The Sun’s sudden interest in Austria

The Sun has little time for Europe. With the exception of the occasional assault on the European Union, the affairs of our European brothers are generally ignored.

This was the fate of Austria until three weeks ago when the Sun reported on the secret cellar revelations of Josef Fritzl and sparked a streak of consecutive days of continuous coverage. 

No one would doubt that the actions of Josef Fritzl are truely appalling and inconceivable to any right-minded reader. The facts of the case read like the plot of a gruesome, x-rated horror movie.

The Sun have gone to town on their coverage. Josef Fritzl has been described as the cellar monster, an evil beast, warped, an incest fiend, depraved, a brute, the rape monster, the devil dad who “spent up to a month venting his lust in fleshpots” on holiday in Thailand.

One wonders what purpose this overblown language serves. Is it designed to point out that, just in case we weren’t sure, that Fritzl’s actions are not acceptable? Or is it just the rantings of the inarticulate who cannot find a suitable tone to describe the outrage felt?

If anything such language undermines the reporting of the story. The unreality of monsters, devils and beasts is absurd and insensitive to some very real and horrific human suffering.

Hitler Link

The Sun also attempted clumsily to forge a link between Fritzl and Hitler. Presumbly, and quite unnecessarily, this decision attempted to portray the events as even more shocking than first realised, to give fresh impetus to maintain the story for a few more days on the front pages and to produce more senational stories than their competitors.

And so on May 3 the Sun claimed that as a child of 3, young Fritzl may have been part of a crowd that saluted Hitler. Fritzl may have joined the Hitler Youth, although there is no evidence of this. But undoubtedly claims the Sun he must’ve have been aware of nearby Nazi death camps and this almost definitely was the reason why he was looking surly in a photograph taken when he was 16.

If this isn’t convincing enough (what more do you people need? Evidence?) the paper led on May 9 with the headline “Hitler made me do it” with the full story promised on pages 4,5, 6 & 7. 

The full story it transpired was only that Fritzl was influenced by Nazi ideals of “strict discipline”, “the need to be controlled” and “the respect of authority”.

Essentially the only evidence the Sun produced is that Fritzl lived under Nazi rule during the late 30s and early 40s. An accusation you could easily level at a number of Germans, Austrians, Poles, Belgians, Dutch, Russians, French and others alive during that period. 

Dominic Lawson, writing for the Independent, said of this ‘inventive’ theory: “As a heap of innuendo piled upon non sequitur, this explanation for what went on in a basement in Amstetten takes some beating”.  

Lorraine Kelly

In all this hyperbole, the Sun did have one clear head who was able to look at the bigger picture. This was Lorraine Kelly.

In her column on May 3 she suggested a specifically created Austrian police unit should be set up to search every cellar in the country in case there were more horrors hidden away.

Using her extensive knowledge of Austria she claimed the whole case was endemic of a secretive, insular country still shaped by its occupation by the Nazis.

As Mark Lawson said in his Guardian column we Britons would be pretty offended if the Austrians used similarly unqualified, grotesque generalisations to suggest Fred West characterised our nation’s attitude to family and sex.

Furthermore, she expressed her fears that Fritzl would never face justice but just become “some sort of macabre celebrity”. I would have thought three weeks of intense coverage in a foreign newspaper examining every lurid detail will certainly aid the process. 

Fortunately for Austria, the Sun’s interest is waning. Fritzl stories have now been relegated to much later pages and soon the trail will be abandoned completely. Then the Sun will have to find another ‘beast’ to shout about. Oh look here comes Peter Sutcliffe on the front page.

The Sun is no longer bonkers

It was an unusually apologetic response to criticism by the usually bullish, self assured Sun.

Insensitive reporting of Frank Bruno’s detention in a mental health facility provoked an angry response from mental health charties and the public.

The Sun duly bowed its head, said they were very sorry and promised steps would be taken to ensure increased sensitivity for future stories involving mental health issues.

So the old dog agreed to learn some new tricks. But it didn’t take long for the training to wear off.

Admittedly the Sun has toned down its language from the much criticised, insensitive ’barmy’ and ‘bonkers’.

In its place has come much more subtler turns of phrase; ‘bizarre’, ‘oldball’.

But the continued day in, day out intrusive reporting of troubled stars such as Kerry Katona and Britney Spears seems to indicate the Sun has developed little sensitivity on this issue.

Doubtlessly editors would argue that sales increases and website hits show there is a public interest in these star’s personal problems.

And the paper and the majority of its readers would argue these particular young ladies lost their rights to privacy a long time ago after selling every life detail and inch of flesh to any reporter with a big enough chequebook.

But this free ride surely does not extend to intrusively snapping a young mother, regardless of whether she’s a multi-million selling record artist, in an ambulance in the throes of a severe breakdown.

Imagine if the scenario had been an elderly member of the public suffering from Alzheimer’s. Would front row seat coverage be used?

The main problem here is also the Sun’s main strength, brevity. The Sun is an impact paper, its writing is tight and without unnecesary detail. But it also means its reporting can be lacking in depth and detail.

Whether a celeb is suffering from exhastion, stress, drug abuse or bi-polar diorder the Sun very rarely gives details or explanations. Invariably we are told that the star is troubled. The aim is not to inform, its mere voyeurism. The 21st century circus freak show.

 The paper also fails to acknowledge its own responsibility for the struggling mental health of these stars.

Both Katona and Spears have been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. Undoubtedly the continual intrusion into the everyday life by paparazzi photographers can only exacerbate their conditions.

It seems that not content on playing a huge role in raising these vulnerable women to worldwide fame, the Sun and other tabloids are equally keen to monitor every painful step of their decline.

     

A pat on the back for the Sun…from the Sun

There is nothing unique about a paper giving itself a complimentary pat on the back for its reporting.

In this increasingly desperate battle for readers the need to extol the depth and exclusivity of your brand’s reporting above others is of paramount importance.

And so it may be a nuisance to have a paper remind us that the latest major news story was a productive of their tireless reporting, we grudgingly acknowledge their achievement.

The Sun however, take this established practice to extraordinary new heights that the word exclusive now carries no weight at all in their paper.

So fatuous stories such as David Beckham looks at a cheerleader’s bum are plastered with exclusive so we the lucky reader can thank the heavens we got this hot news first.

And the claim that Avram Grant’s cool reception from fans and media since taking the reigns at Chelsea has been due his Jewish roots. The story is splashed with EXCLUSIVE and UNCOVERED.

All fine and well until you read on and discover the story is from an interview given by Israeli superagent Pini Zahavi to an Israeli newspaper, Ma’ariv.

And the article then goes on to debunk Zahavi’s claim by suggesting Grant’s cool reception has rather more to do with trying to fill Jose Mourinho’s immaculately tailored boots.  

Granted newspapers can’t be shy about promoting their content. But all this bluster needs something to back it up or else its just hot air.

Cherie Blair ’sensation’

Take for example the front page splash from May 10 of Cherie Blair’s  BOOK SENSATION with its WORLD EXCLUSIVE revelations from a bombshell interview with the woman behind our last Prime Minister.

For a princely six figure sum the Sun were able to reveal :-

- Tony STUMBLED as he went to kiss the Queen’s hand (Sun’s emphasis)

- Their lives have dramatically CHANGED since he left office

- It was difficult having her hair done for evening functions and then having to wear her barrister’s wig

More than just their content, the Sun like to draw attention to their clever use of language. We as readers are asked to admire their clever turn of phrases and expected to lavish praise upon their efforts. Like a patient mother we have to ruffle the hair and say well one to the kid who keeps drawing god awful drawings which vaguely look like dogs.

Clever nicknames

And so in every Heather Mills story, a pretty regular occurence these days, the Sun proudly tells us that they came up the devlishly clever nickname Lady Mucca and Pornocchio.

Gordon Smart, a young man never afraid to puff out his own chest, lavished praise upon his “graphics wizards” for coming up with this photo fit-up of Leona Lewis. I think we can all agree that this is state of the art graphics.

This self congratulatory technique reached astonishing levels with their special report on North Korea where their undercover reporter Oliver Harvey took time out when captured for spying to reflect on how hilarious the Sun’s ‘How do you solve a problem like Korea?’ headline was.

Bare in mind this was written when the reporter was supposedly in the detention of North Korean police services, an outfit with a strangely neglectful acknowledgement of the Human Rights Act. It was a good headline but it wasn’t that good. 

Credit where credit’s due I say. But as any brass player will tell you, you can do serious damage continually blowing your own trumpet.  

Shanahan’s temporary amnesia

I worry a little for Fergus Shanahan’s current mental state. He seems to have completely forgotten who he writes for.

In his column on 22/04/08 he blasts barmaid Cath Coppin after she bedded mockney comedian Russell Brand by sending him a text message simply ordering “Do Me”.

After Brand nips round for a bit of “how’s yer father”, Coppin, in Shanahan’s words, pulls up her knickers, rings an agent and makes a mint flogging her tale.

Shanahan concludes: “It’s not exactly Gone With The Wind, is it?”

No Fergus, but then that has never worried the Sun who have filled their pages with such lurid tales for years. One wonders how thin the Sun would be if there weren’t thousands of entrepreneurs like Ms Coppin prepared to bare all in sleazy kiss and tells.

Shanahan quickly turns his ire on the Government who he says are “not content with spying on your wheelie bins and checking the views from your windows, the Government wants to poke into your sex life”.

He adds: “Its not clear whether you will be asked to list your favourite sexual position but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Of course, its not the role of the Government to pry into our private lives and make judgements about us based purely on our own sexual quirks.

No, this is the job of the tabloid newspaper and they certainly wouldn’t want anyone stepping onto their patch.

I trust all readers will join me in wishing Mr Shanahan a speedy recovery.

Paranoid tabloid: The Sun spreading the terror of terrorism

A Sun article on 02/04/08 jovially told us that a third of Brits are paranoid.

To help us quivering human jellyfish the Sun produced a hilarious anti-paranoia card with soothing images of cute kittens  to carry in our wallets.

The results were from a report by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London.

They tested 200 volunteers on a computer simulated trip in a London Tube carriage.

Incredulously the Sun says, “one paranoid passenger said a “dodgy” computer character looked as if he might turn aggressive or “plant a bomb.”

I wonder where the spineless fool got that idea from?

Maybe from a Sun editorial in January last year saying: “the 2005 Tube bombings were far from the last and mosques across Britain were now breeding grounds for extremists bent on destroying our way of life.”

Or from this headline to a 2005 article on Kamel Bourgass’s alleged terrorist plots: He wanted YOU dead.

Or from last year’s article telling readers that a Basra style car bomb was certain to be coming to a London street near you very soon.

Or a 2003 article announcing that an al-Qaeda nuclear, chemical or biological attack was inevitable.  

Its pretty disingenuous of the Sun to be fully compliant in creating this climate of fear and then laugh at its readers when they take those warnings seriously.

What controlled immigration means to the Sun

Discussing the issue of immigration can be extremely controversial and requires sensitive handling.

The Sun for their part are at pains to point out that they do recognise some benefit to controlled immigration.

But its interesting to see who they think are beneficial.

In their case study of good and bad immigration on 2/4/08 readers are introduced to Jarek Radwannski.

Mr Radwannski loves the UK, is happy to pay his taxes and doesn’t believe in claiming benefits.

Mr Radwannski, you may have guessed, is a good immigrant.

We also meet Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Sharif built a seven bedroom mansion in Pakistan on the back of lucrative benefit fraud, credit card scams and passport forgeries. Mr Sharif was unemployed before his arrest.

Mr Sharif is a bad immigrant.

Whats interesting to note that good immigrant Mr Radwannski is a white Eastern European man whereas Mr Nawaz Sharif was born in Pakistan.

What these examples infer, whether intentionally or not,  is the divisive and oft-repeated stereotype that while East European immigrants are hard working, immigrants from sub continent Asia are prone to criminal activity and most probably terrorism.

Why choose Mr Sharif who was jailed way back in 2006 as the bad immigrant example?

The Sun should maybe take more heed of columnist David Blunkett in the same day’s edition who said:

“There is still deep prejudice just below the surface in many aspects of life here.

“We must tackle head-on those that wil be whipping up division in the run-up to local elections in a month’s time.”

Does that include your paymasters Mr Blunkett? 

Shanahan delivers evidence for prosecution

“Can we please have fewer women in politics? Let’s be honest. After the feminist experiment, it has become clear that women are, frankly, not very good at big issues.

“I’m not saying that there is no place at all for women in public life. But they should be pretty, young, say nothing and stand a few demure inches to one side of their husbands.

“Isn’t it horrible when you get some older, and dumpier women appearing on telly as ministers, or opposition spokeswomen?”

 When Jackie Ashley wrote this in her Guardian column on 31/3/08 she was being sarcastic.

Her article argued that female politicians were subject to greater criticism than their male counterparts, and in areas, such as what clothes they wore, that would never be addressed to male ministers.

She could not have hoped for a better example of her criticisms than Fergus Shanahan’s column the following day in the Sun.

“[Harriet] Harman, a boot-faced Labour busybody in no danger of being called darling herself, is the Women and Equalities Minister.”

Shanahan was giving his two-penneth worth on the ‘outrageous’ EU directive, followed up by Harman, that would stamp out sexual harassment of women working in pubs.

Could Shanahan have been working on Mrs Marr’s behalf to support her argument, I think we should be told?? 

Here comes the Sun…..online

It would have been quicker and cheaper for the Sun to have translated its content to the web by simply scanning the paper in. Little would have been lost in design from its current status.

The home page is a cluttered, confusing mess. In an attempt to give instant access to all of their ’stellar’ content, nearly every story has been placed on the home page. I despair for the soul of anyone who has the time or patience to scroll all the way down to find out that Britain’s drinkers are the most generous in Europe when buying their rounds.

There seems to be so little appreciation of the contrasting demands of web and print design that headlines and ‘Sun Spots’ N.I.B.s from the print version are simply recreated on the website.  

But even an attempt at direct replication onto the web leaves the website trailing behind the print version. Humorous and eye-catching headlines, the hallmark of Sun coverage and a major factor in its identity, have been greatly reduced in a sop to web rules. Stories are now giving more detailed headlines but this only seems to highlight the banality and vacuous nature of the stories the Sun prioritises.

Even the distinctive Sun masthead loses its teeth in web form. The distinctive sharp red box has been converted to a chubby pill for the navigation tools for each one of the Sun’s famed specialised sections; Dear Deidre, Mystic Meg, Page 3 Virals and Woman.

The ability of Sun readers to comment on articles is freely available and easily accessible. Unfortunately this is slightly undermined by the fact that comment pages do not give priority to the most recent posts, which stifles debate.

Even more preposterous is that the paper censors many of the words most common in the Sun readers vocabrulary. Using ’sl@pper’ and ’sh@gged’  goes no distance to improving taste and decency and merely makes the reader comments seem ridiculous. The Sun should be less authoritarian towards their reader’s sensitivities. It seems patronising that they would be mortally offended to read these euphemisms in full. 

The Sun has always prided itself as being a little more in touch than its stuffy and old-fashioned opponents. Their web format leaves them as the establishment dinosaur.

A new dawn for News Corp

Exciting times for News Corp as Rupert’s little pride and joy, James, gets his has hands on News Corp’s European and Asian market . Don’t hold your breath to see major changes. Despite assurances from those in the know that young Murdoch is much more liberal and green than daddy, I don’t think the Sun will be looking to pinch the Guardian readership any time soon.

The fact remains Rupert will continue to exercise his huge influence and control over his British publications, even if his attention is a little distracted with his new Wall Street Journal obsession. Murdoch employees past and present can deny the extent of the Australian’s reach but the fact is if an editor does not see eye to eye with Murdoch on every subject, he won’t last long. Of course it is in the editor’s interest to deny this, to show how independent and authoratitive they are. But we’re not fooled.

Arguments that he doesn’t have the time to intefer daily with publications miss the point. Rupert’s opinions are already well known and his editors will be very aware of these. Journalists learn early on in their training to write with their readership in mind. If you work for News Corp, that readership consists of one cold-blooded antipodean pensioner.   

The Sun, sex and xmas

Its hard to read The Sun without your bile duct working in excess of safety capacity and believing that the world is going to the dogs. For an hour every lunchtime, three million people are shouted at in print by a sniggering school kid with a particularly vindictive streak. It tells us the proles who we should like but more importantly who we should despise.

Who should we despise;                                 

- people who tell it like it is                                  

- women who are ‘up for it’                                    

- sports people who are winning                          

And who should we despise;

- people who insist on political correctness

- women who have let themselves go a bit. Or are money grabbers. Or basically aren’t up for it 24/7

- sports people who have lost

Its a pretty fine line for famous people to cope with. One day you’re being feted as a hero, the next you are responsible for the most heinous atrocities in the world. Its only what you would expect from a small kid who changes his friends daily. The sort of kid that calls breasts boobs, bangers, balloons, bristols, globes. Anything just so that mummy doesn’t hear him talking about rude words.