The weekend thread!

[Mint]

For any weekend discussion, what are you guys doing this weekend?

I might be off out tommorrow night dunno yet if i cba, off shopping saturday then mates party saturday night, then probably recovering sunday haha.

 

[Sir Calumn]

I'm going to a party with a group of neo-facist intellectuals I seem to have been sucked into. I'm not even joking.

 

[Mint]

Might enjoym it dude, might be some pussy there

 

[Sir Calumn]

Neo-facist sex. Actually, I really like the sound of that.

 

[Mint]

Hahahahaha.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Neo-facist sex. Actually, I really like the sound of that.

Wasn't some high profile member of the FA forced to resign for putting on Nazi sex parties in his Nazi dungeon?

 

[RobbieD_PL]

Neo-facist sex. Actually, I really like the sound of that.

The continuation of the Aryan seed, much like Breivik!

 

[Sir Calumn]

Wasn't some high profile member of the FA forced to resign for putting on Nazi sex parties in his Nazi dungeon?

I think you mean Max Mosley, the head of formula one, though it later emerged his orgies werent Nazi themed the lovely News of the World just decided to make that up.

 

[Alex]

Ahh, so when is our Rupert going to launch the Sun on Sunday, and pretend it's not just the News of the World...I thought it'd be done by now. Lucrative national Sunday tabloid market.

 

[Sir Calumn]

There's no such thing as a lucrative newspaper anymore. I mean, the tabs still make money, but compared to BSkyB and the other arms of the Murdoch empire it is chicken feed, so I think he will leave it a long while and maybe not at all, to attempt to salvage a bit of integrity.

James Murdoch would like to get out of newspapers entirely, it's just his dads sentimentality which keeps them part of the business.

What is surprising is that the sales of the other Sunday papers have not really risen to fill the gap. Also the Sun and the NOTW may be rags, but you should see the other tabloids, at least the Sun is king of the rags!

 

[Alex]

Yeah, I lived there for two years. The Sun was GREAT for football or an easy read

Newspapers aren't about money, they're also about controlling public opinion. Murdoch had loads of influence with the Sun and NOTW.

 

[Alex]

BTW. Which Sunday paper would you have expected to increase sales?

Sun readers would never switch to the Mirror just because it's a tabloid...that's like if Manchester City shut down, expecting the fans to cheer for a united!

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Newspapers aren't about money, they're also about controlling public opinion. Murdoch had loads of influence with the Sun and NOTW.

Oh please, the unwashed masses don't read. TV is for controlling the public now. I don't know what the UK version of Fox News is, but I'm sure it exists.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Yeah, I lived there for two years. The Sun was GREAT for football or an easy read

Newspapers aren't about money, they're also about controlling public opinion. Murdoch had loads of influence with the Sun and NOTW.

Yeah, I read the Sun every now and again, I think it is important to keep an eye on the news from all sides of the spectrum.

But it is wrong to thing the papers have much influence anymore. 20 years ago, the Murdoch papers were able to influence, and arguable alter, the results of elections - nowadays they have no such power. If anything, they follow the public now, rather than the public following them. The political classes have just woken up to this which is why the phone hacking scandal has been pursued so vigorously.

The internet and the rise in multi-channel television combined with an increase in political awareness and a decline in quality journalism are responsible for this. However, there is no Fox style channel in the UK as Shifty suggests, not yet anyway. Obviously there is plenty of bias but the existence of the BBC has managed to retain a degree of balance, a counterweight if you like - still by far the most watched news channel, it means the privately owned channels cant get too ridiculous because there will always been the comparison. Sky News has been forced to retain editorial independence, so Murdoch has little control over it.

Of course, the times are changing, and I would not be surprised to see the establishment of Fox style channels within the next ten years or so.

BTW. Which Sunday paper would you have expected to increase sales?

Sun readers would never switch to the Mirror just because it's a tabloid...that's like if Manchester City shut down, expecting the fans to cheer for a united!

Well I dont believe the entire Sun readership reads it for ideological reasons, but yeah you wouldnt expect a large transfer of Sunday readership to the Sunday Mirror or the People, but I expected the Sunday Star and maybe the Mail on Sunday to pick up more readers.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

The internet and the rise in multi-channel television combined with an increase in political awareness and a decline in quality journalism are responsible for this. However, there is no Fox style channel in the UK as Shifty suggests, not yet anyway. Obviously there is plenty of bias but the existence of the BBC has managed to retain a degree of balance, a counterweight if you like - still by far the most watched news channel, it means the privately owned channels cant get too ridiculous because there will always been the comparison. Sky News has been forced to retain editorial independence, so Murdoch has little control over it.

Ahhh, yeah nobody watches PBS news over here.

 

[Sir Calumn]

An American girl I used to go out with was adamant that watching PBS made you a traitor and a socialist.