The first part of this article owes much appreciation to https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ who have completed a detailed report in to the trustworthiness of the Daily Fail (Mail).
‘IS IT A QUESTIONABLE SOURCE?
A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence (Learn More). Sources listed in the Questionable Category may be very untrustworthy and should be fact checked on a per article basis. Please note sources on this list are not considered fake news unless specifically written in the reasoning section for that source. See all Questionable sources.
- Overall, we rate Daily Mail Right Biased and Questionable due to numerous failed fact checks and poor sourcing of information.
Detailed Report
Reasoning: Right, Propaganda, Conspiracy, Some Fake News, Numerous Failed Fact Checks
Country: United Kingdom
World Press Freedom Rank: UK 35/180
History
Established in 1896 by Harold and Alfred Harmsworth and Kennedy Jones, The Daily Mail is a tabloid newspaper in the UK. It is edited by Geordie Greig, who took over as editor in November 2018 from Paul Dacre, who had been the editor since 1992. The Daily Mail’s parent company is DMGT, which owns newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, and The Metro. The chairman is Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, who inherited the media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold and his brother Alfred a century earlier. Harold Sidney Harmsworth is also known to be an admirer of Mussolini and a supporter of Nazi Germany.
Read our profile on UK government influence on media.
Funded by / Ownership
The Daily Mail’s parent company is Daily Mail and General Trust or DMGT and its chairman is Jonathan Harmsworth who inherited the media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold Sidney Harmsworth. The Executive Committee is listed on their about page.
DMGT also publishes the Mail on Sunday and Metro titles, and besides journalism, DMGT includes risk management, event organization such as conferences, training sessions, seminars, and is the largest shareholder in property portal Zoopla, which was recently sold to Silver Lake. The main revenue of the Daily Mail is digital advertising, print ads, and subscription fees. You can find their 2018 assets report here.
Analysis / Bias
The Daily Mail is a known supporter of the Conservatives. They are also one of the pro-Brexit tabloids and according to a Reuters article, the Daily Mail published a controversial headline in response to a Brexit Court ruling criticizing the judges, by branding them as ‘enemies of the people’ According to CNBC, the Daily mail also has been criticized by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales for publishing fake news articles and “hyped up” headlines and “mastered the art of running stories that aren’t true’”. Further, CNBC reported that DMG media responded by saying “DailyMail.com is the very antithesis of click-bait and hype headlines. We just tell stories better than anyone else.”
In review, the Daily Mail tends to publish stories utilizing sensationalized headlines with emotionally loaded wordings such as “Woman, 63, ‘becomes PREGNANT in the mouth’ with baby squid after eating calamari”, which is a misleading headline. In 2017, Wikipedia banned the Daily Mail as an ‘unreliable’ source. When it comes to sourcing information they use minimal hyperlinked sourcing as well as sourcing to themselves. In general, most stories favor the right, however, the Daily Mail will report either side if the story is sensational enough.
A factual search reveals that the Daily Mail has a poor track record with fact-checkers. Here are a few failed fact checks:
- Did the Daily Mail Delete a Story Reporting the U.S. Planned to Blame Assad for ‘False Flag’ Chemical Attacks? – Mostly True
- “Google search spike suggests many people don’t know why they voted for Brexit.” – Mostly False
- Is Using ‘Bug Spray’ to Get High an Alarming New Trend? – Mostly False
- Did a White House Intern Make the ‘White Power’ Hand Gesture? – Unproven
- Did ‘Melbourne Antifa’ Claim Responsibility for the Vegas Massacre? – False
- Are Vigilante Protesters Digging Up Confederate Graves After Charlottesville Clashes? – Mostly False
- “Racist picture of Democrat North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper emerges just days after he called on Ralph Northam to resign – DAILY MAIL.” – Pants on Fire‘.
Let us now take a look at what other organisations have uncovered about the Fail:
‘Daily Mail’s ‘Nazi propaganda’ front page receives more than 1,000 complaints to IPSO
A Daily Mail front page likened by critics to that of 1930s Nazi propaganda for the way it attacked a High Court ruling on Brexit has received more than 1,000 formal complaints…’
‘Wikipedia bans Daily Mail as ‘unreliable’ source
Online encyclopaedia editors rule out publisher as a reference citing ‘reputation for poor fact checking and sensationalism’’
Microsoft Edge thinks Daily Mail is an untrustworthy source of news
‘The Horrible History of the Daily Mail’
https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2017/oct/31/horrible-history-daily-mail
THE DAILY MAIL NAMED AND SHAMED AS THE MOST UNTRUSTWORTHY UK MEDIA OUTLET FOR THIRD YEAR RUNNING
Just some of the examples of how the FAIL is seducing people across the nation and beyond with fake representations and innuendo and how organisations are responding to these falsehoods.
The key to understanding the Fail is to understand that it is owned by very conservative right wingers who have no intention of publishing unless it suits their agenda.
You have to ask yourself that if this had happened to their arch enemy Jeremy Corbyn whether they would have published this garbage. Of course not. They would have ignored anything remotely similar or tried to make Jeremy Corbyn look bad. Again.
Millions of words have been written about the Fail and how dreadful it is. Even some people who describe themselves as ‘leftwing’ sometimes share their content which seems extraordinary given that some even have faith. How can anyone who professes to believe in a ‘God’ then promote this hate fuelled rag? Ask them.
The time has come to boycott them entirely. Ignore them entirely. Their hate has been with us for longer than any of us have been alive and will be after we have all gone. But we can do our bit and we must.
Douglas James
