It may be a bit of a slow news day but the Daily Mail isn't letting that stand in the way of filling space. It's simply dusted off a popular story from October 2008 and slapped today's date on it:
FROM THE GUARDIAN: 10 November, 2008
THE DAILY MAIL TODAY: 22 March, 2010
The latest version of this old story, which did the rounds in 2008 (BBC News) is here for now on the Daily Mail website. It might be slightly less embarassing if the Daily Mail hadn't covered the story itself as part of a different story, also back in November 2008, including exactly the same photo.
I think I know why this happened. This story was in the 'most read' list on the BBC News site last week (it happens occasionally with 'quirky' stories from years ago, as email links spread in their unpredictable way, and then people see it on the Most Read list and click it, thus enhancing the effect). I guess a lazy Mail hack clicked the story, and decided to cover it without looking at the date at the top.
Posted by: John Self | Mar 22, 2010 at 13:11
I'm willing to bet this is front page news because a Daily Mail "journalist" saw the story appearing on the BBC News 'Most read' section yesterday, didn't check the article date, then went right ahead and plagiarised..., sorry *was inspired by* it.
Posted by: Gordon | Mar 22, 2010 at 13:22
Damn the BBC for not taking down its old content!
Posted by: Chris | Mar 22, 2010 at 13:42
The Daily Mail may hate the BBC but that clearly doesn't stop them stealing its content. Sadly it's been caught out here by the fact the story it stole had reappeared in the BBC's Most-Read section.
Oops. Couldn't happen to a nicer paper!
Posted by: Andrew P. | Mar 22, 2010 at 13:44
This exact thing happened a couple of weeks ago with the Metro running with the year-old 'Jesus face in Marmite lid' story that popped up again in the BBC's 'most-read' list
Posted by: Hayley | Mar 22, 2010 at 13:49
Never heard the phrase "So old it's new"? Learned it alongside "Exclusive to all newspapers"
Posted by: Not Sun Boy | Mar 29, 2010 at 17:24