Does one TV performer-cum-columnist really merit so much attention? Clearly, as far as the British media is concerned, yes he does. Every paper has given the story of Jeremy Clarkson’s suspension by the BBC major billing today. It has also taken up a lot of airtime on TV and radio.
Every national daily - with the exception of the Guardian - carried a front page picture of Clarkson. And the tabloid sub-editorial punsters had a field day.
“Strop Gear” (Daily Star) was, arguably, the best, slightly better than “Bop Gear” (The Sun) , “Stop Gear” (Metro) and “Chop Gear” (Daily Mirror). The Sun also gave us “Carmageddon”.
There were more subtle headlines to be found (though several published in print did not make it online, where puns are not regarded as search engine friendly).
So we had “Now has star presenter finally run out of road?” (The Guardian), “It looks like all the wheels have finally fallen off” (Mirror) and “End of the road?” plus “Careering off” (i).
Pages were devoted to the story (including a full page of the Guardian, sadly). The Times, Daily Express and even the Daily Mail were more restrained. Radio phone-ins favoured it as the topic of the morning. TV bulletins featured it high up in the order.
Has everyone gone mad? As I said to numerous radio and TV researchers (from British and foreign stations) desperately calling to get an “analysis” of Clarkson’s suspension, I just couldn’t see the point of giving him headline status. To turn that L’Oréal ad slogan on its head, he really isn’t worth it.
I am delighted to report that, as far as I could see, today’s Financial Times was a Clarkson-free newspaper. Should Top Gear be terminated I imagine the FT will look at the commercial consequences for the BBC of dropping a lucrative programme.
For now though, let us be thankful that the pink paper alone ignored the oaf and his “fracas”.