Oct ABC's and the Indy takes a fall (again)

The latest ABC's out today have proved to be a bit of a disaster for the Independent group of newspapers.
Its Sunday paper dropped in sales for the third month running to its lowest ever circulation figure.It now stands at 165,764 a drop of 21% on the year.

Sales of all the Sunday's have dropped over the 12 months but nothing like on the scale of the Independent and October saw the sales of the other qualities rising slightly.

Other highlights from the figures sees the FT continuing to shine in a month where all the Dailies continue to show month on month falls.The Sunday Daily star also took a battering with its sales down 20% in the month

Tabloid watch-the summer silly season

Last year it was sharks,this year we have Jellyfish and bats.

This morning's front page of the Mirror carried the story that

Swarms of the tropical Portuguese Man o' War have been swept here from the Caribbean by unseasonal high winds. A lad of seven had a lucky escape after he was stung by one in Charmouth, Dorset.
Worried marine experts yesterday warned holidaymakers to be on the lookout for killer tropical jellyfish lurking on Britain's beaches.
At least 19 of the poisonous 10-inch sausage-shaped creatures have been found washed up on our shores in the past week.
A seven-year-old boy had a lucky escape when he was stung on the leg while paddling in Charmouth, Dorset.

Meanwhile on another continent the Star tells us that

ATTACKS by deadly vampire bats have left at least 38 people dead.
The blood-thirsty predators have devastated whole villages after sinking their fangs into women and children.Settlements in Venezuela, South America, have come under attack from the winged menaces, with natives fearing for their lives. It is thought the bats were carrying rabies, which then infected members of the remote Warao tribe.

Express and Star apologise to the McCanns

It is probably unprecedented that two National newspapers make a public apology on their front pages to the same people on the same day.

Roy Greenslade says

I know that The Sun famously carried two front page apologies in the 1980s - to the Queen for running her Christmas address ahead of time and to Elton John for libelling him - but four papers being compelled to carry the same apology has never happened before.

This morning the Express and the Star apologise to the McCann's for what it believed to be over 100 articles that accussed the couple of being involved in the disapperance of their daughter.

The Express says

The Daily Express today takes the unprecedented step of making a front-page apology to Kate and Gerry McCann.
We do so because we accept that a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up.
We acknowledge that there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.
We trust that the suspicion that has clouded their lives for many months will soon be lifted.
As an expression of its regret, the Daily Express has now paid a very substantial sum into the Madeleine Fund and we promise to do all in our power to help efforts to find her.
Kate and Gerry, we are truly sorry to have added to your distress.
We assure you that we hope Madeleine will one day be found alive and well and will be restored to her loving family.

The Star says

The Daily Star today makes a wholehearted apology to Kate and Gerry McCann for stories suggesting the couple were responsible for, or may be responsible for, the death of their daughter Madeleine and for covering it up.
We now recognise that such a suggestion is absolutely untrue and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

Of course,these papers were not the only ones to point the finger of blame at the family,therefore these warning shots may be only the first step in the battle

At last !!!!!!!!!!!

The McCann's have turned on the Express and not before time.

Guardian media is reporting that

Following the threat of legal action from Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry over what their spokesman Clarence Mitchell described as a series of "wildly and grossly defamatory" articles, the paper, together with its Express Newspapers stablemates the Sunday Express, the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday, has removed all references to the missing girl from its website search engine.

So if you type McCann into the search engine of the Express or Star you will get nothing.What a shame though that we can't look back at all those ridiculous headlines.

It could only happen

It could only happen in the Star:

Acording to the paper:

A GREAT White Shark is terrorising Jordan’s holiday hideaway.
And your intrepid Daily Star tracked down the beast, which has been causing chaos at beaches across Cyprus.
And we can exclusively reveal it is lurking off the coast where busty Kate Price, 29, and singer husband Peter Andre, 34, have built a £3.5million pink pad.
A source on the island said: “Everyone is running scared of the Great White Shark, and when Kate and Peter hear I’m sure they will be too.

With every paper having Gordon Brown on its front pages this morning,hats off to the Daily Star which has decided that there is far more important news to report.Chantelle and Preston are splitting up,but who wants the Blair sick bag?