Paper Monitor
12:34 UK time, Thursday, 13 November 2008
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
What's going on? In a completely out of character way, the Guardian's G2 today has a profile piece on "Britain's most influential couple", Elisabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud, which is more reminiscent of a Hello photoshoot (although in this case the ratio of words to photographs is reversed) than that of a left-leaning broadsheet Berliner newspaper.
"Inside the court of London's golden couple" starts with a couple of yachts, a private jet, billionaires and tycoons not to mention a viscountess thrown in for good measure, and that's just page one. There's constant reference to parties, parties, parties throughout. But don't imagine that it's all about the glitz and glamour. "When Cherie's out of town, Tony Blair often turns up in his jeans to their house in Notting Hill." A regular Ramsay Street then....
The accompanying collection of photos show Freud with the great and the good, including the obligatory snap with Bob Geldof. (Will there ever be a time when the very idea of the great and the good doesn't refer to himself and Bono, who is also featured?)
Once the feeling of nausea has passed, Paper Monitor is left puzzled. Some of the phrases used, and in fact the entire piece, surely go against the Guardian grain. It's particularly bizarre when you consider that Elisabeth is the daughter of a rival - media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, mention of whom is that of an "adoring father" figure. What's next in the British media love-in? Paul Dacre praising the 91Èȱ¬?
By the way, when reporting the sorry story of a man killing his neighbour's cat, the Daily Mail uses the word "catricide" to describe the sad episode. Can you see what they did there? Is there really such a word? Or is the Mail simply trying to confirm its tabloid status alongside the usual kings of the pun, the subs over at the Sun and Daily Mirror?
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