Paper Monitor
12:32 UK time, Tuesday, 11 March 2008
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
In this era of Web 2.0 and UGC, it is reassuring to remember that in the world of newspapers the old values, or the old news values at least, are being fought for.
In the Daily Express, page 9 is given over to affairs ecclesiastical. The headline of the lead story is "Vicar who sent saucy cards to a mistress loses fight for his job". It could be a headline from 1962. Not text messages, but a "card". Not "sexy", but "saucy". At the bottom of the page is another story about a bishop and a female vicar. OK, maybe that part isn't very 1962.
Over in the Sun there is the touching tale of a 144-year-old Christening gown being used for the 32nd time. In the Times there is a house made of straw.
And an honourable mention must go the Guardian and the Independent who have started a circulation war to be fought entirely with free poetry supplements. The Guardian has its usual creamy, heavy paper and minimal earth-toned card cover, while the Indy has opted for something a little more shiny. The Guardian has TS Eliot, the Indy has John Milton. Poetrywar starts here.
"Consumer gloom as spending power fails" shouts the Times from its front page. How does the paper know – thanks to an interactive poll the Times has been running on its website.
The paper explains… "The Times has a long history of commissioning opinion polls. These are scientifically rigorous using a carefully selected panel of perhaps 1,000 people."
Mmmm. Admirable.
"At Times Online, we can do things differently. We can throw our questions to our readers and capture their mood quickly, cheaply [10 out of 10 for honesty, guys] and easily.
"It does not have the statistical rigour of an opinion poll but it's a snapshot of unfiltered opinion and anecdote."
No harm in that, except that it's the LEAD STORY. It's akin to the 91Èȱ¬ News website running a top story based on the results of the .
Although...."FEARS FOR OUT-OF-TOUCH WII GENERATION AS ALMOST HALF DON'T KNOW THE TRUE PRICE OF A B&W TV LICENCE". You read it here first.
The 
