The BBC and the Guardian’s London chatterati v Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail’s Middle England
PAUL Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, has written a reply to the fallout from his paper’s article on Ralph Miliband, Ed Miliband’s Jewish, Marxist father. Some said the article was anti-Semitic. Dacre’s article appears in the Mail and the Guardian. (If you want to know how the Guardian has viewed Jews, you should read this.)
The Mail’s “The Man Who Hated Britain” story might just about be the Mail’s ultimate trolling feature. It got everyone talking, polarised views – if you like the Mail, you don’t much mind the story; if you dislike the Mail you hate the story – and introduced most of us to Paul Dacre, a man who would be simply fantastic as a judge on reality TV shows (you heard it here first).
Says Dacre:
“The screech of axe-grinding was deafening as the paper’s enemies gleefully leapt to settle scores. Leading the charge, inevitably, was The Mail’s bête noir, the BBC… Is it fanciful to believe that his real purpose in triggering last week’s row – so assiduously supported by the liberal media which sneers at the popular press – was an attempt to neutralise Associated [Associated Press owns the Mail]…
“Some have argued that last week’s brouhaha shows the need for statutory press regulation. I would argue the opposite. The febrile heat, hatred, irrationality and prejudice provoked by last week’s row reveals why politicians must not be allowed anywhere near press regulation. And while the Mail does not agree with the Guardian over the stolen secret security files it published, I suggest that we can agree that the fury and recrimination the story is provoking reveals again why those who rule us – and who should be held to account by newspapers – cannot be allowed to sit in judgment on the press.”
What do the readers make of it? Let’s look at the comments in the Mail and the Guardian. .
The Guardian Comments “Top Picks”:
The number 1 comment:
holzy
12 October 2013 8:59amRecommend
717
Oh. My. Bleeping. God!!!
Someone please tell me this is a parody.
PS. ‘By golly’ … what the f**k?!?!Recommend235I think it is fair to say that I am on the Left. And I do not obsess over the Daily Mail.
Sure, I have spent a lot of my time over the past two weeks, and over half a century preceding that, rightly condemning Paul Dacre’s horrible paper whenever possible.
And, yes, I did call Margaret Thatcher’s legacy evil and critcise every single act she performed during her life upon hearing of her death. I felt it was only right and proper to criticise her on the very day she died. But that is not hypocrisy because Margaret Thatcher was a neoliberal and therefore it is right to criticise her whenever practicable.The fact that the Daily Mail took almost twenty years to criticise Ralph Miliband’s legacy is far, far worse.
Recommend585Dacre always has a lot to say about hatred. But how dare he tell me, born and raised in the suburbs, that I “despise” suburban people. He has very little to say about the community spirit, fairness and compassion I see in the suburbs every day (he wouldn’t see this in Kensington or Assynt). Like so many others I am outraged that this hypocrite pretends to be the mouthpiece of middle England, when he is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the values of tax exiles and bigots. Wormtongue does not so much hate this country, but he clearly hates its people.
Recommend709
Dear Mr Dacre,
My father has always read the Daily Mail. It was the paper he brought home every night. As a child it was the only newspaper I read. I remember there was a point as a teenager that I became sickened by the hatred and scorn that seemed to pour off every page. Not because of my political views, not because of the left but because as a human being I found this deeply disturbing. It seemed to me that your paper appeals to people who want to hate rather than embrace their fellow man. I think your newspaper fuels hatred and anger which obviously sells very well. A child can recognise this. Obviously you do too which is why your defence sounds so weak.
As an adult I believe we all have a responsibility to work towards understanding and mutual respect for a better world to emerge. Therefore I believe the UK would be better off without the Daily Mail. I hope the day comes soon when there is no longer an appetite for the negativity that you sell.
And these in the Mail – the “top ragted comments. Interesting, the Guardian’s comment are over double that in the Mail.
royporter, Jomtien Thai and Woodford Grn, 8 hours ago
The BBC is a left wing political orgainisation. All public funding should be withdrawn by abolishing the licence fee and the BBC at the same time. Their News is so biased that I prefer to watch Aljazzera, they tell it how it is and their reporting is of a much higher standard. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that before a Journalist can be employed by the BBC they would have to show their Labour Party Card !
scribble, london, United Kingdom, 8 hours ago
“Orchestrating this bile was an ever more rabid Alastair Campbell. Again, fair-minded readers will wonder why a man who helped drive Dr David Kelly to his death, was behind the dodgy Iraq war dossier and has done more to poison the well of public discourse than anyone in Britain is given so much air-time by the BBC.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Absolutely right. It’s a curious alliance between the Blairite carpet baggers and left wing Guardianista snobs who all live in multi-million pound houses in Islington. They all remind me of those 1930’s traitors the Cambridge Apostles.
Die Laughing, Manchester, 5 hours ago
Dear Mr. Dacre, thank you. I agree with every word that you have written in your well constructed and accurate article above. I am proud to read the Daily Mail and grateful for all the hard work your journalists do, even under some of the most appalling malignment by the ‘people who know best’. I will wear all red arrows as badge of honour, for those who sling them are the very ones I despise.
And there it is. The best Left v Right debate is not in the Commons. It’s in the Press. The politicians might want to shackle that because it makes them look so very wholly…
Posted: 12th, October 2013 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
