On a troll
Clickbait , Issue 1641

CLICKBAIT megasite MailOnline reported gleefully last week that actress Sydney Sweeney was being criticised online for “stepping out” (translation: walking along the street) with her male co-star. But MailOnline is so keen on the “trolling” stories it has created a mini-industry around them.

Late last year it paid a long-lens photographer from agency Backgrid for pics of Sweeney in her bikini at home in Florida. In the UK, the editor’s code of practice wouldn’t allow such shots to be used owing to privacy – but the Mail appears unbothered in America.

This despite the star complaining at press intrusion in the autumn, saying paparazzi often refuse to leave her door without bikini photos.

MailOnline’s article, “Sydney Sweeney shows off incredible bikini body while soaking up the sun at $13m Florida Keys mansion”, used 13 pictures of Sweeney removing her bikini top, taken through foliage. Its audience then posted hundreds of nasty jibes in the comment section – calling Sweeney an “average chunky Yankee girl”, “Miss Piggy” and more. The criticism also spilled on to social media.

Punching back
Fed up, Sweeney screenshotted the comments, every one of them from MailOnline, posting them to Instagram with a video of herself training for her upcoming role playing a boxer.

Naturally, MailOnline responded with a piece headlined “Sydney Sweeney hits back at body-shamers with buff gym video...” – and no mention that the “body-shamers” were from its own site.

In the following days, MailOnline reported Sweeney “hitting back at the trolls” alongside new pool shots from Backgrid, the comment section remaining open for readers to keep posting rude notes about her appearance.

With the tabloid genre of mocking celebrities’ bodies harder to get away with these days, it seems clickbait media now just supply the pictures – and outsource the cruelty to readers.

More top stories in the latest issue:

LAW UNTO ITSELF
Newspaper behemoth Reach plc is making cuts to its legal department that have the potential to cost it considerably more than they save.

STAT OF THE NATION
Nick Timothy MP is not a fan of statistical misuse – so it’s awkward that the Telegraph has had to correct one of his articles for, er, using bogus statistics.

GROOM TEMPERATURE
In order to go along with Elon Musk’s belief that Asian grooming gangs are a new discovery, the Telegraph ignored its own past reporting on the scandals.

SNOWFLAKE NEWS
The Telegraph harrumphed about how a “minor snowfall” is treated by many like “the Little Ice Age” – including, it seems, its own editorial staff.

HOW NOW, KOWTOW
The Mail titles were full of scorn for Rachel Reeves over her trip to China – but their parent company has its own penchant for crawling to Beijing for cash.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER?
The Guardian website is plugging “a brilliant new app, Feast” with help from columnist Nigel Slater. But what will subscribers see after the Observer sale?

AFRICAN QUEEN
A rather preachy special Economist report on Africa drew a scrupulously polite yet brutal response from the Nigerian head of an NGO.

BET LYNCHING
The Racing Post reported on a failed betting syndicate – but didn’t mention that two if its own execs were among those left out of pocket.