Just when you thought Daily Mail comments couldn't sink lower......they let "Rupert, Yorkshire" discuss rape in Libya
by Martin Belam, 29 March 2011
I was mithering on Twitter the other day that the Mail had published one of my comments on their site, but sub-edited it slightly to change the meaning and remove criticism of their editorial - just as they did in 2007 over an article about “suicidal” 5 year olds phoning ChildLine.
So it is worth remembering that when they publish comments like...
“This isn't the full story as it was said the woman has mental problems.” - rupert, Yorkshire, UK, 29/3/2011 20:22
...and...
“What we should do is send all the Libyans currently living in Britain back to Libya and let them fight.” - Steve Bishop, London, 29/3/2011 20:15
...underneath a story about the situation of Iman Al-Obeidi in Libya, they’ve passed both pre-moderation and sub-editing, and the Mail still thought them worthy of publishing.
"Mail still thought them worthy of publishing."
Why shouldn't the Mail publish those comments? My expectation of comments under articles on newspaper sites is that it reflects all the comments made by readers, with only those that are obviously spam or racist etc removed.
I find the Daily Mail comments section utterly terrifying. Tonight I see that DM readers are particularly vitriolic about the McCanns, reserving their small-minded judgements and vicousness for the parents rather than the abductor. I find reading what people put on the DM site has a strange pull, I can't resist seeing what's upsetting them, yet I come away rather depressed. I shouldn't do it really.