To wonder if any of you read the Daily Mail as a 'guilty pleasure'?

[Dolcelatte]

I am new to MN and have noticed the repeated references to the DM and readers of it as being bigoted, racist and generally beyond redemption. This surprises me as my impression of MN is that its membership, whereas diverse in some respects, mainly comprises those middle of the road, middle class females who work hard at their careers, marriages, families etc: in short, exactly the sort of people I would expect to read the DM.

The DM has a huge circulation and somebody must be buying it. So hands up all those who have this 'guilty pleasure'.

Btw, I confess to buying the DM on Sundays, as I really like the mag.

For me it has nothing to do with being upwardly mobile - my dad read the Indy and the Nobserver for years and I have dropped a step down by mainly reading the Guardian online. Mother reads the Express mainly but is partial to a bit of DM - I dislike her views on most things and her reading is in line with those views, that's all there is to it.

It's simply that it's a dishonest, hate-filled, cynical publication. Most of all I hate the fact that people buy into it, regurgitate it - the DM knows this and manipulates people expertly. I've also heard/read a few journalists say they'd bite the DM's hand off if they were offered work there. I wonder where the dignity is, in both the readers and the writers, and on a national scale. For that, it's depressing. I want to live in a country where we look at this sort of horseshit and reject it wholesale. I feel out of step.

I don't think it's got anything to do with being "above" people. I think it's recognising how very dangerous a net curtain rationalisation and legitimising of frothing berserker attitudes can be.

I feel the same way about X Factor and Peter Andre and pole dancing and general tawdriness, btw. It's not just the DM.

I sometimes read it online, when I've read everything in the Guardian, just for a change of view. Just as I sometimes read the Times to remember how the other side thinks too. I like to know why people think the way they do, and reading the papers I'm least aligned with is a good way of doing that.

Also, I'm probably quite rare in that the DM provided my first awareness of feminism. My parents got the Times which was pretty feminist-free in the early 80s, but my friend's parents got the DM and that had a huge article on the crazy lesbian feminists of Greenham Common. It was a revelation to me, and started me off on feminism.

I bet not many feminists can say that of the DM

Oh I like the odd private lap dance meself

Hmmm, I think you would probably class me as downwardly mobile OP, my folks have far more money than I have and it is unlikely my children will go to as expensive a school as I did!

You sound very peturbed and scathing about this, is there a reason for that?

what fennel said

My dad got the Telegraph, so we had two very different papers in style growing up!

i happily admit to reading the Mail online every day. i don't think that makes me a low-life. for instance, this morning the main story was a cute one about a mummy and baby elephant stuck in some mud who were rescued.
I think it's a bit like an advert - it may show a certain point of view, but i don't necessarily have to agree with it.
i also watch The Jeremy Kyle show, but that doesn't mean i don't know who the father of MY baby is.
would you REALLY judge someone by what newspaper they read? personally, i'd rather judge someone on their words and actions.

Choosing a newspaper filled with bile is an action.

I grew up with the Daily Mirror which used to be a brilliant paper back in the day.
When I started wanting to buy a paper of my own I read the Independent which was great but just so earnest.

Now I never buy but when I do it is usually for the sports coverage which at the weekend is the times but on a monday is a telegraph.

If someone could come up with the Daily Mails balance of quantity and depth of serious issues, celeb coverage, lite items and sport but without the awful slant it would be a winner.

I buy a paper when I want and have time to sit down and really read it. But many people want a flick through paper without D list celebs. No one does that.

I missed the private lap dance offers?
Were they cut out coupons?

If I didn't read every bit of the Grauniad (except the sport!) everyday I'd feel nekkid.

Two for one, Paggy, two for one.

Obs and Times (for the know thy enemy) at the w/e.

Grauniads sports coverage totally sucks.

Dh saw sting and trudie styled getting a private lap dance.
That must have been a two for one.

And what was dh doing in the vicinty of dear Sting and Trudy's private two for one, pray?

Is wonderful watching MN rage impotently at the DM. Many of the views and in some cases policies of the country and government come straight from the DM pages. But it reflects the people, not the other way around.

MN is a website with an obvious political leaning in its ownership. Its no surprise that DM bashing is encouraged.

What is the Guardians circulation like at the moment? Are they still in a slow decline towards administration?

that is a very intelligent post lassylass

I sometimes even read the sport pages of the Guardian, Hully!

I hate everything about the Daily Mail. Have never understood why it is seen to be a paper for women, give how misogynistic it is.

And to your TITS I would add WILLIES. That's how strongly I feel about it.

But we don't see willies, biwi

small but important technical point

I won't pay for it but I will have a read if I find it lying around (likewise the Sun - I actually REALLY enjoy a copy of the Sun once in a while, even though it's appalling in so many ways).

I relish the celebrity pages online! In fact I have an app on my iphone and divulge whilst bathing. 'Tis my little treat!

I think the app is only free for 2 months or so, and then £9 a year afterwards. I won't buy it though. No way. Not I, I'm a Mumsnetter NOT a Daily Mail reader!!

(I probably will)

I'll be hunted down for saying this but despite the fact Mumsnet hates the Daily Mail, reading the comments on some of the stories is just like reading AIBU! At least Matthew Wright hates it too...

I'm not English. I read the DM sometimes for anthropological reasons.

I was happy to leave the US because I couldn't deal with all the frothing, right-wing, homophobic misogynists anymore. I imagined England was all, like, the Guardian and the BBC. Then I stumbled across the DM. Hoo boy. I was stupidly upset to learn that you have your own frothing lunatics over here!

It is actually helpful for me though, for example if I didn't read the DM I wouldn't have a clue why UKIP exists.