Londoners still getting the papers they don't deserve.
You really have to admire the breath-taking chutzpah of the London Paper, owned by that notorious progressive, Rupert Murdoch:
Strange then that this great country has not grown tired of a newspaper that has long abused its monopoly to portray the most vibrant, dynamic country on earth in a negative, reactionary light then, isn't it?
While the above could apply to both the Daily Mail and the Sun (and only they could describe this country as the most vibrant and dynamic on earth while in the next leader comment denouncing welfare scum), the only reason that Evening Standard has been sold off is because the market itself was collapsing even before the arrival of the new free papers. All of the London daily newspapers are dreadful, including the Standard, but the Standard was the least worst because it actually contained the odd piece of news. The London Paper and London Lite by contrast aren't newspapers, they're celebrity freesheets, filled with utter crap stolen from the daillies and the other stuff that even the Mail and the Sun won't print. The only reason TLP could be in the slightest described as non-reactionary is because it doesn't contain any political views, or comment; if it did, you can rest assured that it would the same low-rent garbage that appears in the Sun or Mail.
In those circumstances, you could describe the sale of the Standard as a triumph for News International. After all, what they've always wanted is either no political comment whatsoever, or political comment so skewed to the right that the average 3-year-old can blow holes through it. Both intrisincally defend the status quo, which is want Murdoch wants more than anything.
News International's the London Paper ran a full-page house ad yesterday gloating about the sale of rival title the London Evening Standard to Alexander Lebedev "for the price of a chocolate bar".
...
Branding the sale of a 75.1% share in the Evening Standard by Lord Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail & General Trust, as a "fire sale", the ad claims the reason is simple – that "Londoners wanted the paper they deserved".
Strange then that this great country has not grown tired of a newspaper that has long abused its monopoly to portray the most vibrant, dynamic country on earth in a negative, reactionary light then, isn't it?
While the above could apply to both the Daily Mail and the Sun (and only they could describe this country as the most vibrant and dynamic on earth while in the next leader comment denouncing welfare scum), the only reason that Evening Standard has been sold off is because the market itself was collapsing even before the arrival of the new free papers. All of the London daily newspapers are dreadful, including the Standard, but the Standard was the least worst because it actually contained the odd piece of news. The London Paper and London Lite by contrast aren't newspapers, they're celebrity freesheets, filled with utter crap stolen from the daillies and the other stuff that even the Mail and the Sun won't print. The only reason TLP could be in the slightest described as non-reactionary is because it doesn't contain any political views, or comment; if it did, you can rest assured that it would the same low-rent garbage that appears in the Sun or Mail.
In those circumstances, you could describe the sale of the Standard as a triumph for News International. After all, what they've always wanted is either no political comment whatsoever, or political comment so skewed to the right that the average 3-year-old can blow holes through it. Both intrisincally defend the status quo, which is want Murdoch wants more than anything.
Labels: bullshit, Evening Stanard, media analysis, News International, Rupert Murdoch, The London Paper
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