NEWSPAPERS!
But really.
If you haven't picked up a paper here yet, I highly suggest you do it (or at least look at the headlines, front page photos and their relationship too each other).
The first thing I noticed was the abundance of actual papers they have here. Standing in-line at TESCO it seems they're selling just as many papers as magazines. Second, was the bright advertisements on the cover saying "BUY OUR PAPER, WE'RE 20p CHEAPER!!!" (something along those lines). It is ludicrous. After getting over the shock of such bright colors, take a look at the type of stories they are reporting. The front page is more than often plastered with sensational news. You have to flip through the paper quite a ways to get to something that has some true news value.
It is also interesting to note that each paper has almost the exact same stories, but it different positions within the paper.
What separates them in competition?
With the decrease in American papers, how are these tabloid sorts still in such prominence in the UK?
Ad People, how do you feel about the blatant use of the front page advertising for their own product? More so, is there a ethical line crossed here?
Taken from the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics:
"Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two."
Just flip through a few of the papers next time you're in Morton's. Its worth it. . .
I noticed this with the suspected terror plots that have occured lately in and around London, along with the obvious suspicion of terrorist activity during the Olympics. TERROR! That was the headline. And on the front was a standard picture of a bus where some suspicious act had occured the day before. Interesting stuff, because tabloids and yellow journalism has died in a big way in America in regards to newspapers (at least relative to the UK.) You make a great point regarding the "front page advertising." When news starts to become a medium in which manipulation and persuation exists as a means towards generating sales, stories begin to lose credibility fast. In my mind, the front page should tell you everything in the paper. Leave it to magazines, who profit from telling stories in creative, engaging and entertaining fashions, to glam up their covers. But where there is competition, ethical codes will be violated. What are the laws like in the UK that ethical journalism?
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