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Tabloid Newspapers - Do We Need 'Em?

  • 01-12-2013 10:09PM
    #1
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭


    Karl Pilkington used to have a feature on his radio show called 'Do We Need 'Em?'. Basically, he picked an animal and asked an expert if they were needed on the planet. He couldn't see the point of stuff like jellyfish but the expert always came up with a reason as to why they should be kept.

    So let's pretend that I am the 'idiot' Karl Pilkington and all of you are the experts. Tabloids, is there a proper benefit for them in society? Do we need 'em?


«1

Comments

  • #2
    Sauve
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,646 ✭✭✭✭Sauve


    They're great for training pups not to piss on the kitchen floor.


  • #3
    chopper6
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,214 ✭✭✭chopper6


    We dont need Karl Pilkington.


  • #4
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    chopper6 wrote: »
    We dont need Karl Pilkington.

    We'll deal with that in next weeks episode :)


  • #5
    Charlie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,827 ✭✭✭Charlie


    Lots of lefties will way in with smart replies, but ultimately, the market determines that we do need them.

    Look at the amount of people you see on a Sunday picking up a Mail on Sunday or Sindo.


  • #6
    crockholm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭crockholm


    Yes. Tracii,22,Essex, deserves to have her say on European monetary union issues.


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  • #7
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    Charlie wrote: »
    Lots of lefties will way in with smart replies, but ultimately, the market determines that we do need them.

    Look at the amount of people you see on a Sunday picking up a Mail on Sunday or Sindo.

    I'm aware they are popular but that doesn't mean we NEED them. Big Macs are popular too but the world would surely be better off without them.


  • #8
    DrumSteve
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,798 ✭✭✭✭DrumSteve


    I like them for the puns but I would never buy the sun.


  • #9
    chopper6
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,214 ✭✭✭chopper6


    lahalane wrote: »
    I'm aware they are popular but that doesn't mean we NEED them. Big Macs are popular too but the world would surely be better off without them.


    You any idea how many people McDonalds employ worldwide?


  • #10
    Sir Osis of Liver.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,820 ✭✭✭Sir Osis of Liver.


    I use the free local paper for lighting the fire,so yes we need them.


  • #11
    Jester252
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,533 ✭✭✭Jester252


    Without tabloids how will English kids get their porn fix?


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  • #12
    Days 298
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭Days 298


    Sure all we really need is public transport, organic food and the Irish lanuage. Everything else is a luxury.


  • #13
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    lahalane wrote: »
    I'm aware they are popular but that doesn't mean we NEED them. Big Macs are popular too but the world would surely be better off without them.

    That rationale is risky as it's not just prole pursuits that you could argue are not 'needed'.


  • #14
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    chopper6 wrote: »
    You any idea how many people McDonalds employ worldwide?

    I didn't mean to sound like I'm having a go at McDonalds or its employers. I meant that just because something sells a lot doesn't mean that it's needed.


  • #15
    kneemos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,605 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    Needed for the ponies.
    Mostly what they're bought for.


  • #16
    justforlaugh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 182 ✭✭justforlaugh


    we don't need newspapers, i don't trust anything i read in newspapers.

    I rely on BBC for real news, BBC news are not perfect by any mean


  • #17
    Eutow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,197 ✭✭✭Eutow


    Jester252 wrote: »
    Without tabloids how will English kids get their porn fix?


    The internet


  • #18
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    Eutow wrote: »
    The internet

    Internet, eh?


  • #19
    Eutow
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,197 ✭✭✭Eutow


    catallus wrote: »
    Internet, eh?


    Yeah, great so it is, makes page 3 utterly redundant.


  • #20
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    anncoates wrote: »
    That rationale is risky as it's not just prole pursuits that you could argue are not 'needed'.

    I realise that but I'm just trying to see can anybody convince me that there is anything positive about tabloids. I'm not going to actually try and get rid of them.


  • #21
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    lahalane wrote: »
    I realise that but I'm just trying to see can anybody convince me that there is anything positive about tabloids. I'm not going to actually try and get rid of them.

    They do decent domestic football coverage but that's about it.

    I've no doubt they vastly outsell broadsheets so they're positive to a market, unfortunately.


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  • #22
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    They do all sport better.

    They do better comics.

    They provide an antidote to the arid reportage of broadsheets, which is necessary given the level of education of the general population.


  • #23
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    anncoates wrote: »
    They do decent domestic football coverage but that's about it.

    I've now doubt they vastly outsell broadsheets so they're positive to a market, unfortunately.

    I failed economics in college so I'm not really sure what to do with that information :confused: Maybe I'm more like Karl than I thought :(


  • #24
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    catallus wrote: »
    They do all sport better.

    They do better comics.

    They provide an antidote to the arid reportage of broadsheets, which is necessary given the level of education of the general population.

    Yeah but if that's true then why should we cater for the general publics lack of education? Ban tabloids and force them to up their game surely?


  • #25
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    lahalane wrote: »
    Yeah but if that's true then why should we cater for the general publics lack of education? Ban tabloids and force them to up their game surely?

    Who is this "we" you're talking about?


  • #26
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    catallus wrote: »
    Who is this "we" you're talking about?

    The imaginary world council that I invented for the purposes of this question...keep up.


  • #27
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    lahalane wrote: »
    I failed economics in college so I'm not really sure what to do with that information :confused: Maybe I'm more like Karl than I thought :(

    Simply put: more people like a certain type of paper that your type of paper.


  • #28
    camel jockey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 909 ✭✭✭camel jockey


    lahalane wrote: »
    Karl Pilkington used to have a feature on his radio show called 'Do We Need 'Em?'. Basically, he picked an animal and asked an expert if they were needed on the planet. He couldn't see the point of stuff like jellyfish but the expert always came up with a reason as to why they should be kept.

    So let's pretend that I am the 'idiot' Karl Pilkington and all of you are the experts. Tabloids, is there a proper benefit for them in society? Do we need 'em?

    Most things don't have a benefit to society. Should we get rid of them?


  • #29
    Rabelais
    Site Banned Posts: 263 ✭✭Rabelais


    I'd rather read the idiotic rantings of some middle-class neurotic from South Dublin in a newspaper, instead of having to endure trawling though 200 twitter feeds for one item of genuine public interest, or the verbal scutterings on the blog of a know-it-all with a laptop and an Eircom broadband connection.

    More entertainment in the headlines of the Daily Mail than there is in every self-satisfied comment in the replies under a journal.ie rehash.


  • #30
    lahalane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 954 ✭✭✭lahalane


    camel jockey wrote: »
    Most things don't have a benefit to society. Should we get rid of them?

    :-\ I give up.


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  • #31
    Seachmall
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭Seachmall


    Do we need them? No, probably not. But what we need is a limited and boring list. Wants are what make the world beautiful.

    Beethoven didn't need to write music, DaVinci didn't need to paint masterpieces, and Paul Dacre doesn't need to comment on the fact that Miley Cyrus licking a sledgehammer whilst naked is the sole reason for the inevitable destruction of society as we know it.

    Tabloids represent what is great about the world as we know it today. They are symbolic of the fact that we as a species have advanced so far above nature and the need for survival that we are willing to slowly destroy the intelligence that brought us this far for no other reason than we can.

    Long live Tabloids!


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