C’s Judgement Was Right
One of the characters on the periphery of the phone hacking was well known by C, my late wife. They sat on a committee together and she had a very low opinion of him and felt he wouldn’t rise to the level everybody said he would. He hasn’t! He did at least write me a letter of condolence when C died.
Advertising In The News of the Screws
The Times yesterday published a list of the major advertisers in the News of the Screws since the beginning of the year.
Some of the companies I’ve never heard of, so it just shows what a waste of money some advertising is.
Here are a few points.
- Sky spent the most.
- The second highest spender was everything everywhere. Who the hell are they?
- The next few were companies like Boots, O2 and P&G, with a few other companies that I don’t use like Proctor and Gamble, Tesco, Asda and Vodafone.
- The next was a company called Shop Direct. See point 2.
- Some of the rest were respected companies like BT, Vauxhall, Dixons, B & Q and Unilever.
- At the botton was T J Hughes and Specsavers. The first of these is now bust and the latter probably does better with its TV adverts.
I know I don’t ever read adverts, but you can read what you like into this list.
Some companies advertising policies really work, as I don’t, know who everything everywhere, Shop Direct and another called Harveys are. I’m assuming the latter isn’t the sherry maker, as no-one drinks sherry these days.
Fleet Street’s Darkest Hour
You’d think it would be now, but read this piece on the BBC web site.
Note that even George Orwell got in on the act.
Popbitch Was Late This Week
Usually I get Popbitch on a Thursday, but this week’s edition turned up today.
It has an interesting piece on the News of the Screws, which if the story is true, gives a whole new meaning to phone hacking.
Has Rebekah Brooks Been Sacked?
You can find out here.
Is The Public To Blame For The Antics of Tabloid Newspapers?
I don’t like the celebrity culture and to paraphrase the evil doctor, when I see any celebrity culture, I reach for my off switch or turn the other way.
About the only time I have anything to do with it, is when I hear some Z-lister being named in the media, I might search the Internet to see who they are. But that is as far as it goes! I do read the obituaries in quality papers, as I’m interested in what makes people tick or worth remembering.
I will also admit to buying the Sun occasionally. Of the tabloids, with the exception of the Evening Standard, it is the only one with any sensible horse racing coverage.
But as to most of the dross they print, about celebrities, I have no interest, except where there is a serious side, like with superinjunctions and business practices, that may have cost us all dear as taxpayers.
To me the tabloids are summed up by this true story.
I was at the Ipswich Inter Milan match in the San Siro, when I found myself sitting next to a journalist, who worked for one of the more outrageous tabloids. We chatted about various topics concerning football and Ipswich in particular and I can’t remember how it came up, but we started discussing my coeliac disease. I then said that the statistics indicated that there must be at least one footballer, who must be a coeliac. I suggested it might make a story, as it might help those with the disease. He then said that the readers of his rag wouldn’t be interested. But if I knew a footballer who was gay, then that would be a very valuable story.
So do these crap newspapers exit because it’s what the general public wants. Or at least what they think they want?
I’ll put in a true story from way back and incidentally from before anybody in the UK had heard of Rupert Murdoch.
During the enquiry into the Profumo Affair, which was held in public, only one newspaper printed the proceedings in full. It was The Times and they printed it because they said they were a newspaper of record and it was their duty.
Sales soared!
The News of the Screws Screws Itself
The News of the Screws has been a good earner, but after this weekend, it will be no more.
I suppose though, that it will reinvent itself as something like the Sun on Sunday!
I shall not be bothered if we don’t see a replacement.
It’s funny but if you type “news of the screws” into Google, you get the News of the World web site! And newsofthescrews.com and newsofthescrews.co.uk are both registered to News International.
Is The News of the Screws Too Powerful For Advertisers To Boycott?
I haven’t read the News of the Screws in years. Advertisers are boycotting the paper because of their hacking of mobile phones.
But is this counter productive and against the best interests of the so-called readers of the paper? Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert has said on Radio 5, that he will to continue to write a column for the paper. He stated the reason was that as a crusading journalist, who fights against financial abuse, the best way he can get his message over is in the largest circulation, English language paper in the world. He also said that this week his column would carry a message deploring the hacking.
I admire his stance and understand his point. After all, if you’re a crusading journalist it matters to you, whether you get your message over or not.
It’s the same with the Central Office of Information, who are one of Britain’s biggest advertisers. Should they pull their advertising of such things as benefits and valuable public information from the paper? I suspect they should, as probably News of the Screws readers are too stupid to understand it.
It’s a difficult area and I suspect the best solution would be to impose sanctions against the paper, if any wrongdoing is proved.
The Anonymous Widower 