Why I hate the Daily Mail, as distilled into one edition

Yeah, my sympathy expired round about the time she agreed to talk to a Mail journo.

think the actual level of detail she goes into is what makes it noteworthy, rather than it being a scales-falling-from-eyes job (or not)

not really

I think people might expect their quotes to be taken out of context or given an unwanted spin, but not for them to be completely made up.

Again, if by people you mean tribal elders from previously undiscovered South Pacific peoples with no previous contact with European civilization, I wd agree.

Given that much of the UK believe what they read in the Mail there would appear to be a lot of tribal elders from previously undiscovered South Pacific peoples living in this country.*

*Taking our jobs etc etc

eh well it was kinda interesting to me to have it set out scene by scene as it were - assume she's not the first person ever to exhaustively detail being dicked over by the DM but I don't recall reading any first-hand accounts

I agree that a lot of people "believe" what they read in the Mail but I think that opens up a fascinating field of knowledge re: what we mean when we talk about belief. Do they believe it in the same way as they believe in gravity or the fidelity of their significant others or in their own innate superiority to people who aren't them? I think belief is a rubbery concept here maybe.

I think people might expect their quotes to be taken out of context or given an unwanted spin, but not for them to be completely made up.

...and put into a completely different kind of piece than what you'd been told. idk even assuming that the mail will dick you over and twist your words wherever possible, this seems particularly egregious.

... and I'll bet you the DM thought they were giving her an 'interesting/fab' makeover!

Yeah, I think NV and DG are being fairly disingenuous here, not to mention cruel. Apparently anyone who doesn't meet their exacting standards of insight and judgement deserves to be completely and utterly shafted in every way.

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/1AF6FCAA-E538-4133-B3D7-566467E667EC/PL9049.jpg

what could possibly go wrong

You know it, you read a DM story and take it with a pinch of salt.

But then, bet you you are more likely to go "oh, they made her look bad by describing it like that" as opposed to "oh, they made her look bad by making up a story about how she's had 40 dates since living there"

i.e. you'd go "maybe they weren't all dates" as opposed to "maybe she didn't go out 40 times that year"...

But:

It's the same with any paper...

Back when my sis was at a dancing academy in London, she managed to come second in the end-of-term choreography competition. The local paper rang up to arrange an interview, but they spoke to my mother about it, and after the conversation (which I overheard), they never turned up: Got all the detail they needed. "You must have been pleased" they asked (I guess, didn't hear that bit)... "Oh yes, but she was a bit disappointed she didn't win" ... (I was like !!! DONT SAY THAT!!!)

And so, the story came out, nice pic of the troupe as supplied by the school, and the comment ".. was pleased to get runner-up, although she had expected to win..."

Result: could not take the newspaper clipping into the school.

that's not the same.

maybe if your sister had never even take part in a competition...

journalists are untrustworthy at the best of times

OI.

Quite a lot of them on ILX

Yeah but you learnt not to trust letters from readers wives in the back of razzle a long time back, surely?

Oh there in the back now

My exacting standards of judgement and insight are sort of limited to "don't deal with the press unless absolutely necessary, never deal with the Daily Mail unless they've got a close relative at gunpoint".

forgot to add 'present company excepted' to my last post obv.

seriously tho can ilx's press corps solemnly attest to either a) never bending the truth themselves b) knowing for sure that no colleague of theirs has done same

We're not talking about bending the truth though are we, we're talking about making stuff up.

The mail exagerrating her story, bending it to fit their remit and prejudices, would not surprise me. The exact extent to which the entire thing was fabricated *does surprise me - especially laid out so clearly and in such depth.

Well, this is what I was saying above:

Everyone expects the DM to bend the truth, but not just plain "make it all up"...

come on guys you know what i mean

The making stuff up out of whole cloth does surprise me, the concentration on her supposed advantages does not. As a journalist, you can often get in trouble for quoting things a subject DID say - it involves a bullying phone call from a PR whose client has entitlement issues or a bad case of foot in mouth disease. Generally, if your subject has participated in more interviews than you've had hot dinners, they have no comeback for their actions - and any bad dealings they might have had with other journalists is neither my fault nor my problem. If I am dealing with someone who really is not a professional interviewee and is talking about something personal, I usually take great care not to stitch them up.

Yeah but you learnt not to trust letters from readers wives in the back of razzle a long time back, surely?

― if there is a King Kenny, apparently he is huge into slapstick. (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 2 February 2011 02:27 (7 hours ago)

Oh there in the back now

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Wednesday, 2 February 2011 02:29 (7 hours ago)

Readers' Texts?

Cheryl Cole does her own dirty work as she phones her local council for a wheelie bin

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:23 PM on 10th February 2011

* Comments (54)
* Add to My Stories

She's one of the biggest stars in Britain and has an army of assistants, make-up artists and stylists to cater to her every whim.

But millionaire pop star Cheryl Cole showed she still has her feet on the ground when she phoned up her local London council to order a wheelie bin.

Instead of getting an assistant to do the dirty work, the 27-year-old singer spoke to an Enfield council employee herself so she could get her waste disposal in order.

now that's news!

i bet she got one quicker than most people.

I dunno, the council seem to have spent the immediate time phoning the media about it.

She may be one of the most highly paid council chief executives in London, but Enfield boss Moira Philpot showed she still has her feet on the ground when she did the dirty work of leaving fourteen increasingly desparate voicemails with Associated Newspapers.

"Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1355525/Theft-finding-Woman-took-thrown-Tesco-waffles-charged-stealing.html

Ms Hall, who works part-time at a rival supermarket in Chelmsford, is to appear in magistrates court on February 16 charged with theft by finding.

Hmmm.......

Reckon an innocent verdict?

Theft by finding?

So if i find a wallet on the floor, i'm a thief?

What's that saying, "find a penny pick it up all day long you'll have good luck"?

So if i find a wallet on the floor, i'm a thief?

if you don't hand it in to the cops, yeah i think there's a reasonable argument there. otoh if you find a bunch of usable food thrown out to the rubbish...

So if i find a wallet on the floor, i'm a thief?

Yes, if you don't hand it in, etc. Then, if it's unclaimed, it's yrs.

Anyway, then again, presumably the staff member who threw the pies out is not going to tell the court he did this.

Xpost we all join in...

I'm mostly intrigued by the "no comments for legal reasons" thing there.

Presumably, because anything that says "Tesco are a bunch of bast" is going to get their legal reps hmm interested.

no, it's because commenters will discuss whether they think she's guilty or not, which could be thought to prejudice her trial.

That's never stopped them before.

Then again,

too late now, i spent the £10 on sweets and threw the wallet over the railway about 26 years ago.

oh well.

so this week we have the Star repping for the EDL and the Mail going to bat for freeganism - what a time to be alive iirc

Priorities have changed.

Along with that story re the School gov being all "School Standards are slipping" then showing how badly her school was doing since she took charge, etc.

They really do think their feet are well under the table.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1355755/Claudia-Aderotimi--Dying-fame-artless-victim-hip-hop-woman-haters.html?ITO=1490

OK, be prepared for the WTF line...

She was incredibly proud of the fact that the multi-millionaire rapper 50 Cent had called her an ‘African princess’, ­seeing this as a great compliment.