Paper Monitor
12:30 UK time, Tuesday, 12 September 2006
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Chartism, Eng Hist, n • political and social reform movement with progressive left-leaning associations; Wall-chartism, n, 21st Century derivation, • fad for handing out free wall charts, chiefly practised by left-leaning newspapers, in a seeming bid to win over competitive parents.
Yes, the Guardian and the Independent are slugging it out again in the wall-chart wars. Today's offering from the former depicts the "Trees of Britain", although given the summer drought, children would doubtless struggle to recognise these splendidly verdant examples when compared to the droopy yellowing species that populate many a park and garden Down South. And, come to think of it, how many arboreal beauties will have been sacrificed to make all these wall charts?
The Indy, meanwhile, offers a Guide to Our Solar System wall chart. Full marks to the paper for including the recent re-classification of Pluto, and the rider that states "Sizes of planets and distances from the Sun are not to scale" might seem a tad obvious, but given the Indy's zeal for global warming stories of late, its readers will appreciate the notice.
All this is wholesome, educative stuff compared to the free DVDs that are being dished out by the tabloids at the moment. And Paper Monitor can't help but wonder how tomorrow's Daily Mail – which has given away truck-loads of kids' DVDs in recent months - plans to follow up today's Daily Telegraph lead about how modern childhood is blighted by junk culture, a symptom of which is watching too much TV.
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