Paper Monitor
13:12 UK time, Thursday, 29 July 2010
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
You've got to feel for Paul Yarrow, the man who has sparked a bit of internet buzz by popping up behind TV news journalists during - brace yourselves for some inside the beltway broadcasting technology - "live hits". (Oh yes, even this old print hand has picked up some jargon along the way at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.)
At first it was thought that Mr Yarrow just enjoyed getting his face on the telly. But it turns out there's more to this than a mere case of vain opportunism.
Mr Yarrow's appearances are underpinned by a philosophy. He is trying to counter the so-called "auto-cutie" bias of TV news, claiming that someone of his size and appearance wouldn't otherwise be allowed on TV.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, a local London paper, yesterday, he explained it is "a statement about the image conscious media. I am overweight and people like me are treated as unsightly because of the way they look".
It's an interesting view - although one that many good journalists who have unwittingly provided a foil for Mr Yarrow's antics might take issue with. So maybe the less image conscious medium of print is more sympathetic to his cause.
Or maybe not.
"So just who is the tubby man in the woolly pully?" asks the Daily Mail, before furnishing readers with more details about the "balding, fat man who often wears a wrinkled white sweater".
He pops up in front of "star correspondents, distracting viewers from the Very Important News [er, why the initial caps?] that they are trying to deliver".
In fact the Mail doesn't even make mention of Mr Yarrow's idealistic stance until the 12 paragraph of its story.
Perhaps he would find a more understanding ear on the radio.
The 
