‘DON'T BUY A TABLOID' DAY – MONDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER

Firstly, I’d like to say that when I do buy a paper, usually a few times a week – it’s a certain tabloid – so I don’t want some people saying ‘it’s some Guardian reader on a mission. It isn’t. As I say, when I buy I buy tabloid. However, I am sick to death of these lying bastards thinking they can get away with anything.

I like the general light-heartedness of the tabloids, and there are many other aspects of tabloid journalism I like, but there are so many which are simply despicable. WE HAVE ALL BEEN CHEESED OFF WITH THE TABLOID PRESS AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER.

The treatment of national football team managers is one. If the press decide they have had enough of someone, they see it as their god-given right to ‘dismiss’ him, resorting to lies and let’s be honest, blatant bullying of the man in question, and us in the way we are ‘led’ to think.

We all support a club – how many times has your match report sounded like it was written by a man/woman who wasn’t even there? Maybe your club doesn’t get a mention at all? Maybe your club forever gets zero column inches because a bigger club five miles away has re-laid the pitch or repainted the manager’s office?

If you live in Scotland, all you’ll ever read about right now is Henrik Bloody Larsen, or Derek Murray the Rangers Chair – your own club will be dismissed to a three word mention, and usually wrong at that. And even if you support Celtic or Rangers, no doubt you’ve read something which is undoubtedly biased to one or the other, or simply just a pack of lies.

If you live in England, the treatment of Sven Goran Eriksson recently must turn your stomach. He was/is a good manager, and a nice guy, whose image as been completely ruined by the tabloid press. Even if you think Sven should go, the lies and constant houndings are, as I say, tantamount to bullying, and it’s time it was stopped. Time to shut the press up for one day.

And it’s not just sport. Take any tabloid on any day, and somewhere – hidden away on page 27 (or somewhere) will be an apology made saying ‘sorry – we lied’. How many celebrities’ lives have we seen ruined over false allegations?
 

Well it’s time to show these lying bastards that we, the public, are sick of it. Yes we like newspapers, but we are sick to death of the lying, bullying and double-standards of the tabloid press. It’s not a permanent thing, just a one day protest that we are not in favour of their general tactics.

So here you have it, for one day MONDAY THE 20^TH SEPTEMBER 2004 – NATIONAL DON’T BUY A TABLOID DAY.

That day, put your 30p in the charity box in shop/work/pub, and get your news off the net, the TV or Teletext. We are not to be bullied, we have minds of our own.

MONDAY THE 20^TH SEPTEMBER 2004 – NATIONAL DON’T BUY A TABLOID DAY.

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