Friday, May 16, 2014

Midge Ure: The Daily Mail is a piece of work

I know, I know that the Mail being like a word-flavoured tapeworm extruding from a mangy asshole isn't exactly news, but it's always useful to remember this.

Midge Ure has a new album out, and did an interview with the Mail to promote it. The interview was quite wide-ranging, covering not just the new work, but also how his head got turned by post-Live Aid adulation and how he nearly wrecked his life through excess.

Plenty, you might think, for a newspaper to focus on.

But not the Mail.

They went with this angle:

My father to father letter to my dear friend Bob: Midge Ure, who had known Peaches Geldof since she was a baby, on how he's tried to comfort his Live Aid mate
Inevitably, this makes the thing look like he's trying to use the death of a friend's child to sell a few albums, and the Mail comment area (or "the subtitles for the hard of thinking") rips into him,:
Chriatina, Chesterfield, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago
Why reveal you have sent a very personal letter to an old friend after the death of hia daughter. Jump on the band wagon of getting your name aired. I think its a disgrace no point in it what so ever .

Deedee, Kent, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago
This is not a heart felt letter, if Midge wants to write to Bob then he can. Why does the daily mail need to be involved. This is disgusting.

null, 1 hour ago
Comfort him by talking to the newspapers? All heart

Shropshire boy, Bridgnorth, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago
Nothing like publicity eh

But even some Mail readers, while waving their pitchforks, seem to sense that there's something a bit iffy here:
Gilliedew, Norfolk, 1 hour ago
I didn't like Midge using Peaches death in relation to his come back, Why? Isn't anything private, such as a letter to Bob at such a traumatic time in his life.Most probably it was the journalist sensationalizing it but why give them the chance, some friend I don't think.
Gilliedew, you nearly had a moment's clarity there, before you decided it was Midge's fault anyway for answering a question.

So there's the Mail's nice work for today: driving page impressions and selling ad space on a story that unfairly implies a man is using a death to sell records.

The Daily Mail is a piece of work.


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