Anatomy of a newspaper

The front of today's Express was notable for two reasons:


One was the return of Diana.

The other was a headline about British workers being told: 'no jobs unless you are Polish'.

Much the same headline, in fact, that appeared on the front page of yesterday's Mail on Sunday:


Notice how the Express puts the Mail on Sunday's headline in quote marks.

And it's not just the headline the Express have, err, borrowed. Natalie Fahy's article is much the same as well.

It comes complete with the obligatory Express phone poll. Today, it asks 'Should British jobs go to British workers?'

The result will almost certainly be around 98% saying yes. But assuming a British job is a job in Britain, that would mean Express readers don't want anyone who is not British working in this country.

They're an enlightened bunch.

Half the letters in today's paper are about Muslims or immigration. In a note from Barry Clay, Norwich, he complains about a Conservative MP comparing burkhas to motorcycle helmets because, he says:

bike fans do a lot for various charities and are mostly decent members of the community.

And Muslims don't and aren't?

Back to the Express' front page and that Diana story is essentially another airing for claims the blood samples proving Henri Paul was drunk weren't actually taken from his body. It's not quite clear why this old nonsense is worth the front page as the paper has done this story once or twice before. Well, dozens of times.

On page 2, the Express gives results of two previous polls. 97% think Britain has been betrayed over the Falklands, while 98% think burkhas should be banned in public.

This is on page three:


This story was posted on the Mail's website on Saturday night and was prominent in their Femail section for much of yesterday:


Also on the Express' page 3, some gossip about Tiger Woods:


This wasn't in the Mail, but does seem to have been 'borrowed' from TMZ, where it was posted on Saturday:


On page 4, news of Labour plans for the House of Lords:


Which may have sounded familiar to anyone who saw yesterday's Sunday Telegraph:


Page 5 has the continuation of the front page 'Polish workers' story, plus another article about failed asylum seekers. And this:

And on page 17 this:


Guess what? Both the drink driving and raffled egg stories may have sounded, ahem, familiar to anyone who saw yesterday's Sunday Times:


On page 6, the strike at BA:

Which was framed in much the same way as Sunday's News of the World version:


Page ten turns to politics, including how former GMTV political editor Gloria De Piero is standing for Labour at the election:


This obviously had nothing to do with a page seven spread in yesterday's Mail on Sunday on the same topic:


The next page of the Express has the tale of two Brits who kissed in Dubai:


Which was on page 42 on yesterday's Mail on Sunday:


On page 17, the inevitable Cheryl Cole story:


Ashley Cole thrown out within 20 minutes? You don't say:



Two pages later, the inevitable Jon Venables article:


Which started life on the front of yesterday's News of the World:


In fact, one of the only Sunday front page stories the Express haven't used today is this one:


It's not hard to work out why.

There are other stories the Express have included which they have also borrowed from other newspapers too. Such as:

• The death of Liam Nelson, which appeared on the Mail website on Saturday.
• A woman complaining about her bins, which was in The People.
• Drew Barrymore's views on botox, which appeared in an interview in yesterday's Mail on Sunday.
• Duncan Bannatyne talking about suicide on Desert Island Discs.
• A climate change controversy which was posted on the Telegraph's website on Saturday.
• An Audit Commission report on council chiefs which was also posted on the Telegraph's website on Saturday.

Essentially, almost every 'news' story in today's Express has appeared in other media outlets, mainly other British newspapers, at some point over the last few days.

Where's the journalism?

The latest ABCs show another fall in the Express' circulation - down 1,689 since January to 672,951 copies sold per day.

Is it any wonder? Leading with decade old claims about Diana, and then filling the bits between the many, many adverts with stories that have appeared in other newspapers.

We know the Express is starved of resources, but this is a dismal state of affairs - especially for something that laughably calls itself the 'World's Greatest Newspaper'.