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May 12, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:23pm

Dog watches dog 13.05.05

By Press Gazette

NOT REWRITING HISTORY – JUST RENUMBERING IT

Shocking news reaches the kennel about the special commemorative pages marking VE day in Monday’s Guardian.

The broadsheet ran reproductions of what appeared to be the first
three pages (clearly marked with numbers 1, 2 and 3) from the
Manchester Guardian, as it was then called, of Tuesday 8 May 1945,
carrying the historic news of Victory in Europe.

But there’s jiggery pokery afoot. Dog went scurrying to the Newspaper Library to discover the horrifying truth.

The
pages were actually pages 5, 6 and 7 of the original paper – whose
front pages contained adverts and local news from the north west.

The page numbers have been doctored.

Very unGuardian-like behaviour

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AT TESCO, EVERY LITTLE HELPS

This memo went out to the newsdesks of all the main news agencies
recently. As one hard-bitten agency hack puts it: “In two paragraphs,
it sums up everything you need to know about the magazine business.”

Hi there,

We are looking for amazing stories about
real people for a ‘Real Life Special’ we are doing for the
September/October issue of Tesco Magazine.

Stories like my husband gave me his
kidney, or my 2 year old saved my life and the house from burning down.
We are only interested in stories with a happy ending – they must be
uplifting and life affirming NOT gruesome in any way or too saucy. We
would not be able to make a decision on any story without seeing photos
of the people involved, so it would be ideal if you could send over any
collects that you may already have.

We
are looking to make a decision by Monday next week, so please could you
get all the stories over to me on this email address by then. Please
entitle them ‘Real Life Special’.

Many thanks.

Let’s hear it for that guy we fired

The Scotsman has given the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, a severe
ticking off for its pre-election local-lad-makes-good piece on Michael
Gove, the new Tory MP for Surrey Heath.

Gove, 37, an assistant editor of The Times, romped to victory in a safe seat.

The
Scotsman pointed out that Oxford graduate Gove was a young trainee on
the P&J 15 years ago when many of the journalists on the paper
walked out in one of the most bitter NUJ strikes in history – over pay
and conditions and the management’s alleged anti-union stance.

Ultimately, more than 120 journalists were sacked.

The
Scotsman’s media page revealed: “Gove was among those who found
themselves out of work as a result. Probably just slipped their minds
in the excitement of the hustings.” Incidentally, Gove is being tipped
as a future Tory leader by Michael Portillo.

Oona’s road to unemployment

The team at Easy Living magazine must have thought putting Labour MP
Oona King in their June issue was a pretty safe bet, despite the fact
that it was put to bed before the general election. After all, she was
defending a majority of 10,000. And that chancer George Galloway didn’t
have a hope, did he?

Instead, the interview on page 84, in which she talks about her
‘fork-in-the-road moment’, is full of unwitting humour in the light of
the events of 5 May.

“It used to be my life’s ambition to be
Prime Minister,” she says of the relentless schedule of an MP in an
inner city constituency, “now it’s to have a life”.

Plenty of
time for that now, Oona. As the standfirst so presciently puts it:
“Life is sometimes determined by those key moments which spur you to
choose a completely unexpected path.”

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