Daily Mail, Katie Derham and suspect reporting. 

6 December 2007 tbs.pm/18

It’s not unusual for the words Daily Mail and suspect reporting to come up, although usually it has more to do with their ultra-conservative editorial stance, than their actual reporting. However, this time, I’ve caught them with some dodgy reporting on a complete non-story.

The non-story involves Katie Derham, and an outfit she wore on a recent edition of the ITV Lunchtime News. The Daily Mail described it as a “…racy dominatrix style…” outfit. The fact is, it was only a dark purple leather jacket, not exactly your usual dominatrix fare or even very close to it.

But then they compound this error, by further describing it as a “…new look…” for the “…usually conservative Katie…” I guess they don’t watch too many Katie Derham bulletins then. She has worn this particular jacket many times before over the years, and she has been one of the few newscasters over here to have adopted an occasional leather look.

One newscaster who I particularly remember in leather was Grainne Seoige, when she was anchoring Sky News Ireland. She once wore both a black leather blazer and a black leather skirt during one of the bulletins.

Some people think that when you discuss what the newscaster is wearing, you are not really watching the news, but watching the messenger, and that to them is a bad thing. My personal take is it doesn’t matter what the newscaster is wearing. The authority comes not from the outfit, but from the voice and the way the newscaster holds themselves on screen, not from what they’re wearing.