On those days when the news was slow,
Editors of a bygone age
Would hold the paper’s front page till
A tasty story reared its head.
You needed nerves of steel to bet
On beating deadlines with a splash:
A murder or a bank held up,
A bishop, caught in flagrante.
It was what the public wanted:
Big pictures, tearful confessions,
Have-a-go heroes, raffish cads,
Embittered lovers, telling all.
Millions sold, in their heyday,
Which, like the Music Hall, would fade.
I retain a number of copies of newspapers and their cuttings
from the past. Both serve to remind me of things that are too
easily "deleted" in today's instant gratification market place.
I've just been re-reading a copy of the London Evening Standard
from nearly two decades ago that reports the UK population to
be 70 million by 2030. Only 8 years out but a warning that
we should have taken seriously.
Thanks for your comments, Greg and John. In a way, it's surprising that in 2022 there are still so many print versions of newspapers out there. I find the prospect of only on-line newspapers, mostly behind paywalls, very sad. I suppose we have to admit that the Mail knows its readership - it's just worrying that there are so many of them out there. (OK, I admit that Guardian readers can also be a bit odd at times).
Thanks to Nigel, Frederick, Holden, Graham and K Lynn for liking this.
Indeed, Stephen. In the 70’s The Mirror sold more copies than all newspapers are sold today. I suspect the biggest driver of their decline is what I am using now - personalised technology, the iPad, smart phone etc. It is still good to see The Daily Mail averting its gaze from news it doesn’t like.
Arguably the excesses of the tabloids, the phone-tapping and all the latest allegations, have hastened their decline. They say young people don't really read newspapers any more. I like the way your poem conjures up the language of those times, Steve. There are certain words that you only see in newspaper headlines, that were never, ever part of everyday language.
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Stephen Gospage
Fri 14th Oct 2022 21:27
Thanks, MC.