The government terrified of the Daily Mail
Discussion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/13/medica...
If the governments over the past 10 years have been terrified of the Daily Mail then no wonder we are in the state we are.
The strange thing is that where I live there are a number of retired people who never used to read newspapers when working but now they have time on their hands have chosen the Wail as their paper of choice. At every party there will be a group of them all moaning about the country being taken over by various factions and, with their flash cars in their garage, continue to tell me that the country has gone to the dogs.
They pick their opinions from the Wail's pages and regurgitate them without thought. If you ask a few pointed questions they say I'm some sort of lefty for not believing everything the Wail says is kosher. Just before christmas there was something about burglaries in the Wail and I was told how things had deteriorated since I'd left 'Brighton' police and that it was unsafe to leave you house without an escort yet the crime figures (my wife is a neighbour watch coodinator) I was able to point out that burglary dwellings had dropped over a two month period by 50%. A drop of one. Non-dwellings had rocketed to three from two from the previous two-month period but that was an all-time low.
Yet when you tell them that you have the figures they still suggest I have some political motivation for contradicting the Wail.
I've got to say I'm afraid of the Daily Mail.
I have to say though that out of all the newspaper websites theirs is about the best.
If the governments over the past 10 years have been terrified of the Daily Mail then no wonder we are in the state we are.
The strange thing is that where I live there are a number of retired people who never used to read newspapers when working but now they have time on their hands have chosen the Wail as their paper of choice. At every party there will be a group of them all moaning about the country being taken over by various factions and, with their flash cars in their garage, continue to tell me that the country has gone to the dogs.
They pick their opinions from the Wail's pages and regurgitate them without thought. If you ask a few pointed questions they say I'm some sort of lefty for not believing everything the Wail says is kosher. Just before christmas there was something about burglaries in the Wail and I was told how things had deteriorated since I'd left 'Brighton' police and that it was unsafe to leave you house without an escort yet the crime figures (my wife is a neighbour watch coodinator) I was able to point out that burglary dwellings had dropped over a two month period by 50%. A drop of one. Non-dwellings had rocketed to three from two from the previous two-month period but that was an all-time low.
Yet when you tell them that you have the figures they still suggest I have some political motivation for contradicting the Wail.
I've got to say I'm afraid of the Daily Mail.
I have to say though that out of all the newspaper websites theirs is about the best.
The Daily Mail does not lead opinion, though. What it does (and is very good at) is reflect the attitudes and prejudices of its readers and seek out stories which will upset them. The Guardian does much the same thing, it just takes aim at a readership with a different set of attitudes and prejudices.
Derek, I think that the DM panders to the age group you're talking about. Those who think that it was all better in the good old days, whereas in reality very little changes. Hell, I'm nearly in that age group myself, but I read the DM website for a laugh, sometimes an appalled one.
There's not a solution for all this- a free press is essential even if most of the time they spout utter crap. The best we can hope for is that those who apparently can't think for themselves are influenced only by the likes of the DM and not something even more corrosive.
There's not a solution for all this- a free press is essential even if most of the time they spout utter crap. The best we can hope for is that those who apparently can't think for themselves are influenced only by the likes of the DM and not something even more corrosive.
otolith said:
The Daily Mail does not lead opinion, though. What it does (and is very good at) is reflect the attitudes and prejudices of its readers and seek out stories which will upset them. The Guardian does much the same thing, it just takes aim at a readership with a different set of attitudes and prejudices.
Exactly, and I've made the same point to Guardian-reading friends. They both use the same tactics to wind their readers up. The problem I have with papers like the Mail is that people who read it tend to treat it as a serious paper rather than the tabloid it is. I think we just need to work out which paper's readers have done the most dammage to the county the mail or the guardian's??? I dont think an old lady with a blue rinse and a yorkie dog living in a suburb is as dangerous as a champagne socialist in a public sector job 
Edited by powerstroke on Thursday 13th January 09:37
Edited by powerstroke on Thursday 13th January 09:39
The Wail does certainly have some worrying moments.
A good percentage of the readership is probably made up of my parents grouping, born before or during the war who still hold some old fashioned, outmoded and distinctly non-pc opinions which the Wail can easily prey on.
My father used to read the Daily Express in the '70's and early '80's, when it was a real newspaper and still a broadsheet. As that declined he moved over to the Telegraph. When he retired he started to take the Wail because it was lighter in tone, smaller and had more in it for mum to enjoy.
They had taken the Wail on Sunday instead of the Telegraph for a while.
Some of the Wail headlines / rolling stories are exactly aimed at this group and their emotional vulnerabilities - the whole kind of "Prepare for war - we are being invaded by illegal immigrants" sensationalistic type in particular.
The Wail is also the national daily with the highest % of female readers. Apparently over 50% of its readers are female.
A good percentage of the readership is probably made up of my parents grouping, born before or during the war who still hold some old fashioned, outmoded and distinctly non-pc opinions which the Wail can easily prey on.
My father used to read the Daily Express in the '70's and early '80's, when it was a real newspaper and still a broadsheet. As that declined he moved over to the Telegraph. When he retired he started to take the Wail because it was lighter in tone, smaller and had more in it for mum to enjoy.
They had taken the Wail on Sunday instead of the Telegraph for a while.
Some of the Wail headlines / rolling stories are exactly aimed at this group and their emotional vulnerabilities - the whole kind of "Prepare for war - we are being invaded by illegal immigrants" sensationalistic type in particular.
The Wail is also the national daily with the highest % of female readers. Apparently over 50% of its readers are female.
The Guardian is my most hated newspaper. It pretends to be a serious and objective paper but is in fact full of carefully selected and targeted rubbish. At least papers like the Sun, etc don't put on any pretence or seriousness. People who read the Guardian and take it seriously are idiots - sadly some of these already have political influence over the UK.
See what I did there? One could almost insert the name of any media outlet in that paragraph, people read, watch and listen to media output and too often take it as gospel without addressing the issue of the background agenda.
See what I did there? One could almost insert the name of any media outlet in that paragraph, people read, watch and listen to media output and too often take it as gospel without addressing the issue of the background agenda.
crankedup said:
Reading this forum daily can leave an individual concerned about the state of the Country. BBC are crap, D.M. is crap, Guardian is crap, comic papers are OK because they are harmless, in fact evrything is crap if its not Conservative 
Oh in 6 months time we will all be unemployed living on the streets eating our pets or even worse the city boys might not be able to afford a brand 911crankedup said:
Reading this forum daily can leave an individual concerned about the state of the Country. BBC are crap, D.M. is crap, Guardian is crap, comic papers are OK because they are harmless, in fact evrything is crap if its not Conservative
http://ftp.sunet.se/jargon/html/S/Sturgeons-Law.ht...thinfourth2 said:
crankedup said:
Reading this forum daily can leave an individual concerned about the state of the Country. BBC are crap, D.M. is crap, Guardian is crap, comic papers are OK because they are harmless, in fact evrything is crap if its not Conservative
Oh in 6 months time we will all be unemployed living on the streets eating our pets or even worse the city boys might not be able to afford a brand 911fido said:
thinfourth2 said:
crankedup said:
Reading this forum daily can leave an individual concerned about the state of the Country. BBC are crap, D.M. is crap, Guardian is crap, comic papers are OK because they are harmless, in fact evrything is crap if its not Conservative
Oh in 6 months time we will all be unemployed living on the streets eating our pets or even worse the city boys might not be able to afford a brand 911
Fantastic example of how bad the Daily Whail can be:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346563/Mi...
Its about West Mids Police having a Lotus Evora on loan. Anyway, within a few words of the title you have the facts, that its donated from Lotus (as a publicity exercise). Cue plenty of reader comments about the cost of sports cars and that the police are wasting money.... if the average reader of the DM cannot make it 35 words into the article then there is NOTHING we can do.
The DM know their market and fuel the embers of annoyance within it. It works well, clearly, and is not a good example of journalistic integrity.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346563/Mi...
Its about West Mids Police having a Lotus Evora on loan. Anyway, within a few words of the title you have the facts, that its donated from Lotus (as a publicity exercise). Cue plenty of reader comments about the cost of sports cars and that the police are wasting money.... if the average reader of the DM cannot make it 35 words into the article then there is NOTHING we can do.
The DM know their market and fuel the embers of annoyance within it. It works well, clearly, and is not a good example of journalistic integrity.
F i F said:
crankedup said:
in fact evrything is crap if its not Conservative
Actually under CMD even the Conservatives are crap.Does that make me an undercover hippy then?
Oops hush ma mouth
t.One that is lead by modern career politicians who also went to Eton or an equivalent school will never work. Clueless people who have no natural comprehension of how the worl or its people operate.
off_again said:
Fantastic example of how bad the Daily Whail can be:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346563/Mi...
Its about West Mids Police having a Lotus Evora on loan. Anyway, within a few words of the title you have the facts, that its donated from Lotus (as a publicity exercise). Cue plenty of reader comments about the cost of sports cars and that the police are wasting money.... if the average reader of the DM cannot make it 35 words into the article then there is NOTHING we can do.
The DM know their market and fuel the embers of annoyance within it. It works well, clearly, and is not a good example of journalistic integrity.
#http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346563/Mi...
Its about West Mids Police having a Lotus Evora on loan. Anyway, within a few words of the title you have the facts, that its donated from Lotus (as a publicity exercise). Cue plenty of reader comments about the cost of sports cars and that the police are wasting money.... if the average reader of the DM cannot make it 35 words into the article then there is NOTHING we can do.
The DM know their market and fuel the embers of annoyance within it. It works well, clearly, and is not a good example of journalistic integrity.
Just one look at the home page this morning and the main visual features are a girl from X Factor and a girl from an American reality show. The paper is aimed at 2 types of people, those who are unhappy with their life, have immense internal rage at their own failings and need a vent and the plain f
king stupid.It's a scum paper for failed human beings. It is a hate fuelling propaganda machine and it is utterly depressing that it exists in this country.
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