The Daily Mail

[Le Chat]

Why is it that some people on AB refer to Daily Mail readers in a scarcastic and condescending manner?
My parents get the DM and it is packed full of the latest news and has a great letters page. My mother in law gets The Mirror. It is very thin and the same sort of news items are covered but in a more simplistic manner. Both papers tend to slag off the government. The letters page is very poor too in The Mirror.
I believe this AB site is an offshoot of The Daily Mail.

[sandyg2244]

I have to say I agree about the mirror although i like their columnists.I have the best of both worlds.the sun is only 10p, the express 25p.So now I can get both wonderful papers for the same price as the mirror!the daily mail-last time i bought it was 4 years ago in France when I was camping.It was the only british paper they sold and I had to pay �1.45 for the previous day's copy! (Those French chancers!)Too much politics and not enough celeb gossip-not even a problem page in the daily mail.Mind you it was bliss at the time, a glass of red and reading yesterday's news in a warm South of France sun :-)

[WaldoMcFroog]

The Daily Mail 'is it decent publication that stand up for the rights of the single most oppressed minority in Britain (nay the world) today, the white middle classes, or is it a knee-jerk piece of cack that panders to the laziest and most ignorant prejudices of its readers' debate has been done to death:

Choose your version of the truth from these.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question27 6988.html
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question24 4185.html
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question25 1041.html

[Marky B]

I like it.
Ta Ta
Marky B

[Le Chat]

Before I submitted my answer, I was not shown any of those questions that WaldoMcFrood listed - or I wouldn't have bothered posting my question!
Sorry to have wasted your time.

[sp1814]

I used to think that the Mail was a hideous paper, read by reactionary, gullible fools...until today.

The paper printed a very nice picture of my favourite singer, Madonna, with her new bleached blonde hair...now I love The Daily Mail.

Tomorrow, I shall hate it again.

Probably tells you more about me than the paper, but there ya go.

[Cetti]

I've often wondered why the patronising attitude as well, Le Chat, although I can't say it bothers me one bit.

Is it really such a big deal what paper anyone looks at or is there something I'm missing here? I don't read it for any political reason or get hot and bothered about whether it's left, right or even centre wing - just enjoy doing the crossword while eating breakfast.

Oh dear, my husband has just said" The Mail is anti - everything - and it conjures up ludicrous headlines eg. Rooney and England will set the world cup alight. Well, I enjoy it anyway!

[Hammer Head]

The Daily Mail is the only tabloid that tells it like it is in Britain today. As for the Daily Mirror - Well, it is only fit for hanging up in small squares in the smallest room.

[Lonnie]

Bit strange isn't it, the Daily Mail is about the best read paper in Britain, yet everytime I post a news item from it for debate, it, and me, gets slagged off by someone, still, I can take it.

[Cetti]

I'll stick up for you Lonnie ;-)

[jno]

trouble is, Lonnie, experience has shown that just because a 'news item' is in the Mail, it doesn't mean it's true (in the sense that it actually happened) or balanced (eg the BaaBaa Rainbow Sheep business - which did happen but in the context of teaching words to children, not of banishing references to 'black'.) For people who are inclined to believe anything printed they see before them, it's no doubt great.

As for its opinions, hurrah for the blackshirts!

[admarlow]

The DM is a campaigning paper and therefore will always be a bit like Marmite, I don't read the DM myself and I do feel that they over simplify things, but it is Britains 2nd most popular paid for paper (behind the Sun/NOTW). In the business we classify it as a mid market, not a tabloid.

[Backdrifter]

sp1814 you voiced my exact thoughts. I came close to buying the Mail yesterday for that pic, of all the front page pics of her it was the best. But even that beautiful pic couldn't, in the end, induce me to hand over money for a copy of the Mail.

[sp1814]

Backdrifter

I nicked a copy from the staff restaurant at work.

That way, I didn't feel too bad about myself.

[jake-the-peg]

The Sun actually outsells the Mail by nearly a million copies so Lonnie 's a bit wide of the mark on it being the best read. (unless he missed a comma and meant it's the best paper that people read :c) )

The thing about the Mail is that over half it's readership are women and the majority in the B and C1 social classes.

It is strongly Tory and you'll find daily stories on how dreadful the Labour party is for some reason or other and a lot of things about houses and house prices, illegal immigration and benefit fraud as I recall.

All stuff guaranteed to get middle class women Tory voters worked up.

Have they given up predicting a crash in house prices yet? They seem to have spent years doing that - it must be quite frustrating for them that it never happened.

The Daily Mail is mostly criticised here for biased journalism that is often based on prejudice and for not presenting both sides of a story.

However you could make a strong argument that it's not alone in that and is therefore somewhat unfairly picked on

[admarlow]

Jake the peg - half the population are women, and incidentally the DM has more B1/ A readers than Vogue.

[sp1814]

Can I just point out that a lot of AB'ers use the Daily Mail as short-hand for Middle-Englanders, and others use The Guardian for shorthand for wet lefties.

It's just a way of quickly categorising a demographic.

The Express is practically the same paper as The Daily Mail, but the Mail has a much larger circulation, and that might be the reason why it's used to define people.

[admarlow]

the express's demographic is much older than the expresses though.

[sp1814]

admarlow

Bit of a typo there...which way round should it be? (check your last post)

[admarlow]

ha ha , sorry!, the EXPRESS'S demographic is much older than the MAIL'S