Royals and American media coverage

[ButteryPuffin]

Saw this cover posted on Twitter and noted that it seems the tabloids do indeed exist in the US (amazing, huh?). This is pretty much what you'd expect from the source, and I think it's pretty deplorable, but I am interested to see how the American media in general cover the presence of the former royals who've now arrived to make their home there. Of course we can discuss their coverage of other Royals too and related topics. All welcome.

Link to cover story - please note I'm not endorsing it, I'm just sharing it:
66.media.tumblr.com/79912301ec9c6e0f2cbf902a7a42a540/da60395e577b1897-aa/s540x810/61af854a1eed0d02b6bfa026133d16f8bdb87f41.jpg

Camilla Long is on form today in the Times. The luvvies won't like the rounding on H&M naturally - but I'm reminded how many fall into their category of useless:

"If there is one thing that we’ll learn from this dreadful period, it is which celebrities are prepared to abandon us in our time of deep crisis and which ones are genuinely on our side. Having spent the past decade telling us how to conduct our lives and not be “judgmental”, Gary Lineker, for example, is surely a man to get behind the health secretary Matt Hancock when he suggests that pampered Premier League footballers take a “pay cut”.

In fact, the former footballer greeted the news with screaming fury, saying, indefensibly, that people should not participate in a “judgmental pile-on” when it came to those who earn £200,000 a week. The likes of Lineker and his fellow former footballer Gary Neville, who said Hancock had “f cheek” to deny footballers their cars and diamonds, believe they are doing the right thing simply because they’re attacking the Tories. But life doesn’t work like that.

We want light entertainment, not grandstanding. We don’t want patronising public service announcements or party politics or the cast of Contagion telling us how to fight the coronavirus in a shameless plug. Shut away in glass boxes with only a solitary treadmill for company, most celebs have been self-isolating for decades. Only fools listen to such people for moral guidance."

Gary Lineker is donating two months' salary to the
British Red Cross, though. What's Camilla Long donating? Bet she's not on minimum wage.

While footballers are highly paid, I agree with those who feel they're being unfairly targeted on this issue. What they don't generally do is act hypocritically. Plenty of folk say that footballers are role models for the young, but I can't say that I see footballers themselves claiming that they are great moral examples. And this is where the problem with the Sussexes comes in. If you're going to preach at others, make sure you practice what you preach.

True Buttery and fair comment.

Right now, as you may know, America is grappling with a pandemic. We all are, the clue's in the name PANdemic. But some people are easily confused. Look at the World Series, which is a baseball series played only in the USA by USA teams.

Hello Penguins, here I am cleaning up again.

Good post Buttery.

I certainly don’t think Gary Lineker and others “fall into the same category of uselessness”.

Cleans

Many UK clubs are in perilous financial shape though. Some will go under very likely but regardless of whether the players take cuts in pay.

Don't you Dandy? That's me told, I guess. The article did also mention David Geffen and his yacht stunt which I didn't quote but I am guessing users the same PR as advisors as H&M.

Those 'downmarket publications' (understatement of the year) are only found at supermarket checkouts and most people would be embarrassed to be spotted even taking a copy and leafing through it while waiting in line, let alone buying one.

This is true. These outlets don't have anywhere near the influence that the tabloid press has in the UK.

The players taking cuts in pay is good for saving clubs and I hope they do it for that reason, but isn’t that’s a different argument to saying they’re in the same category of useless? I haven’t read the whole Camilla Long piece though, just your excerpt, so I’m not sure what her context and argument is. I shall go and find the full article.

Look at the World Series, which is a baseball series played only in the USA by USA teams.

You need to alert the fans of the Toronto Blue Jays who have won the World Series title twice.

I remember reading that when Princess Diana was alive, a publication could triple or quadruple their sales if they carried a photo of her on the front page.

There's bound to be lots of dross printed about H&M, for the same reason even though they have nowhere near her charisma or beauty.

You need to alert the fans of the Toronto Blue Jays who have won the World Series title twice. wink

But Toronto’s in the USA ...

Yeah I should have researched the club thing a bit more. I was surprised because I thought Gary Neville HAD agreed something. European players are taking in some cases four months pay cut, I read in the FT today. She's generally not entirely off the pace with facts but potentially on firmer ground with Geffen and Kate Winslet et al doing the Corona lifestyle videos seemingly for publicity.

Also it is a fair point to ask what she is doing.

Baseball is played in Japan too. "World Series" is absolutely a wanky name fora competition dominated by US teams.

But Toronto’s in the USA ...

Toronto is not in the United States of America. It is the largest city in Canada.

Gary Neville has put his hand in his pocket to help NHS staff.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51953883
So if he's critical of Matt Hancock's expectations, I'll hear him out, because he's not someone who is unwilling to contribute.

Wayne Rooney today has also said he would be proud to pay for ventilators etc and is happy to do so but not all footballers are in that position and the whole profession has been 'put on the spot'. Gary Lineker has asked 'why not call on all the wealthy to try and help if they can...nobody seems to talk about the bankers, the CEOs, huge millionaires. Are they standing up? Are they being asked to stand up? We don't know'.

These seem like reasonable points to me. To bring them back to the thread topic, it would be wise for anyone in the public eye at the moment - including ALL Royals, ex royals or semi royals - to consider whether they are contributing in proportion to what they are taking while so many ordinary folk are struggling.

Psst: Dandy is being sarcastic Seneca.

Buttery: 100%. I do agree. I am sure this situation is moving. Lots of commentary that I can see in terms of pressure in CEOs etc and boards from shareholders. It is there and rightly so.

Mostly I think H&M couldn't have timed this worse from the get go, launching their exit two weeks before Brexit as I also said before but won't rant again on.

I wonder how the Queen's speech will go down tonight. Not easy to get the messaging right, I venture.

“Taking the piss” is how I’d put it OVienna

But yes, I wasn’t being serious. Like other posters I found it irksome to be told sarcastically that America is “grappling with a pandemic”. I’ve been grappling with THE pandemic on an individual level and don’t have much patience for pompous point-scoring from over the pond.

I used to live in the US btw and in Canada for a summer. In many ways I prefer it over there to here in the UK, but I do prefer the British sense of humour!

Even if no one buys the National Enquirer or similar, I’d put money on many shoppers scanning the headlines whilst waiting to pay. And it’ll subliminally raise the What has he done? question in their minds.

I gather the National Enquirer has had a tumultuous time in the last couple of years due to its Trump support and the targeting of Jeff Bezos. However, assertions that it gets looked at on shelves but nobody buys it simply can't be entirely true because it's still in business. And @TimeLady's point is also relevant. Some media organisations are powerful beyond their sales because they can influence the agenda and public decisions.

I know that the anti-Meghan coterie on MN does try to push the notion that there is a tabloid culture in the US with influence similar to that in the UK, but push as they might, it is still not true.

Seneca - no it is you who is wrong.

It is nothing to do with Meghan and Harry in and if themselves either. My view is not based on being critical of their choices now.