Proof you can't believe the Daily Mail

[hc4361]

http://www.snopes.com...a/notnews/dentist.asp

[jno]

well, well

I believed that.

[Kiki-frog]

But surely no one here believes the Daily Mail anyway, do they?

Oh right, OK, I see........

[B00]

Awww, i posted the "news"story in B&S at the time. I believed it, gives me nightmares thinking about it.

[mike11111]

From the link it appears that the Daily Mail was not the only news organ to be taken in by this spoof. At least it has never claimed that Elvis is living on the Moon in a London bus.

[jno]

that's the thing, mike. The Mail tries to keep its lies plausible.

[Old_Geezer]

I guess anyone can make an error but questions need to be asked about lack of checking sources on this one. I don't expect this sort of thing is exclusive to the DM.

[FredPuli43]

It's the kind of short, silly end -piece story which tabloids use to amuse readers. If it is fed into an agency and taken from there, it's not going to be checked; the time and cost of checking the facts are not proportionate to the news value of the story.

The Daily Mail is suspect because the headline is quite often not supported by the details given in the story itself; maybe the subs don't read the story before setting the headline, maybe the Mail's readership isn't expected to read the story carefully beyond the headline and, perhaps, the first sentence; sometimes the headline and story are completely false in picking on some incidental detail and representing that as the complete story.

It's main fault lies in its necessary desire, because of the age and class of its readers, to appeal to their prejudices and fears. Hence 'outrage', 'anger', ' uproar' and other hyperbole in its stories, and its curious interest in those who are foreign or of foreign descent. Imagine a 75 year-old man in a bar or a golf club, raging about how much worse everything is, and you have the picture.

[emmie]

more bizarre that it also appeared in the Austrian times...

[jno]

not necessarily, Em - I don't think the Austrians like the Poles much either (consider what they and the Germans did to them in WW2), so it feeds their prejudices too.

[emmie]

jno, it's what i just read...

[emmie]

UPDATE: A new report from MSNBC suggests that the original report is a hoax. Contributor Erin Tennant claims to have received a translated denial from Polish authorities calling into question the report first run by The Daily Mail and Austrian Times.

[jno]

sorry, I wasn't arguing with you, em, just saying that the Austrian paper would have run it for the same reason as the Mail, because they thought it made Poles look mad.

[Gromit]

I normally look at DM stories and spot their slant instantly. I know the DMs prejudices and politics so it is easy to see what they are making up, adding or insinuating. But I didn't spot anything with this story and took it as truth on face value. It highlights how easy it is to trick them and in turn their readers. Very lax standards and appalling fact checking.

But the DM has a winning formula and will continue to be the 2nd best selling Daily Newspaper.

[Old_Geezer]

I have no reason to disbelieve your explanantion FredPuli43, but IMO and perceived value to the news story would be largely negated by the hit to the paper's reputation as more folk decide it isn't a serious organ and that it will print any garbage just to sell. Either one should do the job properly, or get out of the industry.

[tara20]

Never realised there was an Austrian Times. Obviously I haven't missed much.

[jno]

but most of them will tell you they just buy it for the crossword, OG.