It doesn't surprise me that Tesco accused of censorship over lads' mags. I really do not think it is the business of retailers to have control over editorial content of magazines. I can't say that I care for the content, or the covers, of the lads' mags, but I don't think that my taste or distaste is relevant.
Tesco has told publishers that it has received complaints from some shoppers, especially women with young children.Well, perhaps Tesco should take more care in positioning their magazines so that potentially offensive covers are not placed at child eye level. My local newsagent - as with many independents - carries a range of actual porno mags. They are placed on the top shelf, well above my eye level and discreetly behind specialist magazines on technology etc. I don't find them offensive, although I would baulk at finding them behind the Radio Times or Heat.
I am more concerned that
A satirical magazine was also sent back to its publisher, which agreed to make late changes to its front page.That's only a small step away from censoring magazines such as the New Statesman, Economist or Spectator for the political line they take. Mind you, I'm not sure that Tesco stock such magazines.
A couple of years ago I was chatting with one of the staff at my local Tesco. What publications they stock is dictated by Head Office. So Tesco in Brixton - Brixton, capital of Black Britain - was not permitted to carry the Voice, or The Gleaner, or any other BME publication, but was being forced tocarry What Yacht Monthly, and Horse and Hound. I dare say they is a market for those in Brixton - we're a very diverse community - but it doesn't take any management nous to know that BME and non-English language publications have a significant market in Brixton.
I have to say, though, that one should use one's local newsagent. There are a lot of things mine doesn't carry - for example, he doesn't stock Hello, because there's no call for it: all the posh people are too cerebral or too left-wing for celeb mags, whereas those that want celeb mags want Heat and, maybe, Okay. On the other hand, he always keeps a Radio Times under the counter for me, and I'm getting my Del Prado Opera DVD fortnightly. And Travelcards, cigarettes, milk, all within metres of my front door. And if I need Hello, or something more esoteric I just nip across the road to another newsagent, who carries a much wider range of magazines than Tesco, or indeed, WH Smith.
