02.20.08

how journalism works (again)

Posted in politics, work at 3:19 am by Rob Fahey

It may be old news to you that the Daily Mail is a despicable organ of hate and intolerance, but regardless - this little gem is definitely worth reading, and forwarding to that misguided Daily Mail reader in your life.

As standard practice, journalists use a variety of services which send out bulk emails to their lists requesting information, sources or review products for features that are in the pipeline. This is a normal service - for example, if your magazine is planning a feature on most expensive Easter Eggs, you might send out a mail saying so, and seeking responses from department stores or specialist chocolatiers who have products that might feature. It’s quite a handy function, although not one I’ve used myself previously. All perfectly above board and legit, anyway.

Except, of course, when this kind of thing comes across the wire…

PUBLICATION: Daily Mail (Request for personal case study)
JOURNALIST: Diana Appleyard (staff)
DEADLINE: 14-February-2008 16:00
QUERY: I am urgently looking for anonymous horror stories of people who have employed Eastern European staff, only for them to steal from them, disappear, or have lied about their resident status. We can pay you £100 for taking part, and I promise it will be anonymous, just a quick phone call. Could you email me asap? Many thanks, Diana
HOW TO REPLY:
Email: mailto:dianaappleyard@aol.com

That’s how journalism works at the Daily Mail, you see - a disgustingly xenophobic and racist agenda that they don’t even bother to conceal properly. If this doesn’t get you into a rage, try replacing “Eastern European” with “black”, “Asian”, “homosexual” or even “female”, and see how comfortably it sits with you then. Then consider how many people would be willing to make up a story for a hundred quid, given the promise of anonymity? Make no mistake - this is hateful bile masquerading as journalism, and nothing more.

Of course, you probably knew that about the Daily Mail already - but for those not convinced, or for those who know someone that needs a little convincing, this little example of How Journalism Works at that publication is well worth illustrating.

(Grabbed from Liberal Conspiracy.)

In other, finer news, the issue of Disposable Media I mentioned quite a while back has finally hit the shelves - or rather, the download queue. I wrote a piece about Battlestar Galactica for it, which was fun - it’s a bit out of date now since the release of Razor and various other developments, but still amply explains my love for what I’m still convinced is the best thing to happen to TV in the last ten years. You can grab the new-fangled PDF mag right here (about 20mb).

Technorati Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Daily Mail, Diana Appleyard, Disposable Media, journalism, politics, racism, workblog