Paper Monitor
11:51 UK time, Monday, 25 February 2008
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
It's the morning after the big night before and as usual Paper Monitor is on the look out for some magic lantern-inspired Oscar night trickery in Her Majesty's press. With the crippling eight-hour time difference between LA and London, the papers are desperate to capture some of the mood of the night while skating over the small omission that all the results came in too late even for the last editions.
Both the Mail and the Telegraph picture Cate Blanchett on their front pages, the latter noting "Cate captures the spirit of the Oscars". Indeed she may have done, but not in THAT picture, which was taken of Blanchett attending the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday.
The Mail at least has a pun that references Blanchett's pregnancy: "And the Oscar for best supported bump goes to…"
But what's this, some discord among the judges… rival Daily Express reserves its award for best bump for Angelina Jolie. "If there had been an Academy award for best baby bump, the actress would have won it." Paper Monitor calls for a steward's inquiry.
There's little room for such frivolities on the front of the Sun, which brings us the results of its death penalty poll. "99% of you want this" says the paper, picturing a judge with an executioner's cap.
The "you" in this case is Sun readers, voting in a phone poll set up by the paper. And while there's near unanimity among the paper's public, things are less clear cut among its columnists, with four out of six (that's a persuasive 66%) coming out against capital punishment.
Even the Sun itself doesn't believe in the death penalty – a point it establishes firmly in its editorial. "There is no strong evidence that the risk of execution deters criminals."
All of which would seem to drive a fairly substantial wedge between paper and audience.
The 
