Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: London Tabloids Champions of 'Brexit' Loom Large... Creative Headlines It was 2:30 p.m. and Mr. Gallagher had already mocked up Pages 3-29 of the next days paper. He expected the front page to lead with the funeral of the police officer who had been killed in the recent Westminster terrorist attack. The officers widow and child would appear in public for the first time which could make for emotional pictures the editor said. But the decision would not be made until the daily 5 p.m. Page 1 conference. Mr. Gallagher said he had once attended a news meeting at The New York Times. He was not impressed. I was shocked at how threadbare and how little actual discussion there was in the meeting he said. There was no energy there was no creativity. It could not have been more desultory and perfunctory the discussion. It was awful. The Suns news meetings are much more lively he said. O.K. I said. Could I attend the Sun meeting that afternoon? He stiffened. No he said. Its an inner-sanctum meeting. A what? We have lawyers in the meeting. he explained. He added We try our headlines there. Its quite a creative meeting. Britains tabloids pride themselves on their creativity. Perhaps The Suns most brazen front-page claim last year was Queen Backs Brexit a headline later ruled misleading by Britains press regulator. The Suns unchallenged king of creative headlines is Mr. MacKenzie once the papers editor. Some of the meeting rooms are now named after his most memorable creations like Gotcha his take on the sinking of an Argentine warship during the Falklands War that killed more than 300 people and Up Yours Delors telling Jacques Delors then the president of the European Commission where to stick a proposed new European currency. I had met Mr. MacKenzie a week earlier to ask about those headlines. Your front pages were sometimes funny and sometimes outrageous I began at which point he interrupted and said And sometimes untrue! Wow. I asked what headline he would like to see in the paper were he still in charge. I think the fake news headline that would give this country the most joy he replied cheerfully would be Jeremy Corbyn Knifed to Death by an Asylum Seeker. Mr. Corbyn is the leader of the Labour Party. Mr. MacKenzies fake news headline inevitably brought to mind the murder of Jo Cox a pro-Remain Labour lawmaker who was killed by a man with far-right sympathies a week before the June referendum. Her death prompted a lot of soul-searching over whether the tone of the campaign had encouraged hate crimes. (The next morning I got a text message from Mr. MacKenzie: Hi Katrin Can you change that perfect headline from Jeremy Corbyn knifed to death by asylum seeker to Jeremy Corbyn Defrauded by Asylum Seeker. In the light of Jo Cox murder mine is in tol poor taste.) Mr. Gallagher left for his inner-sanctum meeting but promised to brief me later. Meanwhile I wandered up to the canteen on the 14th floor. The servers were all Southern European. An assistant chef strolling by said the kitchen staff was mostly foreign-born too. He could not imagine how they would staff the kitchen after Brexit. It will be chaos he said. It was 5:40 p.m. The lineup for the next days front page had been decided. The photos of the police officers funeral were found unsatisfactory for a full-page splash. A soccer player Ross Barkley who had been beaten up in a nightclub and who would later become the subject of Mr. MacKenzies gorilla column was the main story. The headline: Barkleys Spank. My time was up. Mr. Gallagher had kept his poker face all afternoon. The only time I thought he had shifted in his seat was when I asked about his childrens views on Brexit. Two were too young to vote he said but his oldest who is 21 cast her ballot for Remain. He accompanied me to the door. Dont stitch me up he said. Continue reading the main story
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
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