Mail Resumes Susanna Reid Attack

Following a number of negative articles about ITV’s new breakfast offering Good Morning Britain (GMB), and especially presenter Susanna Reid, the obedient hackery of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre had gone quiet, not least because they had seen the viewing figures for the show – as had I – and could see that they were not nearly as disastrous as the paper had suggested.

Popular: Susanna Reid

But now the Mail is back, and this time it’s personal: all the previous knocking copy could be excused on the pretext of interest in Ms Reid’s move from the BBC, and how the new show would be received. Yesterday’s innocently-titled “Good morning, Britain! Make-up free Susanna Reid ditches on-screen glamour for the natural look as she steps out in London” could not.

She went shopping! In her own car! It was a Vauxhall! And it wasn’t new (had her car been newer and more upmarket, there would have been suggestions of conspicuous consumption)! Perhaps the Mail’s editor was expecting that, as with him, she would have someone to do that sort of thing for her. But the papped photos (the Mail, remember, once said it would never use those again) had a further purpose.

The really personal part was this critique of Ms Reid’s appearance: “Wearing a co-ordinated outfit of denim and faux sheepskin, the 43 year-old was unusually unkempt. With her hair pulled up into a messy bun, it was a contrasting image to usually-immaculate appearance she creates for TV”. Unkempt? Messy? That’s just nasty. So what has she done to offend the Mail?

GMB: Still There

Ah well. Despite the attacks by the Mail, and there have been plenty since the run-up to GMB launching, Ms Reid “has topped a poll of celebrities who are the most searched for on the internet”. What kind of celebrities are those, then? “ITV presenter Susanna Reid beat Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lawrence and One Direction to top Yahoo’s most-searched celebrities”.

Jennifer Lawrence and One Direction the Mail could tolerate, but Kim Kardashian? The most productive source of clickbait for Mail Online? The number one occupier of the Sidebar of Shame? Nobody can be allowed to be more searched than she! Never mind that Ms Reid does a real job, while the Kardashians are famous merely for being and promoting Themselves Personally Now.

Added to that is the knowledge that the story the Mail wanted back in May – that GMB would go the way of other less successful breakfast TV offerings – hasn’t happened. So now the Mail, while pretending to occupy the moral high ground, has resorted to using Paparazzi photos – or, worse, having their own snapper stalk Ms Reid – and sink to hurling personal insults.

The Mail hates popularity, when someone they don’t like attracts so much of it.