Daily Mail's moral compass not for turning?

The Daily Mail comes in for a lot of criticism, even on these very pages, but credit where it's due. Call The Mail prudish, Victorian, Draconian, anachronistic if you will, but there is no denying it knows its readers and it sticks steadfastly to a strict set of guiding principles.

You know instinctively what it will say on almost any issue and while The Mail may dislike young people it is certainly willing to be the self-appointed guardian of their moral well-being: from attacking pop videos for their fleshy content and effect on impressionable young minds, to expressing concerns about young girls' negative body image and rising rates of teenage pregnancies. In a nutshell, The Daily Mail wages a daily war against anything which prematurely sexualises young people.

But enough of this talk, here's a picture of a "stunning" 14-year-old girl in a bikini from The Daily Mail today. (It's your call if you click on the link).

Comments

[john]

This blog has been doing a lot of Daily Mail watching lately. Occasionally it's amusing but mostly it's really predictable.

Given (I assume) the majority here work in media - and understand well what The Mail is about - might you try to cast the net wider?

FWIW I am neither affiliated to nor a fan of The Mail.

[Will Sturgeon]

It's a fair point John and a fine line we do try to walk, but clearly get wrong in some people's eyes.

Conversely, posts about the Mail do still appear to resonate with a large number of readers - though we'd never only focus on issues or publications which drive traffic our way. We do try to ensure we don't just bash the Mail for the sake of it.

However, the Mail is the UK's most successful newspaper and arguably its most controversial, so the fact it gains more mentions than The Mirror or The Independent, to name two newspapers who seem to leave our bloggers and readers largely apathetic, is representative of its role in the media industry.

As our bloggers on the Media Blog tend to work a little in isolation from time to time - though we often update each other with a Tweet here and there - there are also instances were two people file a piece about the Mail within a few hours and both go live. Such instances are unfortunate but ultimately the beauty of the web of course is that people don't have to read posts if they don't interest them.

However, we don't want to seem a one-trick-pony, and certainly don't want to turn away readers, so we will keep an eye on our Mail coverage.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[Dave]

Everyone at the DM should be executed, stoned alive, resulting in a batter Britain.