Your Newspaper Usage

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Now the Observer do a "Women" magazine, are they going to do a "Men"? C'mon. It'd be like Nuts and Grazia for the middle class. (Quite horrible.)

The lifestyle stuff is ridiculous, you're right. I think I dislike The Observer even more than The Guardian as it's crammed full with that shit.

[terminallyrelaxed]

The Guardian actually has some continuity, because it is owned by the Scott Trust:

Formation of the The Scott Trust

The Scott Trust was created in 1936 with two aims in mind. First, to maintain the journalistic and commercial principles pursued by C. P. Scott, the Manchester Guardian's editor of 50 years, and also for many years its proprietor. Second, to avoid crippling death duties. After C. P. Scott's death in 1932, the ownership of the Manchester Guardian and Evening News Limited passed on to his two sons, John Scott and Edward Scott. The latter's sudden death the very same year alerted John Scott to the potentially devastating effect of Inland Revenue demands if he himself were to die as sole owner. To forestall this, he transferred all the ordinary shares in the company into the hands of trustees, thus foregoing any financial benefit in the form of dividends for himself or his heirs. The Trust became owner of the Manchester Guardian and Evening News Limited, which in turn owned the Manchester Guardian and the Manchester Evening News.

The Trust was intended to be more than a mere device for dealing with death duties. John Scott wished to secure the continuity and editorial independence of the Manchester Guardian in the way that his father had shaped it. To do so, in a remarkable act of public benefaction, he voluntarily divested himself and his family of holdings worth over £1 million at that time. The setting up of the Trust resulted in a unique form of press ownership and control in Britain which has now lasted for nearly 70 years.

In 1948, the Scott Trust had to be rapidly reconstituted as according to legal advice the 1936 arrangements permitted the accumulation of income. Had John Scott died whilst those provisions were still in force there would have been a risk of tax liability. Consequently, in November 1948, the Trust was re-formed ?in the spirit of the original agreement'. The beneficiaries of the original Trust - the settlors - handed on their property to the new trustees. At this point, the individual power to appoint trustees - the legacy of Scott family proprietorship - disappeared and the future maintenance of the Trust became a collective act. Following further clarification of the position in 1976, the Scott Trust is now considered by the tax authorities to be an exempt trust current until 2030. The present Scott Trust still operates under the Deed of 1948.

It seems everybody else loves them too, according to theri website:

Guardian Unlimited is the most popular newspaper website in the country, and has one the Webby for the best news website the last two years in a row.

The Observer has won Newspaper Design of the Year, Guardian Unlimited Best Electronic Daily Newspaper and the Guardian Print Centre Newspaper Printer of the Year at this year's Newspaper Awards.

The Guardian has been named best daily newspaper at the London Press Club Awards while also winning best-designed national newspaper at the European Newspaper Awards.

[Purple Tentacle]

Yeah, the Guardian website is excellent, I'll give them that.

Apart from the fucking pop-up ads that follow you down the cunting page.

[terminallyrelaxed]

Apart from the fucking pop-up ads that follow you down the cunting page.

I don't get those, and I haven't even blocked pop-ups, must just not be any today....

[fanny splendid]

The Guardian, but only on Mondays, particularly the 1st of May, 2006.






...pages 6&7.

[sproggy]

I abstained from buying the fucking issue edited by Bono Vox as well, the big cunt.

His Izzard interview was rather good actually as was the Blair and Brown grilling.

I used to have the same attitude towards him but then I stepped back and thought how many other multi-millionaire rock stars would bang on and on about Africa's AIDS problem long after the initial media buzz wore off?

I reckon he's actually being genuine in trying to give something back.

[Neville Chamberlain]

The Guardian, but only on Mondays, particularly the 1st of May, 2006.






...pages 6&7.

???

[sproggy]

He's a big famous artist now.

I'm surprised he even talks to any of us anymore.

[hands cold, liver warm]

The Guardian, but only on Mondays, particularly the 1st of May, 2006.






...pages 6&7.

???

it's desperate self-promotion

[terminallyrelaxed]

The Guardian, but only on Mondays, particularly the 1st of May, 2006.

...pages 6&7.

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (696 words)
Football: Championship: Nugent's return boosts Preston who gain upper hand in mind games

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (51 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: World Cup hopeful

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (594 words)
Football: Boothroyd downbeat but Watford are in the running

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (94 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: Sir Clive Woodward's coaching clinic

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (364 words)
Football: Premiership: Powell pays tribute to an 'outstanding coach'

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (564 words)
Football: Scottish Premiership: Hartley keeps Hearts on a high with Euro hopes on the horizon
By: Ewan Murray, Tynecastle

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (623 words)
Football: Warnock tips Dowie to join Blades in top flight:

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (182 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: Four-pint pundit

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (809 words)
Football: Premiership: Clapped-out Curbishley has plans only to look 10 years younger
By: David Lacey, The Valley

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (45 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: Long haul or local? Barwick's business

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (94 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: Strictly come coaching

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (63 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: On the bench

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (990 words)
Media: On the press: Bruised it may be, but there's fight in the old rag yet

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (101 words)
Football: Premiership: Clogger: Fantasy chairman

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (1186 words)
Media: New direction after Dimbleby: The departure of the Sunday show presenter gives ITV an ideal opportunity to take a fresh look at the way it presents and delivers politics

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (527 words)
Media: On the press

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 7 - (181 words)
Government crisis: Matter of opinion

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (773 words)
Government crisis: Reshuffle: PM left with little room to manoeuvre

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (700 words)
Media: Radio: Why the stakes are so high for Capital's new boss

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (754 words)
Government crisis: Prescott faces inquiry into abuse of perks: Lover's tabloid diary triggers Tory call for investigation

01 May 2006: The Guardian - Page 6 - (1948 words)
G2: Battle lines: After two privileged white students were charged last month with raping a black stripper at a spring break party, it turned into a scandal that rocked America. Once again, the US finds itself divided on the basis of race, class and gender

Well, thanks for sharing....

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

There's one person who has Prescott to thank.

[Spingles]

Waspy:

I guess the only people who really buy the Observer-guardian are people who are pseudo lefties in the core but run a huge company, or are doctors / lawyers etc.

But regarding capitalism, a lefty has to join them to beat them, surely?

[Mr. Analytical]

I mostly read the Indie but if bored I will read the Times because I think it continues to be an excellent newspaper.  I can't read the Guardian purely because of the tone the editorials are written in.

That and Julie Burchill... and Zoe Williams... and Sam Wollaston... and Polly Toynbee when she isn't writing about religion.

The Indie has the intersexual teenager Johann Hari who writes in a similar tone but they also get Brute Anderson who more than redresses the balance.

[Ciarán2]

I cast my vote as The Times, but I do buy The Independent and Guardian from time to time. I buy The Times on Friday's because I like T2 on a Friday, Bob Stanley does a column sometimes.

[slim]

Julie Burchill...

I thought she was at the Times now?

[terminallyrelaxed]

Yeah she is, thank Christ. They probably need her brand of unconsidered  ravings to offset Rees-Mogg's doddering bygone-era verdicts.

[Mr. Analytical]

Is she?  well I must admit, I haven't been bored enough to get the Times recently.

[hands cold, liver warm]

I find very few articles in newspapers that interest me, they are all about dull aspects of modern culture that I don't care about. The ones that get me are those columns in which some dull aspect of culture is taken to have some enormous importance for society, like "Paris Hilton is the new emiline pankhurt - no really!!" The columnist blathers on how paris hilton is a great feminist and how the columnist  is the only one to have spotted this, thus proving that he/she is greater than all the other columnists in the world.

And the few important stories in papers are either blown out of all proportion or understated, both outcomes emerging from the fact that most journalists are completely ignorant about what they are writing about, can't be arsed to read up about it but desperately want to convince the reader that "THIS IS THE TRUTH".

and the fact that verbwhores are now getting their work publised in national newspapers only confirms their crapness

[terminallyrelaxed]

And the few important stories in papers are either blown out of all proportion or understated, both outcomes emerging from the fact that most journalists are completely ignorant about what they are writing about, can't be arsed to read up about it but desperately want to convince the reader that "THIS IS THE TRUTH".

Well thats mostly true for tabloid journalists but the broadsheets are a bit different. They all have researchers and libraries and the columnists are usually experts in their field, or at least experts at being journaists in their field. Broadsheets tend to operate at a loss (making up the revenue with subsidiaries and new media etc) so theres less chance of pressure from above a la Murdoch etc as they generally have an ethos and (well, maybe not the Telegraph) a code of conduct. Even the broadsheets aren't immune from this perception though as they (in my view) are let down by all the half-baked opinion and slice of life stuff, the reaction pieces, Rees-Mogg, Burchill, Zoe White etc. I almost feel for these people as they often have to produce something at very short notice without having time to check whether they are contradicting one of their earlier rants, but then I remember that Burchill doesn't even think about what she's going to write while she's actually writing it.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

What is there for the centre-ist 26 year old male who doesn't feel particuarly guilty about how they live their lives, but doesn't believe that all coloureds and gays are immoral cancers upon Britain for the British society?

I thought The Guardian was that paper. Anyone who's read the Weekend mag recently will confirm that there's very little anti-capitalist guilt within its pages. The 'Modern Parents' stereotype of The Guardian is soooooo 1991.

[Almost Yearly]

When I'm a designer I take the Guardian, when I'm doing removals it's the Sport. I'd rather spend time with Julie Burchill (48DD) than Zoe Williams (36B).

[Mister Cairo]

Guardian or Independent, depending on which one is the less shit that day.
"Our Woman In Crouch End" is the worst column I have ever seen. I could write a column about my day: Woke up late, got dressed to David Bowie, checked e-mails, took train in to campus, went to health centre, got chased by a mad tramp to the station, went home. I could flesh that out to make it more exciting that Deborah Ross's smug twaddle.

I buy Private Eye every fortnight without fail.

[The Mumbler]

"Our Woman In Crouch End" is the worst column I have ever seen.

Fucking seconded.  After buying The Independent fairly faithfully in the late 80s, I hadn't really paid much attention, switching to The Guardian until it became truly unbearable about five years back, but in the past couple of years, I seemed to see Deborah Ross's appalling celebrity profiles constantly (remember the Iannucci one where she wouldn't shut it about Pebble Mill?).  Then the other week, I was catching a train, picked up The Independent for something to read, and nearly spilt my coffee with horror at the fact that she's still taken seriously enough to fill a page of her own.  Dreadful dreadful dreadful woman with her twittering gushing North London crud.

[Mister Cairo]

I also hate the way all the stuff advertised in the Guardian Weekend Magazine is so pricey, it's like a subconcious message that people like you are too poor to be the target audience. The only people who can afford to spend £800 on a fucking chair aren't going to have Guardian-style politics are they? No they all read the Telegraph and vote Conservative because they are worried about high tax rates for the rich. But they want to pretend that they are trendy and unstuffy so they scatter copies of the Guardian.

I've got a Weekend to hand, and in it I can see advertised a £120 blanket, a £450,000 house and a £150 ice cube maker. Zoe Williams has a good sneer at Beckett for her enjoyment of caravanning. For me, liking something that normal people like is Beckett's only redeming feature.

Oh, and did your paper sell 15,000 more copies than its rival? Do you think that makes you look the greatest paper in the world? It's a sign of insecurity and doesn't make your paper any better.

Rebecca Tyrrel's in my Independent Extra today, writing about her tediously smug life.

Matthew's in the shed gazing blankly into space. I said I'd call a doctor-but he won't tell me what's wrong.

He finally got around to reading your excuse for a column.

[slim]

YES. Sock it to them, comrades. Most journalism in this country is poor. Long may this thread live.

[The Mumbler]

Actually, here's my basic problem with newspapers: Take a subject I know something about, and the average newspaper article concerning that subject is riddled with errors and woolly argument.  If that's on a subject where I have some knowledge and insight, what about subjects of which I know little or virtually nothing?  Is that going to be error-ridden too, only I won't know?

[Purple Tentacle]

What is there for the centre-ist 26 year old male who doesn't feel particuarly guilty about how they live their lives, but doesn't believe that all coloureds and gays are immoral cancers upon Britain for the British society?

I thought The Guardian was that paper. Anyone who's read the Weekend mag recently will confirm that there's very little anti-capitalist guilt within its pages. The 'Modern Parents' stereotype of The Guardian is soooooo 1991.

But the Guardian makes me descend into a frothing rage. Is it really the paper for me? I don't know who I am any more!!! Which paper am I???? I'm like Dave Schneidre's Anthony in TDT...'I'VE GOT THE MIRROR!!!!'


Actually, I used to quite like the Mirror back in 2001 when it went all 'serious'. Then it went shit again when people like me started buying it.

[Mr. Analytical]

I also hate the way all the stuff advertised in the Guardian Weekend Magazine is so pricey

 That's because the Guardian is the paper of the 30-something upper-middle class university educated.  Also known as Thatcher's Children.

  They talk about how current German generations feel no remorse for the actions of the Nazis, I wonder if something similar isn't happening here re: colonialism.  I bought the red edition of the Indie edited by Bono and I threw it away after a few pages because I got so annoyed.

 That's without mentionning the Indie's increasingly strident, uneducated and senseless bleating about the environment and the horror of nuclear power.

[sproggy]

That's without mentionning the Indie's increasingly strident, uneducated and senseless bleating about the environment and the horror of nuclear power.

I wouldn't class it as uneducated or sensless (unless you're quoting  Dr David Bellamy's rant about wind turbines)  Nuclear is seen by many as the easy option, it's old technology that works but at a possible catastrophic risk to the environment.

I'm in favour of a mixture of nuclear and renewable.  The problem as I see it is that a lot of companies involved in developing renewable energy technology are worried about the possible loss of UK government money or incentive to development new, greener technology if they plump for the nuclear option.  Nuclear is a quick (single generation) fix that won't necessarily address the longer term problem.