The front pages June 15-21, 2014
Saturday 21 June, 2014
A pair of good Saturday consumer stories that will resonate with millions of households from the Times and Telegraph. The Independent and Sun have murder on their minds - although the Independent's real concern in corrpution in the Met. Tom Harper has got his teeth into this story and he isn't letting go. Good for him. There is a lot of good stuff to read in the paper again, apart from the tortured head above the front-page picture. The British student jihadi who features on the fronts of the Mail, i and Mirror is also an excellent tale. The Express and Star remain loyal to the big boss's pet projects - even though he sold Channel 5 last month. The shameless story, which must be mind-boggling even for the most liberal readers, is based on a C5 programme and the Star's version comes complete with a big red Channel 5 dot. The Star's wraparound asks "Why get 1 lotto ticket for £2?" The answer to that is that there is a rollover jackpot estimated at £5m tonight; the most you can win on the health lottery is £100,000, and people are attracted to play when there's a big kitty.The"real" front page has the obligatory Big Brother splash and a free bottle of drink.
Friday 20 June, 2014
Oh England, you never fail to disappoint, but at least the picture editors love you. There was only ever going to be one subject for the main picture - or was there? Look at the Mirror going off piste with Rik Mayall's funeral. Shame about the grinning Rik inset. Whatever his public persona, it feels wrong. The "Suarez bites back" puff may have been an obvious line - used by others as well - but for the Mirror it was an opportunity for a little dig at the Sun and its ludicrous first edition front yesterday.
On to serious matters, the Telegraph and Times consider the prospect of American airstrikes in Iraq. General David Petraeus says the US "must" act. He's entitled to his opinion. Colonel Peter Mansoor took the view on Wednesday that the Iraqi Prime Miniter Nouri Maliki was part of the problem and that to act would send the message that Americans were taking sides. Petraeus may outrank Mansoor, but they're both armchair commanders now. The Times does better by playing it straight, reporting what Obama actually said rather than what an old soldier (from the other side politically) thinks. The Independent and i make hay with a Public Accounts Committee report on the new system for assessing disability payments. Unlike England, Margaret Hodge never disappoints with her excoriating attacks on Iain Duncan Smith's ministry.
On to serious matters, the Telegraph and Times consider the prospect of American airstrikes in Iraq. General David Petraeus says the US "must" act. He's entitled to his opinion. Colonel Peter Mansoor took the view on Wednesday that the Iraqi Prime Miniter Nouri Maliki was part of the problem and that to act would send the message that Americans were taking sides. Petraeus may outrank Mansoor, but they're both armchair commanders now. The Times does better by playing it straight, reporting what Obama actually said rather than what an old soldier (from the other side politically) thinks. The Independent and i make hay with a Public Accounts Committee report on the new system for assessing disability payments. Unlike England, Margaret Hodge never disappoints with her excoriating attacks on Iain Duncan Smith's ministry.
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Finally to the white-top hypochondriacs. What's up this time doc? The Mail identifies the problem and there's the Express right alongside with the cure. Learn to see in the dark and protect yourself from cancer at the same time. No wonder Bugs Bunny always gets the better of Elmer.
Pictures and spreads: facing defeat |
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Thursday 19 June 2014
It's all a question of interpretation: is Miliband's new benefits plan more important to the young (Guardian and i), older workers (Telegraph, page 2) or a distraction from the serious business of opinion polling (Times)? Decisions, decisions. Even tougher ones at the Mail, which had to decide between being outraged by Charles Taylor having the nerve to sue Britain and sticking with its previous view that we are spending too much keeping foreigners in our jails. The Mirror meanwhile veers from uberpop to jolly serious. This week we've had a stunning front page on the Iraq insurgency and poppy pap about Madeleine. In serious mode a "shock report that shames Britain"would take the whole front page, but today it appears two-thirds of the way down, playing second, third and fourth fiddle to a clutch of freebies. Why such a fuss about next year's football fixtures? Yes, they're usually a big deal in the June footballing desert, but they aren't exclusive and there is this other thing going on at the moment. Well there is everywhere except the Express. No World Cup here to trouble the happy little haven of Alzheimer's cures, seances, Ascot and Kate at Bletchley. If only she'd worn a 1940s dress.
Editor's blog: Quick Change at the Sun and Times
SubScribe: give us news, not puffs
Editor's blog: Quick Change at the Sun and Times
SubScribe: give us news, not puffs
Wednesday 18 June, 2014
The Guardian and Mirror are concerned about GCHQ reading our direct messages on Facebook and Twitter; the Independents are worried about our cramped living conditions. These are stories that might be said to have some policy value - especially as the Cambridge University study into the size of our homes makes the point that having a spare room doesn't necessarily mean that you have spare space. The researchers say that only a fifth of people paying the bedroom tax could be regarded as having more space than they needed. Health matters are always a banker for the white-tops, and today we range from tummy tucks to aspirin. And look, there at the bottom of the Guardian is a story saying some international body rates our health service the best in the world. We came top on eight out of eleven measures, falling down only on keeping people alive. Ah well, you can't be good at everything.
On the kiss-and-tell front, we should all be collecting our winnings on those bets that Katie and Kieran would sort things out - or at least try. But what's this about Danielle Lineker and Piers Morgan? Wow! That sounds like an explosive one. Except in this context 'playing away' means she sat next to him at Ascot. The Star's two-par splash says that Lineker hit back, and invites us to turn to pages 4 and 5 for the full story and pics. SubScribe moved with alacrity, only to find a picture of Colleen Rooney in a bikini and a story based on every business journalist's go-to Mr Money Quote Howard Archer. He says spending on merchandise, beer and burgers is likely to decline if we get knocked out of the World Cup. Who'd have guessed? But never mind that, where are Danni and Piers? Ah, over the page on the Ascot spread. And, oh, it's just an exchange of tweets. Nothing to see here, move along please.
Recommended reading: Information commisioner talks to the Independent
On the kiss-and-tell front, we should all be collecting our winnings on those bets that Katie and Kieran would sort things out - or at least try. But what's this about Danielle Lineker and Piers Morgan? Wow! That sounds like an explosive one. Except in this context 'playing away' means she sat next to him at Ascot. The Star's two-par splash says that Lineker hit back, and invites us to turn to pages 4 and 5 for the full story and pics. SubScribe moved with alacrity, only to find a picture of Colleen Rooney in a bikini and a story based on every business journalist's go-to Mr Money Quote Howard Archer. He says spending on merchandise, beer and burgers is likely to decline if we get knocked out of the World Cup. Who'd have guessed? But never mind that, where are Danni and Piers? Ah, over the page on the Ascot spread. And, oh, it's just an exchange of tweets. Nothing to see here, move along please.
Recommended reading: Information commisioner talks to the Independent
Tuesday 17 June, 2014
Looks like an early start to the silly season: three surveys, an update on the foreign exchange market, a court case, more Gove, a lot of freebies and footie - and Madeleine. And Iraq. Even the Times is splashing on it now, though it still finds room for a taste of GoveWorld in the hamper. The Mail succeeds in striking a chord with older readers with its school milk heading, but the snack ban is a better element of the story and it brings out good inside headings from the Sun: "The tuck stops here" and Mirror: "Goodbye Mr Chips". Shame they weren't the splash headings. For this is one Gove story that is relevant and of interest to parents, children, health workers, teachers and Jamie Oliver. The surrogate conwoman is a reasonable enough tale and she is not the nicest of women, but "she-devil"? It may be the description used by the deceived wannabe parents, but the Sun shouldn't be endorsing it in this way. As to the Mirror's splash on Maddie, every paper used the McCanns complaining about the former policeman they are sueing for libel delaying court proceedings for the fourth time. The "coffin outrage" came from an earlier television interview. The Sun played holier-than-thou, saying that the policeman had made a "vile allegation" that it would not repeat. Right decision, wrong presentation. The rest ignored it (it's not even on Mail online). Or maybe they didn't have the story. Did it need reporting? Some might say yes. Was it a splash? Of course not. No Madeleine story is, or will be, until she or her body is found. Then it will be huge.
SubScribe Missing: an opportunity
We'd love to find Madeleine, Ben and all the missing children, but Romas have a right to family life too
See last week's papers here
SubScribe Missing: an opportunity
We'd love to find Madeleine, Ben and all the missing children, but Romas have a right to family life too
See last week's papers here
Monday 16 June, 2014
A powerful set of fronts on Iraq contrast with a batch of softies on Prince George in pink (good to see there's no sexual stereotyping from our Kate and Wills), but it's a mismatch in the Mail. The Sun's front is witty, the Star's bizarre - "Man may have sex with wife" may be unusual in the world the paper inhabits, but it isn't for most of us. Walking away from the herd produces some of the best journalism, but in the case of the Times today, it just looks as though it's pushing the Gove agenda. We expect the Express to go its own sweet way. And it does.
See last week's papers here
Pictures and spreads blog: when being a tabloid is best
See last week's papers here
Pictures and spreads blog: when being a tabloid is best
Sunday 15 June, 2014
Good work from the Sun and Star on the football and more good work from the Sunday Times on Fifa (which is not the same thing as football). The Mail has regressed to the Seventies with its girlie shot and "What a scorcher!" head. The Sunday Telegraph is even more unforgiveable. The paper costs £2 and its key selling line is "The best World Cup coverage". But turn to the sport section and, instead of finding an England report, readers are directed to the website. Yes, they got the match result in the final edition, but this one, which also has "final" on the front, had nothing.
The Mail on Sunday's splash heading is also a travesty. Cameron's rather shallow article is the latest installment of the "British values" melodrama. It opens with reference to the Trojan horse schools and gently jogs along extolling our virtues of freedom, tolerance and our proud history. Everyone who lives here should learn our language and understand our values. The word Muslim does not appear once. While the inspiration for the piece is obvious, to translate it into "Cameron tells UK Muslims: be more British" is unreasonably pointed and divisive. The Mirror's splash headline, on the other hand, exactly reflects the entirety of the story.
As to the Express's latest Madeleine madness, it would be a real turn up for the books if a 15-year-old British boy abducted and killed Miss McCann. Of course the paper isn't saying that. It is reporting third hand what a man is alleged to have said while allegedly stabbing a woman near Praia da Luz. It even uses the word "claims", which suggests disbelief. The reporting may be straight, but to put this story in the paper at all, let alone splash on it, is to imply that someone somewhere believes that it's plausible that this woman holds the key to the case. SubScribe doubts that anyone - even in the Northern & Shell building - does.
In a more serious world, the Independent continues its excellent coverage of the fighting in Iraq and Tony Blair's insistence that it would have been worse had we not invaded.
See last week's papers here
The Mail on Sunday's splash heading is also a travesty. Cameron's rather shallow article is the latest installment of the "British values" melodrama. It opens with reference to the Trojan horse schools and gently jogs along extolling our virtues of freedom, tolerance and our proud history. Everyone who lives here should learn our language and understand our values. The word Muslim does not appear once. While the inspiration for the piece is obvious, to translate it into "Cameron tells UK Muslims: be more British" is unreasonably pointed and divisive. The Mirror's splash headline, on the other hand, exactly reflects the entirety of the story.
As to the Express's latest Madeleine madness, it would be a real turn up for the books if a 15-year-old British boy abducted and killed Miss McCann. Of course the paper isn't saying that. It is reporting third hand what a man is alleged to have said while allegedly stabbing a woman near Praia da Luz. It even uses the word "claims", which suggests disbelief. The reporting may be straight, but to put this story in the paper at all, let alone splash on it, is to imply that someone somewhere believes that it's plausible that this woman holds the key to the case. SubScribe doubts that anyone - even in the Northern & Shell building - does.
In a more serious world, the Independent continues its excellent coverage of the fighting in Iraq and Tony Blair's insistence that it would have been worse had we not invaded.
See last week's papers here
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