Media Studies 101

Have you met Paul?

He's an octopus (in case you hadn't noticed) who was born in Weymouth but now lives at the Oberhausen Sea Life Aquarium in Germany.  The staff there have discovered his amazing talent for predicting World Cup results.  They put two glass jars in his tank, each marked with a flag and both containing a mussel, and wait to see which mussel he picks first.  So far he's predicted all of Germany's matches correctly, including Sunday's win.  On Sunday he didn't just take the German mussel, he also climbed into the jar and pulled the lid over his head. Clearly he'd heard a few things about English football fans.

I'm probably telling you things you already know, because he's been all over the papers.  He has even been making international news; the Herald Sun in Australia reported the story with the rather brilliant headline Ink Germany in, says Paul the octopus.

Closer to home, the papers have all put their unique stamp on the story.

The Daily Mail focuses on the fact that Paul is English born, and brand him a traitor. everyone knows you can't trust a mollusk, they say. The Guardian, as well as poking fun at how the Mirror and the Sun cover the story, tackle the human rights issues it raises.  From Shaun Ingle's live football blog:

Apparently Paul had an 80% success rate in Euro 2008. Now, if he's two-years-old now that means he was forced into this gig from birth. The labour laws in Germany need to be looked at.

I couldn't find the Sun's version online but if the Guardian are to be believed, they use the story as an opportunity for a spot of German bashing. When I searched for octopuses (octopi? I'm never sure) on the Sun website, the closet thing I found was a story from a few years ago: Man admits to Octopus Porn. The mind boggles.

The Times focus on aesethetics, describing Paul as a "particularly ugly octopus".  I suppose that means a post-World-Cup career in the apparently flourishing octopus porn industry is out of the question.  Other quotes from the Times:

Sceptics claimed that Paul’s accuracy was well within statistical norms. Eight legs, two glasses - you do the maths. 

One thing is for sure: if Paul gets it wrong, the 22-legged England team will be entitled to tuck into a celebratory dinner in South Africa. The grilled calamari is said to be particularly tasty. 

They don't seem to care  much for cephalopods, those people at the Times.