It’s not been a good week for Rupe’s downmarket troops at
the Super Soaraway Currant Bun: first they get ridiculed
for perving over a couple having sex in the sea off Magaluf – along with
all the puerile sniggering and talk of “romps”
– and then they get caught with trousers well and truly round their ankles by
the latest twist in the sorry saga of former footballer Paul Gascoigne.
Gazza has been in and out of rehab for years now: some
people cannot control their relationship with alcohol, and he is one of them.
Every time they dry him out, there is a period of calm, and then an event that
sends him back to the bottle. And, as the tabloids are under scrutiny as never
before, Gazza falling off the wagon is the kind of cheap story that sends the
red-tops into a frenzy.
Here's our Gazza story for tomorrow ...
But the Sun had
more optimistic news yesterday: at 47, Gascoigne was about to make a shock
return to football. “Gazza set for shock
football comeback” it
proclaimed. You had to pay to see the rest of the story, but the Mirror has helpfully told us for free
(see how that works, Rupe?): the comeback would have been for Abbey Windows FC
in the Bournemouth Sunday league.
... oh hang on a minute, what's this ...
However, and in this case we encounter a significantly sized
however, good news is always outsold by bad news, and in Gazza’s case, there
was some very bad news coming right round the corner. This was even worse for
the Sun, because that bad news was
exclusively in the Mirror, and it
was that Gascoigne had once again taken solace in the bottle. And a four pack
of Stella.
... OK then, THIS is our Gazza story for tomorrow
“Gazza: Help me, I’m
in trouble ... Star’s plea after he’s found slumped with bottle of gin”
told the paper. Or perhaps it wasn’t gin: “Ex-England
ace Paul Gascoigne was being treated in hospital today as he faces being made
homeless following another drinking binge. Paramedics and cops were called
after the football legend was seen slumped outside his flat clutching a bottle
of vodka”. Whatever.
What was the Sun
to do? Simples. The good news story was swiftly relegated to a lower news
division as Rupe’s downmarket troops scrabbled to keep up. “Legend back on the booze ... Oh no Gazza,
not again” howled today’s front page, hurriedly assembled after the Mirror broke the news just after 1900
hours yesterday. They had little alternative: even
the Mail was now on the case.
“Clutching a bottle of
gin in the street, the pictures that show ex-England ace Paul Gascoigne is
losing his battle with alcohol: Former footballer 'in hospital and facing
homelessness after another drinking binge'” told the Dacre doggies. Yes, the
good news story is left behind as Gazza gets paraded by the tabloids in an
attempt to flog a few more papers. Press exploitation in its least appealing
form.
Especially by the Sun,
executing a handbrake U-Turn like no
other.
And they complain when some of the media saw fit to cover the "phonehacking" trials whilst wars were going on in wherever they were going on.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shame that Cleb Culture Punnish UK has driven much properly reported serious news out of tabloids to make way for the PR stories.
I suppose "tabloid" press will have to make way for the "tablet" press eventually. But then perhaps most of the tabloid press on those already?
Shame the alcohol was so hard on Gazza
ReplyDelete