To read the Daily Mail if it's free?

[LaMarschallin]

There are no DM readers here.

I realise that.

However, I regularly sully my poor, defenseless eyeballs by getting stuck into a free DM. Usually in a Waitrose cafe*.

I like the gossip. I like criticising the right-wing bias. I like, very occasionally, the writing (Craig Brown mostly).

I wouldn't dream of buying it.
I buy the Times and the Guardian and add in the Sunday Telegraph. Totally based on good cryptic crosswords and quizzes.

I think the DM is a rag and I wouldn't pay for it on principle (and the crossword is rubbish).

But - like the occasional Gregg's chicken bake, trashy television, blue waterline eyeliner - it is strangely addictive.

And, for all that nobody here reads it, it's often quoted.

I suppose my AIBU is:

Am I wrong to read the DM without buying it, even though I realise it's an awful right-wing rag that is, occasionally, funny and to believe it's read by more Mumsnetters than would own up to it?

It could be worse, it could be The Sun you are reading.

I think it’s poisonous so No I wouldn’t read it
I prefer a book although I suspect there’s more fiction in the DM !

Laughed my fucking arse off. There are loads of Fail readers on here, they just don't admit it. Loads of links to the Fail are regularly posted.

I assumed she was being sarcastic.

Really @MyHairNeedsASnip? They try to give it away and can't! Hurrah! That's cheered me up a lot

I having to hide this thread, I hate the Daily Mail so much.

The daily mail isn't all that bad. They blew the lid on the police bias in the Stephen Lawrence case didnt they?

@outherealone yes! "Gemma Collins shows off stunning weightloss on beach holiday"
They know full well she hasn't lost a pound.

I can't bring myself to any more, even when it's free.

I actually feel like I ought to. I did a history degree, and it's not good to disregard sources, wherever they are. Especially if they're so widely read!

I commented on another thread that I don't see any racist comments about Meghan Markle because my personal echo chamber is bloody watertight these days. But that only weakens my understanding of society as a whole.

I read DM online, its easy to read, not too heavy but tells you basic news, and I like the celeb gossip

People forget they every newspaper, bar one, is incredibly biased and full of rubbish

And which paragon of unbiased reporting is that meant to be ? There isn’t one that doesn’t have its own perspective and agenda.

Relieved that I haven't been hit with the tidal wave of disapproval I was expecting.

I do appreciate the fact that DM has many bad features and I really do appreciate that racism and misogyny are among the worst.

For a really good take down of the DM's style, read "Hopscotch and Handbags" by Lucy Mangan. I've recommended it so many times here that it sounds like I'm on a retainer. I promise I'm not; get it free from the library.

There is a guilty pleasure part to it. But also a "keep your friends close but your enemies closer" thing.
If you don't know what vast amounts of the population are reading and, maybe, believing,
(the DM is V popular) then things like Brexit will totally take you by surprise.
I was certainly blind-sided and I do sometimes read the Mail!

Yes, I'm arrogant* enough to think that occasionally reading it won't turn me into a racist Brexiteer.
Mind you, I've certainly believed MN threads that turn out to be total trolls which those, wiser than I, have spotted from the get-go, so I'm probably gullible.

On the subject of crosswords and quizzes:
Rarely finish the Sat. Times jumbo. Tend to do the Guardian first as it's more fun, imo.
The Sunday Telegraph pub quiz is pretty good; the news quiz is usually amusing. Don't read much else (the magazine - Stella - doesn't hold a candle to the Sunday Times Style) but the price of it gives me enjoyment for a length of time equal to a glass of wine in a pub and for slightly less money.

*Arrogance. Hmm..

It's part of one of those irregular verbs imo:

I am confident.

You are too sure of yourself.

They are arrogant.

(Obviously I'm back from shopping. Have bought an Instant Pot. Pleased and terrified in equal measures)

@Tombliwho yep. Wadda bunch of fuckers!

i read the dm i don't give a shit if randoms think i'm scum for doing so, but i'd NEVER read the red tops or the guardian left wing crap, still everyone to their own.

I read it several times a week and pay for it

BadLad

Laughed my fucking arse off. There are loads of Fail readers on here, they just don't admit it. Loads of links to the Fail are regularly posted.

I assumed she was being sarcastic.

Thanks, BL.
I was being sarcastic.

Sometimes it's my default position.

My mistake was not to stick in loads of:

🤣🤣🤣 and 😉 things.

I always hope that I can communicate more with words than cartoons (although emojis can be useful) but I may well be wrong.

Wouldn't be the first time

The comments horrify me. Everything is linked back to immigration and “forriners” and the spelling and grammar is appalling.

Women should quit their jobs when they get pregnant and not have jobs or maternity leave.

Read it every day online.

I read it...mainly because the online format is really easy to navigate and read. It's well set out and user friendly.

The comments horrify me. Everything is linked back to immigration and “forriners” and the spelling and grammar is appalling.

I don't read it online. Only if I'm offered a free look at the paper itself.

I suspect that reading some of the comments would have a very tarnishing effect on my soul.

mners who say they hate dm so much seem to know an awful lot about it's contents then of course there's all the links on mn relating to dm. me thinks there are a lot of porkie piers among mn posters.

@JellyfishandShells

People forget they every newspaper, bar one, is incredibly biased and full of rubbish

And which paragon of unbiased reporting is that meant to be ? There isn’t one that doesn’t have its own perspective and agenda.

Jelly, I hadn't spotted that and now am curious as to the identity of this pure and unbiased newspaper.
I certainly know it's not the Guardian.
And not the Indy - despite the name.

Surely they've all got political/social agendas to push?

Could it be the Beano?

'Get that fascist rag out of this house right now' said my mother to my 16 year old self, freshly returned from first day at work.??? Moseley, BUF, anti semitism, demos, marches, Cable St, injuries. And the DM's support for Oswald and his mates in the lead up to WW2. I knew none of it before that day when I bought a paper to read on the Tube. Didn't buy one the following day. 50 years on it seems little has changed.

I knew none of it before that day when I bought a paper to read on the Tube. Didn't buy one the following day. 50 years on it seems little has changed.

Do you think - I swear this is an honest question, the answer of which interests me - it would have been better or worse if you had read it?

Or just the same?

If somethings free "you're the product".
By reading it online you provide traffic and that's what they sell to advertisers. By being there you make them money.
A year ago I decided not to fuel their hate any more and haven't been back.

By reading it online you provide traffic

I've said that I don't read it online.