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.
