A Poem - The Daily Wail

THE DAILY WAIL

1/ The Daily Wail’s “Press Freedom” means,          
The right to ruin, wreck and smear;
The lives of all those it demeans,
And those that hold truth very dear.

2/ At those refusing cash for trash,
The rag will rant and rave and rage;
They’ll feel the Editor’s harsh lash,
A Big Ed safe behind his page!

3/And all of this brutality,
In truth, sums up The Daily Wail;
Behind its faux morality,
Lie ethics far beyond the pale.

4/ The Wail for profit likes to pry,
And is unlikely to confess;
That this, not principles apply,
To its feigned “Freedom of the Press”.

5/ Oh! for the old days at The Wail,
When good Lord R.’s noblesse oblige;
Meant it eschewed trite tattletale,
In those times when it had prestige.

6/ For was it not the same good Peer,
Who lauded Hitler’s Nazi crew;
And taught us we had naught to fear,
When they had staged the Reichstag coup?

7/ Indeed The Wail pledged full support,
As one of Fleet Street’s Fuhrer fans;
For the whole Fascist juggernaut,
And backed all his expansion plans.

8/ On such a past, The Daily Wail,
With all its many stains and blots;
Would rather it could draw a veil--
But Leopards cannot change their spots.

 Richard Layton