It's the Tories that did it

The ABC's seem to create less fanfare each month.

Yesterday's results for December showed only the Daily Mail and Daily Star as increasing circulation.

The Sun continues to fall,mant believing that to be related to its backing of the Tories,recording a 3.23 per cent month-on-month fall but the Mirror also followed that trend with sales down 2.74 per cent in the same period.

A shocking front page

But hat's off to the Sun for this picture.

The boy is 13 but looks no more than 10 and I am sure that this will get the agenda moving once again on under age sex

Read the full story here

Sun commemorates the disappearance of Maddy

The Sun marks the first anniversary of the disapperanace of Madeleine McCann with the three part,I hesitate to say, commemorative issue

Todays coverage covers 12 pages including a day by day chronology of the events of the past year.

Yesterday writing in the Sunday Telegraph,Lionel Shriver wrote that

Like any novelist, I'm a sucker for a good story. Yet fiction and non-fiction are shelved in separate sections of a bookshop for good reason. However imaginative its variations, fiction conforms to amazingly strict narrative criteria.

And for the writer the journalist profession has treated this tragedy rather like a work of fiction adding

In the case of Madeleine McCann, the British media has frequently elevated the requirements of fiction over the truth. As a consequence, a grieving couple's loss of their daughter has been made even more agonising than it had to be. Indeed, this last year's over-the-top Maddy-mongering has to go down as one of British journalism's most shameful instances of cheap, cavalier opportunism - of its greater commitment to a "good story" over the accurate one.

Sun and Mirror have exclusive photos

Exclusive photographs on the front of the tabloids this moring.

The Mirror has exclusive pictures of the room when it is alleged that Shannon Matthews was held

For 24 nail-biting days, this dingy bedroom with its threadbare carpets and dirty walls was the most hunted hideaway in Britain

The Sun has exclusive photographs of the accomodation where British troops stay prior to being sent to battle zones

Our pictures show a broken pipe spewing out sewage, mouldy accommodation huts and broken windows taped up with plastic at RAF Brize Norton – where airborne troops stay before flying to the war zone.
The appalled gunner who gave us the photos said: “Imagine this as the last place in England you see before you die for your country.”

Romanies and conspiracy theories

The papers seem fascinated by the invasion of Romanies close to Tessa Jowell's residence.

The Sun broke the story yesterday under the headline gipsy hell for Tessa

A GROUP of 64 gipsies has set up camp just yards from the country home of government minister Tessa Jowell.
About 30 caravans swarmed on to the 2½-acre field, along with three diggers and a fleet of lorries and vans. They quickly laid on water and electricity.
The travellers secretly bought the Warwickshire site a year ago, but moved in over Easter knowing council enforcement officers would be on holiday.
The crafty gipsies moved in after plotting their “invasion” for FIVE MONTHS

This morning the same paper tells us that

GIPSIES were digging in yesterday just yards from government minister Tessa Jowell’s £1million house – and said: “It’s our home now.”
The 64 travellers ignored protests from horrified local residents and began putting up fences round the 2½acre field.
Burly men wearing high-visibility jackets could be seen digging drainage ditches, connecting water supplies, laying electric cables and installing a sanitation system

The Mail senses a conspiracy

Although the gipsies claimed yesterday to be unaware she has a home so near until after they moved in, there is an undoubted irony in their choice of location. For Miss Jowell was involved in the controversial eviction of gipsies from Newham and Hackney, East London, to prepare for the 2012 Olympics

And it is not just the fields of Warwickshie that have a problem,back to the Sun

SINGER Gary Barlow and pop producer Pete Waterman were reeling last night after gipsies set up a camp with military efficiency.
A convoy of diggers, tipper trucks and lorries poured into a field near Pete’s home – and close to Take That star Gary’s parents.
The travellers swiftly linked themselves up to the mains water supply, while the trucks delivered 40 loads of builders’ rubble to provide a solid hard-core standing for four caravans and a luxury motor home in leafy Barnton, Cheshire.

Colour changes afoot at the Sun

Media Guardian is reporting a major revamp of the Sun newspaper.

According to the site

According to one industry source, the planned Sun changes include colour-coded sections and a more modern design that brings the red-top closer in its look to the London Paper, News International's evening freesheet that was designed by Al Trivino, the art director of News International projects.

But there will be no great launch fanfare,the paper having decided that readers will shy away from it will instead bring in the changes organically and then deciding whether the readers like the changes.

No longer the super soaraway Sun

The news that the sales of the Sun fell below 3m for the first time ahead of the release of today's Abc's must alarm all print journalists.

Is it so much the decline in papers or are there specifics that relate to the paper.
The answer is probably a combination of both.Yes the Sun like all newspapers is suffering from the effect of online.(Yet not it's much improved website is showing good results.)

There are though more specific factors for the paper.It has undoubtedly been hit my metro mania.I am sure the thousands of commuters who have the paper shoved in their faces as they disembark from trains and buses do not then stop at the newsagents to buy a different newspaper(Yes this effects other papers too but the style of news competes directly with the Sun.)

More importantly though I wander whether we are seeing changes in demographics.The paper's traditional base of working class white and blue collar is disappearing fast.As people become more middle class their reading habits change.Added to that the Sun,unlike the Mirror has to a certain extent towed the line politically,showing broad support for an unpopular government.

The question is,how deep are Mr Murdoch's pockets and will we see wholesale changes at the paper,including the position of Rebecca Wade who has been there for over 5 years.

A national catastrophy

Perhaps Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling may be pleased that the country has something else to worry about this morning.Yes,England's overpai footballers have let the country down and the press have gone to town.

None more so that the Sun's front page which depicts a deflated football lying in a wet gutter with the score in the top right hand corner.A good example of the fact that sometimes you need headlines.

Leave headline writing to the experts

Keep them simple and play safe was our lecturers advice when talking about headline writing.

The Sun,though that expert in puns and innuendos are triumphed this morning.

IT'S TUTS OUT FOR THE LADS

THE 3,000-year-old treasures of Tutankhamun were unveiled in Britain yesterday — after a pharaoh wait of 35 years.

And on its favourite topic

ANGRY MUCCA IS TALKING CARP

HEATHER Mills’s protest website has flopped – proving as popular as one on carp fishing.
Sir Paul McCartney’s estranged wife launched the internet rant at the media.
But Lady Mucca, 39, has once again failed to win public sympathy.Figures released by internet monitors Alexa, reveal her site was only the 242,174th most viewed in the UK – around the same as specialist carp.com.

How the papers report the same news

For a really good analysis of the news values of our nationals,this morning's reports on Government's Migration Impact Forum

All report it,but concentrate on different ways on what they believe is its impact.

I have produced the first three paragraphs of the reports below


Guardian

Migrants are more skilled and often more reliable and hardworking than British workers, and are fuelling the country's economic growth to the tune of £6bn a year, according to the first official study of their impact published yesterday.
The report for the government's Migration Impact Forum also concludes that migrants on average earn more and so pay more tax than UK workers.

Times

Migrants are more reliable and harder working than British-born workers and are boosting economic output by £6 billion a year, according to a government study published yesterday.
Immigrants have a better work ethic than the British and are willing to work longer hours with less time off sick. Weekly mean earnings of migrants are also £60 higher than their UK counterparts.
But while large numbers of migrants bring overall economic benefits, their arrival may be hitting the wage levels of the unskilled, the study found.

Telegraph

Immigrant workers are both higher paid and more reliable than their British counterparts and contributed £6 billion to economic growth last year, a Government study said yesterday.
Migrants earned £424 a week on average, compared with £395 for UK workers, and paid more in tax than they consumed in services.
However, a separate paper issued together with the study by the Home Office admitted there were complaints about the impact of immigration on housing and other public services. Liam Byrne, the immigration minister, said the research showed that ''in the long run, our country and Exchequer are better off with immigration rather than without it".

Independent

Migrant workers contributed £6 billion to the country's economic growth last year and earned higher wages than their British counterparts, Home Office figures revealed yesterday.
The study concluded that new arrivals were harder-working, brought sought-after skills and paid more in tax than they used in public services.

Mail

Immigrants are placing a huge strain on public services, Labour finally admitted last night.
Crime is up, schools are struggling to cope with Eastern European children, community tensions are rising, health services are coming under enormous pressure and house prices are being driven up, the Government said.
The findings, based on a survey of public sector workers, are the first published by ministers after ten years of an 'open door' immigration policy.

Express

Many UK regions have reported concerns about the impact of immigration on housing, crime and health, according to a study on migrants from eastern Europe.
Feedback from the Government's regional co-ordination groups, to be presented to the Migration Impact Forum (MIF) in Whitehall, said migrants are putting pressure on the housing market and driving up rents, creating increased demand on GPs and contributing to tensions in the community.

Sun

LABOUR admitted last night that mass immigration strained our housing, schools and healthcare.
Immigration minister Liam Byrne said the influx had been “unsettling” for some areas.
And he admitted removing exit checks was a “mistake” – as now we do not know how many illegal immigrants are here.
He said the checks would be started again.
His comments came as a Home Office report revealed migrants boosted the economy by £6billion last year

Interesting.Only the Times led with the story,but the Guardian covered it on its second front page piece.Both those papers concentrated on the benefits in their openings,but the Times brings a negative effect on wage levels.The Indy was similar in its positive outlok as was the Telegraph which also introduced the second report on the impact on housing and public services.

Then to the red tops,no sign of the report in the Mirror,the Sun leading with the negatives as did the Express and the Mail which made no mention of the positives.

Surprising,not really

Guardian the most popular website,Sun spends more time

Thanks to Andy Dickinson who directs me to the statistics on National newspaper coverage on the web.

According to net imperative

The new figures indicate that The Guardian remains the most popular national UK newspaper website - as it has been for each of the last 12 months.
The leading UK nationals online are growing at three times the rate of overall UK Internet growth.
The Daily Mail and the Telegraph are the fastest growing amongst the Top 10, while The Sun and the Daily Mail are the most engaging.

And surprisingly perhaps for some

More time was spent on The Sun (53 million minutes) than any other UK newspaper, followed by the Daily Mail (49 million minutes)

The Sun says

With all the other papers looking towards a possible general election the Sun wears its heart on its sleeve this morning with its front page demand for a referendum on the Eu Constitution.

It was probably only a matter of time before Mr Murdoch nailed his colours to the mask.I wander whether this issue alone may now delay an election until 2009.

Here's a taster of the Churchillian issue

Wake up Britain! Our proud nation faces the greatest threat as an independent sovereign state since the dark days of World War II.
We won that titanic struggle against the roaring guns of Nazi Germany.
But we risk losing an equally crucial battle without a shot fired or a voice raised.
Unless we start that fight today, Gordon Brown will sign and ratify the EU Constitution — the blueprint for a United States of Europe — within weeks.
We will no longer have control over relations with other countries, the defence of our nation or the right to run our own police and law courts.

The Sun doesn't hold back

No doubting what the Sun thinks of the family of Ellie Lawrence,the girl savagely mauled by a pit bull terrior on New Year's day.Her Grandmother was found not guilty yesterday of manslaughter.

The paper calls them:

POND LIFE FAMILY

Simpson is cleared of manslaughter — even though she knew the dog was spiteful and jealous when she let it in with Ellie.
Her son, Kiel, served just eight weeks for illegal ownership of the brute. Everyone in this pond-life family blames one another.
And a lovely child lies dead because of their crass stupidity.

High as a cat

Now we are into September,I thought that the summer silly season was over,but apparently not with a story in this morning's Sun.

It won't surprise you that a certain Pete Doherty is involved but this story concerns his cat.According to the paper

JUNKIE Pete Doherty is snapped appearing to give his kitten crack — from a mini-pipe he made specially for it.
Sickened pals who leaked the picture claimed the warped rocker regularly gets the pet smashed.
They said it PASSES OUT with its paws in the air, suffers MOOD SWINGS and even thinks it can FLY.

The paper then reminds us that

DOHERTY’S kitten is not the first animal with addiction problems. In 2005 The Sun told how squirrels in Brixton, South London, became hooked on crack cocaine hidden by addicts in gardens.
Residents said the tufties had bloodshot eyes and were “digging desperately” in flower-beds.
In the US, crack squirrels are a recognised problem in New York and Washington DC parks.

With the media already at full frenzy over an anarchic and lawless Britian,this wasn't the week for details of the ruling on the killer of Philip Lawrence.

The press have gone to town on the ruling focusing initially on the comments of the headteachers widow,and then opening up the debate about the country's signing up to the European convention on human rights.

The Sun in its leader today perhaps reflecting the views of the silent majority when it says

BRITISH justice is kinder to a murdering Italian thug than it is to his victim’s widow.
Frances Lawrence has seen Learco Chindamo, who killed her husband Philip, win a Human Rights battle to stay in Britain.
She had to hear the bombshell news on her car radio because nobody took the trouble to tell her.

Of all the papers though it is only the Independent which asks whether there is a case for redemption on its front page

But should Learco Chindamo be given a second chance in British society?

Prison reports show that the 26-year-old Londoner has made excellent progress and in many ways has become a model example ofcustodial rehabilitation. Those who have worked with him during his sentence regard him as a model prisoner who is very unlikely to re-offend.
His solicitor, Nigel Leskin, said last night: "He is a genuinely reformed person and one of the best prisoners the prison has had. He knows he made a terrible mistake and regrets it very much."

Not wishing to sound like the preverbial lefty liberal,the media I believe needs to re examine some of its coverage.Indeed the reason cited by the boy's solicitor for the hearing to have been heard in private was that when on day release last year,he was persued by the media.

For those that remember,the stabbing of Philip Lawrence,a headteacher intervening in a case of bullying, was an awful crime and the courts at that time set the perameters for his sentance.

If the boy has been rehabilitated during his prison term,why should he be deported to a country of which he has little or no ties and doesnt speak the language?

I qusetin whether this is directed at European human rights rather than the individual concerned

Redwood v the BBC

The Sun isn't very happy about the Beeb's coverage of the John Redwood policy initiative on tackling red tape.

This is what its leader says this morning

THE BBC’s coverage of Tory plans for £14bn cuts in red tape and bureaucracy was a mockery of impartial journalism.
Instead of examining John Redwood’s arguments, it made a joke of them by unearthing his garbled version of the Welsh anthem from a decade ago.
The caustic bulletins could have been scripted by Labour ministers.
Mr Redwood may be a colourful character. But few can match his understanding of the way Labour and the EU have tied our economy in knots with pointless regulation.
Certainly not the BBC — a bastion of smug, self-satisfied bureaucracy which rightly stands accused by its own watchdogs of being “institutionally biased.”

I think that the paper is being a little unfair on the corporation,after all the press in general have been,not expectedly critical of both the policy and the man himself.It is,in my opinion a fair story.Showing that the Tory party are reverting to former politicains from the right to promote new policies.

Footnote

Read what Polly Toynbee says in this morning's Guardian under the headline"The Tories will have lost their senses if they sign up to so much as a single item in John Redwood's reckless rightwing review

A Good piece from Iain Dale where he relates Alistair Campbell's conversation with former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.They are talking about Tony Blair's relationship with Rupert Murdoch.

“

You imagine what it’s like having your head stuck in a fuc*ing light bulb and then tell me what it’s like seeing him jet half way round the world to grease him up. You’ll get his support and a few racist basta*ds and then you’ll lose it again the moment you’re in trouble…….”

Fishy Tails

So the great shark has been exposed as a hoax.(Reported in many papers this morning)

The photo of the so called "Great White" was taken off the coast of South Africa.Originally given to the Newquay Guardian,it ended up at the offices of the Sun where it no doubt helped greatly with circulation figures during the silly season.

The perpetrator was a nighclub bouncer,Kevin Keeble,who told the papers

I took the picture while I was on a fishing trip in Cape Town and just sent it in as a joke. I didn't expect anyone to be daft enough to take it seriously.
"I can't believe the story went so big in the first place. I didn't even get any money out of it. If I'd have made a few quid, then maybe I could have gone on another fishing trip to South Africa."

We will just have to wait and see then

Is there going to be an autuum election or not.Depends whether you read the Mirror or the Sun.

The former claims that it has a secret memo hich would suggest

An astonishing masterplan to sweep Gordon Brown to a fourth Labour election victory

However according to the Sun

GORDON Brown has ruled out an October election — despite being advised to have an early poll two years ago, The Sun can reveal.

Early election fever was stoked yesterday after a leaked memo written in 2005 showed Tony Blair’s polling guru Philip Gould urging the PM’s successor to go for a snap autumn poll.
But insiders insisted last night that Mr Brown never saw the document — and has already rejected calls for an autumn general election

.

SHARK ATTACK

Great White sighting in Devon

First 'victim' of beast found

The ultimate killing machine

Girl Great White is a maneater

Yep it must be the start of the summer silly season now that the rain has stopped and the Sun has devoted its last four front pages to the claim that Great white sharks are basking off the coast of Cornwall.

And this morning to the headline of the Jaws theme we have

A HERO fled the sea in terror amid the Jaws panic engulfing Britain — after saving two girl cousins from a shark.

Frantic Joe Miller, 26, plunged into the waves to help the pair to safety after a dreaded fin passed within yards of them off a South Devon beach.

He then scrambled for his own life. Student Hannah Miller, 23, told yesterday how she and sister Freya, 20, thought Joe was JOKING as he screamed at them to get out of the water.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP