On a slightly related (well, press related) note, I was reading some interesting articles on Paul Dacre, the long-standing and reclusive editor of The Daily Mail yesterday. It's fair to say that any newspaper is driven by the views of its editor, but in Paul Dacre's case, it would seem to be on a totally different scale to the others. The guy
is The Daily Mail personified - to the point where I don't think it would be an exaggeration to call him dangerous. Fair enough, Piers Morgan was a dreadful editor and the Iraq photo mock ups were absolutely disgusting by anybody's standards, but Dacre would seem to be pretty much the most powerful journalist in the country... with the second biggest circulation in the country (behind The Sun, but arguably wielding more power.)
This is an old article but very interesting for those who are interested in what (or rather who) drives The Daily Mail's crazy ideas,
this is a report on a rare appearance in front of the Public Administration Committee to explain his behaviour and
this is a nice rebuttal of his speech at the Hugh Cudlipp Lecture a couple of years ago. Personally I think they're all worth a read.
A nasty man who shames his country far more than the 'scourges' he vilifies.