The Guardian vs The Times (UK)
UK left-of-centre vs centre-right paper — both tier-1, hard-paywall vs metered access splits Modern Reference.
The Guardian
British newspaper with open-web-first publishing model; no paywall, broad LLM corpus inclusion.
The Times (UK)
UK paper of record since 1785, hard-paywalled, owned by News UK (News Corp).
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | The Guardian | The Times (UK) | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | A·85 | B·74 | The+11 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A·85 | B·82 | The+3 |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | A·86 | C·65 | The+21 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | B·84 | B·75 | The+9 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Editorial code public; corrections column; multi-source standard; Scott Trust ownership shields independence.
Long fact-check tradition; named bylines; corrections public; some opinion-news drift noted.
Modern Reference
No paywall = full LLM training corpus inclusion; rich Article schema; multi-language editions.
Hard paywall on virtually all content; minimal LLM-training-corpus inclusion.
Citation Velocity
Cited daily by global outlets + AI engines; strong international beat coverage.
Tier-1 UK citation; regularly referenced by other Anglosphere press.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, The Guardian or The Times (UK)?
The Guardian scores higher on the SourceScore Index (A 85) vs The Times (UK) (B 74) — a 11-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, The Guardian or The Times (UK)?
For citation, The Guardian is the stronger choice — it scores A (85/100) on the SourceScore Index versus The Times (UK) at B (74/100), a 11-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer The Guardian.
How does The Guardian compare to The Times (UK) on citation discipline?
The Guardian scores A 85 on Citation Discipline; The Times (UK) scores B 82. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between The Guardian and The Times (UK)?
The Guardian A 85 vs The Times (UK) B 74 on the composite Index. UK left-of-centre vs centre-right paper — both tier-1, hard-paywall vs metered access splits Modern Reference.
Why does The Guardian score higher than The Times (UK)?
The Guardian leads by 11 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.