The Daily Mail is a tabloid shaped British Newspaper and there is also a Republic Of Ireland version now printed.

It is billed as being a politically "centreist" newspaper although I would dispute this as in my opinion it has political leanings towards the right even if these leanings are often put across to the reader in subtle and subliminal ways.

It was first published in 1896 and as of 2008 had a daily circulation of approximately of 2.3 million copies, second only to The Sun's 3.1 million but ahead of the third placed Daily Mirror.

On Sundays it publishes The Mail On Sunday which is a multi supplement piece currently costing £1.50, the Daily Mail is £0.50.

Daily Mail readers as a sweeping generalisation can be categorised as mainly white, mainly Anglo Saxon and mainly white collar workers. They are also likely to sometimes shop at Marks & Spencers. You could call it a newspaper for the non working class, middle England, 2.4 children type of reader. It is also much more likely to be read by people over the age of 35.

All of this is purely my opinion and my perception, although much of it would be backed up by real market research, so if you read it and are also a member of the Green Party or in a family who has been in coal mining for 10 generations then please do not get upset as this is just a review and not an attack on anyone's views, politics or choice of newspaper.

The Mail uses over 100 journalists each week and some notable ones that write either regularly or occasionally or have written in recent times are :


NEWS & FEATURES
JANE MOORE
ANNE LESLEY
MAX HASTINGS
MELANIE PHILLIPS
PETER HITCHENS
QUENTIN LETTS
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN
ROY HATTERSLEY
PIERS MORGAN
AMANDA PLATELL
JEMMA KIDD
CAROLE CAPLIN
LISA BUTCHER
JAMES MARTIN
TOM PARKER-BOWLES
CRAIG BROWN

SPORT DES KELLY
JEFF POWELL
PATRICK COLLINS

FOOTBALL JAMIE REDKNAPP
SIR BOBBY ROBSON
GRAHAM POLL

CRICKET NASSER HUSSAIN
MONTY PANESAR
JOHN KETTLEY

RUGBY MATT DAWSON

HORSE RACING PETER SCUDAMORE

FEMAIL BEL MOONEY
JAN MOIR

SHOWBIZ BAZ BAMIGBOYE

With print based newspaper sales and advertising revenues for printed newspapers under severe pressure The Daily Mail now have an on line version of the newspaper that is free to view but does not have the exact same or as much content as the printed version.

Summary:

The Daily Mail is the most popular by readership "serious" newspaper but has definite political leanings to the right that should not be ignored or dismissed as having no influence. It does offer a big variety of content but equally it is lazily, complacently produced to the point that it is not a particularly exciting thing to read and will probably die a slow death at least in its print version. More and more people are getting their news from the TV and Internet nowadays and much of the features journalism in The Daily Mail is either gratuitous and unwarranted sniping at the renowned, rich or famous or it's heavily laced with right wing political leanings. There is little or no humour in the newspaper and the sports coverage is mediocre at best. The puzzles section is completely outclassed by that of The Times.

All of this is purely my opinion based on 30 years of reading newspapers and watching the news media in general.