Enviro-mental!
The carbon footprint, the banishing of plastic carrier bags, the increase on air tax and has the whole world has gone recycling mad?Even the arrogant wannabes on The Apprentice are getting in on the environment act judging by last week’s episode.
Personally, I wish we could all cool our heads over this whole global warming issue. However in light of the fact big businesses seem to be making money out of our impending doom, its going to be around for a long time coming.
The media have recognised the green issue, some more scare-mongering than others. But I think the way the tabloids have addressed the topic of concern and related it to their readers is commendable.
The Sun offers a double page spread on green tips which could save readers £645 a year which speaks directly to the hard up families facing cash flow problems due to the credit crunch 13/05/08.
The Daily Star also offers advice to cut the cost of gas and electricity and explains matter-of-fact what the soaring prices will mean for plenty of Brits 13/05/08 in an easy to understand accessible way.
But perhaps The Daily Mirror have really hammered home the information by giving a table comparing typical energy bills on how much the different suppliers are likely to charge. 13/05/08
These are real issues facing real families at the grass-roots level of the problem.
If the big cheeses want to get more people involved in this, which is to me, a depressing subject then they should think more tabloid. Those who try and communicate environmental issues are trapped in the mindset of classic documentary or its print equivalent- the broadsheet.
The broadsheets will scoff at the idea that they dumb down weighty issues. But this is not necessarily so. Everyone make things in different formats without over intellectualising and not over simplifying them either.
Page three girls- A naked truth?
Men think about sex every seven seconds, right? And who can blame them in a society that is bombarded with subconscious erotic images and sexy subliminal messages.
Advertisers are under no illusion sex sells and they use it to sell everything from toothpaste to tyres.
But I am championing (again) The Sun’s decision to totally put it out there.
And by ‘it’ I mean SEX. No beating around the bush, no indirect nods or winks, no swings or roundabouts…just big, fat, smack you in the face…SEX!
Most notably for their bevy of beauties that grace the third page of their publication.
The receive a lot of bad press (no pun intended) from feminist’s for their ‘page three stunna’s’. But haven’t these hairy angry women got bigger knockers to jugg-le?
It was The Sun that first gave us the ‘page three girl’ and she graced our pages in 1969, however she did not go topless until November 1970 when The Sun’s editor ‘undressed’ the format while Murdoch was safely out of the country. It was reported Murdoch was incandescent with rage but the rise in sales, (a massive 40%) helped to soothe him.
Under editor, Rebekah Wade page three models were soon accompanied by a caption entitled “News in Briefs”. Not only are the topless babe’s wearing briefs but also they get to comment on the news, supposedly in their own words.
Miss Wade has said in the past that the act of getting your breasts out in order to help shift million’s of units is “empowering and liberating”.
She asserts that “Page three girls are intelligent, vibrant, young women who appear in The Sun out of choice and because they enjoy the job. Unsurprisingly, millions of our readers- men and women- enjoy looking at them.”
Certainly page three favourite Danielle Lloyd is testament to that after she discovered she had an IQ of 152 when she appeared on Test the Nation, making her eligible to join Mensa.
For girls with great bodies and a ‘if you’ve got it flaunt it attitude’ then the glamour, fame, fortune and the love of being in front of the camera is all part of the appeal.
Some of these girls earn up to £100,000 a year, travelling around the world and meeting interesting new people.
With blogs like ‘girl with a one track mind’ and Belle De Jour- Diary of a London Call girl claiming hundreds of thousands of viewers a month, all reading about the steamy sordid details of a girls grisly sex life… is the sight of a pair of unveiled fun bags really that hard to swallow in this day and age?
Page three has become a tradition entrenched in our society, its as British as fish and chips!
Whether girls are aspiring to parade their perky nipples in print or to be on the crinkly arm of Peter Stringfellow does it really matter?
I say a bit of titillation goes along way.
If it’s not broken…don’t fix it!
This blog is in direct response to a fellow blogger’s comment, namely “Sun columnists and their free rein to offend.” Posted on May 13th, 2008.
This blogger has vented a torrent of abuse at the tabliod title The Sun over recent months and yesterday unleashed his spiteful venomous tongue again.
He says naively of The Sun’s editorial commentary: ”What is surprising is the level of abuse the columnists are allowed to get away with.” Why is this surprising? The columnists opinion no matter how abusive is surely a freedom of their own expression. The very essence of a free press is to uphold a free society. Columnists are there solely to put forth an opinion.
It was Simon Kelner who coined the phrase ‘a viewspaper’ and The Sun, on the evidence of ABC figures, is the best selling British daily… did you ever stop to wonder if these views upheld by the likes of Kavangh, MacKenzie and Gaunt, were actually echoed by their readers?
On the basis of facts and figures it would appear that they are. The press is a mirror for society, if people don’t like what they read, they will simply not buy the newspaper. I’m sure you don’t need reminding of The Sun’s tempestuous relationship with Liverpudlians over the Hillsborough Disaster? You only need to mention the ‘S’ word in Liverpool to cause outrage. The paper still sells poorly in the city and many newsagents refuse to stock it. They didn’t like what they read and refuse to buy it.
Your blog serves to highlight the paper’s political coverage of the PM with his embarrassing failing policies and you call the personal slurs of Bottler Brown ‘outrageous’. Outrageous? NO. Exaggerated, commendable and terrific fun? YES.
The Sun boasts one of the most formidable political editors of his generation and their coverage however “lame, ill considered and moronic” you deem them to be CANNOT be ignored. Many politicians monitor the tabloids believing they hold they key electability by telling them what the masses of voters really think.
Pretentious professionals such as businessmen, doctors, and lawyers proclaim they wouldn’t be seen dead reading a red-top blaming the tabloids for sensationalism, lying, smut, scandal and intrusion.
However, they are classless papers that do not patronise. They should be praised for taking on complex issues and explaining them. They encompass trivia and fun but see its role as to cover the whole news agenda in a way that makes it accessible to all.
Referring to the Daily Mirror, Sylvester Bolam commented “The Mirror’s a sensational paper, but sensationalism doesn’t mean the distortion of the truth. It means the vivid and dramatic presentation of events so as to give them a forceful impact on the mind of the reader.” This is exactly what they do.
It is no great secret that Journalists are at the bottom of the pile when it comes to public trust and of them, tabloid journalists are the least trusted. So if people aren’t reading your newspaper for news they can believe in, then logic would suggest it’s futile to try and sell the paper on news…why not exaggerate to the cows come home on your own opinions, if everybody takes them with a pinch of salt anyway.
Nevertheless, some of the best journalists work for tabloids and the techniques of tabloid journalism are the hardest to acquire.
The ideas which form The Sun are encouraged. The presentational devices they employ, the economy of language, the directness of views and the irreverence of writing are as impressive as ever.
The political reporting, of both The Sun and The Mirror remains sharp throughout. The Sun, particularly, understands populist issues, and it will be a long time before the politicians can ignore that. The Sun’s views on crime and punishment, Europe, Asylum and the nanny state still reflect a strong vein of the nation’s opinion.
To finish the blogger says: “Editors should be demanding more from their star turns than just a flow of tasteless invective.”
The tasteless invective seems to shift the most copies, their formula works…. The broadsheets are often referred to as the ‘qualities’ but I find this label arrogant and somewhat inaccurate. The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian to my knowledge all lose money.
A word of advice to The Sun…if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
I’m bored of celebrity….get me out of here!
Many who know me will know that I champion the red-tops for a myriad of reasons.For their campaigns, persuasiveness, courage of conviction and ability to speak to a wide range of readers.
However, today’s blog relates to the way these newspapers are fuelling the demand for the creation of so-called ‘celebrities’.
As I poured over The Sunday Times rich list a few weeks ago, in particularly the 100 richest young people, I was audibly shocked by the sheer amount of wealth that has been accumulated by those under the age of 30 who seem to possess none or very little talent.
Coleen McLoughlin, Katie Price, The Osbourne brats and several WAGs all rank high in this year’s roll and have fashioned fortunes and manufactured celebrity status out of their famous parents, spouse or tits.
I dare say I am more than a little envious of such a fortune but I wondered how these morons devoid of little contribution to society have become so celebrated in our daily lives.
And when did the thirst for ‘real news’ decline and stars, sex and sport govern the majority of our pages?
A quick glance at magazine circulation figures illustrates that celebrity gossip is at an all-time high, something the tabloids have offered up and is being vigorously devoured by the working-class palette.
If we take The Sun for example, the biggest selling daily British newspaper, their splashes rely a great deal on the appearance of a semi-naked celebrity and devote a much smaller portion of the front page to the main news of the day.
But how do beauty queens famed for shagging footballers end up being front-page news and something we readily buy into?
The modern celebrity reeks of inauthenticity and we now live in infuriating times where there has been a cultural decline from past ages in which ‘heroes’ were admired for greatness in some achievement.
The fresh-faced nobodies of today (to borrow a phrase from Daniel Boorstein) are “known for their well-knowness” and seem to have been created solely by today’s media circus.
Celebrity culture not only extends beyond the arts and sports into politics and business but we are now living in a period where stardom is available to the ordinary.
Nearly every newspaper yesterday 13/05/08 ran a story dishing out the salacious gossip divulged in Cherie’s autobiography.
She is notable for her work as a human rights barrister, women’s campaigner and acclaimed public speaker.Yet she is celebrated for the details on her and Tony’s bonking session at Balmoral.
Likewise, reality television programmes testify to the fact that the anonymous can become an instant celebrity. In particularly, the dysfunctional wannabes in the Big Brother house are always an instant hit with the tabloids.
In yesterday’s Sun 13/05/08 it seems celebrity big brother is set to make a comeback after last year’s race row along with the regular contestants being shoved into the ninth series of the show which starts on June 5.
New technologies bombard our everyday lives with images of celebrities and put them on global pedestals for the masses to access.
No longer do we hear about the content of achievements or in what context they may have appeared. Rather we get reports on trends, clothes, pets, scandals, partners and significant others, diets, how the ‘crib’ is decorated, plastic surgery and an endless parade of a hedonistic lifestyle.
It seems to be crowned a celebrity in this day and age means that their life, or some notion of it, has become their greatest performance.
Take Paris Hilton for example, she possesses no major talent and is simply the product of 21st century American society. Hilton is a worshipped celebrity, up on the altar and nobody is quite sure why. However, American society is run by ‘the buck’ and one of Hilton’s major credentials is money. It seems large quantities of money will buy celebrity, this together with the fact that Hilton is a sex symbol makes her a media favourite.
Celebrities are a central part of today’s newspapers. Journalists dictate to us who we should be worshipping, on the basis of who they regard as going to sell the most papers. For the red tops this is usually weighed up by bra size.
Other considerable elements of what should be celebrated have been lost, trivialised or worn out. Long gone are the days when we would see Isaac Newton or Nelson Mandela donning the covers of glossy magazines for a noteworthy cause. Instead we have front-page news about Winehouse and her latest binge (14/05/08).
Having said all this I know that vast amounts of pages need to be covered and so we have varying faces of fame, due to the continuous demands of filling print. Journalists have to keep reintroducing us to new faces often as a way of padding out there supplements.
So these celebrities, (I hope) will not last since we live in a world filled with short-lived, disposable goods, we shouldn’t expect the shelf life of these no marks to be long.
Celebrity is still a phenomenon that is relatively new, it is essentially a mega trend where by the media force a formerly anonymous person on the public.
The celebrity uses their media coverage as a way of measuring up the size of their fame, to be deemed a success in our society you have to be ratified by publicity. How much publicity a celebrity has is accountable to their visibility, the visibility it seems is the chief requirement of celebrity, to be seen is to be famous. And so the vicious circle continues.
Most people want to be a celebrity, and everybody according to Warhol’s famous quote, will be famous at least for 15 minutes.
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