Paper Monitor
10:23 UK time, Friday, 3 December 2010
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Becks 4 Wills 3
In a contest between the two poster boys of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup, football royalty beats genuine royalty.
The face of a disappointed Beckham adorns twice as many front pages as the prince. The third member of the so-called Three Lions in Zurich, David Cameron, never stood a chance.
Looking at the language of the coverage "DEVASTATED... HUMILIATED", it's as if the England team has been knocked out of the World Cup itself.
For those who prefer silver linings to clouds, the Magazine finds reasons to be cheerful amid the gloom.
Allegations abound about the reasons why Russia and Qatar were chosen by Fifa as host countries, some of which Paper Monitor can't repeat.
The Sun's columnist Ian Wright is in no doubt that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s recent investigation into alleged corruption at Fifa was to blame.
Today, I wonder whether any of those involved in the Panorama programme can really look themselves in the mirror. These people must realise they have let us all down
It's a view echoed by many fans and football figures this morning - England captain Rio Ferdinand called the programme "bad taste" - but not one widely held by other newspapers, which widely condemn Fifa for conducting such an opaque process.
Jim White in the Telegraph describes it as "the most odious organisation in the world" and says it would be sickening spending eight years "kow-towing" to them.
One of the most depressing things about the bid process this week was the way it corroded the moral fabric of those involved. To see our elected prime minister or future king obliged to apologise any more for our nation's robust tradition of free speech to some unaccountable, self-appointed tin-pot dictator would be too much to take. But now - breathe a sign of relief across the nation - that will not happen.
And this from Oliver Holt in the Mirror:
What cost us the tournament in the end was not that we said too much. It was that we didn't say enough. That is why all the people who criticised the British media for exposing corruption within Fifa should shuffle away into a corner this morning and hang their heads in shame.
Some columnists are even hoping for a Wikileaks revelation to uncover some of the machinations behind the voting, which reflects the position that website now occupies in the mainstream media.
Elsewhere, the size and means of Qatar are under scrutiny. The Sun says it only has one stadium, and the Telegraph says the city that will host the World Cup final has yet to be built.
And even worse, the Daily Mirror says it has PINK, ear-screeching vuvuzelas.
But the Times offers a spirited defence of the Gulf state.
If, over the next 12 months or so, the little emirate with the big ideas helps to foster a greater understanding of the Muslim world among the rest of us - and vice versa - football will have done the world its greatest favour yet.
And at least one Briton is happy - the man who devised the PR strategy, Mike Lee, was also behind the successful bid by London 2012.
The 
