The Daily Mash
Encyclopedia
The Daily Mash is a British
satirical website
providing parodic
commentary on current affairs
and other news stories. Neil Rafferty (a former political correspondent for The Sunday Times
) and Paul Stokes (former business editor of The Scotsman
), created the website in 2007 and remain the lead writers. Both writers earn salaries from the enterprise and also employ freelance contributors. The publication has garnered praise for its absurd
, scatological humour and insightful political satire, as well as being compared favourably with U.S. publication The Onion
.
s Paul Stokes and Neil Rafferty. Stokes is a former business editor of The Scotsman and has also written for Scotland on Sunday
and The Daily Record
. Rafferty is a former political correspondent for The Sunday Times, has also written for Press Association
and Business AM and is a former spokesman for the smokers’ lobby group FOREST
. The site was originally inspired by The Onion, a U.S. satirical publication, as Stokes and Rafferty saw a gap in the market for a similar publication in Britain
. Both journalists worked mainly for Scottish newspapers and The Daily Mash is sometimes aligned specifically with Scotland
and its culture.
Stokes and Rafferty earn salaries from the site and lead a small team of freelance writers. The site earns revenue through advertising
and merchandise and is a successful profit-making enterprise. It presents a niche opportunity to advertisers, due to its apparent target audience of procrastinating office workers (Citi employees complained to The Daily Mash and independent publications after the company banned them from accessing the site). Highlights of the publication's first year have been published in book form as Halfwit Nation: Frontline Reporting from the War on Stupid, both to acclaim and complaints of unintelligent, overly crude humour.
According to an online survey, the site's readership mainly consists of university
graduate
s who also read newspapers such as The Independent
, The Guardian
and The Times
. According to the same survey, 65% of its readers have incomes of more than £30,000, with 22% earning more than £70,000. 81% of the site's hits are from U.K. users (as of 2008), with 19% coming from the U.S..
The Daily Mash's stories are sometimes commented upon by other news publications. Acclaimed parodic coverage includes Jeremy Clarkson's much-publicised disparaging remarks aimed at Gordon Brown
, the advertising deals of Team Great Britain's
medal winners, the nationalisation of Northern Rock
, Gordon Brown meeting the Pope
and bankers' bonuses
.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
satirical website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
providing parodic
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
commentary on current affairs
Current affairs (news format)
Current Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
and other news stories. Neil Rafferty (a former political correspondent for The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
) and Paul Stokes (former business editor of The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
), created the website in 2007 and remain the lead writers. Both writers earn salaries from the enterprise and also employ freelance contributors. The publication has garnered praise for its absurd
Surreal humour
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on violations of causal reasoning with events and behaviours that are logically incongruent. Constructions of surreal humour involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, irrational situations, and/or expressions of nonsense.The humour arises from a...
, scatological humour and insightful political satire, as well as being compared favourably with U.S. publication The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
.
History
The Daily Mash was launched in April 2007 by journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s Paul Stokes and Neil Rafferty. Stokes is a former business editor of The Scotsman and has also written for Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
and The Daily Record
Daily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...
. Rafferty is a former political correspondent for The Sunday Times, has also written for Press Association
Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...
and Business AM and is a former spokesman for the smokers’ lobby group FOREST
FOREST
FOREST is a United Kingdom political pressure group that campaigns from a pro-smoking perspective, opposing measures to reduce tobacco consumption on the grounds of defending a perceived right to smoke tobacco...
. The site was originally inspired by The Onion, a U.S. satirical publication, as Stokes and Rafferty saw a gap in the market for a similar publication in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Both journalists worked mainly for Scottish newspapers and The Daily Mash is sometimes aligned specifically with Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and its culture.
Stokes and Rafferty earn salaries from the site and lead a small team of freelance writers. The site earns revenue through advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and merchandise and is a successful profit-making enterprise. It presents a niche opportunity to advertisers, due to its apparent target audience of procrastinating office workers (Citi employees complained to The Daily Mash and independent publications after the company banned them from accessing the site). Highlights of the publication's first year have been published in book form as Halfwit Nation: Frontline Reporting from the War on Stupid, both to acclaim and complaints of unintelligent, overly crude humour.
According to an online survey, the site's readership mainly consists of university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
graduate
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
s who also read newspapers such as The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. According to the same survey, 65% of its readers have incomes of more than £30,000, with 22% earning more than £70,000. 81% of the site's hits are from U.K. users (as of 2008), with 19% coming from the U.S..
Reception
The Daily Mash provides parodic coverage of current affairs and other stories and has been described as the U.K.'s leading satirical news website. The site "satirises without fear or favour" and aims to provide less politically correct humour than mainstream satire. The site's humour has been described as "cruel," "scatological," "absurd" and "irreverent." It is considered a British alternative and upstart rival to the better known U.S. publication The Onion and its coverage has been compared favourably and in some instances considered superior to that of the latter. Despite its humour, the site is considered to be insightful on occasion. Some critics have remarked that not all of the site's articles succeed as satire, and that its content lacks the linguistic invention of some other satirical works.The Daily Mash's stories are sometimes commented upon by other news publications. Acclaimed parodic coverage includes Jeremy Clarkson's much-publicised disparaging remarks aimed at Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, the advertising deals of Team Great Britain's
Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association , and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. Britain is one of only five NOCs to have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1896...
medal winners, the nationalisation of Northern Rock
Nationalisation of Northern Rock
In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British Government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis...
, Gordon Brown meeting the Pope
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
and bankers' bonuses
Bankers' bonuses
Bankers' bonuses are traditionally paid or awarded to some workers in the finance industry at the end of the bank's financial year. They are intended to reward employee behavior during that year that has increased the profits of the bank or some relevant part of its business , as shown by the annual...
.