Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
It takes a big story to reorder Page 3 of the Sun.
But Prince Harry's return from Afghanistan means that Hollie and her News in Briefs have been booted back to page 7. Yes, the news blackout is over at last.
"Harry Home" .
"Full Story - Pages 2,3,4 & 5."
He has killed people in Afghanistan, the Sun says. But there was no killer quote to back this up. Instead a more philosophical comment about how the Apache crews must operate: "We have to take a life to save a life."
The Mail was not so merciless. "Harry: I have killed". And it had the quote to prove it.
"Asked if he had killed from the cockpit of his £40 million aircraft, the 28 year-old prince said matter-of-factly: 'Yeah, so lots of people have. The squadron's been out there. Everyone's fired a certain amount.'"
You can just hear the news editor asking for a better quote. "It's not a clear admission". Before being reminded who Captain Wales is. The paper went on to say how he'd perfected his shooting accuracy by playing videogames at Camp Bastion.
The Mail website is now running with the latest angle: 'This isn't a game': Taliban labels Harry a 'coward' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266382/Taliban-leaders-label-Prince-Harry-coward-comparing-Afghan-conflict-games.html Erm, was that confession such a great idea, Harry?
- Harry's unhappiness with the press, something he made no attempt to hide.
Talking about a news story that had upset him, he said. "I think it was probably the Sun newspaper, but because we haven't got mobile phones out there they obviously can't bug our phones so they don't know what we're saying."
Funnily enough that comment is missing from the Sun's five pages of coverage. Meanwhile a gag is being readied by Clarence House.