Paper Monitor
10:54 UK time, Monday, 3 December 2007
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Was anyone else shocked - and a bit disappointed, frankly - by just how many clothes Cerys Matthews removed for her front page appearance in yesterday's News of the World? The Daily Mirror shares the feeling apparently (though one can never be sure when rivals criticise each other that they aren't just piqued). It has a thoughtful piece saying: "What has happened to Cerys Matthews? Just two weeks ago she was a genuine music star, a woman who'd survived the heady days of Britpop to emerge, credibility intact, as an acclaimed solo artist.... It's just getting increasingly difficult to remember that the girl posing in her pants used to be one of our most credible music stars."
The headline shows the strength of the genre - at a stroke witty and pointed like a stiletto in the neck: "Bits all over the front page".
So, feeling rather jaded, Paper Monitor chose to read a tabloid which eschewed mention of I'm A Celebrity on its front page but instead reported on a Commons' committee verdict on the state of affairs in Basra, and the extent to which security will be re-established before the area is finally handed back to Iraqi authorities. On page two, this particular paper has a sobering warning about the effect on the British economy of the slowdown in the US. And further in, a cuter-than-cute pic of an orphaned warthog which has been fostered by a generous mummy rhino. Yes, friends, it's Metro! Confounding expectations since 2002. (This is a period of grace for the freesheet - the jury is still out on whether it should be regularly included here. Compelling arguments welcome via the comments button below.)
And lastly, a "There but for the grace of God" moment. It's never ever wise to celebrate anyone's errors. Pride, fall, that sort of thing. So let's just say that the Guardian page 16 story "Chavez on to a winner with referendum gamble" was a good but ultimately wrong guess of the outcome of the story which is reported more correctly on their website as "Chavez loses bid to rule until 2050".
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Comments
Re Metro: You're 'Paper Monitor', aren't you? Therefore, shouldn't you include anything which has on the back of it 'registered as a newspaper with the post office'? That could open up all sorts of options for guest papers once a week a la Have I Got News For You...
Re: Metro. Oh, all right. If it's got an orphaned warthog being suckled by a rhino, you've just trumped us with the cute baby animal card. We surrender, warts and all.
I'm sure Metro isn't just in London - I have certainly seen it on early morning trains from Manchester / Glasgow etc. I think the lack of persuasive comments thus far for its inclusion may indicate what many of us (well, me and the bloke who sits next to me) suspect - that actually there is no legitimate reason for including it, other than it occasionally includes some items that make for amusing PM columns. Oh and it's free, thus saving licence fee payers' money - surely a compelling argument in the current cutback climate? I say revive the poll and listen to the voice of the people.
Perhaps as a compromise Paper Monitor could feature regional daily papers on a rotational basis - I am from Suffolk originally and the East Anglian Daily Times is the stuff of legend.