Who even buys The Sun in 2023?

[Brrrrrrrrrrrr]

In light of the current situation and given The Suns track record of generally being a terrible newspaper with diabolical unscrupulous form to manipulate stories, I am curious to know who actually buys it and reads it?

It’s a genuine question because what is bothering me is the disturbing thought that there are people who read The Sun and actually believe what it publishes or even thinks it’s ok to publish it in the first place. Anyone who buys it is essentially saying they are ok with the methodology and lengths The Suns journalists go to in order to get a front page story and I’m wondering what it is they get from absorbing that kind of bad energy every day?

That the Nation and the press were so distracted by this story whilst other far more newsworthy issues were being ignored or lightly reported on is in itself mind boggling and frightening, they literally created a storm out of very little and scores of people were drawn in like it was a cliff hanger from Line of Duty.

Surely it’s time all the major retailers reconsidered selling it, what good does it actually bring to society? I agree there’s the freedom of speech aspect and this is my opinion but the tactics they employ to manipulate and cause divide amongst people are truly despicable and outdated, is it just ok and accepted to be this low?

Because people read them online.

I don't really see why newspapers are still treated as so influential.

I think it was a useful shorthand for the tribalist type to justify hatred of another group. “Those people who read The Sun are the people I hate”. Even though this demographic is dwindling, tribalist people still need a label to tar and demonise the “other” with.

So you don’t think people read those papers on their phones?

My FIL.

For 'the sport' apparently.

And I guess the simple words and short sentences.

Frankly who buys ANY newspaper in 2023 unless they're at an airport and will be waiting for hours. The idea of paying to know what someone else thinks about what's going on in the world always struck me as a bit daft. OK, pre-internet and especially pre-TV and radio newspapers were the best you could get, but they started to become obsolete after WWII and were completely obsolete by the early 2000s.

I don't really see why newspapers are still treated as so influential.

Because the stories ripple throughout every media outlet and are discussed widely on social media.

I didn't read the HE piece in The Sun, I first heard about the 'bbc presenter' on Twitter. If anything they're more influential these days because a news story can become a hot topic globally within minutes.

I was under the impression that people’s behaviour has completely changed now - reading a paper used to be a cover to cover thing, now it seems that people access social media and follow linked articles to whatever paper is shared, or have their habit of going to the sports pages of their favourite online paper and not bothering with the rest of it. Maybe reading an article in The Mail Online, then The Sun, then maybe The Guardian and looking at Twitter commentary, etc. With that sort of behaviour it would be really hard for a paper to politically influence influence any individual.

I can’t see people whose politics align with the Mail reading anything from the Guardian and vice versa. And those extremes won’t appear on Twitter feeds because the algorithms exclude them. It’s why people live in echo chambers on line.

They have learnt nothing from the vile lies they printed about Hillsborough

Lies fed to them by the police - a group one would like to believe would be a credible source. Even the reporter behind that front page has slammed the police for the cover up they orchestrated.

Liverpool has directed their ire at the wrong people for too long IMO.

Well, I read both.

Well aren't you charming? How about the professionals, waiting in the barbers? What about the same popping into a cafe, in between business calls? Your closed mind must be welcomed by your FIL, who, no doubt, can tell you what you want to hear. Only using simple sentences and short words though.

Your last sentence is so true.

Well Your 100% wrong about me but thanks for you analysis, just goes to show you obviously have zero clue about what you are saying 😂

The Sun is a comic/tabloid, looks like it, does not pretend otherwise and I think most of those who buy it know that and take what is in it with a pinch of salt.

The Paper that Supported the Blackshirts is the awful nasty one by comparison.

Totally agree with this. On the first page of this thread alone there’s suggestions we shouldn’t have The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph.

So where does that leave us - with Pravda?

Such cosseted privileged nonsense spouted on here everyday about the media which is hilarious because no one here actually seems to have a clue how it works. Go to North Korea, Russia or China and see how you feel about freedom of press once you’re there.

OP, are you coming back?

I read the Torygraph, Times, new statesman, observer and have a subscription to the speccie. Little use for the guardian now they’ve chased off Suzanne and Hadley and I’ve got bored of marina. But that’s a boredom not a politics thing. The guardian is boring.
my mind is blown by the idea of someone who can’t conceive of how a mail reader might not read the guardian. I know of no one like this IRL. Literally no one.

I used to read the Sun when I was doing my phd, back in the 90s. I also read the Mirror, Times, Telegraph, and Guardian.

This was a Russell Group uni, at which we were encouraged to read different sources of news in order to see the bias in each one.

People are entitled to read whichever newspaper they want. I wouldn't want to live in a country where the government controls this.

Maybe if there were more sneering, more people would be too embarrassed to do stupid shit. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. and you think your sneering will embarrass people into agreeing with what you want them to think? 😂

I read whatever is free to read or if a share token is provided. It depends if it interests me and I’ll usually check who wrote it, maybe looking them up if I haven’t heard of them. I bet most people who are non-tribalist and free-thinking probably do the same (but probably fork out for subscriptions too).

And The Guardian has got so shite now, there would have to be something really compelling to make me read it.

I think you are due a reconsideration of your view on this Blossomtoes.

I remember when the Guardian first went online, it was a surprise that most of the commenters btl were right wing. It transpired that, although people normally think of people in the armed forces as right-wing/conservative, the more detailed coverage of war zones in the Guardian, meant that many preferred reading The Guardian because it was more relevant to their lives. It changed my assumptions about the typical Guardian reader.

@Blackbyrd we have some of the worst press of any equivalent country. Hounding people, polarising opinion, keeping eyes of the real issues. Maybe if as much effort was put into reporting on, say, climate change or massive government corruption, or the horrendous swing to the right across the world, we might get somewhere. Instead, people’s collective outrage at the state of the country, the nhs, cost of living, is pointed at pointless, distracting rubbish. Bread and circuses, as they say. Keep voting for Christmas, turkeys

@Blossomtoes I do actually read trash papers (online, cookies disabled - no way are they getting my data) so that I can see what is being pumped out. I don’t read them thinking they are “the news”, but it has given me a huge additional perspective as to why the UK is as it is. People are consuming such low quality content, they don’t have time to think about what’s really behind the mess we’re in. Clue: it’s not “small boats”

Sneering at people for what newspaper they read is part of the reason why the left have so much trouble getting people to vote for them.

Yes - mostly. I think you can get it in some WHSmiths but none of the newsagents or supermarkets I know in south Liverpool sell it.
Plenty of black cab drivers boycott it and won’t let you in the cab with a copy if they can see you’ve got one.