Tabloid journalism

This article is about a style of journalism. For the printing format, see Tabloid (newspaper format).

Tabloid journalism is a style of journalism that emphasizes sensational crime stories, gossip columns about celebrities and sports stars, junk food news and astrology. Although it is associated with tabloid-size newspapers, not all newspapers associated with tabloid journalism are tabloid size, and not all tabloid-size newspapers engage in tabloid journalism.

Notable publications engaging in tabloid journalism include the National Enquirer, National Examiner, Globe and New York Post in North America; and the Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Record, Sunday Mail, The Sun and the former News of the World in the United Kingdom.

Tabloid journalism often concerns itself with the private lives of celebrities, including their sexual practices and drug use. In many cases, celebrities have successfully sued for libel, demonstrating that tabloid stories have defamed them.

History

An early pioneer of tabloid journalism was Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865–1922), who amassed a large publishing empire of halfpenny papers by rescuing failing stolid papers and transforming them to reflect the popular taste, which yielded him enormous profits. Harmsworth used his tabloids to influence public opinion, for example, by helping to bring down the wartime government of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith in the Shell Crisis of 1915.

Supermarket tabloids

See also: Gossip magazine

In the United States and Canada, "supermarket tabloids" are large, national versions of these tabloids, usually published weekly. They are named for their prominent placement along the checkout lines of supermarkets. Supermarket tabloids are particularly notorious for the over-the-top sensationalizing of stories, the facts of which can often be called into question. These tabloids—such as The Globe and The National Enquirer—often use aggressive and usually mean-spirited tactics to sell their issues. Unlike regular tabloid-format newspapers, supermarket tabloids are distributed through the magazine distribution channel, similarly to other weekly magazines and mass-market paperback books. Leading examples include The National Enquirer, Star, Weekly World News (now defunct), and the Sun.

Most major supermarket tabloids in the U.S. are published by American Media, Inc., including The National Enquirer, Star, The Globe, National Examiner, ¡Mira!, (U.S.) Sun, and Weekly World News, which is now a Sun insert and website.

Red tops

Look up red top in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Tabloid newspapers in the United Kingdom, collectively called "the tabloid press", tend to be simply and sensationally written and to give more prominence than broadsheets to celebrities, sports, crime stories, and even hoaxes. They also take political positions on news stories: ridiculing politicians, demanding resignations, and predicting election results.

The term "red tops" refers to British tabloids with red mastheads, such as The Sun, the Daily Star, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Record and the Daily Sport.[1] The red top distinguishes them from the Daily Express and Daily Mail, which are considered "middle market" tabloids.

See also

Wikinews has related news: An interview with gossip columnist Michael Musto on the art of celebrity journalism

References

  1. Stephen Brook, press correspondent (6 December 2007). "Red-tops on the rise, survey shows". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 April 2012.

Bibliography

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