Alison Flood 

The riches of rags: newspapers in fiction – quiz

How's your news sense? Are you a fearless reporter or a shameless distorter? As politicians and public bodies debate the future of press regulation, let's see how well you know your literary representations of the press with this quickfire test
  
  


  1. What's the name of the newspaper Quoyle works for in Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News?

    1. The Ragged Seagull

    2. The Gammy Bird

    3. The Melting Iceberg

    4. The Kittiwake News

  2. In Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop, what's the name of the fictional African republic where William Boot is posted for the Daily Beast?

    1. Ishmaelia

    2. Azania

    3. Buranda

    4. Kangan

  3. In which novel does an "alarmingly modern young man" work for the periodical The Current?

    1. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

    2. New Grub Street by George Gissing

    3. Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

    4. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford

  4. In which newspaper department do Bob Bell and John Dyson work in Michael Frayn’s Towards the End of the Morning?

    1. Obituaries

    2. Letters

    3. Crosswords and nature notes

    4. Corrections

  5. What's the name of Graham Greene’s jaded journalist protagonist in The Quiet American?

    1. George Dent

    2. Gus Hedges

    3. Charles Hale

    4. Thomas Fowler

  6. For which periodical does Psmith work, in PG Wodehouse’s Psmith, Journalist?

    1. Country Homes

    2. Your Cat and You

    3. Embroidery Times

    4. Cosy Moments

  7. In which series of novels does the Daily Prophet newspaper appear?

    1. Discworld

    2. Harry Potter

    3. The Hunger Games

    4. Narnia

  8. Why does Superman quit his job at the Daily Planet in the long-running DC Comics series?

    1. To work for a radio station

    2. To spend more time with Lois

    3. To take to the internet

    4. He doesn’t quit – he’s fired

  9. What is the name of the founder of Discworld’s first ever newspaper, the Ankh-Morpork Times?

    1. William de Worde

    2. Lord Fleet of the Street

    3. Holde the Frontpage

    4. Salman Rushdie

  10. Who is the author of The Devil Wears Prada, in which a young journalist becomes the assistant to a bullying fashion-magazine editor?

    1. Helen Fielding

    2. Lauren Weisberger

    3. Jennifer Weiner

    4. Jackie Collins

Solutions

1:B, 2:A, 3:B, 4:C, 5:D, 6:D, 7:B, 8:C, 9:A, 10:B

Scores

  1. 0 and above.

    Red top? Red-faced, more like. Stick to the paper round.

  2. 1 and above.

    Red top? Red-faced, more like. Stick to the paper round.

  3. 2 and above.

    Red top? Red-faced, more like. Stick to the paper round.

  4. 3 and above.

    Red top? Red-faced, more like. Stick to the paper round.

  5. 4 and above.

    Some regulation required here. Get your facts straight prior to publication in future.

  6. 5 and above.

    Some regulation required here. Get your facts straight prior to publication in future.

  7. 6 and above.

    Some regulation required here. Get your facts straight prior to publication in future.

  8. 7 and above.

    Some regulation required here. Get your facts straight prior to publication in future.

  9. 8 and above.

    A headline-grabbing performance. You're a crusading multiformat media outlet – have yourself a press award.

  10. 9 and above.

    A headline-grabbing performance. You're a crusading multiformat media outlet – have yourself a press award.

  11. 10 and above.

    A headline-grabbing performance. You're a crusading multiformat media outlet – have yourself a press award.

 

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