Talk about a train wreck. Since when do we censor humans from reading material?
When politics don’t square with the company’s POV, that’s when. Which is what happened with Virgin Trains, which has stopped letting its customers purchase the Daily Mail. The company has stopped selling the newspaper because of its stance on LGBT issues, immigration and unemployment.
“Different viewpoints are often valuable, and it’s certainly true that we choose to take our news from different sources depending on our view of the world,” reads a company statement.
Daily Mail is fighting back, calling the move “disgraceful” and saying Virgin is “censoring” its customers.
Piers Morgan, an outspoken Daily Mail columnist, made his sharp views known.
“Oh for goodness sake. Come off it @richardbranson – censorship isn’t your thing, surely?” he wrote on Twitter.
“Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day,” Virgin’s statement continued. “But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT (Virgin Trains). There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights, and unemployment. We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs. We won’t be stocking the Daily Mail for sale or as a giveaway. We regularly review the products we have on sale for customers onboard our trains, and after listening to feedback from our people we have decided that we will no longer stock copies of the Daily Mail on services on our west coast route.”
Daily Mail unquestionably leans right. Virgin’s founder is Richard Branson. The British billionaire endorsed Hillary Clinton in the previous political election. He said Donald Trump‘s presidency would be a “disaster.”
He was especially critical of Trump’s alleged stance on immigration and said he had a distinct “lack of empathy.” Branson described Clinton as a “a safe pair of hands and a leader of supreme experience and knowhow.” He opposed the 2016 referendum and wanted Great Britain to remain in the European Union.
So it’s really no wonder Branson’s passengers don’t get to choose what they read.
Look for Trump to call Branson a loser — or worse — in a tweet soon.