Win. Free. Sex.
Newspapers report. Their main purpose are to tell us things that we can not see or hear on our own. They are the link between events out in the world and us being somewhat stuck wherever we are.
Newspapers report. At least the broadsheets. The 'real' newspapers a friend of mine once called them. Then we've got the red tops. The 'newspapers' with a red masthead. The Sun, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror etc.. More known to deliver entertainment than raw news. But can we actually say that they deliver news - whether it is raw, important news or entertainment - when we do not even know if what they put in their newspaper is true or not. Really, it seems they would do anything to report on an event. Even report on something someone tells them without even checking their sources and confirm them to be true...
Win. Free. Sex.
But why do we read these papers then? If we actually do not know whether the stories are real, fake or spiced up a bit? Chris explained in The One Show that tabloids, and especially the Sun, are like fast food. "It's spicy, it's cheap, it's great fun. But if you only ever ate fast food, you'd have a problem. And if you only ever have read the Sun, you'd also have a problem."
Win. Free. Sex.
Anyone who bought the Sunday Times yesterday? Or at least saw it in the supermarket? To be honest, I was well surprised by the front page. FREE DVD inside and ...SEX... welcomed me to the Sunday edition. I did not just get the Sun, did I? Because these words are what I expect to see when picking up a copy of one of the previously mentioned red tops. But I do not expect to pick up a broadsheet and face a red-topilisation of it.
Win. Free. Sex.
The only word I could not seem to find grazing the cover was the word WIN. A red top seems to be built like that. With these three words to lure readers to pick their 'newspaper' - because who does not like to Win Free Sex?
Win. Free. Sex.
So what is actually happening to the Times? Has this been going on for a while? Have I just come to realise that the Times have used this red topped method for quite some time? Or has it sneaked in there this Sunday only? I'm very eager to follow this up. Can we stop the newspaper society turning red topped - or is it already too late?
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1 comment:
thanks for spotting a Win Free Sex front page - the Sunday Times is a tabloid really - same as the Timed - a snobbish tabloid really. What a shame for such a once great paper, edited by Harry Evans and employing Robert Fisk as a reporter.
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