The Sun Newspaper?

[cacian]

would the Sun newspaper be as popular if there were no page 3 girl?

[Helga]

I don't know this paper, have never read it but have read about it. I did read somewhere that George Harrison got the idea for one of his songs when this paper came one morning and he started singing 'here comes the sun'. Don't know if it's true but I like it when inspiration comes from odd things a bit off topic though,

I am guessing page three has a pretty lady

[cacian]

I don't know this paper, have never read it but have read about it. I did read somewhere that George Harrison got the idea for one of his songs when this paper came one morning and he started singing 'here comes the sun'. Don't know if it's true but I like it when inspiration comes from odd things a bit off topic though,

I am guessing page three has a pretty lady

Hi Helga page three has a topless lady on a daily basis.
Nice story though you gave there, one I do not know about oh look up or google the sun newspaper to get an idea of what I am talking about.

[Emil Miller]

would the Sun newspaper be as popular if there were no page 3 girl?

The word newspaper is something of a misnomer as there is very little news in the Sun unless, that is, you consider 'celebrity' title tattle and football as news items. It does have an interesting genesis though because it was formerly the voice of the British labouring class under the title of the Daily Herald. Drearily left-wing, it tended to take itself too seriously and came across as a sort of poor man's Guardian and started losing circulation at the start of the 1960s. Enter Rupert Murdoch, a high flyer from the antipodes with an eye to the main chance and an instinctive realisation that it's readers didn't want lengthy reports on union disputes and Labour party gatherings but the spurious glamour of big boobs and razzmatazz. Decked out in its new tabloid format with lots of tinsel and its journalism simplified to the level of a cave dweller's comprehension it took of like a rocket from Cape Canaveral and Rupe never looked back.
Whether it would be as popular without the boobs is a moot point but it wouldn't make any difference to me because I have never bought it.

[Buckthorn]

No amount of topless women would make this sorry excuse for a news paper any more or less successful in Liverpool: http://www.anfieldroad.com/dont-buy-the-sun/

[cacian]

No amount of topless women would make this sorry excuse for a news paper any more or less successful in Liverpool: http://www.anfieldroad.com/dont-buy-the-sun/

wow that is pretty horrid but the fact of the matter is it is still out there being bought and that is the attitude that lots of real people have to deal with.

[JuniperWoolf]

We have a Sun newspaper in Alberta too, and it's just shyte. Terrible puns for headlines, and the headlines never have anything to do with the photos. So, like, the headline might read "Natural Porn Killer" (seriously, that's the pun they went with for Luka Rocco Magnotta) and then undearneath that will be a picture of the women's softball league winning the championship or something. Confusing, disconcerting, poorly-managed.

We have a "page three girl" sorta, except they're fully clothed and are called the "sunshine girl." They just find a pretty lady on the streets of Edmonton and usually snap a picture of her then and there. My momma was a sunshine girl once in the '90s.

[tonywalt]

Most of the news mediums today (with the exception of the BBC and CBC) has followed the path of The Sun.

Hearst did founded a similiar type of journalism in the US, with an even more pronounced agenda-for example stirring up the Spanish American War. Real Yellow journalism with jingoism.

[cacian]

We have a Sun newspaper in Alberta too, and it's just shyte. Terrible puns for headlines, and the headlines never have anything to do with the photos. So, like, the headline might read "Natural Porn Killer" (seriously, that's the pun they went with for Luka Rocco Magnotta) and then undearneath that will be a picture of the women's softball league winning the championship or something. Confusing, disconcerting, poorly-managed.

We have a "page three girl" sorta, except they're fully clothed and are called the "sunshine girl." They just find a pretty lady on the streets of Edmonton and usually snap a picture of her then and there. My momma was a sunshine girl once in the '90s.

LOL what a story I enjoyed reading thi thanks!!
I agree however that pictures and the articles don't match it is that bad!!!

[Alexander III]

I never understood why the page 3 girl made so much difference, I mean maybe in Africa where they lack basic human rights like 24 hour access to high-speed internet, but nowadays in the civilized world, in less than 10 seconds and with 3 clicks you have access to an archive of every possible sexual fantasy one could want.

[cacian]

Most of the news mediums today (with the exception of the BBC and CBC) has followed the path of The Sun.

Hearst did founded a similiar type of journalism in the US, with an even more pronounced agenda-for example stirring up the Spanish American War. Real Yellow journalism with jingoism.

Jingoism is a brilliant word haha :lol:

[Emil Miller]

Most of the news mediums today (with the exception of the BBC and CBC) has followed the path of The Sun.

Hearst did founded a similiar type of journalism in the US, with an even more pronounced agenda-for example stirring up the Spanish American War. Real Yellow journalism with jingoism.

There are still reputable newspapers which are usually broadsheets rather than tabloids, of which the Sun is a particularly regrettable example. Nevertheless, you are right about Hearst. who entered into a fight for circulation with another press baron, Joseph Pulitzer, who started yellow journalism.
Here is a short extract from Citizen Kane (Hearst) that illustrates Hearst's involvement in the Spanish American war.

http://youtu.be/tzhb3U2cONs

[tonywalt]

I never understood why the page 3 girl made so much difference, I mean maybe in Africa where they lack basic human rights like 24 hour access to high-speed internet, but nowadays in the civilized world, in less than 10 seconds and with 3 clicks you have access to an archive of every possible sexual fantasy one could want.

Yea, but in Africa you can get a real girl in 10 seconds and 3 clicks-sometimes 2 clicks.

[cacian]

Yea, but in Africa you can get a real girl in 10 seconds and 3 clicks-sometimes 2 clicks.

that is pretty sad and it is in my eyes criminal.

[tonywalt]

Then again, if it were not for newspapers like the Sun, many people I know (including family members) would never read a newspaper. Tabloid news and splashy news channels have created new markets with entertainment based news programs.

The corporate takeover of news is really up for scutiny, thankfully many are still family owned (NY Times-still held in multi generational trust) and have not caved in to dumming down or dimissing vital information.

[Alexander III]

that is pretty sad and it is in my eyes criminal.

In their defense, growing up in absolute poverty and spending most of your adult life as a soldier ordered to kill or be killed, may somewhat make rape less frowned upon considering the general context of brutality in many of these mens lives.

[cacian]

Then again, if it were not for newspapers like the Sun, many people I know (including family members) would never read a newspaper. Tabloid news and splashy news channels have created new markets with entertainment based news programs.

The corporate takeover of news is really up for scutiny, thankfully many are still family owned (NY Times-still held in multi generational trust) and have not caved in to dumming down or dimissing vital information.

well I mean the sole reason the Sun is about is because of money .
It is at all cost that this cheap sleazy paper makes money out of the ignorant or to be ignorant individuals who are easily lured to cheap and nasty reads.
The cheaper it is the better money it makes is the bottom story. In the long run the breed of people you bring is as cheap if not cheaper then the paper itself. You make your bed and you lie on it only ensure that the bugs don't bite or would they?!

[tonywalt]

Effectively we are saying that large portions of society should not like the things they actually like.

The product is there because the market demands it - or better stated, prefers it to healthier news.

[Emil Miller]

Effectively we are saying that large portions of society should not like the things they actually like.

The product is there because the market demands it - or better stated, prefers it to healthier news.

What we have here is a classic case of "ignorance is bliss" and I'm becoming increasingly aware that it may well be the case, because the weight of experience can be very weighty indeed, but when I see headlines such as 'Up Yours Delors' and 'Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster', an inner voice says: 'Don't give in, help keep the flame of sanity alive by rejecting this nonsense for the bollocks it is.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Does the market really demand it, I'm not so sure? People can be brainwashed so easily. I think the general public can demand what they are told to demand. The Sun is the perfect example. Absolute barrel of all reading material.

---

I remember the Liverpool disaster very clearly despite being only nine or ten at the time. I only live a mile up the road from the Hillsborough ground and did so at the time. As a kid I remember the panic of the fans as they fled up the road. I can still remember the shock on their faces, it has stayed with me so. Some fans borrowed our phone to phone home to tell family they were OK and not crushed to death like their friends.

The Sun made up total lies about the fans in order to sell a few more papers on the day, as it says in the link. Absolute disgrace. To put this in perspective, can you imagine an American newspaper making up lies in a similar way about the victims on 911? For example, by saying that office workers were stealing from each other or urinating on the fire fighters who were trying to help them? This is akin to what The Sun printed. Would you buy that boobs or not?

Even so, and without any of that, it is a rag that speaks to the lowest element and consequently sells about five million copies a day....

So no, despite it proudly displaying 'Debbie from Essex, 19" and her big boobies, I would never, and have never, bought this disgrace of a paper. Hell I don't even buy 'good' papers. The Guardian online is my reading material, which is not bad at times - at best.

[prendrelemick]

Rupert Murdoch told The Le'eson Inquiry that i you wanted to know his attitude and philosophy concerning newspapers, you only had to read The Sun

[cacian]

Effectively we are saying that large portions of society should not like the things they actually like.

The product is there because the market demands it - or better stated, prefers it to healthier news.

actually the public did not demand a paper such as the sun , it was someone else's idea to make it sell it cheap and get fiilthy rich.
If it is there then people will buy and if it is not, like the news of the world which is no longer, then people will stop buying it.

[cacian]

Rupert Murdoch told The Le'eson Inquiry that i you wanted to know his attitude and philosophy concerning newspapers, you only had to read The Sun

what is there to read though?

[Alexander III]

Effectively we are saying that large portions of society should not like the things they actually like.

The product is there because the market demands it - or better stated, prefers it to healthier news.

To use laymans terms - think of it as a democracy. The Sun is there because the people want it. Whether or not the former takes advantage of the latter, or if the former is just merely satisfying the needs of the latter is a different debate.

I mean we criticizes the Sun, but it clearly provides entertainment for a large segment of the british population, maybe The Sun is just the logical conclusion of the post-modern world.

[Alexander III]

Does the market really demand it, I'm not so sure? People can be brainwashed so easily. I think the general public can demand what they are told to demand. The Sun is the perfect example. Absolute barrel of all reading material.


But here is the problem with that string of thought: the readers of the Sun are a large segment of british population, whom we trust to: have and raise children, to vote and to shape our democracy, carry out jobs which are necessary to society, drive cars, buy property, ect. but they are to stupid to read a paper they like, because they have been manipulated into reading another paper?

If the latter is true would not that cast doubt on their ability to do the former things which are far more important than what paper one reads.

[Emil Miller]

An interesting side note to this thread concerns the the problem of illiteracy. It has been difficult to escape the flurry of information regarding the increase in illiteracy in the UK over the last few years, although statistics vary to the extent that they are virtually useless. However, if illiteracy is on the increase, the Sun, which may be the only contact with the printed word many of its 3.5 million readers experience, does offer a semblance of literacy for its readers. With newspaper circulation in dramatic decline, including the Sun, would its disappearance increase the illiteracy rate ?

[LitNetIsGreat]

With newspaper circulation in dramatic decline, including the Sun, would its disappearance increase the illiteracy rate ?

Now there's an interesting paradox!

[tonywalt]

Now there's an interesting paradox!

Funny! It's sort of like neutering a section of the population - in a way.

[Patrick_Bateman]

would the Sun newspaper be as popular if there were no page 3 girl?
If that was all that was needed to seel newspapers then the punters may as well buy The Daily Star

[prendrelemick]

Funny! It's sort of like neutering a section of the population - in a way.


They still have their text speak, which is on course to become mainstream English imho.

[JuniperWoolf]

I remember when I was twelve, before cellphones, "text speak" was all underground and for deep computer geeks only, made me feel all 1337.

[cacian]

I remember when I was twelve, before cellphones, "text speak" was all underground and for deep computer geeks only, made me feel all 1337.

why 1337 Juniper?