Newspapers and their Meaning(s)

What does your reading of a particular newspaper say about you?

Reading ANY newspaper (and here I exclude the Commuter McNuggets of the Metro) says that you're part of a dying breed- young hip folks get what infotainment they need from tinterweb and tv. Like the 20th century dinosaurs they are, the newspapers' circulation is packing up, and they are stroking out with increasing regularity.

There's that old saw- hang on, let me Google it-

Jim Hacker: "Don't tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers:
- The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country;
- The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country;
- The Times is read by people who actually do run the country;
- The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country;
- The Financial Times is read by people who own the country;
- The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country;
- And the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is."

Sir Humphrey: "Prime Minister, what about the people who read the Sun?"

Bernard Woolley: "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits."

Well, I used to read the Indie, but in between 18 and 25 either it changed or I did or we both did, so I then spent a wasted decade reading the Grauniad. For too long.
Then I spent years forcing myself to read the Financial Times till I got the knack.
Now I know what they mean by "No FT, no comment."

Reasons to love the FT
- quality of the writing (Matthew Engel, Gideon Rachman, Lucy Kellaway, Gillian Tait, Joshua Chaffin, Tony Barber etc etc)
- more facts per square inch, especially ones the other papers don't/won't print.
- virtually free of celebrity shite. There's no filtering that needs doing as you turn the pages.
- unashamedly capitalist; there's none of the tedious hand-wringing of the liberal press.
- actually takes anarchist and communist artists, film-makers seriously, without the patronising undertone (or overtone) of the Farringdon fuckwits.

And, if I'm honest, buying the FT is a a way of thinking myself (and trying to display to others) that I am Serious. And Diligent.

And I love buying the Morning Star alongside the FT, and doing a compare and contrast.

Hegel apparently said that reading a paper was one of the rituals of Modern Man. Not for much longer, but I for one will be sad to see the end of the FT, if and when that day comes.