Tabloid Headlines: They Say It All

YOU can tell a lot about a paper by looking at its headlines.

For example, today’s Daily Madeleine (aka Daily Diana/Daily Express) predictably leads with: “POLICE: WE HAVE 100 QUESTIONS FOR THE McCANNS”. And the overwhelming impression is that the word “police” could just as easily be left off without changing its tone one iota.

On the other hand, a headline can sometimes subliminally suggest a subject quite unconnected to the topic at hand. Take today’s Daily Mail (please!) which leads with: “THREAT TO 5M FESTIVE BIRDS.”

Given the paper’s zeal in detecting examples of political correctness gone mad, one half expects to read that the birds have been banned from tweeting carols or using the word “Christmas”. In this context, the news of the bird flu outbreak comes as a double shock.

Then there’s the Independent, which doesn’t waste time insinuating its opinions into stories. Instead, the compact “viewspaper” simply slaps them on the front cover in big letters. Today’s campaign is big and bold, and presumably aims to stir the loyal reader into a state of moral indignation. It’s the Indie’s equivalent of KILL ALL PERVS, only greener. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to “BAN THE BAG!”

Er… Hang on a minute, that can’t be right….

Yes, just checked it again. “BAN THE BAG!”

And next to the big headline there’s a lengthy sub-heading, which explains that: “British shops hand out more than one billion plastic bags each month, at huge cost to the world’s environment. Yesterday, in a landmark decision….”

Unfortunately space prevents us from reproducing the full text of this typically informative splash. (It requires its own telling - see here.) Suffice to say that there’s another two pages of this story, and we don’t think we’re giving too much away by revealing that Totnes, Dunoon and Llangollen are just three of the 71 British towns who are “planning to ban bags”.

Tomorrow’s Independent promises to allow you to “Have Your Say”. Well, what are you waiting for – let’s have a heated debate! More news tomorrow…

Anorak

Posted: 14th, November 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (5) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink