The Media Blog

Some names write their own headline...

If you're going to misbehave in public you really should think whether you have a name that will: 1) ensure the media HAVE to cover your crimes, 2) they will also have to bring your name into the headline:

(Hat tip Barry Mcgee)

Don't miss Alan Sugar's Apprentice commentary

With tired tasks and a rather underwhelming intake of hapless hopefuls the current series of The Apprentice is starting to drag a little. However, I found last week that a way to make it a little more interesting is to follow Alan Sugar's running commentary which offers sparkling insights into the show.

For example, last week's episode started in a very rainy London on the roof of restaurant Coq D'Argent. In the background you could see driving rain and the floor was awash with puddles. Sugar tweeted:  

Then there was a scene where contestant Ricky was eating scallops while a restaurant owner showed him all around his establishment, clearly hoping for some free publicity. Sugar tweeted: 

But after all that, the restaurant owner said 'no' when Ricky asked whether he would offer any discount on his prices. It had been a waste of time. Sugar tweeted:

And then at the next restaurant Ricky ate more scallops:

In the third restaurant Ricky ate even more scallops:

Great stuff. 

The most offensive advert ever...?

To mark its 50th anniversary, The Advertising Standards Authority has released a list of the most complained about adverts of all time. The list speaks volumes about gentle British sensibilities - not least because the most offensive advert of all time, based on number of complaints received, was guilty of nothing more than depicting people singing with their mouths full. Shocking stuff, I'm sure you'll agree:    

See also:
From Ryan Giggs to Ryanair... Censorship, bans and 'money can't buy' publicity
ASA to investigate Snickers celebrity Twitter ads
Oh Yoda! Not you as well...
Nandos doesn't chicken out of controversial TV ad
Childish newspaper ad of the week

 

Confused yet...?

The beauty of a great headline is that it needs no explanation, it leaps out at you and grabs your attention. But Daily Mail readers could be forgiven for needing a pencil and paper and a copy of Who's Who to fathom this triple decker effort:

(Hat tip David Walsh)

He's no Malcolm Tucker...

Here's the Prime Minister's head of comms Craig Oliver having a whinge at the BBC's chief political correspondent Norman Smith, while apparently not realising the camera was still rolling:

Halo: Is it UNSC you're looking for...

BBC News graphics departments are no strangers to a mistake or two. Last week there was the Northern Ireland fiasco. And who can forget the problematic blow jobs of 2011.

Now, eagle-eyed gamers have pointed out that a BBC report today about the United Nations Security Council actually used a logo for the United Nations Space Command, a fictional body from the Halo series of games on the Xbox. I suspect somebody has been relying a little too heavily on Google Image Search. Oops:

They didn't...?

You would have to travel to a lot of cities and read a lot of newspapers before you ever found a layout as bad as this horribly inappropriate front page from the Liverpool Echo:

(Hat tip Andy Thornley) 

Cameron and Hunt: It doesn't look good

3 March, 2011: Jeremy Hunt on his decision to approve Rupert Murdoch's takeover of BSkyB:

"I have been absolutely scrupulous in making sure that independent views were commissioned, expressed and published at every stage of this process, precisely because I wanted to reassure the public that this decision was not being taken on the basis of party interest..."

30 April, 2012: David Cameron on suggestions Hunt was in league with the Murdochs or showing them any undue bias:

"[Jeremy Hunt] acted fairly and impartially... I have seen no evidence to suggest that, in handling this issue, the Secretary of State acted at any stage in a way that was contrary to the ministerial code..."

24 May, 2012: The Guardian on new evidence emerging from the Leveson Inquiry:

"The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, wrote privately to the prime minister urging him in strong terms to back Rupert Murdoch's takeover bid for BSkyB just a month before David Cameron appointed him to take charge of the bid himself..."

That's right, today it has emerged - to the surprise of almost nobody - that Jeremy Hunt was championing Rupert Murdoch's takeover of BSkyB weeks before David Cameron handed him the opportunity to rubber stamp it on behalf of 'Team Murdoch'.

See also:
"You're sending Jeremy Hunt? Shiiiit that's all you had to say!"

Marr on bloggers: From seedy misfits to very influential

Andrew Marr has never really had much time for blogs and bloggers. In fact you could go so far as to say he has been downright rude about them in the past (so just remember he started this). In October 2010 Marr famously branded bloggers:

"Socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy...bald...young men".

This from a man who in recent years has hardly troubled the judges of the husband of the year competition and might in another era have found himself hounded out of town by angry villagers for his looks.

He continued:

"...so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night. It is fantastic at times but it is not going to replace journalism."

Wind the clock forward a year-and-a-half and Marr's position, shared with the Leveson Inquiry, seems to have changed a little. Far from dismissing them out of hand, now Marr suggests political bloggers at least should be subject to many of the same considerations as journalists: 

"[Bloggers] are a new thing and they are a very influential new thing. A lot of newspapers are picking them up and using them as commentators now. So I think the old distinction between a political player and a would-be political journalist is breaking down. Successful blogs survive by advertising, like newspapers do, so they are not so far away as they might appear."

Why grammar is important

From the Daily Mail (hat tip Caroline Pennock):

It has since been changed. 

Gary Lineker's "apology of an apology"

At the weekend the Daily Star ran a front page splash, claiming Gary Lineker had branded the England football team "losers". The story twisted a joke Lineker made to Reader's Digest about the tendency among England football fans to all get our hopes up only to be dashed in the big tournaments. The Star even agreed Lineker hadn't made the comment but told him they'd written it purely for the sake of the headline.

Today the Star published an apology of sorts:

As predicted on this blog it was indeed harder to find than a clip of Lineker scoring from outside from area (which was actually quite easy to find). It also failed to include any of the normal hallmarks of an apology, such as an actual apology, stating merely:

"Gary Lineker has asked us to point out that his remarks about England...were meant as a lighthearted jocular reference to how overexcited we get at our prospects before a big tournament..."

Lineker won't be the only person who noticed it is also considerably smaller than the original front page splash, published as it was about 100 miles off the coast of Aberdeen on the Daily Star's page 2 weather map:

See also:

Lineker puts the boot in to Daily Star
"A cascade of shit": Daily Star branded 'work of fiction' by own reporter
The Daily Star's Barrymore Barton story may disappoint
BBC breaks latest England team shock
Well Rio, if you will tweet such things

Channel 4 News break Eurovision rules

Take this Azerbaijan and your corrupt regime. Channel 4 News clearly danced all over the rule about not filming the screen at the Eurovision Song Contest rehearsals ... and look, it's Jedward:

The Daily Mail sidebar of irony strikes again...

The right hand column of the Daily Mail's website is well known as one of the world's richest sources of irony, but today's effort was a little bit special even by their own standards thanks to this juxtaposition (hat tip to Felix Renicks):

BBC caption fail...

"But it is an island, right?"
"Well yes..."
"And it's the Northern bit of the island...?"
"I'm not discussing this with you any more."

(Spotted on BBC London News. Hat tip to Ella Pickover and Kate Benyon-Tinker)

Weather forecasting: Express style

The Express loves stories about the weather. They don't have to be accurate. They just have to be about the weather. Preferably extremes of weather. Just look at three of the headlines they've managed to squeeze out of forecasts for May.

On 29 April The Express told us to expect 'the coldest May in 100 years':

Then on 15 May The Express backed up this claim, to report the 'coldest May in 100 years' was set to continue and summer would be "on hold" until June (as it is every year):

Then, this morning, The Express told us this week in May will be 80-degrees and 'hotter than Spain':

Sky News give Cameron a new nickname

I see Sky News are using nicknames in their on-screen captions nowadays:

(Hat tip HelenLewis and Chris Bland.)

Lineker puts the boot in to Daily Star

Today's Daily Star carries a headline suggesting BBC football pundit Gary Lineker has branded the current England team "losers" in a "shock new interview":

The "shock new interview" was actually just the Daily Star lifting quotes from a Reader's Digest interview with Lineker in which the former onion-bag troubler joked that at least we'll all have the Olympics to look forward to should England disappoint at Euro 2012 as has become the norm in major tournaments.

"As England invariably let you down it's great to have the [Olympics] to look forward to..."

Lineker took offence at the Daily Star's front page distortion and shared his complaint with his 650,000 Twitter followers:  

You have to admire the brassneck of the explanation: 'We only claimed you said it, we don't actually quote you saying it'. This unconvincing explanation was apparently followed by an apology.

Don't hold your breath Gary. And if it does appear it will be harder to find than a clip of Lineker scoring from outside the 18 yard box.

See also:

"A cascade of shit": Daily Star branded 'work of fiction' by own reporter
The Daily Star's Barrymore Barton story may disappoint
BBC breaks latest England team shock
Well Rio, if you will tweet such things

High Street posters get added honesty

Add this to the list of adverts vandalised in a creative, pointed fashion: a street artist in Hamburg has taken it upon themselves to start adding Photoshop toolboxes to adverts which carry obviously manipulated images:

[Source: Uncharted Maps.]

All in this together...?

A Telegraph reader writes...

(Hat tip India Knight)

BBC breaks latest England team shock

Roy Hodgson's time in the England hotseat has already seen him effectively force one big star into international retirement. Now according to the BBC website, England midfielder Scott Parker has been warned he may not be playing when he's 121 years old. Guess it'll be up to him to prove he's still got a good engine on him...

It's obviously a mistake of course. There won't be a Euro 2102...that'll be a World Cup year.

(Hat tip @WillRolls).