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(not satire – it’s the Daily Mail!)

Most people will have heard by now of the Daily Mail’s dreadful front page yesterday which blamed the death of six young children on the welfare state.

Personally, I was drawn by the name of one of the two Mail hacks responsible for the story – Paul Bentley – mainly because of his woeful reputation for getting stories so wrong.

For example, in February, Bentley wrote a piece for the Daily Mail eloquently espousing his … how can we describe it …. ‘original’ theory about who was responsible for the horrific acid attack on Naomi Oni.

Bentley’s brilliant investigative journalism lead him to the conclusion that Naomi must have blinded and horrifically scarred herself for life by throwing acid in her own face. In the middle of the street. While getting off a bus.

See for yourself (warning – Daily Mail dross):

Did the acid attack girl do it herself?

Presumably, Bentley’s enthusiasm for his bizarre theory wasn’t in the least bit dented by the fact that the very next day after he wrote the piece – the police promptly arrested two other people for the crime.

Another example of Bentley’s journalistic brilliance was his article about the death of a dog belonging to a huntsman – David Lee Peters – who had been convicted of racist abuse against a hunt saboteur.

Bentley’s ingenious theory about the mysterious death of the animal? The dog was brutally beaten to death by animal lovers, angry about its owner’s involvement with fox hunting (more Daily Mail dross):

Did animal rights activists beat dog to death?

Erm, I don’t really have to explain the flaw in Bentley’s hypothesis that a dog was beaten to death by animal lovers, do I?

So as you can see, Bentley hasn’t exactly covered himself with glory when it comes to journalistic excellence – and that’s why we shouldn’t be too surprised by the appalling level of journalism in his article about the tragic deaths of the 6 Philpott children

However, one question does rather beg itself to be asked, I think you’ll agree.

Why the hell is the Daily Mail still paying this woefully poor hack for such poor journalism?

Is he related to Lord Rothermere or something?

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Related articles by Tom Pride:

Daily Mail uses dead children to make a political point about the welfare state

Why we need press regulation – primary school teacher bullied by Daily Mail columnist is found dead

Muddleheaded Richard Littlejohn is not only in the wrong …. he’s in the wrong job

Amazing hypocrisy! Sun, Telegraph and Mail use EU Human Rights Convention to boycott press regulations

The Sun, The Telegraph and The Mail – we’re above UK laws so we’ll ignore them

Just 4 billionaire tax exiles – friends of Cameron – will benefit from weak press regulation

Remember this? Murdoch hack drove Denholm Elliot’s daughter to suicide

Oops! Daily Mail gets British immigration test wrong

How Murdoch hack Isabel Oakeshott cold-bloodedly sold out her friend for money

Met Office takes apart Daily Mail climate-change denier and Cameron friend James Delingpole

Daily Mail uses an actress for another story to demonise the working class

Oops! The Daily Mail accidentally supports a fascist party. Again.

Daily Mail ‘fixer’ David Rose defends paedophilia accused and attacks child abuse victims. Again.

Daily Mail Apologises To Its Readers After Admitting Publishing Something True

The Sun, The Mail et al – sorry, did we say 120,000 problem families? We meant 16.

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