An interesting insight into the world of tabloid journalism via Roy Greenslade, as the Independent on Sunday’s interview yesterday with Matt Driscoll (“bullied on the instructions of the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson and awarded £792,736 in compensation by an employment tribunal“) is highlighted.

Adding to Driscoll’s direct quotes, Roy adds: “Journalists who have never worked in tabloid newspapers have no idea just how much pressure can be applied to staff. It is a major reason for the publication of so many dodgy stories, not least in the News of the World itself.”

What adds to the interest for me is volume of appreciative comment – including from Roy Greenslade himself - over the appointment of Tony Gallagher as editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Reading widely on Tony Gallagher could leave you with the impression that the culture he chooses to operate within is not a million miles away from the one Matt Driscoll was compensated with £792,736 for being caught up in.

My not-so-secret sources have revealed another exclusive X Factor story from this week’s upcoming News of the World:

FORMER X Factor star Rhydian Roberts reckons Olly Murs will win the show this year because he is the most popular.

The opera ace - who came second to Leon Jackson in the 2007 series - said:  “Maybe Olly will be this year’s late bloomer; he’s looking the most likely.
“Danyl Johnson has to be my favourite at the moment though because he is the best singer, Joe McElderry second and Stacey Solomon third.
“The only problem with Danyl is that the public don’t seem to like him and I think Olly is probably the most popular.”

This is a bit of a strange story as the ice-haired Welshman backs Olly to win because he’s the most popular – yet he was in the bottom two last week.  Then, he actually doesn’t think he should win – at best he’s ranking him as fourth out of the last five.  Are we supposed to read between the lines here or something? I feel like there’s a hidden message in this article that I can’t quite work out.

Graeme Bryce is a Scottish journalist who works for The News of the World as a sports columnist. His main area is football. He joined the Sunday Post as a news reporter directly from Castlebrae High School in 1982, aged 18. He has been a journalist for 27 years and a sports reporter for 25 of them. He has worked for the Sunday Post and The Weekly News, The Scottish Footballer, which is a weekly football newspaper, The Press Journal, which is an Aberdeen morning paper; Today newspaper and he joined The News of the World 14 years ago in 1995.

Upon asked what made him consider journalism as a career, he answered, “I heard a famous football writer called Ian Archer being interviewed about his career on Radio Forth. He said he had the best job in the world because he loved sport and he was basically paid to go to the biggest sports events.” He added also that he was aged 16 when he heard this interview and it was the first time he considered this career path, he had wanted to play football professionally or become a PE teacher but this interview intervened with that and he knew what he wanted to do. In addition to hearing Ian and rethinking his career path he mentioned, “I loved football, English was my strongest subject at school and I enjoyed writing stories. It all just seemed to fall into place.” His first story was a Sunday Post human interest around Scotland article; he had been informed that a little girl in Falkirk had cut her leg on a broken bottle whilst playing at her local park. As he was just out of school his boss told him that he needed to make the article simpler in order for their readers to understand so his boss gave the story to an older lady in order to show him how it should have been done. She completely changed the story and added in things that didn’t even happen, upon looking back on this he revealed, “It was the first time I realised you should question everything you read and don’t believe everything you read in newspapers.”

He gets his inspiration from football. He loves it, he loves discussing it. When asked what inspires him, he mentioned that he is not afraid to approach anyone, be that person is famous or not. He loves the element of surprise in his job, although job is not the correct word to use seeing as he is so passionate about it and also added some great words of advice, “You have to be interested in what you are doing – otherwise it just becomes a means to an end to pay the bills every week.” On asked how he could find so much to write about in his column and keep it relevant he simply stated that you should always approach a story from as many different angles as you can. An example he gave was if another reporter has a story that is going nowhere but you know you have the sources to save it, take the story on, only write it better.
Upon asked if he has ever had to think twice before writing an article he replied, “Yes, it happens all the time. Sometimes a contact tells you something in strict confidence which you know is a great story. But you also know if you write it you will expose your contact’s identity.” The advice taken from that answer was that no matter how big the story is that you are writing, it is not worth losing a contact that could give you about 12 stories in the space of a year.

There’s a lot in the Press and Media at the moment about Bullying. We, as a family, are living with that right now. Our DD has been sytematically and persistently bullied at school for at least 6 weeks… She has been called “slut” and worse in the corridors, in the classroom; she gets barged into her locker a couple of times a week, stared down and intimidated on a regular basis.

This week, she finally gave in and agreed that it has to stop and we should do something about it. So, I contacted Anti Bullying Cornwall and spoke to one of their advisors. She gave me sound advice and put their booklet in the post. It arrived yesterday and I went to a scheduled “monitoring meeting” with her Form Tutor. After discussing DD’s academic progress, we looked at each other, she nodded, and I told him what was happening to my lovely, bright daughter.

To say he was shocked at how ‘organised’ the bullying is, would be an understatement. He was appalled that no-one (staff) had noticed what was happening. But, these girls have been at that school for years and they’re good at what they do. They know where the CCTV cameras are, they know which teachers are intimidated by them and will look away, they know all the angles. The ‘bitch pack’ surround the victim and verbally abuse her. If she has the ‘front’ to answer back and they don’t achieve their objective, they run for the ‘enforcers’.

The ‘enforcers’ are the 2 or 3 really violent girls who take no prisoners. They’re the ones who do the barging and bashing, the punching, kicking and tripping… One of them is supposedly on her last warning. So who would you rather have in your school, Mr. Headmaster? A bright achiever with goals in life, who’ll make your Ofsted report look good? Or a bully, a thug, with a foul mouth and a really bad attitude?

You have a ‘duty of care’ to our child. You have a duty to educate and provide safe surroundings for her to learn in. That isn’t the case, is it? So it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop NOW.

Oh and this goes beyond school – social media networking attacks via Facebook and MSN are also frequent. But, we too are technologically able… yes, we see what you write, what you say and we have screenshots of your nasty, vicious words. So, when the day of reckoning comes, and you sit there denying it all, we shall produce our proofs, our evidence, our chatlogs and screenshots. We may also produce the Police if any more bruises appear on our daughter’s arms.

This is wrong and it stops NOW…

If you need help, try these resources:

Students

Anti-Bullying Cornwall

Beat Bullying

Cyber Mentors

Anti-Bullying Guidance for Healthy Schools

Utterly Global - (NY NJ, anti-bullying)

Youtube – N-Dubz Anthem

Having just read Georgia’s story on the Cyber Mentors site, I am in tears. This is the thing I fear the most. I can so identify with her mother and Georgia had a very similar experience to what is happening to our daughter. I am hopeful that this can be resolved – and quickly. xo

It’s another preview X Factor story from this week’s News of the World:

X FACTOR evictee Jamie Afro reckons he would do it his way if he entered the competition again – and not take advice from Simon Cowell or the show’s producers.

It was “incorrect” song choices made by his mentor Simon, 50, and producers that left a sour taste in his mouth.

The Londoner reckons they regularly picked the wrong tune for him to sing as they struggled to come to terms with what he was – and tried to turn him into something he was not.

Jamie, 34, from London, tells the News of the World: “You saw how well Sex On Fire by the Kings of Leon went down in my audition.

“A lot of people who watch the show might not have known the song, because it’s quite edgy, and modern – but it went down brilliantly.

“THAT was what I am all about, and I performed with a huge smile on my face.

“But they wouldn’t let me do a similar song again.

“I wanted to do Mr Brightside by the Killers in the rock week but they vetoed it, saying nobody would have heard it, in place of Primal Scream’s Get Your Rocks Off.

“But that was the point – I wanted to try something that not everyone would have heard of, rather than going for the safe option.

“I just don’t think they knew what to do with me because there had never been a rock singer on the show before.

“But I wanted to go with Simon’s choice, because let’s face it, he’s the expert.

“And I feared if I hadn’t have gone with what they suggested then I would have got their backs up and been out of the competition earlier on.

“In the end I wasn’t miserable, but I had lost confidence up there.”

It’s almost a cliché for an ex-contestant to blame the song choices, probably because it’s so easy for them to do it.  We really need some kind of alternate-reality predicting computer that can see how he would have done if he had picked his own songs.

Lo scorso gennaio tutti abbiamo visto al tg l’aereo nel fiume ed i passeggeri tratti in salvo dall’acqua. Ora possiamo vedere tutto il volo, dal decollo all’eccezionale e fortunato ammaraggio (affiumaggio?) ricostruito in 3d, su dati forniti dall’ntsb, completo di comunicazioni terra-bordo-terra e dati di volo.

Conosco almeno un paio di persone che apprezzeranno sia l’abilità dei piloti che la ricostruzione in se e che probabilmente vorranno più dati. Qui.

Further to the furore over the Sun’s handling of the Jamie Janes hand-written (by the Prime Minister) letter saga, I can’t quite believe I have just heard what I think I have just heard.

I was driving down the M40 on my way back from Liverpool to Croydon this evening and listening to BBC Radio 4’s PM news programme. Tom Newton Dunn, the new Political Editor of the Sun, was being interviewed by Eddie Mair. In response to the statement that the Sun was trying to deter voters from voting for Gordon Brown in the next General Election, he said this:

I’m not sure we’ve ever said we don’t want people to vote for Gordon Brown. All we do is offer our readers an opinion. We don’t make or break governments. We simply report what happens and give them the benefit of our opinion, if they want to read it.

I propose a minute’s silence for (a) the death of journalistic integrity (at the Sun) and (b) the scornful mockery in this statement of the readers’/electorate’s intelligence.

I got into a lively debate over the Telegraph’s handling of the MPs’ expenses business - a debate that ended up quite informative and helpful. One of the sticking points, however, was the difference in perception between the ‘reporter’ and the ‘reported on’. I then responded to James Murdoch’s outrageous speech to the Edinburgh Television Festival – especially his assumption that the ‘Market’ is the only god (especially if dominated by him and run in his interests). This latest stuff leads me to ask the following questions and I invite journalists (many of whom have my deep respect) to respond:

1. Does anyone really still think that newspapers simply “report what happens” dispassionately?
2. Is it even remotely credible that the Sun would waste a penny of its money publishing a word on anything if its owners and journalists thought they were doing nothing to shape the world, influence debate and change people’s thinking to the extent that they might vote differently?
3. Would the Sun retain any journalists if all they did was to offer a casual opinion on the events of the day and not seek to change people’s behaviour?
4. If the Political Editor is right, then why did the Sun go to such lengths to advertise its power of persuasion in previous elections and publicise its change of allegiance for the next election?

And an extra question – riding on the back of the Press Complaints Commission’s latest failure in respect of phone-tapping allegations against the News of the World: when will the profession take the lead from the reluctant MPs and propose outside regulation of the media? (In the ‘expenses’ debate on this blog one of the arguments against MPs was – rightly – that they set their own rules and regulate themselves and that this is intolerable. I asked why the same didn’t apply to journalists. I’m still waiting to hear a cry for justice here.)

Go anywhere outside Britain and ’our’ red-top tabloids are a source of incredulity and embarrassment in media, political and other circles. Why do we tolerate this rubbish?

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WEDNESDAY 11th NOVEMBER

 
 
 
 
What an exciting week!
 
Queued for hours outside Asda for the midnight release on Monday of the new ‘Call of Duty’ computer game just so I could be one of the first to play it.
 
Oh hang on – no I didn’t. I’m a sensible grown up. I’ll leave that geeky bollocks for the utter sad twats. Get a life.
 
FAIL.
 
*****
 
Things I would like to see…
 
People talking about X Factor on their Facebook status updates on a Sunday evening. Why do people not mention it?
 
That is obviously another piece of sarcasm. X Factor has the Facebook world in a vice-like grip.
 
* “Fukin Simon Cowell wadda prik.”
 
* “I h8 dem twinz.”
 
* “Not watchin dat shit agen til da twins r out.”
 
* “Dat show makes me fukin angry.”
 
* “Twins shud get a lyf and Cowel to.”
 
Yawn. It’s karaoke for a thick generation. Get over it.
 
*****
 
Do not disturb me this Sunday night between 7 and 8. My phone will be switched off. Got to give Dr Who my full attention.
 
I, of course, reserve the right to update my Facebook status with my views on that particular programme. And I imagine I’ll write about it here next week.
 
Yes, yes, yes – I am a Dr Who geek… but I wouldn’t queue outside a shop for the midnight release of a Dr Who DVD/Dalek helmet/computer game etc.
 
*****
 
Facebook status update of the week (1):
 
“Guna stick d fire on, b4 goin bk t work at 3! Early nyt tnyt me finks!”
 
Yeh me finks dats da best fing 4 u 2 do innit.
 
 
Facebook status update of the week (2):
 
Kayleigh wrote: “Had A Gud Nyt Last Nyt Talken Bwt Shit Lyk Ghosts Scaren Da Crap Owt Ov Ourselves Ha! Shud B A Nuva Gd Nyt Cumen On”
 
I replied: “I’m sending a ghost to your house tonight, Kayleigh. You’ll recognise which ghost I’m sending… it’ll be the one with a dictionary.”
 
Kayleigh subsequently pointed out that she’s “shit at spelling” as if there’s nothing she can do about it. I imagine it must be hard for some people to spell such difficult words as…
 
* Good
* Night
* Talking
* About
* Like
* Scaring
* The
* Out
* Should
* Another
* Coming
 
Well it must be hard to spell those words… if you’re SEVEN YEARS OLD !
 
I don’t mind a bit of ‘text talk’ to save some time but when you spell ‘out’ as ‘owt’ it’s the same bloody length!
 
 
Facebook status update of the week (3):
 
Katie Jarvis wrote: “What goes around comes around Sooo u need to watch out u Fat fuckin bitch u Think its fuckin funny lieing about somethink that was never true ur just sick and twisted and ur defo no fuckin mother of mine as far as im concerened u can go rot in fuckin hell!!”
 
Ooooh, get you!
 
*****
 
Here is a ‘conversation’ I had with some dork called Ryan Campbell: (who I have subsequently deleted as a friend) on my Facebook wall last week…
 
RC: Saf
Me: What ??
 
RC: Saf m8
Me: Apologies for my ignorance… I only speak English
 
RC: Yes saf m8
Me: What does ’saf’ mean though?
 
RC: Muf w fu M8. Saf m8
Me:  Give me a minute while I consult the ‘chav dictionary’
 
RC: Ha ha saf
Me: The ‘chav dictionary’ doesn’t recognise the word ’saf’ or ‘muf’ or ‘w fu’
 
RC: No at u r saf m8
Me: Ah right – I should’ve looked in the ‘Telford Dictionary’
 
RC: Saf gud ida m8 saf
Me: The ‘Telford Dictionary’ suggests ’saf’ might mean ’safe’ – am I right ?
 
RC: On u mud. Dot oud saf m8
 
* DELETE *
 
*****
 
The big story of the week was this belter from the News of the World…
 
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/586565/The-Sperminator-Facebook-cheater-Dominic-Baronet-gets-12-girls-pregnant.html
 
“Love rat Dominic Baronet from Telford has been branded The Sperminator for getting TWELVE girls pregnant after wooing them on the social networking site – two of them on the SAME DAY. Five women are now raising his KIDS, five were talked into ABORTIONS and two are EXPECTING. For years the laptop lust hunter has secretly preyed on women with his smooth internet patter.”
 
I think my favourite tabloid phrase in that is: laptop lust hunter.
 
Having been in the Sunday papers myself – I was ‘romantically linked’ with the girlfriend of a football manager back in 2001, it made the front page of the Sunday People and was in the NOTW and others, I may tell you the full story one day if the lawyers allow – I never believe every cough and splutter of these stories.
 
I bet he hasn’t really impregnated twelve women but clearly he is a bit of a lad. As someone who doesn’t like hypocrites, I must be honest that there have been occasions when I was much younger where I may have spun a line to impress a woman. Now I just say what I think and people have to like it or lump it.
 
There’s part of me who salutes the cheek of this bloke (what they saw in him, I don’t know) although cheating in relationships is reprehensible.
 
However, these gullible women have to take some responsibility. If they’d shown a bit more respect for themselves – keeping their legs shut or insisting he wore a condom etc – then they would have less to complain about.
 
One of the girls who went to the newspaper with the story is a Facebook friend of mine. I know her because she comes into Pussycats. I doubt she’ll be in for a while in her state – although there are plenty of women around Telford who look like they might be pregnant.
 
*****
 
Here were some of the comments posted about the story on the NOTW website:
 
* “If ugly girls weren’t allowed to use Facebook, they couldn’t be seduced by desperate losers.”
 
* “Looking at those photos, I think the ’slappernator’ would be more appropriate.”
 
* “What a pair of trollops, no wonder he didn’t hang around!!”
 
* “If I was him I’d be well embarrassed … these two are ugly!!”
 
* “I admire the guy for getting 12 girls pregnant, and he isn’t even good-looking. Wish I had his charm.”
 
* “CHAV-TASTIC!”
 
 I think we need to get Jeremy Kyle involved.
 
*****
 
The final word on the subject goes to Dee Austin who sarcastically suggested: “At least the kids will have a big family network.”
 
*****
 
We had another wonderfully busy weekend at Pussycats. Yet again the honeys with the big bazookas happily posed for some photos and you can see them for yourself in the gallery at www.djwanker.com – I’m always quite happy to appeal to the lowest common denominator of society if it means extra hits on my website!
 
I was thrilled that Phil, my best mate (in the world… ever!), popped into Cats after work on Saturday. He’s never been to Telford to see me DJ (it’ll be seven years next April since I started) because he’s also a DJ and, being very good at his job, is always in demand.
 
He was spinning the tunes in Vox Bar in the town centre last Saturday and absolutely loved it. You really should go and check him out – before heading to Cats afterwards, obviously! Welcome to the team, Phil. I hope the customers and management appreciate him as much as I do.
 
But TMDAIKY… <private joke>
 
PS. Add him on Facebook – Phil Mansfield – he’s on my friends list.
 
*****
 
Notice of an event at Pussycats – on Friday 20th November we’ll be raising money for Children In Need with a themed night called: “Sexy Pajama Party.”
 
That is not a spelling mistake from me. Obviously it should be ‘pyjama’ as we’re English and not American but the man at the helm of our slick PR machine (who I mustn’t name because I’ll get untold grief) says it was a deliberate cock-up “to attract attention.”
 
I did point out to him that, judging by Facebook, most people in Telford can’t spell anyway.
 
*****

Men vs Women – Part 3 of 6

ARGUMENTS

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

 
Part four in this series next week.
 
*****
 
From the Daily Telegraph: “The number of jobless university leavers is predicted to have reached the 100,000 mark, up from 70,000 last year, when the latest unemployment figures are released.”
 
I can think of one who can’t be arsed to get a job after university because they’re a complete and utter… [edited]
 
*****
 
Telly news.
 
Benidorm has completed its run and every single hour-long episode was sheer brilliance. Whether they can manufacture another series looks unlikely but you never know.
 
I loved it last weekend when Madge was being ferried about in the back of the vehicle, just as the Pope would, with Gregorian chanting on the show’s soundtrack, and the local Catholics started waving and worshipping… Madge, smoking a fag, flicked them the V-sign.
 
Much funnier to see than for me to try and explain. Yes, you had to be there. Sort of.
 
The best visual gag of the whole series for me was in the first episode where Mel was promoting a mobility scooter for people with, erm, a tendency to poo at the wrong time. The advert on the back was this:
 
“COMING SOON

Don’t get caught between two stools !”
 
Blink and you miss it. Genius.
 
*****
 
Have I mentioned how much I’m looking forward to Dr Who this Sunday?
 
*****
 
From the letters page at Viz magazine: “My granddad keeps forgetting where his allotment is. I think he’s lost the plot.”
 
*****
 
I’m probably the last person to stick up for Gordon Brown but he’s had a lot of unfair criticism this week about an error he made in a letter to the mother of a soldier killed in action. Yes, it’s extremely sad when anyone dies in the line of armed duty and we all have great sympathy for parents who lose their children but if I’d lost someone, I’d have bigger things to worry about than a slight grammatical error.
 
Let’s retain a sense of perspective.
 
He took the time to send a handwritten letter to a bereaved mother. She went to the papers to complain and he apologised. He might be an utter useless gimp for everything else but to clout him with a big stick over this is just unnecessary.
 
*****
 
Don’t worry – the usual Brown-bashing will return again soon.
 
*****
 
And finally… a very, very, very bad taste joke.
 
The Queen Mother bumps into Princess Diana up in Heaven and says: “Hello dear, I see you’ve been rewarded for all the important charity work you did while you were on Earth. Would it be possible for me to get a Halo just like yours?”
 
Diana replies: “Fuck off nan, it’s a steering wheel!”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cheers for now,
Geoff / DJ Wanker

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La targeta amarilla más clara de la historia, por simular… xD

Esto si que es una fuckin’ disgrace…

Una notizia choc che potrebbe avere ripercussioni sullo stato d’animo di John Terry e nell’ambiente Chelsea. Il padre del capitano dei Blues, secondo quanto riporta il News of the world, è stato filmato mentre vende cocaina. Un giornalista del domenicale inglese si è finto cliente e la transazione è avvenuta in un bar nell’Essex. Il padre del calciatore, Ted Terry, ha anche pregato il suo interlocutore di non svelare la sua indentità per non creare un polverone, ma la telecamera nascosta dell’inviato ha svelato l’arcano.

E, dunqe, si scrive sulle colonne del News of the world, mentre il capitano del Chelsea guadagna 160.000 sterline a settimana, il padre è felice di sbarcare il lunario per 40 sterline per ogni grammo di cocaina venduta.

I dubbed the Press Complaints Commission last week the Daily Mail Support Group, but it seems I was wrong to do so. The PCC’s generous and unquestioning patronage extends to News International’s flock of bilious rags as well, with the PCC’s investigation into allegations of phone hacking by the News of the World being described by MPs on all sides of the House as a ‘whitewash’.

MPs promise that the investigation by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, will be more rigorous. The Guardian, which published the allegations, has also criticised the PCC. “This complacent report shows that the PCC does not have the ability, the budget or the procedures to conduct its own investigations,” the paper said.

The current setup serves only the interests of newspaper editors and proprietors, and seemingly only those with right-wing bias. The PCC slackers and sycophants need to be got rid of and a new body created that is public and independent. Nothing less will serve the public interest and protect us, and there’s no reason at all such a proposal shouldn’t get cross-party support in Parliament.

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• You: MPs’ anger at PCC ‘whitewash’ (guardian.co.uk)
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• PCC rules Daily Mail not in breach of code over Iain Dale diary piece (blogs.journalism.co.uk)
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Sinitta has criticised Cheryl Cole for her treatment of X Factor hopeful Danyl Johnson.

Cole has spoken out against Johnson’s performances in the live stages of the competition, last week telling him: “You just don’t do it for me.” However on last night’s show she praised his changed “demeanour”.

However, Sinitta has now warned “Little Miss Cheryl Tweedy-Pie” to be nicer to Johnson.

“It’s outrageous for Cheryl to target him personally,” she told the News of the World. “It’s out of order and just mean. There is nothing to justify those comments that he’s not likeable, that he’s not a nice person, that he’s a horrible guy.

“Not everyone can turn you on and be your favourite – but to show your personal distaste just because you don’t like the person they are is quite hideous. It’s not fair.”

Sinitta also compared Johnson to Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle, who spent time in The Priory after the show ended.

“What people saw as arrogance was actually Danyl putting on a massively brave face,” she said. “People couldn’t handle the fact that he was going to tough it out and get through it no matter what.

“But it was all too tough for him in the end. He was overwhelmed and nearly exploded. He’s had all the Susan Boyle-type hype and people were going crazy about him. Then he’s had to put up with being vilified and told he’s more hated than Hitler. That’s very difficult to take for a young man who has been celebrated then turned against.”

Sinitta added that Johnson’s mentor Simon Cowell is spending more time with him now to show him that he doesn’t have to cope with the media attention on his own.

“It might feel good for a minute thinking, ‘Yeah, let’s get rid of Danyl, who does he think he is?’” she said. “But at the end of the day you need to sit back and think what you’re doing is actually destroying someone. You can’t feel good about that.

“All this is is a kid with a dream doing his damndest to win a competition and we’re all beating up on him.”

Source

Căpitanul naţionalei Angliei are marele derby astăzi cu Manchester, dar şi o mare problemă. Jurnaliştii de la News of the World au publicat un material cu un video şi un titlu scurt. “Tatăl lui Terry vinde cocaină”. Mai jos este şi dovada. Pentru 160 de lire sterline, Terry sr. se ascunde într-un WC şi vinde trei doze. Terry boy cîştigă 20.000 de lire sterline pe zi!!! Atenţie, pe zi! În condiţiile astea i-a luat tatălui un Rolex de 15.000 de lire sterile zilele trecute şi i-a plătit toate taxele la casă. Acum este un nou moment în care Terry poate să se dea cu capul de pultul de la bucătărie, mai ales după ce mă-sa a fost prinsă acum cîteva luni furînd haine de 800 de lire dintr-un magazin.

Simon Cowell’s ex-girlfriend, and close aide on the X Factor, Sinitta has slammed Cheryl Cole for criticising contestant Danyl Johnson, and has warned her that she runs the risk of driving him to a break-down just like Susan Boyle.

Speaking about Cheryl’s comments on last week’s show, the 80s popstar said that Danyl has been unable to cope with the recent criticism about his personality. In an interview with the News of The World she said:

“It’s outrageous for Cheryl to target him personally. It’s out of order and just mean. There is nothing to justify these comments that he’s not likeable, that he’s not a nice person, that he’s a horrible guy.”

“Not everyone can turn you on and be your favourite, but to show your personal distaste just because you don’t like the person they are is quite hideous. It’s not fair.”

Sinitta then added:

“He (Danyl) had all the Susan Boyle-type hype and people were going crazy about him. Then he’s had to put up with being vilified and told he’s more hated than Hitler.”

Um, we think that’s a bit extreme Sinitta but we get your point. So, was Cheryl wrong to voice her opinions about Danyl when he was in a visibly depressed state, or do you think Sinitta should just mind her own bloody business?

Source

As last week, I have a preview X Factor story from this upcoming Sunday’s News of The World:

EXCLUSIVE

SIMON Cowell’s closest adviser has warned Cheryl Cole to stop “destroying” Danyl Johnson or risk driving him to a breakdown just like Susan Boyle.

Pop star Sinitta – who is by Simon’s side every moment backstage at The X Factor – told how the controversial contestant hasn’t been able to cope with the storm of criticism about his personality.

And she raged about the popular judge: “It’s outrageous for Cheryl to target him personally. It’s out of order and just mean.

“There is NOTHING to justify these comments that he’s not likeable, that he’s not a nice person, that he’s a horrible guy.

“Not everyone can turn you on and be your favourite, but to show your personal distaste just because you don’t like the person they are is quite hideous. It’s not fair.”

Sinitta, 40, told how Danyl finally cracked after facing more criticism from the Girls Aloud star and some viewers last week.

“What people saw as arrogance was actually Danyl putting on a massively brave face,” she explained.

“People couldn’t handle the fact he was going to tough it out and get through it no matter what.

“But it was all too tough for him in the end. He was overwhelmed and nearly exploded.”

She added: “He had all the Susan Boyle-type hype and people were going crazy about him.

“Then he’s had to put up with being vilified and told he’s more hated than Hitler.”

So, the whole Danyl ‘he’s horrible – no he’s not – yes he is’ saga rumbles on for yet another week.  I did pick up on Cheryl’s comments to Danyl in my round-up for last week’s shows, and I did put it down to her being tactical.  I always thought that was the whole point of the show though!

There is a chance that, even as people defend Danyl, the public are just going to get sick of it all and vote him out anyway.  Does anybody else think that he could be in danger this week?

Danny Boyle, regista del Il Milionario, film che ha vinto otto premi Oscar, si e’ dichiarato ’stanco’ delle continue richieste economiche dei suoi baby attori presi dalle baraccopoli di Mumbai. Lo scrive da Londra l’agenzia di stampa indiana Press Trust of India. Secondo l’agenzia, le famiglie di Rubina Ali e di Azharuddin Ismail continuano a chiedere soldi al regista e alla fondazione da lui realizzata a Mumbai, nonostante abbiano gia’ ricevuto soldi. In particolare, i familiari di Azharuddin, hanno chiesto a Boyle tramite la sua fondazione ‘Jhai Ho’, dal nome della canzone del film, soldi per un’auto, mentre quelli di Rubina hanno chiesto 48000 dollari oltre agli 80000 gia’ avuti per l’acquisto di una casa. Doyle, che si trovava in India per seguire i lavori della fondazione caritatevole e per organizzare nuovi progetti, secondo quanto riferisce l’agenzia indiana, avrebbe lasciato il paese a seguito delle continue richieste dei ragazzi. All’indomani del successo de Il Milionario (Slumdog Millionaire in lingua originale), i baby attori reclutati nelle baraccopoli, si lamentarono con la stampa di non essere stati pagati il giusti dalla produzione. Per questo motivo, Boyle, regista anche di Trainspotting, realizzo’ con la produzione del film, una fondazione caritatevole a Mumbai per aiutare questi ragazzi. I quali, hanno gia’ ricevuto soldi, ma non hanno mai smesso di chiederne altri, come oltre 35000 dollari per una assicurazione sanitaria per tutta la famiglia.

An elven year old Bulgarian school girl has become a mother. What?! She reportedly went into labour during her marriage to the child’s father. What?! The father, who is 19, now faces up to 6 years in jail for sleeping with a minor. What?! Has the world gone mad? Why are 19-year-old Bulgarians sleeping with 11 year olds? Why are eleven year olds getting married? I find this story both disgusting and terrifying, how could people be so stupid? The worst part however, and yes it gets worse, the girl told the News of the World that she will not plays with toys anymore because she has a new one. What?!

I love a bit of trashy reporting with News of the World, The Mirror and Today Tonight usually getting a daily drop by. However I have just stumbled across a new jem in 3am. Aside from having news categories named “Ooh”, “Gasp” and “Phwoar”, every second story is on Peter Andre. I hope they take monetary donations as I would love to be personally responsible for keeping these guys going.

Special mention must go to a story titled ‘Lady Gaga And Agyness Deyn Desperately Seeking Attention At Fashion Awards Makes Us Want To Give Up And Retrain As Organic Farmers’. But I’m confused, what is the authors honest personal opinion on them? I suspect the following excerpt answers that: “So now you know (Gaga) dressing up like an arthritic wasp (we’re so out of sighs, we’re not even going to sigh any more about wearing her underwear on the outside) is in this nano-second…A ‘source’ said: “They both look like utter twats and deserve to die.”

Who’s this “source”? Josef Fritzl? Because that is pretty darn harsh. I know that sometimes in my rantings I come off as a bit of a bitter war vet, namely when discussing James Blunt, but to go so far as to wish physical harm to them? To myself when I listen to what they have given the world, maybe, but not to them. So 3am I am going to go out on a limb here and say there is no source. The author is the source and has let his/her personal opinions get in the way of good journalism. For a publication to make News of the World look good, well something must be up as I am fairly certain their chief editor is a mountain goat.

Cheryl Cole has reportedly signed a deal to release her solo album 3 Words in the United States.

The record, which is currently at number one in the UK, is expected to be released through Interscope early next year.

According to the News Of The World, Cole will release her collaboration with Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am, ‘3 Words’, as the first single Stateside.

“The Interscope deal is huge for Cheryl, especially as Girls Aloud have never released a single there,” a source told the newspaper.

Interscope Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group, is home to acts including Black Eyed Peas, Enrique Iglesias, Lady GaGa and Pussycat Dolls.

Cole’s debut solo single ‘Fight For This Love’ became the fastest-selling single of the year in the UK after shifting over 290,000 copies in its first week.

Source

Here are the scans from the special New Moon edition of Fabulous which was in the newspaper News of the World in the UK today.

More scans after the jump!

Source: Twilight Ladies

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Mark at i-level (a marketing company) offering me weekly X Factor updates supplied by the News of the World.  This gave me mixed feelings.  I find it gratifying enough when somebody reads my blog, but this was someone offering to send me exclusive material for me to use.  On the other hand, I felt a bit unsure how I felt about promoting a tabloid newspaper.  After a bit of internal debate, I’m afraid that vanity got the better of me and I thought I’d give it a try; it will be an interesting experiment if nothing else.  It’s possible that you could be questioning my integrity at this stage, but a) it’s stories about X Factor, so integrity doesn’t come in to play, and b) since I’m receiving no form of recompense for using the stories then I can’t exactly be accused of ’selling out’.

As a Liverpool fan, I am aware that some people are uncomfortable with the NOTW as it is owned by the same parent company as The S*n and is seen as its ’sister paper’.  It is my understanding of the boycott that it applies purely to the aforementioned ‘newspaper’, which I would have nothing to do with it.  Some of the content that I have been forwarded comes as an embedded video format, which, although it only has NOTW branding, features a link to the NOTW web-site where there is a link to the rag.  For that reason, I have decided not to use that embedded link.  I thought I better state my position clearly before I start.

Anyway, with that serious stuff out of the way, here is a preview of a couple of stories that will appear in this Sunday’s News of the World.  The first contains the X Factor’s chief choreographer Brian Friedman’s thoughts on The Twerps:

X FACTOR dance ace Brian Friedman is begging viewers to stop voting for the Grimes twins – as a win by Jedward would “make a mockery” of the show.
Choreographer Brian has admitted that while Dublin lads John and Edward are great entertainment, they could ruin the credibility of the country’s biggest singing contest because they don’t have any talent.
So bad are their raw vocals that Brian, 32, says listening to the boys sing is like “entering the gates of hell.”
Still the boys, 18, have yet to be left in the bottom two by voters – and are now ranked with a 14/1 shot at winning by bookies.
Meanwhile, Brian has been ordered by Simon Cowell to make sure star singer Danyl Johnson, 27, does not face a repeat of last week – where he was left in the bottom two despite being the head judge’s key talent.
He said Simon’s initial worries about a Grimes victory have been eclipsed by the thought that Danyl – one of Simon’s favourites to ever appear on the show – could be next to leave.
Brian said: “There is no way to figure out exactly what the public are voting for.
“But I really hope the viewers with actual music taste got the wake up call they needed with Danyl and Miss Frank being in the bottom two last week – they have to get voting for people who can sing.
“I absolutely do not think the Grimes twins deserve to win. And I’m not alone in that – but if you want to make a change you’ve got to get on the phone and vote.”

On the surface, this seems quite a non-story – anyone with any sense agrees that the twins are rubbish.  What is interesting, though, is that someone internal to the programme has come out and criticised one of the acts, and this seems quite unusual.  It’s especially strange as it is Brian’s job to prepares the contestants to perform.  Does this mean that we should expect a stripped back, no-gimmicks Jedward performance this week, in order to highlight their flaws?  You may also remember that in my post  for Week 3 that I mentioned that Brian had to go to an emergency meeting following the live results show.  This story has made me even more curious to know what was said in that meeting.

The second story is about little Lloyd:

X FACTOR heart-throb Lloyd Daniels is too busy for love – but he’s got a crush on fellow contestant Lucie Jones.
The teen hunk – dubbed a “little David Beckham” by Louis Walsh – split with girlfriend Molly shortly before things started to hot up on X Factor to avoid distractions.
But he has a huge soft-spot for fellow Welsh contestant Lucie, his best friend on the show together with Essex single-mum Stacey Solomon, according to his proud mum.
And he’s smitten with glamorous judge Cheryl Cole, too.
Lisa Daniels, 41, told the News of the World: “When he first met Lucie in the early stages of the competition, he said to me ‘mum, I’ve just met the most beautiful girl from Cardiff’.
“He said said she was absolutely stunning and lovely as well. He really liked her. Lucie and Stacey are his best friends on the show. Whenever I ring him he is with them.
“I think one of the reasons Lloyd gravitates towards Stacey is because her son Zac is close in age to his little brother Tylor who is 18-months-old.”
She added: “Lloyd thinks Cheryl is absolutely beautiful and has an incredible figure.
“For a boy of 16 she is pretty much the perfect woman. A couple of weeks ago Lloyd knocked on her dressing room door.
“He was going to ask her something, but he can’t even remember what it was now because he was so excited about what happened.
“He rang me straight after and said ‘I’ve just spent 40 minutes in Cheryl’s dressing room drinking tea with her and Louis’.
“He was so excited. I asked if they talked about his songs and routines, but he said they just talked about real life.”
Lloyd has become an overnight sensation on the ITV1 talent contest, wowing fans and judges alike with his innocent personality and choir boy good looks.
Last week Louis hailed the blonde teen as a boy-band star in the making, saying: “I think he’s fantastic. He’s like a little David Beckham.”

I can only assume that this story will be the main story on the front page, with its shocking revelation: 16-year old boy fancies Cheryl Cole.  It’s simply incredible!  Sarcasm aside, the main thing that I got from the story is that I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall of Cheryl and Louis’s tea-drinking sessions, and listen to them talking about ‘real life’.  It’s got all the makings of a hit TV show.

And that’s it for now.  Will John and Edward survive again and will anybody bother voting for Danyl? We’ll just have to wait and see.

I wrote a script for a University Presentation, on “The relevance of the Radical Press today“. I think I may have turned a little bit too Chomsky-esque with the points I was making.
The script itself, is just a guideline for me to rant further when I felt the need. I thought i’d post it on here for two reasons. Firstly, because I haven’t posted anything for quite some time (too much work on my hands) and secondly, because, well, I quite enjoyed writing it.
So here you go……

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The Relevance of the Radical Press in the 21st Century.
The effectiveness of the radical press, is linked in theory, to where the power lies. In the 19th Century, power lay quite firmly with the State. Throughout the 20th century, power transferred from the State, to private hands. And when power lies in private hands, control over that power comes from the top, the rich. There is a little give and take but by definition, private ownership over the mass media, means that any radical ideals are quickly suppressed. And whilst journalists may indeed say that they are not harassed into saying anything they do not wish to say, that they’re free from pressure – they’re right. But, the only reason they’re in a position not to be pressured, or harassed is because they have demonstrated the ability to say the right thing, for the big business that employs them. If a writer for The Mail, suddenly became a radical left wing writer, he’d be out, championing the overthrow of the Capitalist system isn’t in the interests of the big business media. He certainly wouldn’t have been employed in the first place had he shown what the business media would see as threatening to their established power. Where’s the radical press when you need it?

When ultimate power lies with the State, (as it did when the radical media began it’s ascent in the 19th Century) the media is of course expected to be the official mouthpiece of that State’s elites, often censored. The radical press obviously grew out of discontent with that particular media system. Eventually, when taxation failed to drive the radicals out of the media, freeing the markets happened to be fantastically affective. The very rich could afford to now start up a national daily newspaper, whereas the working class papers struggled to produce a weekly paper at local levels. And as the new big business media discovered they had inherited from pro-government publications of the past, the best way to ensure obedient and ignorant, to your system, is to limit debate and opinion, to decide exactly what shouldn’t be propagated and in particular, radical ideas.

Advertising plays a huge part, still, in the suppression of any form of radical press. For example, the Times reported in 2005 that General Motors had pulled it’s advertising for the L.A Times, after the L.A Times called for Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, to be sacked.
Morgan Stanley went one step further in May 2005 and added threats into it’s advertising contracts with newspapers across America, the following:
“In the event that objectionable editorial coverage is planned, news agency must inform Morgan Stanley, as a last minute change may be necessary. If an issue arises after hours or a call cannot be made, immediately cancel all Morgan Stanley ads for a minimum of 48 hours”. Advertising, big business, has the potential to control what makes the news, and that HAS to be just as worrying as government doing the same in the 19th Century. The press doesn’t challenge this established order. Radicalism dies even more.

Newspaper circulation, became big business very quickly, ruled by a new group of elites, possibly more dangerous than before, given that they were unelected, and very very powerful. Dependence on advertising helped them along beautifully. Radical papers could not attract advertisement, and so were effectively beaten out of the market by the wealthy. And so far from the government distorting the market, advertising quite radically distorted the market in favour of those with money. As the radical press of the 18th and 19th Centuries started to die down, thanks in general to the freeing up of the markets, it kind of created a new monster, in the form of big business. Of course, big business and government then intertwine until they are relatively the same thing. For example, A man named Andy Coulson, who was editor of News Of The World at the time of the phone hacking scandal, was responsible for the many many journalists who were undertaking these criminal activities, in order to get publishable stories……… News Corp, then (because they’re free, and just love transparency) paid to cover up the full scope of their illegal dealings and the problems Coulson was very much responsible for. Which, begs the question, which the mainstream media seem to be ignoring (I’d guess because they all have a few appalling skeletons they’d wish to stay quiet) why is Andy Coulson now in a position of quite intense power, as Director of Communications and Planning for the Conservative Party. Is it then, a stretch to suggest that Cameron, who has agreed to ditch ofcom, may just be a figurehead for people like Murdoch? Ultimate power, rule by the people, it could be argued, is now privately owned. Where is the radical press when you need it?

So it could be suggested that if Government is effectively privatised, bowing to the whim of big business, then the apparent “impartiality” of the BBC is threatened even further. If government and big business interests are one in the same, then we have problems.
For example, in June 2004, BBCs Washington Correspondent Matt Frei spoke with joy at the handing over of sovereignty and freedom to the Iraqi people from coalition forces. The BBC News described it as an “historic day for Iraqi democracy”. Yet, for the next few years at least, thousands of troops remained in Iraq (which be definition, isn’t “freedom” or “handing over sovereignty“), and the government was actually appointed by America, not Iraqi democracy. The BBC seemed to be sucking up to the Government and the Western perspective on the handing over of sovereignty. So it’s clear to see that the whilst the State run BBC does indeed at times show a Governmental bias, the Private media shows a bias toward whatever the owner or the advertisers wish. Both, are dangerous.

American Writer Henry Adams in 1900 said:
“The Press is a hired agent of a moneyed system, set up for no other reason than to tell lies where the interests are concerned.”

Over 100 years later, and I think we’ve finally got to the stage where Adams can be proven wrong. With the advent of Web 2.0, more and more people can become journalists, radical or not, with absolutely no formal qualification, and no duty to enrich shareholders or please advertisers. And there are a few about already. They give their opinion, they offer radical views that have been suppressed for quite some time. They aren’t censored in any way, and have no affiliation. I myself keep my own political opinion blog, and I read a great deal more. They can provide the public with stories that the papers are banned from reporting. For example, Côte d’Ivoire toxic waste dump scandal, involving the shipping Company Trafigura. Trafigura managed to ban the Guardian from reporting the fact that the Guardian had documents proving that Trafigura had effectively covered up their part in the scandal. Not even Parliamentary discussion on the subject was allowed to be published in the Guardian about the subject. But, the story broke on blogs across the World before any Paper was allowed to publish it. This shows the power of this new form of radical press. This new radical press doesn’t pretend to be objective. The Daily Kos, refers to itself as having a liberal bias, and Guido Fawkes blog is very much an anti-Labour leaning blog. The World Socialist Website offers it’s perspective on World events, from a Socialist point of view. A new web based free radical press has unlimited power and scope and could potentially prove to be the catalyst that brings down the power that big business and government seemingly have over the media.

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Thoughts?