Vocal Voices

I don't know if anyone ever visits the Daily Mail website.
I do occasionally.
For two days they had a heatwave headline proclaiming that "THOUSANDS will die".
This is just totally irresponsible journalism. Deliberately done to cause fear, and wildly inaccurate to boot.

I have seen a figure that in the UK 800 deaths annualy occur because of heat, 60,000 because of cold.

When did our press get this bad? These screaming, capitalised, lying headlines with no regard for the truth or for the mental well being of credulous and vulnerable people?

I don't visit the website, but (for my sins) I do buy the paper a couple of times a week as I just love their cryptic crossword and codeword - my guilty pleasure

I do agree about the scaremongering, plus it has been glaringly obvious that they're backing Liz Truss for the party leadership, they've run loads of articles running down Penny Mordant in particular. They think people are stupid and will 100% fall for their spin - unfortunately in many cases they're right!

I visit the Daily Mail website and also the website of the Daily Express. I skim through but don't take that much interest in either of them. Like Kaz I do, however, buy the Daily Mail as I like the puzzles and the crosswords which I do while I am having my breakfast. If daily newspapers wish to reveal the 'warts of all' of any of the candidates I have no real objection, as television news programmes tend to do exactly the same thing.

They definitely have the best puzzles

I agree with “warts and all” as long as they do it without blatant bias.

You are right about that Kaz, but I think blatant bias is here to stay unfortunately. The Mail has raised another issue this morning regarding vote fixing and 'lending votes'. They point the finger at Gavin Williamson who denies any involvement. What goes on behind the scenes is difficult to prove but it seems that Liz Truss is gaining momentum and it would only take a small intervention to knock her off course - apparently Rishi Sunak would prefer his final opponent to be Penny Maudaunt. They all claim to be whiter than white naturally!

Of course!

I use the Google news portal. Which means I never touch the headline website of any newspaper. I find it easier to manage this way.

As for the DM. Well, I will read an article or two, but not before I have fact checked the headline 3 different ways using more "balanced" (there are few, if any, totally unbiased), views. Sometimes the DM has the only article on a subject. In this case if I already know something about the subject I may read it to see how many corrections I can make before the end of the first three paragraphs. If I don't know anything about the subject I usually decide I can do without whatever it is they are trying to sell me.

Sometimes they actually tell it as it is. As you can tell I've been following rocking horses around with a pan and brush recently.

I did notice one article recently where the headline was about how Climate Change is really happening. Once I got back on my chair and dried my tears I ignored it.

medsec222 wrote:I visit the Daily Mail website and also the website of the Daily Express.

If you think the DM is OTT, the Daily "Apocalypse NOW!!" Express website is completely hysterical. Reminds me of Clive Dunn in Dad's Army "Don't panic, don't panic!"

And I think it was a commentator in the Guardian who quipped: "Hell hath no Fury like the Daily Mail scorned" over the latter's contempt for Sunak "sinking" Boris Johnson.

I visit all three websites but tend to prefer the Guardian as the least biased (and that's saying something! ).

As for puzzles, Mrs O and I tend to do a daily crossword, either from the Puzzler books or any of the more intellectual offerings you can find in newsagents.

Oh my mum loved her Puzzler

Kaz wrote:Oh my mum loved her Puzzler

The trouble is, they tend to have "celebrity names" in the clues, like "----- Locke, Made in Chelsea regular". Mrs O and I haven't got a clue!