Seem to me to be sinking to an all-time low.
Losing readerships all over place, the tabloid press was always something you could never rely on for the truth, but were interesting comics that didn't take life too seriously.
Young people are buying newspapers less now than they ever have done before, due to the internet, free papers and less interest in current affairs.
The papers try to win these back by plastering the papers full of Big Brother stories, pics of non-entities leaving nightclubs and the like. Coverage of serious stories, like the madeline one, has an uneasy showbiz feel to them. The sports pages are full of rumour that 90% of the time doesn't materialise, while the thirst to destroy individuals grows at an alarming rate. There appears to be very little accountability for what the press write still, despite tighter controls over television and radio.
Will the written press ever recover ? will there be an affordable daily rag worth reading again ?
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I think the standard of football journalism in the tabloids is appalling. The likes of Samuels, Custis, Shepard and Winter etc are just interested sticking their names to "Exclusives"
I don't buy a newspaper anymore as I get my news on-line and from the radio. However I do take a copy of the Sun to the loo at work just to keep up with Dear Deidre.
The Sun was always good for three things
1) Decent football / sport coverage with some decent fact based rumours - That's gone, as AFKA said, its all speculation & conjecture that so obviously has little or no fact to it.
2) Page Three
3) Something you could read in Trap 1 in 10mins
I cant remember the last time I actually paid for a copy. Would much rather spend my money on something decent like The Times..........Perhaps we're just getting old Smudge?
From a personal point of view I've never read a traditional tabloid and for a time I read The Times, but even then it became increasingly sated with 'celebrity news' which I found off-putting enough to cancel my subscription. As a result I've not read a newspaper for about 2 years.
I used to read the Times mainly cos i thought it made me look more intelligent but i realised i was being false and i had to keep looking up half the words.
THE NEWS OF THE WORLD is reporting that Darren Bent is set to snub a move to West Ham United in favour of joining Tottenham Hotspur.
The Charlton Athletic striker is said to be keen to forge a partnership with Dimitar Berbatov and could move to White Hart Lane in a deal worth £10million, whilst the Hammers have offered £9million and a bumper £60,000 a week contract.
Bent admitted to a pal: "West Ham have offered me incredible money but I'm convinced Berbatov is staying at Spurs and I'd love to play alongside him.
"I believe we could form a great partnership."
He admitted this and then his mate rang up the NoTW to tell them did he? Bullshit!!!
What actually happened was the lazy Journo was looking on a football forum and read that it was a done deal, cos the poster's old man's mate is a cabbie and he overheard someone talking about a mate of his, who heard from someone working at the training ground, who bumped into a mates cousin, who is a friend of Bent that........................
Basically its all a pile of bollox, but they use the "Bent admitted to a pal" to protect them so they can say that they cant reveal their sources and that they were not the instigator of the rumour
Spot on about the Telegraph. I know we always moan about the crap coverage Charlton get across the board but sometimes they don't even have reports on all Prem games - but they find enough space to report on minority sports like Cricket and Rugby!
i do also read the guardian on a monday occasionally, my new years resolution of buying it every monday kept up till about april/may time, because as les buys it as well i felt guilty for the amount of paper in the flat every monday evening as never got to read all of it. so read his g2, and other supplements from the guardian/observer at the weekend. for example: saturdays supplement on walks, which i found a walk in soho and also the falkirk wheel which i've been to :-)
since curb_it mentioned digital spy a few months ago, i'm hooked on that and read that most days for updates on telly, soaps, gossip and media news stores. its got everything i need!
I can remember when "gossip" was a bad thing. Now it's used to sell truck loads of any old shit.
Amen!!!
Yeah, thinking about it thats a lot of trees getting cut down.