Trashy Tabloid or Entertaining News? (The Sun)

Member Name: cazkins

Product:	The Sun
Date:	14/09/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very popular, some interesting articles, features & give aways, entertaining but informative

Disadvantages: Too much celebrity & 'trend' focus, not the most accurate or detailed news reporting

We've always bought a daily newspaper and it's been The Sun since I can remember. It may be a bit tacky in the sense that it's a tabloid paper which features celebrity gossip as front page news more often than important headlines, but it's an easy read, especially if you tend to just skim through papers.

The Sun is the highest circulating rates for an English paper in the world and sells around £2,986,000 copies a day (credit goes to Wikipedia for that factoid). Apparently it has almost 8 million readers, putting into perspective just how popular this paper is.

Being part of Murdoch's News Corp, this is a very well-known tabloid paper and has won various awards, providing it's top of its game. This is reflected in its development, with stories & interviews before other papers, innovative games & giveaways, and a popular website.

I can't remember how much this paper used to cost a few years ago, but the price has increased. It's sold Monday to Friday at 30p, and costs a pricey 60p on Saturdays. The price hike is primarily due to the 'free' TV Guide included in the paper. I think the TV guide's quite good; informative yet easy to read, and it saves having to buy any other guide as most channels are covered.

There are some recurring features in The Sun, and some of the regulars include:

* The Infamous page 3 - Can't say I'm a fan of this, but I wont turn into a feminist and argue against it.
* Politcal and governmental coverage, especially page 2
* Celebrity news in the centre pages - Currently titled The Biz, this houses sneak peaks, celeb gossip and plenty of photos, though you'll find much celebrity-based 'news' throughout the paper anyway
* Sports news towards the back - I can't say I ever read this section, but it looks packed with articles and photos
* Collums by writers such as McKenzie, Gaunt & Clarkson - I really enjoy some of these, especially Gaunt. Many are very witty, comical, and tend to reflect what I, and probably the majority of readers, are thinking but are unable (or too scared) to say
* Weekend section for film and game reviews - A quick rundown of the latest releases and their ratings, plus usually an article/interview or two with a band which can make for interesting reading if you're a music fan
* Travel pages - Some lovely pictures to gaze jealously at
* Advertisements
* Stars, cartoon strips, Quizes, Agony Aunt pages, more recent Ask Betty page - I hate to admit it, but I quite like the daily crossword & 'sun dial' puzzles. Even if the rest of the paper is filled with depressing stories or celeb trash, I can count on a good word game to keep my brain cells alive!
* Specific artiles, eg. Health - Usually spread over a few pages, there will be a focussed dedication, for example to health. This is usually someone's weight loss success story with hints and tips, which can be interesting to read as there's less focus on weight/size in a newspaper than a calorie obsessed magazine
* Captain Crunch, discounts, often promotional features such as Sun * Holidays - Some useful discounts and freebies appear every now and again, though they're not always suited to me. They were giving away DVDs about dinosaurs not too long ago, for instance, which I didn't want to pick up because they would have ended up straight in the bin. But it's always good to have a nice freebie surprise/.

Tabloids in general have earned themselves a somewhat negative reputation for being a bit tacky and inaccurate when it comes to reporting the news. As I try not to get into the nitty gritty arguments about this, I find The Sun fine for delivering me with news updates, though if you want more in-depth articles you're probably better off going for a more serious and focussed broadsheet paper.

The Sun has quite a trendy and up-beat feel, appealing to a wide range of readers. On the whole, I find it fairly well laid out and easy to read, or skim through, and there's plenty of photos (and the occasional cartoon or photoshop mock-up) to accompany the text and make it easier to digest.

The view taken by The Sun tends to be quite critical and Brown, and the current climate, and consequently seems to reflect what many of us, the regular British Public (generally speaking of course), feel about the situation. I prefer news to be factual and neutral, but this is practically impossible for a newspaper to do. So to take the stance it does, The Sun feels like it's on our side when it discussing the issues our country faces, such as with the economy, benefits, crime and healthcare.

Puns and quips for headlines are usually a bit tacky, yet quite amusing at times. The humour helps to uplift the paper and does make it a bit more tempting to read. That said, I do think there's more celebrity focus than actual news sometimes on the front page, which can get annoying after a while. There's only so much talk about so-and-so getting married, getting a divorce, getting with a new mystery man etc that I can take!

Overall, The Sun feels accessible because it's aimed well at the target audience of the regular, everyday public. It may not be the most informative or accurate news, and it does have rather a lot in the way of trashy celebrity 'news'. Nonetheless, it reports the news stories you expect, whilst having some interesting articles, a comical edge, and photos & features that make it that bit more appealing.

Summary: A popular choice for a more entertaining round up of the news