Fascist rag, or just a bit of fun? (The Sun)

Member Name: doctordarke2389

Product:	The Sun
Date:	19/08/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of footie coverage

Disadvantages: Economical with the truth??

As an educator to degree and postgraduate levels, I actively and consciously discourage my students froim reading this publication, or in fairness any tabloid red top. (Now, before I go any further, I note that this may open me to charges of intellectual snobbery; well, I can live with that.) However, in so doing, I encourage my students to read REAL newspapers, irrespective of the paper's political leanings; I have no problem with that. So, by all means buy the Times or the Guardian or whatever, as long as the paper gives lots of treatment of the issues that really matter, and not gaudy inconsequentialities.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the Sun is the biggest - selling 'newspaper' in the UK, and by some distance. This has been the case for many years, partly due to its popular appeal in terms of fairly simply written football coverage, exposure to womens' mammary glands to satiate those so fixated, and gossip about talentless celebrities whose existence owes more to notoriety than any redeeming social or cerebral virtues. If you're the wannabee type that likes to bask in the reflected, but tarnished glory of such non - entities, then this is the publication for you.

Part of the problem associated with this publication is its rather loose interpretation of what the truth is. The most notorious example is the issue of the Hillsborough tragedy, and the way that the Sun compounded the fans' misery by allegedly falsely claiming that drunken Liverpool supporters were robbing their own dead and and urinating on, and beating up policemen and ambulance workers. To this day, the Sun is not widely bought on Merseyside. You can, of course, draw your own conclusions from this.

What is not in doubt, however, is the unalloyed fact that the Sun's proprietor, the Australian-American Ruper Murdoch, is one of the most powerful and influential people on the planet, and that his opinions are listened to by Presidents and Prime Ministers alike, and carry considerable weight. Such is the power wielded by Murdoch he can influence voting patterns, hence the (in)famous Sun banner 'It's the Sun wot won it', referring to a Tory General Election victory in the 1980s. Again, make of that what you will. But, people are quite at liberty to buy this publication, of course. It's about your personal choice, and I have no problem with that.

Summary: It's about choice, stupid!