News is owned by Sir Paul Marshall, an owner of All Perspectives LTD and Legatum (a private investment firm based in Dubai). GB news is funded by a small group of wealthy backers, rather than a broad shareholder base. Factually (2026) notes “GB News’s initial £60m fundraising named Legatum and Sir Paul Marshall among lead backers … leaving the channel effectively controlled by Legatum and Marshall through All Perspectives Ltd’.

Marshall has also co-founded ‘Marshall Wace’, the UK’s most successful hedge funds. Owning news media channels gives Marshall the power to influence public opinion to fit his personal financial agenda. This includes censorship, changing of narratives and conflict of interest. Ownership structure and financial backers support Herman and Chomsky’s (1988) propaganda model

“It traces the routes by which money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant private interests to get their messages across to the public.” (Chomsky and Herman, 1988, p. 32)

This framing practice could have measurable effects on voter perception.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has commentated on the GB News television news platform, and according to Hurley (2024) he earns a salary of £98,000 per annum from GB News. It is hard to maintain impartiality if one of the lead commentators of the channel is Nigel Farage himself, he has power to maintain his own image, avoiding criticisms.

The Labour party is supposedly working-class led, as they favour welfare services, and support progressive taxation, which would negatively affect wealthy businessmen such as Sir Marshall as well as GB news’ investors. Nigel Farage and Sir Paul Marshall have similar financial interests. GB news was involved in accusations betting against NatWest shares, this became apparent after Nigel Farage reported that he was locked out of his Coutts account.

‘But more sinister news has since been leaked, suggesting one of new channel’s bosses could have profited handsomely from the bad press the bank has been getting’ (The London Economic, 2023)

Sir Marshall Wallace made a multi-million-pound gain from his bet linking the negative framing of the bank being used for financial gain.

The data set used for this critical analysis originates from sourced articles on the GB News digital platform. The data set spans over four days with 15 articles in total. Selected articles were titled with either the party leader or party name. In this case, ‘Kier Starmer’, ‘Labour’, ‘Nigel Farage’ and ‘Reform UK’. Content analysis was used when it came to the frequency of positive and negative descriptors and the differences in tone for specific headlines.

Additionally, elements of a qualitative discourse analysis were used to focus on interpretation and uncover underlying assumptions.

GB news is criticised for their overwhelmingly negative views on Islam and in research conducted by the Centre for Media Monitoring, run by the Muslim council of Britain, they state that GB News ‘regularly demonises their beliefs’. In the conclusion of the analysis, the Centre for Media Monitoring argued that GB News was responsible for the positive framing of the 2024 racist riots: “GB News’ preferred label for these kinds of individuals has been ‘patriots’” (Centre for Media Monitoring, 2024, p. 50), during which Tommy Robinson and his far-right supporters attacked police officers and people of colour across the UK.

In April 2025 Reform UK clashed with anti-racism group ‘But Hope Not Hate’ who published social media posts found from 14 different Reform candidates in April 2025. The report included posts directed to the Islamic community, the posts included a Reform UK candidate saying, "one big nuke bomb" should be used to remove Islam from the world, another post saying Bradford has a large Muslim population and is a "shithole" for this reason. Other posts promoted the conspiracy theory that Muslims are seeking to "supplant the native population" in the UK (Grammaticas and Kemp, 2025).

GB News can be accused of political bias through the way they word their headlines on their website. Empirically, the Labour party often presented in GB News titles with emotionally charged words. This framing demonstrates the framing of Labour as chaotic, whereas Reform UK supporters as right-minded, aligning with Entman (1993, p. 52) idea that media framing highlights certain ideas whilst obscuring others. In a sample of seven articles, there were ten words which had negative association, they were as follows: ‘rages’, ‘war’, ‘frustrates’, ‘HELL’, ‘weak’, ‘mental’, ‘crisis’, ‘furious’, ‘attack’ and ‘risk’.

In comparison to the headlines representing the Reform UK party which victimised the party, with negative descriptors such as ‘blistering attack’ against Nigel Farage (GBR191). The other articles mention trump tariffs and how this is ‘not the way you treat your best friend’ (GBR192), making Farage appear seemingly amicable and friendly.

When Reform UK is criticised (GBR181), (GBR191), (GBR204) they tend to specify the group/person making the claim or defaming Reform UK, this can make the headline more personable However, when Labour are criticised (GBL181), (GBL191), (GBL202), (GBL203) it is often an anonymous group of people, such as ‘locals’ or other indefinite groups. In headline (GBL191), GB News outright states ‘Kier Starmer branded (‘too weak to lead’)’. Nigel Farage is presented with having some intellect where he ‘slams’ Donald Trump for his decisions (GBR192), or he ‘reveals’ key moments that defined the Chagos outbreak (GBR201).

In this sample alone, 6/7 (86%) articles had a negative descriptor towards the Labour party, in comparison to none of the Reform UK articles directly criticising Reform UK. GB News critics have called the output by GB News ‘a factory for right-wing propaganda’ (Good Law Project, 2025). In the first Reform UK article (GBR181), Reform UK is described as gathering members not only from the conservatives but also from other parties, even “Labour voters and importantly, people who’ve never voted before,” which suggests that Reform UK is becoming significantly more appealing to voters.

This article legitimises the attraction to Reform UK party and its growth as a noteworthy political development. There is no content relating to the Labour party’s standpoint which results in the Labour party receiving less attention compared to Reform. The criticism has been received within the right-leaning political figures rather than venturing into the leftist views. This framing removes any left-wing ideas from the picture, showing bias towards the right.

In another article (GBR202)- found under the Reform UK section on their website- Kier Starmer is included in the headline. Reform UK’s opinions are highlighted as having a sense of importance with sensationalistic quotes from Reform UK spokespeople, such as “Labour are disgracefully trying to deny democracy”, using direct language could make information appear more factual. The article also shows polling data whereby Reform would supposedly have performed well in the cancelled polls, framing the Labour party as conniving and dishonest. Like the first article, there are no detailed Labour spokesperson quotes to defend the party. The article mainly refers to general justifications, which weakens Labour’s standpoint in this scandal.

Analysing the articles published under the ‘Labour’ section of the GB News digital media platform, see the table below for spokespeople critical of the Labour party, and rebuttals in favour of the Labour party.

Out of the 27 sources credible for the criteria of this table, 20 were critical of Labour. This means that 74% of the articles written under the Labour section of GB New’s digital media platform were criticisms of the party and pushing for a right-leaning narrative. It is to be noted that 3/7 (43%) Labour defendants were unnamed, therefore losing some credibility. In article (GBL181) Lisa Nandy criticises and defends Labour, this can send mixed signals about the Labour party being a united front and exposes internal issues within the party.

Amidst the support of the Reform Party, one article stood out (GBR191) where Steve Coogan heavily criticises the Reform Party and claims that Reform UK rejects human rights and portrays the party as an ‘alternative borne of disillusionment with mainstream politics. However, in the same article, Labour is also brought into play when Coogan links Reform’s rise to Labour’s failures as a government. Coogan blames the rise of Reform on Labour’s inability to govern, further adding to the idea that Labour is a weak party, losing popularity.

GB News uses inflammatory language in their articles to evoke specific feelings in the reader. In article (GBR193) there is metaphorical language, describing joining members of the Reform UK party as ‘true patriot’ suggesting this idea that joining the Reform party is the honourable thing to do.

The article is also inciting conservative voters to ‘jump-ship’, which is maritime language to describe sailors who would literally jump overboard to abandon responsibility. It appears the Reform party is being promoted through the headline, Robert Jenrick says that if any Conservative MP’s ‘share the values and principles of Reform’ they are welcomed to join the party. This is not neutral reporting as it acts as an endorsement for the Reform party. As previously mentioned, there seems to be a trend in GB News articles, where they lack a counterargument on behalf of the Labour party, creating a one-dimensional lens focused on only right-wing parties.

A further explanation to the use of inflammatory language to promote Reform UK is in article (GBR203), they feature a well-known celebrity to gain traction and make the article culturally relevant. ‘Fans in meltdown’ and ‘poses up a storm’ in the headline is strong emotive language rather than neutral language used in news reporting. The article includes social media posts quoted- ‘Yesss! You’ll do well with Tom on your side’ suggesting approval of the celebrities’ actions. This frames Reform UK as a fun and ‘viral’ party, further endorsing Reform support.

In summary, this analysis shows clear right-wing favouritism in most GB News articles. Through biased headlines and sensationalist language, the Reform Party is continually being advertised as the next up and coming party and is shown in a positive light and barely criticised by right-wing spokespeople. The Labour party is presented as weak and messy on the inside, with no clear defence on their behalf to show how they are governing the country. This clear right-wing partiality means that GB news could be reporting to fit their own agendas- being owned by a small group of financially abundant backers and Sir Paul Marshall, the owner of the UK’s most successful hedge fund.

Articles with ‘Labour’ or ‘Kier Starmer’ in the title, 18th to 21st January 2026

• GBL181Labour Minister rages at OWN colleagues amid Cabinet briefing war - 'Frustrates the HELL out of me!'Susanna Siddell · 18/01/2026
• GBL191Keir Starmer branded 'too weak to lead' as Labour confirms third U-turn of 2026: 'Absolutely mental!'George Bunn · 19/01/2026
• GBL201Pension savers must be blocked from accessing pots at 55 to 'boost public finances', Labour toldPatrick O'Donnell · 20/01/2026
• GBL202Migrant crisis: Five towns in line for asylum seeker houses under £100m Labour scheme as locals left furiousGeorge Bunn · 20/01/2026
• GBL203Local elections cancelled: Now LABOUR MPs rage at delayed votes in major attack on Keir StarmerDan McDonald · 20/01/2026
• GBL211Migrant crisis: Labour spends £70million on brand-new migrant centre... holding just 50 menDan McDonald · 21/01/2026
• GBL212UK car industry at risk as Labour's petrol and diesel ban drives investment abroad impacting 800,000 jobsHemma Visavadia · 21/01/2026

Articles with ‘Reform’ or ‘Nigel Farage’ in the title, 18th to 21st January 2026

• GBR181Reform UK labelled 'really quite left-wing' after Robert Jenrick vowed to 'unite the right'Susanna Siddell · 18/01/26
• GBR191Steve Coogan blasts 'anti-human rights' Reform UK as he unleashes blistering attack on Nigel Farage's partyAlex Davies · 19/01/2026
• GBR192Nigel Farage slams Donald Trump's tariffs as 'wrong' and vows to 'have words' with ally - 'Not the way you treat your best friend!'Georgia Pearce · 19/01/2026
• GBR193Robert Jenrick hails 'true patriot' Andrew Rosindell for defecting to Reform as he encourages MORE Tories to jump ship: 'It's make your mind up time!'Georgia Pearce · 19/01/2026
• GBR201Nigel Farage reveals key GB News moment that sparked Donald Trump’s Chagos outburst - 'We've been influential!'Ben Chapman · 20/01/2026
• GBR202Local Elections cancelled: Date set for Reform’s court hearing against Keir Starmer cancelling votes for 4 million BritonsMarcus Donaldson · 20/01/2026
• GBR203Thomas Skinner fans in meltdown over Nigel Farage snap as BBC Strictly star joins Reform UK: 'Bosh!'Alex Davies · 20/01/2026
• GBR204Nigel Farage: James Evans sacked and suspended after being accused of plotting Reform defectionJack Walters · 20/01/2026