Charles Apple

Despite claims that newspaper publishing outside the U.S. is still quite robust, our array of Google Alerts is pulling in numerous reports of the possible closure of several British newspapers this year.

Take this story, for example:

Just about every media pundit seems to expect a high profile casualty of the recession this year, with the Independent and the Star regularly touted as the papers most likely to disappear or, at least, suffer a redesign so severe that they’re barely recognisable.

Sound familiar?

That story goes on to forecast that the first paper to shut down this year might be the Daily Sport.

Which might not be such a tragedy.

Let me explain…

I taught my very first class in 1989. In Sunderland, England… Which is a hell of a long way to travel for your first speaking gig.

How it so happened that I got that assignment is a story for later. Perhaps I’ll write about it this fall which, after all, will be the 20th anniversary of that trip. But the newspaper hosting my visit — the Sunderland Echo — put me up in a very swanky hotel located in a 700-year-old castle.

Lumley Castle Hotel, near Durham.
—

The folks at the front desk asked me what newspapers I’d like delivered to my room each morning. I suggested they give me something different each day, so I could sample them all. Each evening, they’d tell me what they were bringing and I’d say, Sure, fine; Whatever.

On my last Saturday night there, the gentleman at the front desk said: “So, I guess you’ll be wanting a Sunday Sport?”

Wow, an entire newspaper devoted to Sports? Sounded great to me. Sure, why not?, I told the guy.

Imagine the look on my face the next morning when I discovered the Sport isn’t really about sports. It has sports in it, I mean, but it’s not about sports.

The Sport, you see, is a daily pornography tabloid:

The cover is relatively tame. But that’s because each issue is displayed at the local newsstand:

Inside — believe me — the Sport is not tame at all. There was stuff in that newspaper that horrified me. And I’m not that easy to horrify, I think. This isn’t a simple “Page Three Girl” I’m talking about.

I’m quite sure these samples are old. This one, in particular, looks a lot like the one I received that Sunday in Lumley Castle…

…And it also allows you to see the kind of journalism the newspaper squeezes in between the cheesecake.

I had made room in my suitcase to take home several of the English newspapers. But how was I supposed to pack this? I could see the headlines in the Rock Hill paper:

Herald news designer held
on porn smuggling charges

So is the Daily Sport toast? The paper hired its first-ever female editor — who, according to this story…

…promised to retain its traditions by ensuring that it would feature “babes, babes and more and more sexy babes.”

But a massive redesign last April didn’t stop circulation losses of 11 percent or more, according to this report.

We hate to see any newspaper die. But if the the Daily Sport goes under? Ah, we hardly knew you, Sport.

Which might be a good thing.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Amusing stuff, Industry woes, International newspapers, Newspapers, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.