AIBU to feel sorry for Daily Mail journalists?

[EdmundCleverClogs]

Can you imagine it? Spend years in education, hoping to break into hard hitting journalism. Finally get a break in a national newspaper, and your big job? Following current events, the news of this unsettled world, being at the core of hard hitting, breaking news? Noooo, every couple of days you get to trawl a parenting site, copying and pasting an 'interesting thread', basically doing one of the most meaningless and unfulfilling jobs in the world. How sad.

I know a couple of the Mail's 'big names' very well and they are actually very well educated, very talented journalists.
They know exactly what they're doing and don't pretend to be in it for altruistic reasons. They also don't give a shit about their detractors, the paper shifts 1.8m copies a day (double that on a Sunday) and the website has the competition trailing in its wake.
They are well paid , have great perks and enjoy their jobs more than most people.

Like it or loathe it, the Mail (as with most papers) is simply a reflection of the readership. If people didn't want to read about the latest celeb scoop or whatever then the paper wouldn't print it as when all is said and done they're out to make money.

On a very left wing site like MN I'd expect to find more Guardian fans than Mail readers but then I can't stand the Guardian .... Each to their own and all that.

On a very left wing site like MN

Eh?

What don't you understand??

The majority of people on these forums are quite lefty and as such are more likely to dislike the Mail.

What's so hard to get your head around?

Ian Katz is the editor of Newsnight! I never knew the connection to Mumsnet until now. Well, well, well

Can you imagine it? Spend years in education, hoping to break into hard hitting journalism. Finally get a break in a national newspaper, and your big job? Following current events, the news of this unsettled world, being at the core of hard hitting, breaking news? Noooo, every couple of days you get to trawl a parenting site, copying and pasting an 'interesting thread', basically doing one of the most meaningless and unfulfilling jobs in the world. How sad.

I think I'd save my sympathy for the many people doing filing, data entry, photocopying or other tedious admin for minimum wage. The Daily Mail journalists probably don't consider themselves unfortunate. I don't know how well-paid it is, but if the salary is half-decent, it sounds easy enough and less boring than a lot of jobs.

The two I know earn well into 6 figures, have swanky London pads as well as 6/7 bed detached country houses with kids at expensive private schools.
Save your pity for people who need / want it.

Yes you can tell, especially the female columnists are just writing any old dog whistle shit to get clicks on the website. They know as well as anyone that more people read the headline and click straight through to the comments to write some rabid sexist crap than actually read the article. They are very good at getting their readers commenting, even if they are just pointing out the nonsense in the article. It's the clicks that matter for as revenue purposes. It's all our faults (including me )

If you don't like it DON'T READ IT. Journalists are working on websites which you all read for free - what do you expect? If more people paid you would get better quality journalism - demand more and pay the professionals a living wage and then you will get the media you deserve.

I don't read it Marks. I also don't think it's unreasonable to think it's unfair that every time I use this site, I may end up being quoted in it. This isn't about its general journalism, it's about laziness and trying to pass off a cut and paste job as 'interesting news'.

Nope!

It's the starting of threads which really shocked me. Once you twig, it becomes obvious. The sofa scribble, the braless teen, threads inspired by 'popular' recent news stories, always a bit more extreme than is believable. "This'll get a big response, let's start a thread ourselves, then we can get a story out of it". Actually, it's not even 'a story' they're aiming for, it's advertising clicks.

And the semi-literate DM 'journalists' sitting up overnight copying the exclusives from other newspapers, so hastily that they get important elements wrong.

I can't really feel sorry for them as it's so nasty.

I'd be a bit concerned if they're graduates, because the literacy standards are abysmal.

At one stage Richard Littlejohn's daughter wrote for them, invariably in the reporting-rubbish-from-social-media slot. I felt quite sorry for her, it must be humiliating when you have to rely on Daddy to get you a job and it turns out to be a complete non-job like that.

Maninawomansworld01

I know an editor who works for the Daily Mail. I'm not sure if this editor gets six figures or not, nor do I care, however I have often wondered how does this person sleep at night.

Pfft to the six figure salaries, I'd rather live out of a cardboard box, at least I'd get through my day knowing I hadn't screwed up someone's life every day of the week.

Oh, and the Mail is the biggest campaigner for press freedom by an absolute mile, on a national stage as well as a local one

What the freedom of the press to print offensive, inflamatory bile?
The only paper I've reported more than once to the PCC and more recently to IPSO

2nds I share your sentiments , I don't much care for the Mail and couldnt bring myself to do what they do every day but I also dont feel sorry for those who do.
They're happy doing what they do and let's face it there are bigger villains around than the bloody DM!

We will agree to disagree on that last sentence. I have been a victim of the DM and their happy, ruthless journalists, and until they've written complete tripe about you you really don't know just what damage they are capable of. I couldn't get out of bed for about 4 months because of them.

I can guarantee you that most DM journalists are not on 6 figure salaries