Why Is Real News Hidden Away ?

[paraffin]

The Sunday papers are awash with photos and reports either of the funeral of a so-called "reality TV star" or with a WAG going to the Grand National.
Then, hidden away on an inside page, at the bottom, is a single column report of a young Asian man murdered yesterday by five other men in an alleyway in Slough.

The horrific details reveal that the pepetrators used either an axe or machete to disembowel their victim as well as hacking off two of his fingers.

Obviously not newsworthy enough to make the front pages!

[Julnar]

It is sad that our newspapers have become obsessed with celebrities and have reduced their interest in hard news to nothing more than sound bite journalism. Where are the modern day equivalents of John Pilger, or Bernstein and Woodward?

[Postdog]

I have not got a sunday paper for over 10 years, but from what I can recall, they were never about news.

Sounds sarcastic I know, but I do take your point anyway.

[terambulan]

the perpetrators were also asians - slough/sloo (as yanks say) has knife crime on a daily basis.

[tiggerblue10]

Like Postdog I don't buy papers. I have only ever bought souvenir editions. The last one I bought had pictures of the total eclipse of the sun in 1999. II think that was the year anyway.

I just watch the news on tv.

[Lilac-Neet]

I agree totally with your take on the papers. I haven't bought one for a long time and never intend to again. I'm hoping that as more and more people turn to the internet for news that they eventually go out of business.

I only wish that certain news groups on the web would do their research a bit better, report the truth and not just go along with a point of view because it's the one that people expect.

[Whickerman]

I'm guessing that the papers you buy are printed on paper, but that's where the comparison to newspapers end.

Forget the NOTW, People etc. Try the Sunday Times - far superior, entertaining, and with a huge level of news

[Whickerman]

I've just realised how condescending my answer sounds! Sorry.

I used to get those papers, but made the change one day and never looked back

[DSnewsKE]

Sluff Bucks. Nuff said.

[R1Geezer]

papers will print what sells, simple. Purile celeb obsessed drivel must be what sells and as such what people want to buy.QED The public dictates what they print.

[trt]

Any links to this story paraffin.
nothing in my Sunday papers?

[JimmyCooper]

It depends on which newspaper you buy.

NOTW, Mirror, people etc are comics and are basically hello magazine.

I used to read the Sunday times but it took me all day lol

[legendis.god]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/arti cle2360275.ece



Ooops seems its been reported in that great broadsheet.


THE SUN.


I get your point but sometimes ou need to look past the headlines , sometimes a bad headline can sell a paper and other times it can have a negative effect on sales.


?�? did that help �?�

[legendis.god]

to be fair as it happened after 1am on sunday morning , mos first editions would miss it but it may have been reported in othter later editions.

[sp1814]

That's the answer...if you want real news and analysis, get your hands on The Economist, Observer, Financial Times, The Spectator, The Independent, The Times, Telegraph etc.

Leave The Sun, Mirror, Mail, Express, Daily Star alone because their market demographic has a higher appreciation and appreciation of pop culture.

Problem is - you'd probably get a bit bored just reading 'the heavy stuff' and would eventually find that you have nothing to talk to your mates about...because whilst they are making jokes about 'crossing Jordan', your only frame of reference would be the current political instability affecting King Abdullah II...!!!

[legendis.god]

Sorry sp1814.

The sun is a monday to saturday paper .
And its reported it in the first possible edition.


Maybe you never saw my post?�

[Quinlad]

Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but this is in danger of sounding like intellectual snobbery.

I agree that the lack of curiosity is depressing. And birdie's right to say that Horizon - a show that used to be the best science documentary on TV - has been woeful for about 2 years.

But I don't see anything wrong with reporting on lighter subjects that people have an interest in. A paper has to entertain as well as inform. And ignoring the zeitgeist and the public mood in order to forcefeed us hard facts seems out of touch.

If you take your argument to its natural conclusion, there's not much that isn't frivolous. News that centres on life and death, health, justice, freedom should be reported. But what else?

What if the Rolling Stones split up? What if Jimmy Hill became Manchester United manager? What if the Angel of The North was dismantled? What if every stand-up comedy club closed down? What if Carol Vorderman wets herself live on the One Show?

Does they really matter? In fact, what does matter? Does the mortgage crisis in the UK matter a jot compared to what's happening in Darfur? If not, should it be ignored?

I'm not being argumentative for the sake of it. I just mean, if England won the World Cup on the same day as it recorded the highest ever number of rapes, which would make the front page? Which should make the front page?

[pastafreak]

I have always gotten my news from the Times,and more recently, the Telegraph. Both are excellent at delivering not only world news,but also regional-with a fair number of 'quirky' stories that will not make it to tv news. If it takes me several days to read the Sunday editions with all their varied sections...well,I feel as if I have gotten my money's worth.
If I want to dumb down....15 min with the Mail is more than enough.

[sp1814]

Furthermore, if you want a good documentary, head off to BBC4.

I've literally not seen a single bad documentary on that channel.

One of the reason why the major channels are dumbing down is because they're all chasing smaller and smaller audiences. There are something like 250 digital tv channels. They all rely on advertising for survival, so they aren't going to sling a documentary about the Russian revolution in a prime time slot.

They need large audiences, and 'Homes From Hell', and 'Road Rage' is the way they're going to get them.

[DanAB]

i wouldnt say that it is a problem with the newspapers, but rather one of society. we have become a celebrity driven society where finding out the latest juicy gossip is more important than actual news.