The Matrix Database is an effort to document personal factors that undermine powerful journalists’ claims of objectivity and impartiality. We have constructed a database on the Top 100 UK journalists to note significant conflicts of interest and likely causes of bias/imbalance. Read on for more info and access to the database!

Journalists love to tell us how independent they are, how impartial they are and how fearless they are. Their very raison d’etre, they tell us, is to interrogate power.

“the need for an institution, an estate, a profession, a trade…that exists independently of the other main centres of power in society”

ALan rusbridger

“I would die in a ditch for the impartiality of the BBC”

Laura Kuenssberg

“It was the job then and it is the job now for the BBC, for journalism in general, to challenge those in power”

Nick Robinson

Those who closely analyse the media observe a different picture. Chomsky’s propaganda model, explained here, and a weight of evidence, summarised here, suggest that, far from challenging power, the primary role of corporate media journalists is to pacify the public and manufacture consent for the policies of the rich and powerful.

Are journalists, in fact, non-independent, highly partial courtiers of power?

An important factor in this debate – one that isn’t usually studied – is the socio-economic/educational background of influential journalists. It seems uncontroversial to say that individuals from an “elite” background (Oxbridge/private school, extreme wealth, family members in “establishment” positions) generally perceive the world differently to those from a non-elite background.

They are, for example, more likely to share the concerns of the powerful than those from “lesser” backgrounds and may even constitute part of the Establishment, defined by Owen Jones as “powerful groups that need to protect their position…to ‘manage’ democracy to make sure that it does not threaten their interests.”

In addition, graduates of exclusive schools and universities are so concentrated at the top of British society (documented in, for example, the Elitist Britain parliamentary report) that they enter the professional world with countless pre-existing connections to powerful figures in other fields. A journalist like Emily Sheffield, editor of the Evening Standard from 2020-21 has friends and family – friends of friends, friends of family – in the very fields of politics and business she’s meant to hold to account. Private Eye note that “the Standard was oddly uncurious about the Greensill scandal which enveloped Sheffield’s brother-in-law David Cameron…”

We decided to take a close look at the 100 most influential news journalists in the UK to see how many fit an “elite” or “establishment” mould through their backgrounds and/or personal connections. This is not a subjective study. We outline clearly here our criteria and methodology.

We have, however, chosen to call this project The Matrix Database. Why? Because if our findings show that the majority of the top UK journalists represent the elite of society, incestuously interlinked with other fields, it is yet further evidence that big media provides a distorted picture of the world and perpetuates, rather than challenges, power…

****Update (August 2023) – read the results of the Matrix Project here

The Top 100 UK Journalists (2021)

(ranked by Twitter followers)

Click a journalist’s picture to read their entry. All entries were completed between November 2021 and July 2023.

*Entries marked incomplete had insufficient info on the journalist in the public domain (e.g. school, personal connections)

1. Jon Snow Channel 4 Twitter: 1.4 million	2. Laura Kuenssberg BBC Twitter: 1.3 million	3. Andrew Neil Spectator Twitter: 1.2 million	4. Robert Peston ITV Twitter: 1.2 million
5. Nick Robinson BBC Twitter: 1 million	6. Owen Jones Guardian Twitter: 1 million	7. Caitlin Moran Times Twitter: 860K	8. James O’Brien LBC 830K
9. Andrew Marr BBC Twitter: low use	10. Jeremy Vine BBC Twitter: 770K	11. Krishnan Guru-Murthy Channel 4 News Twitter: 630K	12. Fiona Bruce BBC Twitter: N/A
13. Kay Burley Sky News Twitter: 520K	14. Evan Davis BBC Twitter: 500K	15. Kate Garraway Sky News Twitter: 475K	16. Emily Maitlis BBC Twitter: 440K
17. Andrew Rawnsley Observer Twitter: 407K	18. Daniel Finkelstein The Times Twitter: 400K	19. Dan Wootton GB News Twitter: 393K	20. Martha Kearney BBC Twitter: 352K
21. Beth Rigby Sky News Twitter: 345K	22. Ian Dunt Politics.co.uk Twitter: 341K	23. Julia Hartley-Brewer TalkRadio Twitter: 334K	24. Kevin Maguire Daily Mirror Twitter: 273K
25. Fraser Nelson Spectator Twitter: 270K	26. Jim Waterson Guardian Twitter: 253K	27. Tina Daheley BBC Twitter: 252K	28. Mishal Husain BBC Twitter: 244K
29. Lewis Goodall BBC Twitter: 237K	30. Iain Dale LBC Twitter: 228K	31. Cathy Newman Channel 4 News Twitter: 220K	32. Alan Rusbridger Prospect Magazine Twitter: 219K
33. Lyse Doucet BBC Twitter: 219K	34. Adam Boulton Sky News Twitter: 213K	35. Paul Waugh The i Paper Twitter: 200K	36. Nick Ferrari LBC Twitter: 199K
37. Jeremy Bowen BBC Twitter: 196K	38. Sarah-Jane Mee Sky News Twitter: 193K	39. Tim Harford Financial Times Twitter: 188K	40. Sophy Ridge Sky News Twitter: 185K
41. Tom Newton Dunn The Times Twitter: 185K	42. Sam Coates Sky News Twitter: 183K	43. Polly Toynbee Guardian Twitter: 182K	44. Rebecca English Daily Mail Twitter: 180K
45. Jim Pickard The Financial Times Twitter: 179K	46. Hadley Freeman Guardian Twitter: 178K	47. Andrew Pierce Daily Mail Twitter: 177K	48. Malcolm Moore Financial Times Twitter: 177K
49. Emma Barnett BBC Twitter: 177K	50. Tim Shipman The Times Twitter: 170K	51. Pippa Crerar Daily Mirror Twitter: 170K	52. Isabel Hardman Spectator Twitter: 168K
53. Jon Sopel BBC Twitter: 167K	54. Chris Mason BBC Twitter: 164K	55. David Aaranovitch The Times Twitter: 157K	56. Chris Giles Financial Times Twitter: 154K
57. Ros Atkins BBC Twitter: 154K	58. Victoria Derbyshire BBC Twitter: 151K	59. Ed Conway Sky News Twitter: 145K	60. Neil Oliver GB News Twitter: 141K
61. Hannah Jane Parkinson Guardian Twitter: 136K	62. Huw Edwards BBC Twitter: 136K	63. Richard Palmer Daily Express Twitter: 135K	64. Jonathan Freedland Guardian Twitter: 133K
65. Rageh Omaar ITV News Twitter: 126K	66. Harry Cole The Sun Twitter: 126K	67. Paul Brand ITV Twitter: 120K	68. John Crace Guardian Twitter: 124K
69. Nick Sutton Sky News Twitter: 118K	70. Sophie Raworth BBC Twitter: 117K	71. Alex Crawford Sky News Twitter: 116K	72. Stephen Bush Financial Times Twitter: 115K
73. Jamal Osman Channel 4 News Twitter: 113K	74. Eddie Mair LBC Twitter: 112K	75. Alex Thomson Channel 4 News Twitter: 107K	76. Tom Harwood GB News Twitter: 107K
77. Kate McCann Sky News Twitter: 106K	78. Amol Rajan BBC Twitter: 105K	79. Chris Ship ITV News Twitter: 105K	80. George Eaton New Statesman Twitter: 104K
81. Stephen Sackur BBC Twitter: 103K	82. Sebastian Payne Financial Times Twitter: 103K	83. Hugh Pym BBC Twitter: 102K	84. Matthew Syed The Times Twitter: 102K
85. Stig Abell The Times Twitter: 101K	86. Neil Henderson BBC Twitter: 100K	87. Sathnam Sanghera The Times Twitter: 99K	88. Frank Gardner BBC Twitter: 99K
89. Shelagh Fogarty LBC Twitter: 98K	90. Peter Foster Financial Times Twitter: 98K	91. Anita Rani BBC Twitter: 98K	92. Rafael Behr Guardian Twitter: 97K
93. James Forsyth Spectator Twitter: 96K	94. Adam Fleming BBC Twitter: 96K	95. Ian King Sky News Twitter: 96K	96. Tom Bradby ITV News Twitter: 95K
97. Faisal Islam BBC Twitter: 368K	98. John Simpson BBC Twitter: 138K	99. Kirsty Wark BBC Twitter: 54K	100. Nicholas Witchell BBC Twitter: N/A