Comments on: No Need to Hack Phones – We Stitch Ourselves up

By: Magda Knight

Magda Knight — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:39:06 +0000

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. It’s terrifying to stick your neck out and I hope that all manner of good things come your way because of this. Thanks to you for writing it and Collective Review for publishing it.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:35:24 +0000

I commissioned real life features for magazines and totally recognise this – writing the block caps, changing genuine quotes from the interviewee to trite magazine-speak. Even if I tried to stay true to the actual story told to me, it would get re-angled higher up the editorial chain. And case studies always had to be photogenic – even if they were a rape victim (who always had to be pictured because no one in the world can empathise with an anonymous rape victim it seems?!). Gah, glad to be shot of it all.

By: Becky Sheaves

Becky Sheaves — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:10:39 +0000

Dear Anna,
Superb piece, reminded me why I am SO happy not to be working there any more…sounds like it has got even more Daily Maul than ever…
As I remember it, no one could wear dark clothes as it looks inky and bad on the page, asa newsprint is such poor quality paper. But yes, no women in trousers either in the paper or in the DM office. As staffers, if we wanted to get a story in the paper we’d have to assure the commissioning editors that our interviewee was “very Daily Mail” ie middle-ish class, size 14 or less and photogenic…
Bits of it were fun and some of the pals I made under the Femail cosh were and still are very dear to me, but oh God, this really reminds me how grim it can be. I read the DM the other day for the first time in years and was staggered by how hateful and negative it is…
When you are in the office in Kensington with everyone else egging you on and being paid a stonking salary, it is easy to forget how unfair and unrealistic the DM world view can be. I really liked your honesty and I’m sure most of the DM commissioning eds won’t hold this piece against you, I bet they feel the same, I know I did…!
Best of luck with everything, talent will out anyway, you really didn’t need this kind of hassle and crap. I hope you got a kill fee though…tip for anyone else thinking of writing for the DM, get the kill fee arranged in writing beforehand, as a good half of all commissioned pieces never see the light of day (true also of staff writers as well as freelances).

By: Philippa Davies

Philippa Davies — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:46:55 +0000

This is brilliant!!! I’ve always been aware of the Daily Mail’s insidious undermining of women, usually through its stream of ‘women’s’ features. These usually carry the underlying message that any female who does, or aspires to do, anything other than be a traditional, non-working wife and mother is bound to end up weird, heartbroken, alcholic, divorced, etc. Anna’s article is an excellent description of how a writer’s honest personal account is deliberately distorted in order to fit the Mail’s laughably outdated values and those of its readers. Here’s to you Anna.

By: Jenny Simpson

Jenny Simpson — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:17:40 +0000

This is truly excellent and eye-opening, as a tentative freelance writer, I want to thank you for the warning about how they deal with writers.

It’s not just writers, but the subjects of their stories they screw over, twisting confessional accounts so that they are unrecognisable.

By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:59:23 +0000

I totally agree with you on how we stitch ourselves up.
As a journalist who now stays at home with 2 kids, and blogs to boost her chances of freelance work, I was contacted by the DM about a particularly emotional post I’d written on a family member.
This person wouldn’t know one end of a computer from another – so she’d never read my blog.
The DM wanted me to go on the record, and ask my relative to give ‘her side of the story’.
Could just imagine the DM spin, twisting our relationship between its pages.
After declining, I had several sleepless nights, worrying they’d track this person down and confront her with my blog post, forcing her into an interview.
Thankfully, I don’t think I’m important enough to merit such extra legwork – but the DM journalist asked me to get back to her if I ever had anything else of interest.
It’s tempting – for the money. But I know anything I do will be twisted and rewritten.

By: Lyndsay

Lyndsay — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:59:12 +0000

Every newspaper and magazine has a house style – if you think it would be any different at another newspaper, you are wrong. The Mail’s an easy target because of its perceived agenda. If you want to make a point about shoddy editorial practice, The Guardian is among the worst. Your bias against the Mail damages the credibility of a piece like this. And for the record – stories aren’t made up at the Mail – that is a lazy accusation usually made by people who rarely read a newspaper at all and know nothing about the industry.

By: Blue Baby

Blue Baby — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:30:49 +0000

When I was in my teens, I wanted to be a journalist. One week’s work experience at a reputable daily newspaper in my home town brought home to me that I’d never hack it (no pun intended) and that journalists/sub-editors will do almost anything to get a more sensational story/headline. Now in my 40’s, I’ve recently had reason to come into contact with the world of journalism again, and I uniformly treat all of them with caution, knowing anything I say is likely to be noted and twisted.

By: Mishun

Mishun — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:50:16 +0000

Excellent piece and hugely enlightening.

One has suspicions about these people but once in a while it’s nice to have them confirmed.

By: Chris Smith

Chris Smith — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:46:19 +0000

This was just the sort of thing I needed to read to be honest with you. I am just getting into journalism, and I find it a real paradox. On the one hand, you love to write, and to edit, and to interact, you love that the entire craft of journalism is not only so adrenalising but also so constant. But then there are the sort of shoddy, lousy, anti-journalistic practices you discuss.
Of course there are many relevant factors but I view it all as a fan of writing. The sort of sickly filtration process that you spoke of – the one that will both shame and inspire any fledgling journalist of any merit – turns personal words into popular feeling, not only diminishes but dismisses the writer’s potential uniqueness, and essentially, mechanises to the point of profound numbness a great cultural pursuit.
They transform thought into labour, and only an unwavering belief in your own ability, and a respect for the craft, can allow you to, at least temporarily in your mind, transcend their wretched ways.
The reason it strikes such a chord is that this week I have been thinking that it is only like that because it is, and that all we need to do to change it is start. I am really determined to do things my way, and circumvent the depressing moments you have to reconcile with yourself to get by.
So congratulations on a fantastic post, one you must already know, will have a great effect, Keep it up!