Dear Val,
It’s good to see some political slant in Taglines from time to time. The debate about the Daily Mail is revealing – particularly in the context of its treatment today of John Majors interview on Radio 4. The interview was wide ranging covering the major events of his term as PM. However Major also spoke briefly with respect of the aspiring immigrant families with which his family shared a tenement in Brixton in the 1950s. He used this as an argument to support his pragmatic conservative views on how society should develop.
Predictably, perhaps, the Mail headlined their report on the interview provocatively :“Immigrants have Tory instincts and do not come here for benefits : Sir John Major praises hard-working foreigners in Britain”
The headline had the effect it was obviously seeking and within two hours there were 738 toxic, anti-immigration comments posted on its site – many feeding on each other and generating the groundswell of uninformed opinion which characterises a large chunk of the electorate today. The Mail has a lot of responsibility in undermining the values of honest reporting that used to be a feature of our dear country.
huwrop
Comments to taglines82@gmail.com
