Are there any boundaries the Daily Mail will not cross?

 Just when you think the Daily Mail has plumbed as many uncharted, murky depths of cynical journalism as it could possibly find, this appeared an hour or so ago:

You can read the rest of the article here (istosty link).

 This headline and the following article are a deliberate attempt to cash in on the very sad accidental death of a young schoolgirl in an unremitting campaign of slurs against the unions. In this case the editor and writer of the piece have managed to find a way to demonise the teaching unions, many of whose members took part in a one-day strike yesterday.

Under a headline designed to insinuate that the girl would be alive had the teachers been in school, the story, lifted from this group's newsfeed, is embellished and slanted to fit the Mail's agenda. Newsteam stated that they had not put that headline to the story when it appeared on their site.

The 'Daily Mail Reporter' writes:


"An angry parent wrote on Twitter: 'she should have been safe at school, she was just sat on a bench talking with friends....it could have been my daughter.'"

Having searched possible twitter threads using various keywords, I can find no evidence of such a post.

When the teacher's strike was announced, and the press took various postures according to their political bias, I remarked to friends that we should expect the tabloids to search out and find tragedies to illustrate just how unthinking and selfish is the teaching profession.

And so it came to pass. 


The Daily Mail is not alone in finding this story.

The Telegraph is also running it : 13-year-old Girl Crushed By Tree During Teacher Strike

- as is the Mirror: Girl Not at School Due to Teachers' Strike Killed by Falling Branch   


But, although the headlines mention the strikes, they report far more factually and with little obvious political agenda.


There are reports that even Daily Mail journalists who had nothing to do with the story are disgusted at this blatant use of a genuine accident for political profit. The headline and article have been amended now and moved further down the Mail Online front page, but not before a great many adverse comments were added both following the piece itself and throughTwitter.


As one writer, Hannah Mudge, in her Blog "We Mixed Our Drinks' put it:


"Said Charlie Brooker on Twitter: "Most despicable headline since The Sun's notorious Hillsborough insult?"

And for once, the commenters at Mail Online seem to be in agreement with the 'Twitterati', indicating that the Mail has truly gone beyond the bounds of acceptability this time.

"The single most appalling and vindictive piece of journalism I have had the misfortune to stumble across for many years. It shows a total lack of respect for the family and the teaching profession. An unambiguous apology to all sides is needed without any delay,'" writes 'Mike, Lincoln'.

I think we're all in agreement with that.

Edit: As word started to get round that even some DM journalists were disgusted by the story, the headline was swiftly changed to "Girl, 13, crushed to death by a falling branch as she sat on park bench on the day her teachers went out on strike" and the story moved further down the front page of Mail Online."