The spat between the Guardian and the Daily Mail exposes the truth about journalism and its practitioners: they are cut from the same cloth
An anthropologist who tires of studying tribal differences in Africa would do well to turn his attentions to what used to be called Fleet Street. There he would find groups of people who, despite sharing much in common, are convinced that, ethnically, philosophically and intellectually, they constitute absolutely unrelated entities. The hack at the downmarket Daily Star looks with loathing at his toffee-nosed counterpart on the Financial Times, who in turn assumes that he inhabits a higher, and completely separate, sphere. It never occurs to either of them that they are in fact engaged in similar occupations – disclosing information about organisations and public figures not always happy to have it disclosed. The bitterest tribal enmity exists between the Daily Mail (for which, I should remind readers, I write a column) and the Guardian. There have been skirmishes since the dawn of time – sometimes in broad daylight over issues...
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