Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.

As regular Magazine readers will know, we're much interested this week in the art of the good newspaper billboard. In fact we're so interested that Paper Monitor hereby declares a discretionary allowance of kudos AND A NAME CHECK to any readers who will go out with a camera and take a picture of their local newspaper billboard and send it to us at yourpics@bbc.co.uk (subject BILLBOARD). Leave a note in the comments here if you want your kudos. (More details on the project are )

There's plenty of scope for billboards with the story du jour, swine flu. Paper Monitor thinks it all sounds a bit Terry-Thomas (but surely won't be so arch when the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ insists on everyone wearing face masks*). It's a hard job for journalists to make a story which is potentially very dangerous sound dangerous but without irresponsibly scaring people.

So full marks to the Daily Mirror for this effort: "PIG SICK... FLU'S NEXT... Fears virus will sweep world"

and the Sun: "HELL IN THE HOSPITALS.... WORLD TREMBLING AFTER SWINE FLU VIRUS KILLS 86"

and the Daily Mail: "IS SWINE FLU ALREADY HERE?"

and to the Independent for "Swine flu sweeps globe" (nice to have lower case headlines even on something so scary)

The Daily Star never forgets its market with: "Brits 'get killer flu'."

For measured tones, Paper Monitor's top award goes to the headline on a commentary piece by Dr John McCauley in the Daily Telegraph: "This unusual virus may have been spread from pigs some time ago." Way to go Doc - "unusual virus"... "some time ago"...

*something which, as explains, is very, very unlikely to happen.

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