Ben, I notice rather than refute any of my points you've decided to cut and run, with a sly kick on the way out the door.
The Mail is utter rubbish the only good thing they do is football transfer gossip!
To each their own, but about 60 million unique browsers a month disagree with you.
Scott,
Have a look at Geoff Shackelford website re: Martin Samuel's 'overhyped' article. I can't believe he was sport's journalist of the year there are lots who are better writers. Are we allowed to have an opinion? well mine is that the Mail is a waste of money and too many celebrity articles which are shite.
Here is my short reply after fictionally running out and kicking the door down.
The press link the stories to past 'secretarian violence' (not specifically the actual 'Troubles') which is somehwat unfair to the majority of the people in NI. It is also individuals that destroy the peace image of NI which the press media love to expose and make it look worse. Thats an opinion.
There have been violence and crime reported on local news. I am not going to name places or be specific but there are cities in the UK that have a higher crime rate whether its murder, gun related or knife related than Belfast/NI. Find out yourself.
Dennis Potter is generally right about the media and that was 17 years ago!. Murdoch gave the go ahead for the phone hacking to sell papers and take a little dent in his finances through court cases. Sienna Millar was given £100K in damages but the paper probably sold a lot more than that! Proper journalism writing is going going.......... it is now heavily influenced by profits as you know stories (whether they are true or not) sells papers.
There was a recent article in the Sunday Times which was reported in the construction magazines 2 weeks before about Michael Gove (UK Education Minister) saying that architects have 'creamed in' the money in BSF (Building Schools for the Future) projects the media chose to believe an idiotic minister rather than investigate and get the facts and figures to give their own opinion rather than print an 'old news fictional story' It sends out the wrong message and the real message is that schools have vastly improved which goes mostly unreported and that the money not only went to architect but other professionals in the design team (Structural engineers, Quantity surveyors, other specific consultants and lawyers/solictors to write up the contracts.)
Your biggest crime is that you never visited NI to get to play RCD or Portrush and find out what it is like for yourself. Then you would have a proper opinion yourself.
Cheers
Ben