I was very disappointed when I found out that the News of the World was not related to the Weekly World News. Now the WWN is a tabloid I can actually understand and enjoy. Considering that the WWN is actually a parody of the right wing "of the people" opinions espoused by other tabloids in things like "My America by Ed Anger".
And the saga of Batboy. Batboy is far more interesting than ANY member of the royal family.
― masonic boom, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― chris, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
But I think to be disgusted across the board at tabloids (except the Mail) is a bit dramatic.
― Emma, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Metro is a very interesting development in the Tabloid market as it aims to do all the Standard tabloid things in a slightly more concentrated way and without the weight of tradition on it. Traditional tabloids change very slowly as they are scared of offending or frightening off their audience. Metro is bright breezy and appears to have the IQ of a five year old - which makes it most amusing. It also wants you to buy the Mail and Evening Standard that day which is less amusing.
― Pete, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Richard Tunnicliffe, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
If it didn't sell, then it would suggest a difference between the reasons given by tabloid readers for doing so and the real reasons. I have heard it said that it is more difficult to write for a tabloid than a broadsheet and if "Trevor something" on C4 News is typical that would appear to be the case - not if the Garry Bushells of this world are more common than the Trevors, however!
― MarkH, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Tabloid Independent, now there is an idea.... Broadsheets of course are full of endless so called analysis which keep them going. There really is only so much news as BBC News 24 have found out to their cost.
We had a big scary meeting with my editor, our managing editor, their chief sub and their editor. During the meeting my flies came undone and... hold on I think I've told this story.
Very suspicous of metro because, as already pointed out, stories come from the Mail. London could do with a citywide daily to go up against the standard, the manchester evening news would be a good model. Could do with some views from the left in the evening. However the standard seems mainly to be bought by commuters from the more tory home counties. Does anyone who lives in london proper buy it? Actualy to be fair I used to buy it now and then on the way home from work and it used to make me very irate.
― Ed, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
1. its stories seem to come from a general news source / feeding off anything they can find, judging from the resemblance of their stories and the Guardian's.
2. The 60-second interviews are unusually good for what they are. They did LLOYD COLE only last month! LLOYD COLE!!!!!
3. And the letters in the Metro are surprising - they seem to be dominated by sarcastic progressives.
― the pinefox, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I'd be interested how the metro thing works
― Ed, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― masonic boom, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Any newspaper which gave us the story of the fingerknob is a great newspaper in my book (and yet no other paper picked it up. Basically a bloke in Georgia had his knob lopped off so they replaced it with one of his fingers - fitting urinary tract and spunk canal down where the bone would have been. His girlfriend was exceptionally pleased apparently...)
― Pete, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I hate the Mail but do not read it. I think what people mean is they hate the mentality of it and most people who read it seem to agree with it in a way that is not necessarily true of the Sun (i.e the allegedly ironiic reading of it).
― Emma, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― stevo, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Ed's point about Evening Standard readers: of course it has an editor who barely spends *any time at all* in London. No wonder it's a travesty of the paper London deserves.
― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Daily Mail headline: (somethingsomething) boost for KerryTelegraph: Bush prepare victory speech (or something)Independant: (Bush blah blah Kerry etc.)
The Sun: Kat Has Her Kitten!! - Eastenders star Jessie Wallace (Kat) gives birth to baby girl, and named her Tallulah Lilac.
aw.
The Daily Star was great too - TERRORISTS PLOT TO BLOW UP BECKS! - 13 al-qaeda lunatics arrested for plots to blow up the Bernabeu
― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 14:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― trigonalmayhem (trigonalmayhem), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― adam... (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 21:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 21:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link
The Guardian's midi-sized one launches next year, I think.
― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 4 November 2004 08:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 4 November 2004 08:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sir Kingfish Beavis D'Azzmonch (Kingfish), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:16 (nineteen years ago) link
This is correct. They said they would continue to run both formats as long as it was financially sustainable, or something like that. That was Thursday last week. They announced on the the Sunday that they were to go fully tabloid, or *ahem* compact.
I don't know if it has been mentioned at all here, but the Guardian has announced it will go to European Broadsheet (slightly smaller) in about 2006 (I think this was to do with pressing equipment and availability or suchlike).
The front of the mail vs Independent this morning makes me think (a) I should buy the Indie more (b) I should really insist my mother stops reading the Mail (I have been trying for years).
― 3underscore (___), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Todd Manson, Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:31 (nineteen years ago) link
That Mail front page is beyond depressing.
(Can someone fill me in on this Clarke County thing, I appear to have missed it altogether).
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:33 (nineteen years ago) link
"Family from hell" is an unfortunate thing to put right about that picture. Go Dirty Des!
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― Porkpie (porkpie), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― toby (tsg20), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― debden, Thursday, 4 November 2004 10:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― debden, Thursday, 4 November 2004 10:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 4 November 2004 10:18 (nineteen years ago) link
1. Whenever Bush is told "you have no mandate for this war" he always replies "you forget Tony Blair."
2. Tony Blair being so uncritically and slavishly behind Bush/the war undoubtedly helped to legitimise the whole enterprise and boost Bush's personal ratings in America.
3. Tony Blair is so uncritically and slavishly behind Bush/the war for the same reason he impersonates a Tory Prime Minister the rest of the time - because he is scared that Middle England will boot him out at the next election.
4. And which newspaper is the most stalwart of backbones for "Middle England"? Why, the Daily Mail.
So really it was the Daily Mail wot won it for Bush.
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 4 November 2004 10:21 (nineteen years ago) link
The Lineker headlines aren't about shifting policy or perception, they're about ruthlessly crushing any squeaks of dissent.
This is the most chilling thing isn't it? I don't know enough about Lineker's popularity to know who'll come out on top this time but it's a warning to other celebrities, in perhaps more precarious positions, not to try it.
― lex pretend, Friday, 21 October 2016 17:02 (seven years ago) link
They should though
― imago, Friday, 21 October 2016 17:08 (seven years ago) link
He's not that popular but, as an ex-footballer, he can't so easily be dismissed as just some arrogant middle class tosser, the way Lily Allen was.
― Patti Labelle is in here with her high but mediocre singing voice. (Tom D.), Friday, 21 October 2016 17:15 (seven years ago) link
As TV presenters go he seems very popular? I mean I guess he's no Clarkson...
― nashwan, Friday, 21 October 2016 17:22 (seven years ago) link
He's pretty popular. But as the MOTD anchor and actually successful former England player he's in a position of power with people who wouldn't pay much attention to, say, Steven Fry or indeed Lily Allen saying much the same thing. Which is why they're trying to dismiss him as a luvvie, not very successfully.
The hysteria is being ramped up because we are at peak Brexit hubris right now. In the same way that support for wars collapses when people start coming home in body bags, they are terrified that support for Brexit (or at least a Hard Brexit) will collapse once the negotiations get difficult and the economy tanks. Ultimately there are lots of Leave voters who just wouldn't be told it would be a disaster, but increasing amounts will change their mind once they see with their own eyes that it'll be a disaster.
For the first time possibly ever they have a Prime Minister who is prepared to follow their agenda almost in its entirety but there is a hefty element of 'be careful what you wish for' here - but they have to whip up with-us-or-against-us sentiment now to entrench sentiment before things start going wrong.
― Matt DC, Friday, 21 October 2016 17:24 (seven years ago) link
I think Jon Gaunt won best non-sequitur with 'how can someone who advertises junk food to kids try to tell us what's racist'.
― nashwan, Friday, 21 October 2016 17:30 (seven years ago) link
lineker is def popular, he'd be a national treasure in a decade or so if he would stop spouting his vile leftist views
― *-* (jim in vancouver), Friday, 21 October 2016 17:46 (seven years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/27/revenge-of-the-tabloids-brexit-dacre-murdoch
― nashwan, Thursday, 27 October 2016 11:36 (seven years ago) link
Several choice quotes
"Brown contacted the Sun … agreed to rearrange his diary so that he could go to their office that day … and sat down with the Sun’s outspoken rightwing political editor, Trevor Kavanagh, for an interview which … rapidly became a negotiation about policy.”
"During the Cameron governments, it felt like they (Murdoch and Dacre) were the adults, and the politicians were children.”
“When I look back at the words I used to use as a Sun sub,” James Alan Anslow remembered, “‘the gay plague’, ‘black gangs’. You’d get sacked if you used those now!”
A Sun journalist emailed me: “Just had massive compulsory redundos in editorial. Hardly enough bodies left to get out the paper. Mood is of the post-apocalyptic variety – survivors staggering around dazed and confused.”
― nashwan, Thursday, 27 October 2016 12:00 (seven years ago) link
I've always had a healthy disgust and anger against the Mail/Sun etc but today's front pages have really upset me. I can't concentrate on anything and I feel even more dispirited than ever. Fuck this country and fuck this sleepwalk into fascism. I never thought I'd see this kind of thing in my lifetime but I was obviously just being naive.
― ultros ultros-ghali, Friday, 4 November 2016 11:13 (seven years ago) link
Stop Funding Hate... aka The Daily Mail
― The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Saturday, 12 November 2016 20:14 (seven years ago) link
.. hit these cunts where it hurts. More of that please.
yeah keep it up
― imago, Saturday, 12 November 2016 20:16 (seven years ago) link
dismantling the tabloid press is pretty much the #1 priority for uk progress right now (aside from yknow education reform, mental health treatment etc)
corbyn should announce stringent press standards reform, he'd probably gain more support than he loses
― imago, Saturday, 12 November 2016 20:17 (seven years ago) link
dismantling the tabloid press is pretty much the #1 priority for uk progress right now
this
― the fog of "Wha...?" (stevie), Saturday, 12 November 2016 21:15 (seven years ago) link
Hmm.
On the one hand, anyone who speaks out against our red-topped kingmakers will not have a happy political career (though perhaps this can't get any worse than now for Corbyn)
On the other, it's interesting how both sides of the Brexit divide and now the Trump divide blame media misrepresentation: the alt-right's ire for "mainstream media", Trump's remarks on a "rigged press" and angry Brexiteers railing against the MSM while somehow seeing the tabloids as on their side against a conspiracy of metropolitan elites; the anti-Islamic German right's revival of favourite Nazi word "Lügenpresse" (and when I first read it I thought, hmm, yes, useful word for the tabloids, only to look up its history and feel itchy all over), which the internet tells me is now an alt-right buzzword outside Germany too
so maybe people from across the political spectrum could be brought onside, but "moar govt/quango intervention" is going to be hard to sell to the anti-elite and small-govt crowds, and obv the higher-ups know exactly what they're doing with this MSM meme
― a passing spacecadet, Saturday, 12 November 2016 21:45 (seven years ago) link
"So today I had to write abt Jo Cox""Ah that sucks man""Sucks even harder if you work for the Daily Hail, like me""How did you tend to the expectations of yr readership on this very delicate matter?""Immigrants, mate, immigrants. And that her death was her own fault."
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyBrtDRXcAA78CG.jpg
― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 24 November 2016 13:12 (seven years ago) link
Bold of the Daily Mail to suggest that anyone concerned about immigrants is now a terror suspect.
― nashwan, Thursday, 24 November 2016 13:19 (seven years ago) link
can someone straight up firebomb the daily mail
― imago, Thursday, 24 November 2016 13:30 (seven years ago) link
also, hi theresa, i'm deadly serious
OMG, a Turkish person has a byline on that race-baiting - wonder if making someone w/foreign origins write shit about immigrants is the initiation rite at Dacre Towers?
― jane burkini (suzy), Thursday, 24 November 2016 13:41 (seven years ago) link
The Mail have spent so much time pandering to repulsive right wing extremists they can't suddenly change tack and condemn one who murders an MP in cold blood, oh no.
― calzino, Thursday, 24 November 2016 14:01 (seven years ago) link
How many angry articles have they written about the decline in social housing in the same time period? Just wondering...
― Matt DC, Thursday, 24 November 2016 14:11 (seven years ago) link
If he'd got bedroom taxed or sanctioned out of his home, worrying that the next tenants might be immigrants would be classic fuckwitted legitimate concernism.
― calzino, Thursday, 24 November 2016 14:24 (seven years ago) link
― calzino, Thursday, November 24, 2016 2:01 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
at this point i consider the mail and the sun to be part and parcel of the far right
― lex pretend, Thursday, 24 November 2016 15:49 (seven years ago) link
I don't see any other possible conclusion.
― Eallach mhór an duine leisg (dowd), Thursday, 24 November 2016 16:11 (seven years ago) link
I can confirm today that following that landmark libel case, Katie Hopkins has entered into an IVA to avoid bankruptcy. I knew for a while but could not say anything for legal reasons. The arbitrary defender of free speech didn't want anyone to know, ironically...— Jack Monroe #bootstrapcook (@BootstrapCook) September 15, 2018
― mark s, Saturday, 15 September 2018 21:41 (five years ago) link
I've just spent the day at the hospital but that's cheered me right up that, thanks
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 15 September 2018 21:59 (five years ago) link