From football365.com, a story that shows the Mail's standards run across departments:
"Our very own Transfer Gossip column raised eyebrows at a story on the Daily Mail's website about Arsenal 'monitoring developments with Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Llorente'. Arsenal paying £28m for a 27-year-old striker with a year left on his contract did seem rather more than a tad odd.
Our suspicion was not placated by the article's bizarre third paragraph -'The Lion King as he is known is an amiable person and is looked after by his brother Txus' - written by a 'Sportsmail Reporter' presumably too embarrassed to add his/her name.
So where could this 'Sportsmail Reporter' have got his/her information? Could it be from prolific tweeter @JamieAlexTimes - who claims to be Jamie Alexander, a 'Sports journalist at the Times newspaper' - who revealed on Sunday: 'Fernando Llorente has agreed a €25 million transfer with Arsenal and will move in the next few days. Replacement for RVP. #afc #Arsenal' and earned himself 50-plus re-tweets for his troubles.
Of course, Twitter regulars will know that @JamieAlexTimes is not a Times journalist at all, but a fantasist who claims inside knowledge on football deals ('Finally confirmed. Lille head of PR just texted to say Eden Hazard has signed contract & is on way to Old Trafford for medical. #mufc #mcfc' is just one example).
He also claims that he replaced James Ducker who had a 'very unsavoury exit and was very violent' on being sacked by The Times. Bizarrely, he uses a picture of US professor Eric Alterman on his profile. When challenged by Alterman, 'Jamie Alexander' replied 'I'm not pretending to be you, I'm just using your face. I assume it's not copyrighted?'
But this great pretender's word is presumably good enough for at least one 'Sportsmail Reporter'. "
http://www.football365.com/mediawatch/7 ... e-The-Math