Paper Monitor
10:57 UK time, Monday, 6 November 2006
Paper Monitor's satchel is covered with stickers of dinosaurs, thanks to the Guardian's giveaway on Saturday. Next week apparently they're doing stickers of bacteria. The week after, puddles. And it reaches a climax in week four with bogeys. What Paper Monitor really wants, of course, is a giveaway sheet of stickers of pictures of newspapers. Now THAT would be worth having, if only to give headaches to the ultra-logical among us.
No giveaways in today's papers, being a Monday, but plenty to chew on over one's egg and bacon focaccia (Paper Monitor's diet is all over the place). The news of the verdict and sentence for Saddam Hussein is something like a prism for the papers. Looking at these selected headlines tells us more about the paper than any freebie the marketing dept could cook up.
So let's play a guessing game. Match the headline with a popular newspaper. Answers at the bottom.
1. This was a guilty verdict on America as well.... We cannot even claim any moral superiority. Hmmm. A bit hand-wringy. No gloating allowed.
2. SADDAMNED TO HELL Up-and-at-em, but not in a particularly stylish or clever way.
3. DEFIANCE OF THE TYRANT Strong words, leaving no room for doubt as to where the paper stands.
4. HANG TO RIGHTS Also up-and-at-em, but done more cleverly and tastelessly, especially when combined with a picture of Saddam in his pants headlined: YOU'RE WELL HUNG NOW.
5. Eruptions of joy, anger, and anti-US protests Subtext: "On the one hand... but then on the other hand..."
6. Rejoice! Saddam to hang by Christmas Oh dear. Completely OTT.
So how did you do? The answers are:
1. Independent.
2. Mirror.
3. Daily Mail.
4. Sun.
5. Guardian.
6. Express (though of course the paper's main front page headline is "SPIES COVER UP DIANA 'MURDER'". It is Monday, after all.)
The 
