British newspapers
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Topics not related to music
Forum Name: General discussions
Forum Description: Discuss any topic at all that is not music-related
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3221
Printed Date: February 21 2025 at 23:40
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: British newspapers
Posted By: Beau Heem
Subject: British newspapers
Date Posted: January 23 2005 at 18:25
|
I feel bad for the majority of Brits. Why? Because the "newspapers" they get to read. I am horrified of the fact that a disgusting, repulsive, prejudiced piece of s*it called the Sun is even called "a newspaper". I mean, I always knew that the tabloids are too something for a critical reader, but I never got to understand that they are nothing but "Celebrity Big Brother fan-zines". A NEWSpaper???????? A list of the news headlines on http://www.thesun.co.uk - www.thesun.co.uk at 23:00 GMT: http://www.thesun.co.uk - Bez Wins Big Brother Nicola: Hollywood or bust Panto Flash Dean arrested Yellow card for binge yobs New Atkinson slur at bash [racist comment by a former soccer team manager] Celebrity Big Brother: Caprice and Jez get big boot Celebrity Big Brother: SAS team on guard at house Chelsy 'may dump Harry' Want to quit smoking [advertisement feature] Biggest booze cruise ever Toon Bob outed as Gay [cartoons...] + a couple of stories (some even exclusively) about murders and murderers DeNiro's second Taxi call Jilted Hubby tied ex to bed Speech by Sven on Nazis [soccer coach] Love cheat stole £900k Zoo staff are aping French Lesbian gets revenge Risky operation for Posh + a couple of more murder stories + a couple real news objects hidden behind headlines, such as Union's Chelsea strikers Brit major is rapped (abuse pictures) UK invaded by (foreign) crime mobs Omagh 'bomber' a new trial Asylum terror fears And no, these aren't from the opening site of the Sun's internet site. They are from the News section of the site. Besides the news section, they offer us readers the Sport, Bizarre, Life, Gizmo and Competitions sections, not to forget the page3 section... An option of the site, "take me to", gives the happy reader the following choices Betting  Bizarre  Bizarre Exposed Competitions  Contact Us  DVD Releases Daily Dosh Dear Deidre  Dream Team FC  Edit my profile F1 Dream Team Fun Gizmo  Gizmo Gaming Home Insurance Deals Letters - Dear Sun Life Loan Deals Mobile Motors Movies Music Videos Mystic Meg Stars  News Page 3 Picture Sales Sassy Shop Sport Sun Book Shop Sun Drinks Service  Sun Mortgages Sun Pet Club Sun Phone Offer Sun Services Guide Sun Weekly Email Superbabes Superhunks (GDUB!!!) TV Biz The Sun Says Webchats Wrestling I mean, kiss my SQL, or whatever, this is frightening. The Sun is THE newspaper for how many million ppl? 35 million? 40 million? The sole existance of such a paper should be legally questioned. It makes people even more stupid that they'd be without it. Try to find a bit of world news in that pile of bull... not even to mention foreign affairs. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH. I was supposed to make a contrastive study on the differences between the use of English language in tabloids/broadsheets, but I am so disgusted that I think my studies will continue for yet another extra year. What is this world turning into? we are all better off if we ended our own and our loved ones' miseries. Sorry to all enthusiastic readers of the Sun. Please stop existing. -Beau ------------- --No enemy but time-- |
Replies:
Posted By: Sweetnighter
Date Posted: January 23 2005 at 18:49
|
The big American papers are good. I like reading the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal... I've heard the Chicago Tribune is a decent paper as well, as are some of the D.C. area papers. My local paper isn't so great, but I can deal with it. I love reading the forum/opinion sections and the front page... I find politics really interesting and I think what goes on in the world politically is important to know about. I also like the arts and entertainment section, as well as the comics. Dilbert is amazing!  ------------- I bleed coffee. When I don't drink coffee, my veins run dry, and I shrivel up and die. "Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso? Is that like the bank of Italian soccer death or something?" -my girlfriend |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 03:37
|
Beau Heem: Not all our papers are like that you know!! Among our other tabloids we have 'The Sport' which is basically a soft porn rag, with some show biz tittle tattle, and some ridiculous headlines about alien abduction and the like. The worst IMO is the 'Daily Mail' The paper is aimed predominantly at lower middle class house wives. It bangs the moral drum very hard, spoon feeding narrowminded opinions and biggotry, disguised as quality journalism. It blames ethnic minorities and homosexuals for anything that goes wrong. Its at the forefront of nurturing Islamaphobia in the UK. Its f***ing poison!! and its readership is huge.
------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Valarius
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 05:57
|
I actually agree Beau Heem, but, being as a read a few newspapers every day during my lunch break, I think the reason the Sun is so popular is because it's a lot easier to read. While actual newspapers like the Daily Telegraph has pages full of huge paragraphs, the Sun has more pictures and shorter paragraphs, making it more accessable. |
Posted By: arcer
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 05:57
|
They are hideous aren't they - and while the bulk of intelligent poeple take them with a large pinch of salt (and read them as comics and for the football, while at the same time taking a legit newpaper) there are plenty whose sole news diet is these aberrations. It is no better in America, however, where despite the presence of the NY Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune there are hideous things like the New York Post (Murdoch) which unforgettably brought us that fabulous 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys' headline in reference to the French and their refusal to join the 'coalition of the willing'. Then there are gems like 'The National Enquirer and The Weekly World News. And that's not to mention the growing emasculation of (proper, serious) investigative journalism in the main US broadsheets. Having said that - the NY Times-run International Herald Tribune is a fantastic newspaper and as a 'newspaper for the English-speaking world' covers most bases very very well - with a pot pourri of major news, features and sport which do not necessarily have a US news sensibility at heart. Also please try http://www.guardian.co.uk - www.guardian.co.uk it's a little more serious, and Bush-bashers will absolutely love its editorial line - the OpEd pages are always great fun to read
|
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 06:00
|
And don't forget the Daily Express, which makes the Daily Mail look restrained and insightful. However, we do also have the Guardian - check out the site http://www.guardian.co.uk - http://www.guardian.co.uk to get the other side of the British media, and you could check out BBC online as well. Not to defend the Sun, which is a horrible rag, but most people don't buy it for news but for sports coverage (which it actually does well) and showbiz gossip. We're not as stupid as you might think. And at least we don't watch Fox news. ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |
Posted By: sigod
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 06:22
Couldn't agree more and the sad thing is that in my country, I'm in the minority on this. ------------- I must remind the right honourable gentleman that a monologue is not a decision. - Clement Atlee, on Winston Churchill |
Beau Heem wrote:Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 06:25
|
I like The Independant, but sometimes go for the Observer on a Sunday. Most papers, of course have some kind of political slant. The Guardian is usually read by more left leaning people, and liberals. The Daily Telegraph is read mainly by middle age, middle class tory voters. It's an estblishment paper and as such will never challenge the establishment too agressivley.
------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 07:21
You see this in many tabloid "newspapers", even those which aim (slightly) higher than The Sun, Mirror, Sport etc; it is a common trick to make the 'stories' easier to read. The general rule of thumb is one sentence per paragraph, this enables the reader to take in the information (such as it is) without too much concious thought, and also leads the eye down to the next paragraph, and so on, and so forth. This allows the reactionary sub-literate "prose" of the writer to be assimilated, and tricks your average Sun reader into thinking he/she is "reading" - the worrying thing is, their stupefying reports are percieved as "news", and frequently passed on verbatim as "fact". Luckily, however, we do still have some quality newspapers, such as The Observer, and The Independant, who, whilst not 100% unbiased (Whoops, sorry Peter - slipped in a double-negative there), are at least consistently well written and allow the reader to reach an informed conclusion. ------------- 
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: threefates
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 08:30
------------- THIS IS ELP 
|
Posted By: Beau Heem
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 08:34
|
I'm happy that my outburst opened up a little conversation here. Don't worry guys, I do read the Telegraph almost daily (to further my language skills etc.). The funny part is that I've held a copy of the Sun dozens (if not hundreds) of times in my hand, knowing that it's a crappy piece of s*it. But it never struck me before, just how really, really, really bad it is. Visiting the internet site for the first time was a true eye-opener (cf list of news headlines in my original post or http://www.thesun.co.uk - www.thesun.co.uk ). To tell you the truth, there are more news stories covered in a customer magazine of the Finnish betting monopoly than there are in the Sun. I am/was supposed to make a contrastive study between the style and the language used in tabloid/broadsheet newspapers and I'm not willing to use a hell of a lot of time to this assignment. I am going for obvious differences, such as word/sentence/paragraph length - you know, the quasi-academic stuff - and I wouldn't need large amounts of articles (if only I could find articles on both papers discussing a single issue). If I cannot find a sufficient number of articles with a "shared" theme or subject, I am forced to use more material from both newspapers (and that's a lot more work to do...). I am kind of hoping that I can find the Celeb Big Bro' stuff from the Telegraph internet site as well, NOT Cheers. -Beau ------------- --No enemy but time-- |
Posted By: sigod
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 08:40
|
The Times and I believe The Independant have versions of their papers
in 'Tabloid size' which is good for reading on the train. However,
nothing beats the great feeling of wandering up to the newsagent on a
Sunday morning, grabbing a Sunday paper with all the magazines/sections
in it, taking it back to your bedroom with a big cup of tea and then
acidentally setting fire to it with part of it with a joss stick and
setting off all the smoke alarms in your house. Well, that's what I did this Sunday anyway.  ------------- I must remind the right honourable gentleman that a monologue is not a decision. - Clement Atlee, on Winston Churchill |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: January 24 2005 at 15:13
|
Tabloid sized quality newspapers are not only useful for train-reading; they also make things a great deal easier when you share your house with two very inquisitive cats, to whom any form of paper is to be pounced upon for the sheer enjoyment of hearing their owner shout such endearments, as
"  off you little "
and "You , I've spilt my tea & knocked the ashtray over, now!"
Well, that's what I did this Sunday anyway.
-------------
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |