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The Daily Mail, GoFundMe and Black Lives Matter

NotComics: The Daily Mail is a rightwing middle-market newspaper in the UK owned by DMG Media and its reporting is part of the MailOnline website, most active in the USA. This week's Private Eye Magazine, my go-to source for in-depth news, satire and cartoons, highlighted a little schizophrenia in its reporting. More than the usual.

I'm not talking about its recent front page appeals for people to get back to working in the office, when its own offices are mostly empty, or that the action by the Conservative Party during shutdown that it has supported are actions that it would have condemned as blatant Marxism under a Labour Government. Rather, it is its response to the Black Lives Matter campaign.

The Daily Mail, GoFundMe and Black Lives Matter
The official logo for The Daily Mail. Credit: The Daily Mail Official Facebook Page

A cursory Google reveals a litany of negative news articles and commentary regarding BLM. Private Eye confirms that The Daily Mail has "taken a hard line on BLM and the "violent mob" it associates with it, criticising the UK branch of BLM and pointing out with some disdain to a GoFundMe page that raised over £1m for the UK movement despite its "far-Left policy agenda". You can see that article from June, right here and it does the usual trick of taking some cherry picked actions or statements made by associated members and pretending that they are indicative of the whole.

But Private Eye also notices another GoFundMe page that escaped the wrath of the Daily Mail. You can see that here too (no hyperlinks in Private Eye). It only raised just shy of $30,000 after all, but it may be newsworthy for another reason.

Organised by Marlene Lenthang and Valerie Edwards a few weeks before that article, it's the "Daily Mail Fundraiser for Black Lives Matter". They state "Daily Mail employees would like to rally together and raise money to support this ongoing movement. It's history in the making, lives are at stake. To our black coworkers and coworkers of color – We see you. We hear you. We stand by you. Together we're raising money to support three causes: the Black Lives Matter foundation, the GoFundMe for Breonna Taylor and the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition. Daily Mail has promised to match our charity donations up to $15,000, but if we raise more we can go back to the company and request them to match it!"

Which is what happened.

"Thanks to your donations, we raised $25,867.10 after taxes which was split four ways with $6,466.78 going to the following organizations: Wear Your Voice, Justice for Breonna Taylor, Color of Change and the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition. DMG Media agreed to contribute an additional $15,000, which was split four ways for $3,750 to each aforementioned organization."

Which is great news. It's just a shame that the Daily Mail chose not to report further regarding their largesse. We are happy to help. Private Eye Magazine #1531 is available now.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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