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.
There is a huge difference between opinion and rant. My argument is that opinion should hold some form of thought, not just lazy abuse. Surely the justification for paying columnists huge wads of money is that their opinion is worth something because they have insight and experience. The Sun columnists regularly just sound like drunks down the pub.
As for reflecting the general public, I guess the argument is the extent to which the tabloids reflect the opinion and the extent to which they guide opinion.
You say that the Sun understands populist issues and reflects a strong vein of the nation’s opinion on issues like asylum, crime and punishment and Europe. But surely it is their misrepresentation of these issues which helps form opinion.
It totally misrepresents crime and punsihment issues, suggesting that anything apart from 15 years hard labour is going soft on criminals. Of the people that I have spoken to within the prison service, all agree that only punishment that is rehabilitive and instructive can prevent re-offending.
As for Europe, the Sun constantly scaremongers against total domination of UK issues by Brussels in order to defend Murdoch’s own business interests. On St George’s Day it claimed that the UK was set to be carved up by EU bureaucrats.
And as for asylum, the Sun peddle unsubstantiated claims that immigrants will bring a tide of killer diseases to overwhelm our shores. Little evidence of such an epidemic is forthcoming.
nate8steele
May 14, 2008 at 5:32 pm