Daily Mail well and truly in the gutter

(01-07-2011 23:24 )lucent-x Wrote:  How dare you besmirch our hallowed media, they are always fair and balanced and never show any sign of self interest.
Having said that, 10 clichéd internet points for anyone who can figure out the Express's subtly hidden agenda...

The hidden agenda is that unless the blessed Diana had not walked this earth then house prices would have collapsed.

Hmm, media moguls, with maybe one or two houses, talking up house prices. Is that a hidden agenda?

(02-07-2011 00:28 )Captain Vimes Wrote:  The hidden agenda is that unless the blessed Diana had not walked this earth then house prices would have collapsed.

Indeed, and I'm sure she would've done her bit to personally deport all those iffy-looking asylum seekers as well.

(02-07-2011 00:28 )Captain Vimes Wrote:  Hmm, media moguls, with maybe one or two houses, talking up house prices. Is that a hidden agenda?

Hmm, one or two, maybe even a £500m property and investment portfolio.

Incidentally, that 'soar by 16%' headline was only the other week; and of course it's backed up completely by... well... nothing. Even those who also have an interest in maintaining ridiculous house prices can only spin the market figures to a best-without-looking-completely-dishonest conclusion of 'stagnant'.

daily mail "scares the shite out of people", the dail express "bless poor diana". news of the world "hacks people" the sun "lies and bullshite"

The media in this country is totally fucked nowadays. What's next?

(01-07-2011 22:28 )Captain Vimes Wrote:  let's not forget that the Guardian and the Independent have their own agendas and can be economical with the truth when it suits them.

Indeed, I've never forgiven The Guardian for what they did to Sara Tisdale. For those too young to remember, she was a young clerk working at the MoD, and she leaked documents to The Guardian proving that Michael Hestletine had lied to the House of Commons about the deployment of nuclear cruise missiles in the UK. The government demanded the return of the documents which could be traced back to the leaker and The Guardian's then editor Peter Preston meekly complied.

Tisdale was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act and jailed for six months. There was uproar at the sentence, with jurors publicly saying that they would never have convicted if they'd thought that she'd go to jail, as although she'd technically broken the law she was a whistle-blower and this had been a political prosecution brought to cover the Government's embarrassment.

Of all people to lead the pro-Tisdale campaign, it was the then editor of the NOTW, Derek Jameson, who once sued (and lost) after a magazine described him as "an east-end lad made bad". He put an editorial on the front page saying that he would go to jail before he'd ever reveal his sources.

Peter Preston said later that he bitterly regretted his actions, but the real upshot of the Tisdale case was when Clive Ponting, a Senior MoD official, leaked top-level documents about the sinking of The Belgrano in the Faulklands War. Now this really was a case for the OSA and Ponting fully expected to go to jail, but the jury, remembering Tisdale, acquitted him on all charges!

The message had been sent that juries would no longer convict in such cases and that was the last time they tried.