The Telegraph death-spiral
The Daily Mail receives an enormous amount of abuse. Much deserved, much undeserved. Sadly, however, the Mail’s special place in folklore detracts from the appalling standard of other papers - especially the Telegraph. An example: 23rd June 2009 —
“Women who drink alcohol, wear short skirts and are outgoing are more likely to be raped, claim scientists at the University of Leicester… Psychologists found that… the skimpier the dress and the more outgoing the woman, the less likely a man was to take no for an answer.”13th July 2009 —
“Owing to an editing error, our report “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists” (June 23) wrongly stated that research presented at the recent BPS conference by Sophia Shaw found that women who drink alcohol are more likely to be raped. In fact, the research found the opposite. We apologise for our error.”An “editing error”? Seriously? They can’t even make an apology accurately. Jeez. No surprise that the Telegraph is finding it hard to hold on to the remarkably few new readers that it won during the expenses fiasco. Newspapers are a public good, underprovided by marketplaces. But if the Telegraph were to disappear tomorrow, British public life would be the better for it.
