And even high-minded newspapers such as the Guardian decided more than two decades ago to fill their pages with trivia because they judged that the general public was becoming dumber and shallower.

Melanie Phillips, columnist for the Daily Mail. I don’t link to the Daily Mail on principle.

Let’s look at the statistics.

Number of celebrity-related stories on the front page of the Daily Mail website today: 77.

Number of celebrity-related stories on the front page of the Guardian website today: 0.

Number of Melanie Phillips columns in the Daily Mail today: 1.

Number of Melanie Phillips columns in the Guardian today: 0.

(via tommorrisdotorg)