Enemies of intellectual dishonesty in public discourse, rejoice! This week Paul Dacre, editor of the UK’s best selling newspaper, the Daily Mail, announced he will step down as editor of the publication in November.
Many, especially those outside the UK, won’t recognise the importance of this act, but no one put it better than James O’Brien who was quite possibly not exaggerating when he said: Good riddance to an amoral sociopath who has done more damage to the fabric of this nation than anyone or anything since the Luftwaffe.
Why is the move so momentous? It is well known amongst the politically informed in the UK that the Daily Mail has powerful sway over the country’s political agenda. It is known in Westminster for frequently being the driving force defining Downing Street’s morning meetings.
Politicans are so afraid of the fiercely politically campaigning newspaper, that many believe it can make and break British governments. Under Dacre’s control since 1992, the newspaper, which holds the largest readership in the UK, has stoked hatred of immigrants for a quarter of a century and campaigned fiercely against immigration, regularly being caught spreading false information.
After 26 years, the pro-brexit newspaper is being handed to a new editor who has strongly contrasting views, including being a staunch remainer. The new editor, Geordie Greig, has a history for turning newspapers around. When he took over the Evening Standard in 2009, he issued a series of advertisements saying “sorry” to Londoners for the previous editor’s coverage, he has recently publicly clashed with Dacre and his sister paper has sometimes fiercely debunked the Mail’s incorrect scoops suggesting we may be about to see a repeat performance.
As an individual, for me it was an easy decision to boycott the Daily Mail my entire lifetime; but as a professional journalist, adamantly refusing to work with my country’s most profitable, powerful and influential publication has been a significant sacrifice, especially when the rest of my industry is dying around me. If you’d like an idea of the scale of the problem, competing publications that report with intellectual honesty have lost millions per year, while the Daily Mail has raked in hundreds of millions per year in profits. I make no secret of my public support for Stop Funding Hate, the group that informs the Daily Mail’s advertisers of the hatred the newspaper spreads.
The move is reportedly an attempt at “detoxifying the Daily Mail”, which is undoubtedly a direct reference to the Stop Funding Hate campaign’s success.
How can you help? We now have a rare opportunity to change the direction of the UK’s most powerful newspaper, the father publication of the world’s most read news website, Mail Online which is read by 11 million per day and influences discourse globally. I implore you to join Stop Funding Hate, check which of the Mail’s advertisers you are a customer of and let them know the influence they have over the newspaper’s oncoming change in agenda.
Here’s an example of how I’ve tried to do this myself. Below is a copy of an email I sent a couple of years ago to John Lewis, one of the country’s most famous and reliable department stores:
Below is the campaign that inspired me. I implore you to put on your headphones, turn the sound up and watch it, it’s only two minutes long:
This week I’ve asked John Lewis for an estimate for the replacing of all the carpets in my home with hard floors, a £6,000+ job I am having done this Xmas. I’ll be informing the engineer at the end of the 3 hour in-home assessment that any order I make, for the work that is due to be conducted will be subject to John Lewis not placing ads in any copy of the Daily Mail from this point forward that contains lies and a hateful agenda.
If you feel like your vote doesn’t have value, this is one way you can make your voice count.
The fight isn’t over yet, Dacre may continue to have significant sway over the paper in his new role as chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, let’s make sure those in power realise this isn’t acceptable and they must nip that role in the bud soon too or be prepared to suffer the consequences.
Where does my beef with Dacre come from? Here’s where it get’s personal. After observing their hateful publishing for several years, I first discovered the newspaper’s wilful factual inaccuracy while starting out as a science blogger nearly a decade ago. When I found so many clearly disingenuous errors in the Daily Mail’s reporting I entered an article by them for the “Orwellian Prize for Journalistic Misrepresentation” a satirical prize designed to expose inaccurate science reporting, which it won with flying colours. In spite of this, obtaining corrections from the Daily Mail for clear factual inaccuracies was worse than getting blood from a stone.
I won’t go into detail rehashing the saga here, but a good recap can be read here. Importantly, while this award was designed for the offending journalist, in this case it was awarded to Paul Dacre himself, as the article was part of a series of misleading articles from the newspaper along the same campaigning agenda. I present here for prosperity a copy of the certificate Dacre was awarded.
Here’s to hoping that the stepping aside of Dacre will lead to a country less vulnerable to the many and varied disinformation campaigns his newspaper has run for so many years, for many an entire lifetime. I, for one, will be offering to end my boycott of the paper if under new leadership it can consign its disinformation campaigns to the dustbin of history, where they belong.
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The daily mail in its current form is a vital counter to the massive over representation of the left, over representation of minorities and liberal brainwashing in our education services.
The country voted in favor of Brexit. Why on earth should a national paper not favor it? as for stoking hatred of immigrants - well they report on stories the leftwing BBC is scared too - thank god someone does.
Hatred of migrants? no sane person hates all immigrants - However the fabric of the country has changed beyond recognition in the past 20 years, its not the natives going round blowing people up now is it?
You got a 13.96% upvote from @minnowvotes courtesy of @madstacks!
Nice ..
A vote must be made for justice no matter what its image
Thanks for sharing your experience with us..
I am glad you, the people, are taking this issue with your own hands. That is definately what I personally belive is the most effective way to stop receiving low quality and misinformed news. Not let it be the government who gets too much control over what can or cannot be published (I explain that better on this comment I posted a minute ago).
I am so happy for you guys, and hopefully this course of action could spread across your country. Not to be an alarmist or anything, but I seriously thought the way way press was held in Britain could have ended up in a similar way to some of the Black Mirror episodes...
So as a professional journalist @simoxenham where do you stand on the millions of " easy meat" underage British girls abused, raped and killed by Pakistani grooming gangs over the last 4 decades ??
As a professional journalist, I'd remind you that the numbers involved are not "millions" and that this is a topic where accuracy is vital.
The numbers are absolutely horrifying and do show a deeply sick element of society. I believe that it is nothing short of an outrage that the police failed those poor girls and that the police and prosecutors have not been held to account for their abject failure to bring the perpetrators to justice when there was ample evidence to prosecute. I believe that it is every newspapers' duty to report the facts in cases such as this but that they must do so with due care and attention to get the facts right.
It was fear of being labeled a Racist or fascist that stopped the police delving deeper into this, it should not have stopped them but did...Thats what years apon years of liberal thinking have done to some people! You say the daily mail has a history of fascism - For what..Reporting on the realities that are happening in this country?
" I believe that it is every newspapers' duty to report the facts in cases such as this but that they must do so with due care and attention to get the facts right."
To me it feels like what you are saying here is "i believe papers should report on this in a way that wont upset any minority's or stir up hatred"
Well @madstocks seems you too like me are horrified by this trully horrific abuse being discovered ! Horrific due the the incredible numbers of children abused but also by the fact that it went on for such a long time without anybody for anywhere coming out and blowing the whistle on it for so long ! I am not sure that @simoxenham is saying that newspapers were being careful not to offend but more that they needed to be careful on true figures and exact details in the numbers of abuses made ! But yes horrifying and truly disgusting and I am sure you like me would like and even need to see a public enquiry made where people who were aware of these things going on but who said nothing be held accountable and feel the consequences for their failing to these children and the parents of these said children !
Hi @ simoxenham, oh dear i do t know what i was thinking when i wrote millions that is actually ridiculous i agree, i am actually sorry for that i did actually mean 100s of thousands which given the scope of the matter is pretty likely, but clearly exact figures could never be attained ! I am so happy wiith your response and I was thinking that this might not be the one you would give !
Yes it is appaling i totally agree , this was a monumantal failing certainly by all government bodies concerned, social services, councils and of course the police and judicial services ! But it must be said that there was also a huge failing on the behalf of the British press One must wonder really what were their reasons for this incredible blanket silence and I think there should be an open public enquiry into this matter and people who assisted in this " coverup " should face consequnces for their failings and betrayal to these poor girls and boys whose lives havbe most certainly been destroyed by these horrendous actions ! Thankyou for this reply, much appreciated )
I live here in the UK and I know the crap these publications post. However, he is merely a puppet with the same beliefs as the majority of rich and powerful that own such publications and want to monetize people's insecurities. And its not just limited to hate during the Brexit referendum. Its objectification of women, sexism, racism, and so much more that these publications (daily mail and the sun) do under the garb of journalism.
And Dacre and other like him are heavily influenced by another shithole named rupert murdoch who is single handedly responsible for ruining the US through Fox and the UK through the Sun.
I am not against people's fears and insecurities being reported or the right wing opinion coming out, but surely, facts should be limited to facts and not twisted to - you're fears are not only right but its actually much worse.
Hi Simon, I'm really enjoying your contributions. I think we were cut from the same cloth. As one of Wikipedia's former administrators, I used to devote a lot of my time challenging homeopaths, Holocaust deniers, and pretty much anyone who wanted to launder their bad science into the public domain. It would be wonderful if Steemit and the content-based distribution of crypto could play a role in the dissemination of accurate science reporting. The stewardship of good scholarship is left to unpaid and under-appreciated volunteers far too often.
The world and the citizens have been dominated by more than obscure dark forces that only crave power at the cost of harming others. The mental and psychological indoctrination that we have been receiving for business and images of constructed characters. In order to subconsciously model the behavior of the human being, in order to make us more and more unaware of ourselves, that is what the image is about. the power of the economy of companies of all kinds. Enough to believe ourselves inferior to the other, to model respect for people who do not deserve it, to believe that the world and the truth is in the hands of those who have fame, money and power ... thank you for revealing yourself to a powerful image like that of Mr. DACRE, that shows that we are not all asleep in front of the injustices and lies that tell us as truths.
How could a newspaper have so much political weight? No, the question should be is: why the government allow the Daily Mail to spread so much hate? From what you said, many politicians are deathly afraid of this newspaper as it could easily destroy their political career. Then why are they not doing anything to it? Money perhaps? Okay, I'll stop my speculations
Anyway, atleast that Paul Dacre guy is finally stepping down. Good riddance, I say!
I think the simple answer is because they are scared of being smeared and having their lives ruined. However, as long as we want to live in free societies we need to support the freedom of the press, so to me, it's not really the government's role to stop them, it's ours!
I am with you. I live in Venezuela, and one of the problems we got was when the government got too much power over media. Little by little, they were imposing laws that restricted the things that were allowed to say by the press, and when such laws were "broken", newspapers, TV channels and radio stations were shut down. Even international broadcasting networks were cut off air.
That was perfect for them because a huge part of the population didn't believe or had access to the internet (not banned yet), which made them believe everything the government said (until hunger and disease knocked on our doors and woke them up. It was too late then, though).
This just shows that the press holds more power in the country than any other organisation.
What do you make of the massively left wing BBC - and the power they hold, and the influence they can sway then?
From #Venezuela supporting your work men .... I am ready to do whatever you need ... Greetings from #Venezuela ..
@simoxenham
As you've mentioned in the post I don't really " "feel" importance of this change since Im not British. However I belive you because I know how impactful press is and I also know about how bullshit(ish) can press be.
Anyway Im really glad to see you on Steemit again. I hope you are fine allready :)
Always look forward to your posts
Nicely compiled
I don't know the paper but I'm always suspicious when people start talking about hate.
Actually I'm not sure what is considered hate, and "hate speech" is whatever the accuser thinks it is.
In fact this article could be considered hate speech by some.
Can you give a clear example of hate or hate speech please?
Thanks, I'm glad you asked. For your comparison, a 2004 cartoon in the Daily Mail and a 1939 cartoon beside it from Hitler's Germany. The newspaper has a very long history of supporting fascism.
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Where's the hate though? You'd need to much more specific. Are you saying those images are hate?
Admittedly they're quite ugly but ugly and hate are two different things (I presume).
The first one looks just like a European border. I've seen many photographs that look just like that.
Is that a hate image?
I thought these kinds of fights are just in third world countries and now I am surprised.
Another instance of trading shit for manure:
By the way, advocating for Muslim "immigrants" doesn't have to include denigrating other religions; undoubtedly, many Christians would find your repeated use of the term "Xmas" an example of hate speech.
Berita yang sangat bagus dan juga memberi wawasan kepada seluruh orang orng saya sanggat suka post anda,salam steem
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I was summoned by @simoxenham. I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...
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This reads like a lot of schadenfreude. Science reporting is typically poor at best in the MSM. How is that editor any worse than the editor of the NYT or WaPo?
Amazing
Very good
Good job @simoxenham, excellent, THANKS for sharing!
I hope nobody believes about false news because in reality it will happen if it does not know the truth. Hopefully the English country is fine.
Unfortunately there is so much false news fabricated for the western countries, people don't even know what is really going on in other places.
Newspapers print what ever secret service tell them to print/say, TV stations too...And it will never be stopped, again, unfortunately
it is tipically conductual of the english people in the status of power to overcome the dificult decitions for long time. but finally they take the correct actions to solve the situations
A bigger threat to the country is now what our occultic government is doing on social media, and television. The daily mail going down, is just one arm of the octopus.
Funny how a UK’n , someone like me who is constantly knee-deep in this kind of news, failed to realise that this is happening, of course I wouldn’t know they don’t want people knowing the raw power we all have if we stand up to bastards like him - amazing victory and thank you for spreading this brilliant news
Congratulations @simoxenham!
Your post was mentioned in the Steemit Hit Parade in the following category:
Hello my friend. I'm new here. I'm happy to help me and use your experiences.I want to make progress.thanks
Very interesting information friend I think that is the job to control and bring yourself the best possible information that is of excellent quality work congratulations I hope you can take it for too your country good attitude