Yeah, as a white married straight person I wouldn't imagine myself as a primary target for Mail loathing, either! Have to try answering wholly as the Mail would approve, and see what happens.
That's really depressing, frankly. Though to judge by the comments, even their readers haven't been happy with the Miliband thing - they overplayed their hand there. And I wonder if the power is as great as people believe - I mean, if the Mail really were that mainstream, no Labour government would ever have been elected, and there'd be no welfare or abortion provision to speak of. I also wonder if their very successful online version hasn't diluted their influence, because it's so US-oriented for advertising reasons, as well as celebrity-heavy. I do think most people in this country are quite socially conservative, but I don't think they're as resentful and lacking in compassion as the Mail portrays.
I agree on press freedom. I think for private individuals there should be a public interest requirement before their privacy is invaded/lives upended simply for circulation, and hefty fines should be levied if that is ignored. I don't think public interest and public prurience are the same thing. But a healthy democracy does require diversity, absolutely, and people wanting a role in public life, or even to hold a position of power/influence, should expect to be minutely scrutinised. In the States, political parties employ researchers to muck-rake on opponents - find out if there have been accusations of spousal abuse, child support payment defaults, tax evasion etc. Here, the media are needed for the role.
I do think there's an issue in the way most of the press are owned and managed, though, because there isn't an awful lot of diversity when you need so much money to run a paper. Interesting to see what the internet will mean for us all in the future - more access, but less fact-checking and accountability, perhaps. And the way journalists are paid less and less as the internet supercedes print is also really problematic I think - it may become tricky to attract the very best into the profession if they're not paid enough to live reasonably well, in future.