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To suggest that the ‘News of the World’ is a family newspaper would be stretching the truth just a little as it covers an awful lot of scandal and nonsense in it’s pages (mainly any of the perm-four-from-five
subjects of sex, drugs, alcohol, money OR violence), granted ... Read review
Advantages: ‘Sunday’ magazine and perhaps, the sports section, .... Disadvantages: Occasional slices of hypocrisy AND the stench of sensationalism
...profiles of celebrities in the news with such thorough dissection and hateful precison of their personalities, one can only assume that they allow Burchill’s presence because like ‘GQ’, they can boast that they had an established writer of note writing for them (in that case, may I recommend in all seriousness Giles Brandeth who may be ridiculed by many for his woolly jumpers BUT as a writer he makes worthwhile reading and his political ... ...it’s unsubtle attempts to provide news stories that aren’t news (Kate Beckinsale’s ‘secret’ film past is in a long line of up and coming film starlets whose past
have come to ‘haunt’ them....that’s what the ‘NotW’ aims at....titillation for men).
More scary than the idea of George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’, the 'NotW' is a newspaper geared for men BUT ... more
If in doubt, put up campaigns that people will find impossible to argue against AND creatively steal other peoples’ ideas.
To suggest that the ‘News of the World’ is a family newspaper would be stretching the truth just a little as it covers an awful lot of scandal and nonsense in it’s pages (mainly any of the perm-four-from-five subjects of sex, drugs, alcohol, money OR violence), granted it occasionally features the odd human interest story BUT the sense of ‘awe’ it must inspire to readers as the latest celebrity gets broilly involved in some ‘unfortunate’ incident makes the ‘News of the World’ a far sinister read then most readers are willing to acknowledge (a sense of the unwashed LOOKING DOWN on the ‘great’ and the ‘good’ perhaps!?)..
The ‘News of the World’ is merely a facade as a scandal and gossip sheet, aiming to popularise it’s appeal by stating it’s intentions up front (lo betide those who disagree with them for they are to cast as evil and ne’er-do-wells who simply disagree with them just because) with indigneous boasts of ‘WORLD EXCLUSIVE’ or ‘EXCLUSIVE’ (Mind you, Carol Vorderman, for example has put a brave face AND supported the odd campaign or two of the 'NotW'....Michael Barrymore was never a big fan....).
Far better than it’s international nemesis ‘The National Enquirer’ which covers similar ground BUT is far more gaudy and unreceptive (they’re prepared to stick their necks out though so FAIR PLAY to them even if the stories rise little above the unbelievable truth that are ‘The Sun’/’The Sport’).
Dropping features after a few weeks simply because they can’t admit they’re wrong (Rav Singh in the ‘Rav’ column promised that he would reveal the CIN singles chart’s top three selling records EVERY week....he quit after two weeks after ‘predicting’ Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ would outsell Atomic Kitten’s ‘Whole Again’....not as bad as the fecking ‘The Sun’ who after proudly boasting it’s ‘The Official Survivor Newspaper’ has quit, switching it’s allegiences to being ‘The Official Big Brother Newspaper’....mind you, I haven’t seen any ‘support’ JUST report).
Have you any stories you’re willing to tell for very little money about someone you despise, close to you!? It appals me that such things occur (the worse thing is that people are willing to ‘sell out’....it proves the adage ‘Put your friends close BUT your enemies closer’ a bit ironic then....even worse, is it’s ‘people who’ve slept with celebrities’ stories which invariably will crop up which readers will either find a GUILTY PLEASURE and an insight into all those celebrities that people fantasise about (maybe you have, I don’t know....) or disrespectful and ambigious (as I do). It sells papers and that's the things that count.
Filled with snaps from ‘celebrities’ copping off with loved ones usually ‘stolen’ moments of them at the beach or ppol-side at a hotel (I know they have long-lenses BUT more likely it’s surveillance cameras too....it is already planned in advance? Are the celebrities themselves in on it? Do they care?).
The campaigns they run are blase NOT ballsy and just blah, sensationalistic....’Sarah’s Law’ and ‘Megan’s Law’ worthwhile causes though they are makes you want to go ‘Duh!’. Yes, campaigning against paedophiles won’t have any critics BUT getting celebrities to get in on the deal is bad taste (in comparison to the seemingly restrained ‘The Indpendent On Sunday’s ill-advised stance on what was then, a campaign to legalise marijuana....nobody cared).
’Cash & Parry’ who proudly proclaim to be ‘The People’s Champions’ who do rarely little BUT brighten up the life of some unfortunate person who needs to overcome some illness OR disability....to beat about who this ‘Captain Cash’ would be absurd though and a bad sense of moral judgement as they do, do a good job BUT it rarely gets trumped up like the other pieces in this paper.
Any saving grace come variantly in two forms....the ‘News of the World’ has writers of occasional note who write very partisan pieces that neither you feel should be treated seriously as they think they should be OR any respect. Chris Buckland is the incumbent political columnist replacing Sion Simon who wrote well-argued pieces for ‘The Daily Telegraph’ when he turned to the ‘NotW’ to write pathetic half-page soundbites. Chris Buckland like Richard Stott before him feel rabid and old hat (and old news).
Worryingly one of my favourite writers (though I rarely agree with her) Julie Burchill writes occasional profiles of celebrities in the news with such thorough dissection and hateful precison of their personalities, one can only assume that they allow Burchill’s presence because like ‘GQ’, they can boast that they had an established writer of note writing for them (in that case, may I recommend in all seriousness Giles Brandeth who may be ridiculed by many for his woolly jumpers BUT as a writer he makes worthwhile reading and his political insight and acute AND sharp cynicism is easier to digest and belies the chumminess that is shown on say, ‘Countdown’).
The recent addition of ‘Dr. Pam Spurr’ as it’s resident ‘sex therapist’ in their ‘sex clinic’ seems delibrately designed to titillate (it almost certainly is) AND not really practical as anything you might have read in say, that standard that is ‘Cosmopolitan’ (it doesn’t feel out of place there....even in the ‘NotW’, I’d want them to show a bit of a restraint).
What’s the difference between ‘Dear Deidre’ in ‘The Sun’ and ‘Dear Jane’ in the ‘NotW’!? Absolutely very little as they’re both agony aunts with ‘photo casebooks’ BUT Jane is far more cutting, unhelpful and rude AND the subject matter’s more morally deviant (the calibre of reader that read ‘The Sun’ and the ‘NotW’ may reflect here....).
The sports feature at the back called ‘Sin Bin’ is pure men’s magazine type stuff with it’s ‘editor’ Martin Daubney and it’s crude depiction for ‘gorgeous sportswomen’ (with accompanying photos....you should have read what was the 'real' reason why men watch women's tennis....frank? Truthful? God knows....) and a wacky look at sports stories around the world. With a tremendous emphasis on football though, it’s ideal for that one aspect BUT other sports are rarely covered with such tenacity and conviction that it’s almost ‘nouveau cuisine’. Shame and their collage of sports results is merely the ones THEY think YOU should know RATHER than thorough coverage (football, again is the only one they treat with any respect with a separate pullout as well called 'Score!').
Out of all the columnists (here comes my first of the saving graces....) my favourite if any is Ally Ross, a Scottish TV reviewer with a knack for belittling remarks and rude soundbites that should keep Garry Bushell on his toes (not to say, a firm knowledge for the phone number of his lawyer as Ally ‘steals’ his format of reviewing as many shows as possible in snippets....some may argue that Charlie Catchpole has the ‘copyright’ to that format....they should know better).
And as for ‘Ross and Ronay’....they get paid for what they write!? It’s when you go beyond the halfway point that you feel a sense of relief as the perspective shifts onto sensibility with Peter Prendergast’s ‘Money Matters’ column and Richard Jackson’s gardening column ‘Dig’, genuinely practical advice BUT unfortunately brief.
Papered over the cracks are ‘tidbits’ around the articles which invariably are cribbed from other sources as they’re the ‘wacky’ stuff that occurs from around the world (ain’t too proud to rip-off their sister paper ‘The Sun’ either....).
The ‘NotW’s ‘Sunday’ magazine’s style and format is a blatant rip-off of ‘Heat’ (also a rip-off of sister paper 'The Sun') which it once gave a 4 out of 10 rating....that’s s’funny ‘NotW’, why are you using it’s typeface and design for your TV listings then?
Inbetween (and here’s the second of my saving graces....) is the type of stuff that’s meat and two veg for women’s magazines such as health and beauty treatment and food recipes BUT done in such a way that the info is fresh and new as it’s very witty captions in it’s photo gallery of celebrities called ‘Snap Happy’ regularly proves. Elsewhere, are the usual fodder of human interest stories of triumph over adversity OR freak occurences that form an all-too-easy grin on your face.
Coming as the ‘supplement’ in the ‘NotW’, combined with the newspaper itself, it’s tremendous value.
The ‘News of the World’ overall feels it’s the fountain of all knowledge and when it is proved they’re fallible, they’re unapologetic about it and carry on with the next thing as though it never happened....where it is partisan it is merely patronising (oh, and of course, wrong....).
Nobody has the guts to tell Britain’s biggest selling Sunday newspaper what to do and where they should stick it. :-P
In it’s letters page recently, you have to worry that someone has wrote in for £10 saying:
“Mel B’s story proves yet again that wealth, fame and popularity don’t always go with happiness. No doubt she’ll get more taunts in future, mainly from people jealous about her good fortune. But now she has the metal strength, hopefully, to withstand it”.
I don’t see anybody sniping about Nicholas Lyndhurst for example, who seems to have been able to keep quiet about his private life brilliantly (apart from his ‘secret’ wedding). The reason why Mel B is being subjected to such treatment is that newspapers like the ‘NotW’ are printing defamatory stories such as they’ve spent lots of money on buying a house (as the ‘NotW’ has) AND then printing stories about their past in order to gain sympathy for themselves and their chosen subject.
My hostility for the ‘NotW’ resides as much as it’s unsubtle attempts to provide news stories that aren’t news (Kate Beckinsale’s ‘secret’ film past is in a long line of up and coming film starlets whose past have come to ‘haunt’ them....that’s what the ‘NotW’ aims at....titillation for men).
More scary than the idea of George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’, the 'NotW' is a newspaper geared for men BUT bought by a tremendous amount of housewives, it’s ultimate saving grace AND cause for popularity is it’s price which makes it very convenient. A more trite and unfortunate reason is people WANT to read salicious gossip on celebrities and DON'T want news that's been reported on TV in more detail (a churlish point that one....sometimes for instance, a 'bombing' may prompt the 'NotW' to do a thorough report).
In the end, I am reading the WRONG newspaper, I’m not a puritan BUT it’s intentions are hardly pure, it’s values are inverted as much as they are subverted and that’s one of the many reasons I despise it.
FOOTNOTE: You won't care to know it BUT the editor is Rebekka Wade. Who!? It doesn't matter who she is BUT who's she with....Ross Kemp. Any dirty little stories OR tales of triumph about Ross, you'd like to care to tell us, dear OR is that private!?
Advantages: Lots of gossip and scandal Disadvantages: Most of it is grossly exaggerated
...purchase a copy of the News of the World, you will probably find any such article relegated to page seven or nine.
And so you may ask yourself what eye catching front cover story could possibly be of more interest to the general public than something affecting millions of people worldwide? The answer of course is that Sam from Big Brother has decided to get her boobs out, and furthermore some mad woman maniac has slashed Leonardo Di Capprio.
So ... ...surely be the fatcats at News Group Newspapers who must be laughing all the way to the bank.
So what is the News of the World?
The News of the World is a weekly paper, published every Sunday and sister paper to The Sun. Its origins actually date back to 1843, but you could be easily fooled into thinking that its real surge in recent popularity did not take place until the late 1960's when it gained a reputation for cutting edge journalism, delivering ...
micksheff 24.06.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of News of the World
Advantages: "The sports coverage is great", Silly stories Disadvantages: Evil, money grabbing, manipulative, using scum :)
...news in this quiet summer period, Sarah's fate was closely watched by
the entire nation. I think everybody was upset to some degree when
her dead body was found. Until then, I had every sympathy for the
family of Sarah and shared the concern of those following the story. But then the News of the World (the Sunday version of the Sun, and
owned by News International) did something unforgivable. With very
little evidence and no concern for the ... ...expected to too. But the News of the World ignored the
system in place, and abused the system to an extent that caused
crimes to be comitted against certain people. This is inexcusable, yet
they have been excused. The News of the World disgusted me on two counts. They lead this
campaign that ruined the normal lives some paedophiles had been
working towards, forced people who had paid their debt to society in
prison and been released to go underground ...
Xamis 31.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of News of the World
Advantages: No nonsense sex scandals Disadvantages: all the adverts
...case this newspaper being The News of the World.
Why do I buy it? Well what more could you ask from any one newspaper..... It contains more sex scandals than Jordan's biography will do (and remember sex sells), no huge long words to try and digest, colourful pictures to grab the eye, eye catching headlines, a great sports section and a glossy magazine with all the television details for the week - oh and its only 70p!
This weeks edition which I ... ...a stinging attack from the News of the World onto the Labour Party, a newspaper which defected from supporting the Tories in 1997 to Labour and now it seems they are switching back to the Tories after all Labours lies. (Oh I work for a political party by the way). Then we have a page three shocking story, no page three girls this time, instead we have "Posh Shock" so we read on and no she hasn’t had a shock, we are supposed to be shocked by "New ...
kappaslappa 13.07.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of News of the World
Advantages: great for a Sunday morning hangover Disadvantages: sometimes too sensationalist (if that is possible)
...a worthwhile place on the news shelves.
A prime example - does anyone remember the (ongoing) For Sarah campaign, in memory of murdered toddler Sarah Payne? Editor Rebekah Wade was criticised for naming and shaming perverts but with no other pactical way to know when paedophiles are living in your area, near your kids and schools, I commend her judgement.
The paper DOES give *generous* amounts of coverage to blondes and footballers and 'who shagged ... ...be better off had the News of the World not acted to get them sent down.
Its recent 'Sophiegate' story was followed up by every other daily and Sunday newspaper in Britain - the original idea of the sting was not to trap Sophie, as the Queen and others claimed, but instead to expose that her PR company - and in partiular her business partner - were pedalling her Royal connectons in order to drum up private business. Indeed, the company was found ...
ISmokeMarlboro 11.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of News of the World
Advantages: great if you like sleazy stories Disadvantages: not suitable for the family
...read 'The People', or 'The News of the World'. I always wondered why and didn't think it was 'fair' but I know now!
There is an excellent sports section at the back of this paper which is probably one of its best selling points.
There is a magazine with this paper and it carries pics of celebrities, bits and pieces of gossipy type stories and a TV listing for the week. For just 60p I suppose this good value if you enjoy this type of news story. ... ...the 'everyday world' if I read this paper. Maybe it should be renamed 'Nudes of the World', if the last copy I saw is representative!
I like to keep up to date with the new by watching TV. At least I know that I'm getting a genuine news story! ...
janharper 30.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of News of the World
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While reading teletext I came across what I found to be a witty jibe at the NoW.
Very little news from little of the world - or something to that effect.
This paper should be withdrawn from sale immediately. This as you will remember is the newspaper that published the photographs of the 'known' paedophiles. Don't try to correct me as there were not know, a senior figure from the paper admitted it on 5live that they were 99.99% certain they were paedophiles but with matter as sensitive as that it was not enough. What did they expect the public to do. Those riots on the Paulsgrove estate, I am not surprised Jack Straw did not pass 'Sarah's Law', he was probably unaware that they were asking him to do anything. One of the banners I saw stated;
"Government get pedofiles out".
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Advantages: Local news, for local people Disadvantages: It helps to have the life outlook of Genghis Khan
. AND BOUNCY CASTLES, SOMETIMES'. Never mind reality: we have an editorial policy to consider.
Dear lord, I could go on for hours, what with the rampant Little Englander mentality that nothing's good enough, that it was all so much better when Diana was here, zzzzz. But as one final taster of what the world is like when you're the Cambridge Evening News...a reader sends in a picture of a section of the new Cambridge Guided Bus track. The picture is very foreshortened, and as a result two very minor bumps in the track look much bigger than they actually are. This is deemed worthy of a front page mention ('It looks like a rollercoaster!!' 'NO IT DOESN'T. GO AND SEE A REAL ROLLERCOASTER YOU CLOT...IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT. DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT 'THE CAMBRIDGE GUIDED BUS' IS LIKELY TO INSPIRE TERROR LIKE 'THE NEMESIS' OR 'OBLIVION'? EH? EH ...
CNN is a news channel that has to be one of the best, I love watching it especially Riz Khan Questions and answers. They debate top political issues, like the Middle East and have top political experts.
They have top journalists, who report on different issues. ]
It’s a news station that is shown in so many different countries.
I like watching the sports headlines, as the focus tend to be more on the world as a whole, as they will have sporting news from a range of sports and different countries.
CNN was probably the first news station that we had, and shortly after others popped up. There is a range of programmes on the channel each if which will appeal to different people.
When something major is happening in the world I will know that CNN will be there as that is probably the station I will tune into.
For a free ...
sid 09.01.2001
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