Does this byline represent a new low for the Daily Mail?

[LazyGun]

You can be exasperated at the striking teachers for disruption and inconvenience yesterday - but to blame the tragic, accidental death of a young teenager on the strike? This is pretty sick, even by DMs journalistic standards, I would say....

http://www.dailymail....-closed.html#comments

[askyourgran]

I agree lazygun, it isn't good journalism.

[daffy654]

They've changed that slightly since earlier on. It actually said that the girl was crushed to death BECAUSE her teachers were on strike.

[jackthehat]

I must admit to laughing at this this morning.
Not, I hasten to add, at the story itself which is a tragedy......just at the desperate lengths the DM has gone to, to somehow blame the striking teachers for being somehow culpable.....

[ichkeria]

A new low for the Daily Mail would indeed be a low of epic proportions ...

[Whickerman]

Daily scum.
"One angry parent wrote on Twitter afterwards: 'she should have been safe at school, she was just sat on a bench talking with friends....it could have been my daughter.'" - that's not made up at all, is it?

[Whickerman]

daffy - it's still there
"'The fact is if the teachers were not on strike Sophie would have been at school and this would not have happened."

[Buenchico]

It sounds like a typical Daily Wail report to me!

(BTW: It's a headline, not a byline)

[Manwithnoname]

Nothing to do with the council`s lack of attention to the on going problem.
Thats the problem with the dm & some of its readership shift the blame from the real culprits or find a hook to hang it on

[jno]

the byline is "by Daily Mail reporter", hence the "by". The story is as sad as many others, the attempt to put a political spin on it is pretty despicable.

[andy-hughes]

The piece I have just read confirms that Sophie was off school because of the strike - which seems to me merely to be placing at her at the scene beacuse of cirumstances. It is possibly to give context for foreign readers who may have wondered why she was not in school.

i fail to see any blame attatched to the teachers in the wording of the text i have read - have I missed something.

[sherrardk]

Hi Andy - I am pretty sure that the article as it currently reads is different to the original article that was on-line yesterday (I read it and it had more reference to the strike and something along the lines of 'she would have been safe in school if the teachers hadn't been on strike').

[andy-hughes]

OK - thanks for the clarification - looks like they felt a need to edit the copy - i can see why!

[flipnflap]

the truth is this story probably wouldn't have appeared in a national newspaper if the girl wasn't a pretty young thing. The papers themselves wouldnever admit it, but this is now the primary criteria. Just look at the Mail website every day to see I'm right.

[sophie_1003]

Just to confirm that the article linked above is very different to the original one where the headline was something like "Girl dies...as teachers are on strike". A friend of mine posted a link to the first one on Facebook and there was no doubt in that one of the link being made between the death and the fact that he teachers were on strike.

[DrFilth]

seems a few of the papers have the same headline

More news for girl dies as teachers are on strike »

Girl killed by tree as teachers strike | The Sun |News
www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/.../Teen-dies-a
fter-park-branch-fall.html1
Jul 2011 – A GIRL off school during the teachers' strike died after being hit by a falling tree.

Teachers' strike: Sophie Howard, 13, killed by falling branch ...
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Teachers-strike-Sophi
e-Howard-13-killed-falling-
...2 Jul 2011 – Tears for girl, 13, crushed to death by a falling branch as she sat on ... 'She was only in the park because the teachers were on strike and ...
Girl not at school due to teachers' strike killed by falling ...
www.mirror.co.uk/.../girl-not-at-school-due-t
o-teachers-strike-killed...



- Cached1 Jul 2011 – A GIRL of 13 was crushed to death by a falling branch yesterday as she sat on a park bench.
Girl 13 Died Becuase Of Teacher Strikes - House Price Crash forum
www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?sho
wtopic=165993
- Cached15 posts - 12 authors - Last post: 3 days ago

http://www.dailymail...ent-strike.html Girl, 13, crushed to death by a branch as she sat on a park bench after teachers went out on strike ...
Get more discussion results
Girl, 13, killed as a result of Teachers Strike. ( Warning ...
www.singletrackworld.com/.../girl-13-killed-a
s-a-result-of-teachers-...
- Cached40 posts - 14 authors

[sophie_1003]

Can't believe so many made this connection! I can understand mentioning it to explain why she wasn't at school but to link the two in a headline seems ridiculous!

[steg]

lol news paper rivalries seem even worse than football rivalries

[ABerrant]

...you mean a headline such as

"13-year-old girl crushed by tree during teacher strike" - Telegraph

http://www.telegraph....g-teacher-strike.html

"Girl not at school due to teachers' strike killed by falling branch" - Mirror

http://www.mirror.co....anch-115875-23239169/

"Girl killed by tree as teachers strike" - Sun

http://www.thesun.co....-teachers-strike.html

"Girl killed in park as strike shuts schools" - Daily Star

http://www.dailystar....strike-shuts-schools/

There are dozens of examples from other newspapers, all of which have not rewritten their headlines.

[DrFilth]

more people than ever get their news from the web so they have to try different things to get people to buy the paper

[ABerrant]

...oops! - too slow.