Paper Monitor
11:58 UK time, Wednesday, 9 July 2008
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Sometimes journalism is a bit tricky. Sometimes it is like taking confectionery from an infant.
Take the case of Sophie King, who has won compensation of £7,000 after the heel snapped off a new shoe from Dolcis, causing her ankle to break.
Pretty good story you might think. And you'd be right.
There you are, sitting in your newsroom of a middle market newspaper, and you get the pictures of Ms King. Then klaxons go off. For she is a statuesque blonde 20-something. Add into the mix that she is from leafy Knutsford in Cheshire and is at Durham University and you can sense scribblers salivating.
The Guardian carries a mere thumbnail photo. In the Daily Express there's a big side-on view with plenty of décolletage. In the Daily Mail a different shot, with the plaintiff posing with one hand behind her head. In the Daily Telegraph there's a Vaseline-on-the-lens type professional shot which dominates page 14.
Elsewhere in the papers, Paper Monitor tips its hat to the Sun subs' ability to take a news story and boil it down to the pithiest of headlines.
It's hard to argue with the likes of "Fat kids' free fruit" or "Cop blitz on metal blaggers" or "OSAMA's MINI-ME".
And as for a sub-head on a Concorde story - "Nose bust off, vandalised and coated in bird poo" - or the splash - "Boozed-up brunette banged up for bunk-up on beach in Dubai" - you simply have to remove your hat altogether.
Respect.
The 
