So the weathervane of the dead tree press has shifted again.Will they be able to claim that they won the next election for the Tories, or has the influence that they had in the eighties and nineties been eroded by more sophisticated media?Certainly the younger generations rely more on Facebook and Google for news than any slanted newspaper.
In Scotland the SNP managed to form a government in the teeth of a hostile press; yet in the comments section of the online Scotsman and Herald there were many rebuttals of those papers editorial stances.Did they make a difference?
So, what now for the Scottish Sun? A cleft stick indeed.Does the SNP need or even want it's support? If they go with the Tories they will lose readers to the Record, support Labour and they will probably have to write a whole different edition to the English one.
Mind you that probably wouldn't take too long...
I found this interesting tale from a reformed, Sun reading, Tory:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 14, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend. When I was 16 I got a girlfriend, but there was no passion, so I decided
I needed a passionate girl with a zest for life.
In college I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional.. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide. So I decided I needed a girl with stability.
When I was 25 I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a girl with some excitement.
When I was 28 I found an exciting girl, but I couldn't keep up with her. She rushed from one thing to another, never settling on anything. She did mad impetuous things and made me miserable as often as happy.. She was great fun initially and very energetic, but directionless... So I decided to find a girl with some real ambition.
When I turned 30, I found a smart ambitious girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground, so I married her. She was so ambitious that she divorced me and took everything I owned.
I am older and wiser now, and I am looking for a girl with big tits.
Why can't the press just do balanced reporting? Why do they endorse any party when they should be objectively reporting on them all? Sure, give us editorial commentary - but not one sided bias!
ReplyDeleteHoi - Hogday - guid yin.
Lol Hogday, I found mine twenty-odd years ago.
ReplyDeleteThat would be nice scunnert, but it isnae gonnae happen...
I must admit I admired the Scouser who ripped the rag up at the podium...a wee flash of what left wing politics used to be.
Conan,
ReplyDeleteStretching things a bit to associate a speaker at a Labour conference with "left wing politics". He, his predecessors and trade union officials, with a few honourable exceptions, still con members into donating to "Labour" funds even when New Labour turned their backs on them and their principles.
I phrased it badly brownlie, I should have said a wee flash of when Labour was left wing ;¬)
ReplyDeleteInfluence is waning now, I doubt the Sun could change very much these days - Murdoch was once described as "an old fashioned Newspaper man" - old fashioned is the operative part of that sentence.
ReplyDeleteSigh - I too yearn for the days of a Labour movement, not a party / business...
Conan,
ReplyDeleteIf you've ever phrased anything badly, which I doubt, it's probably down to reading Nikos blogs - colourful in shades and in language.
Meant to say - brilliant comment by Hogday and have just discovered his blog.
ReplyDeleteAye brownlie, he is brill. A good taste in dogs and motorbikes...
ReplyDeleteI doubt the Sun has nearly as much influence as it used to have, but I think that Mandleson and Harperson (and others) were badly advised to act the ways they did. They were happy enough when Tony Blair went on his belly begging for Murdoch's support.
ReplyDeleteSo although the Sun's influence may be waning, I think they could still be very very cruel to Mr Mandleson and Mrs Harwoman et al.
I'd not have too many secrets if I were any of them. It's one thing not to be any longer supported by them, and altogether another for them to be out to get you. And the Sun may not have to rely on its own investigative journos. It will have the wealth of Murdoch's empire at its disposal. So, if you've been cheating on your house again Peter, or fiddling immigration for some mates, or there is some new scam you're up to.... I'd be scared by now.
I wonder which way the Sun will come down in the Glasgow by election.... they seriously can't back the Tory, can they?
Tris, it depends how much they want to sell newspapers or peddle ideology...I'm saying they, but it's that wanker Murdoch who calls the shots.Is puir wee Scotland beneath his notice?Let us hope so.
ReplyDelete