Paper Monitor
11:39 UK time, Tuesday, 14 April 2009
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
It is, perhaps, a piece of celebrity endorsement the new President of the United States might wish the photo editors had "left off" (Paper Monitor's passim) - Phil Spector, on his way into court, sporting a "Barack Obama rocks" badge on his lapel.
For this is the photo that graces the front page of the Daily Express, after he was found guilty of murdering actress and cocktail waitress Lana Clarkson - "wearing a slightly more conservative dark brown wig than usual", the paper notes.
Clarkson left the bar where she worked with the pop legend after he left a $450 tip for a $13 drink, reports the Times, adding that the jury of his peers included a bus driver, a social worker and a postal clerk.
There is something very compelling about the American convention of shining a spotlight on those who sit in judgement on prominent cases. But wait, the Times has more: "Of the six men and six woman on the jury, three were gun owners, seven knew someone who had committed suicide, and one described himself as a fan of Spector."
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail speculates that Madonna's sepia-toned shot of her cuddling a sleeping Malawian girl may have had a few things "left off" too. The paper - never shy to jump on a woman for looking too thin, too old, too cleavage-y etc etc - reckons that it may have been airbrushed "to make the pop star to appear angelic, blemish-free and young".
Come now. If you had a choice between showing people a photo of you looking radiant, or a snap in which your hair is limp, your face shiny or your eyes puffy, which would you choose? Not that Paper Monitor is suggesting Madonna's normal appearance is any of the latter - and, one hopes, nor would she suggest the same of your humble correspondent.
And finally, a return to an occasional theme, that of the economics of newspapers. Last week Paper Monitor stopped at a newsstand to buy a posh choccy egg for the price of the Evening Standard - with a free copy of the Evening Standard thrown in. Paper Monitor thought about buying two, but decided that would have been too much news in one sitting.
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