Technically speaking, the term "tabloid" refers only to the half-broadsheet size of the papers. It is now almost invariably used to refer to the paper whose "stock in trade is the human-interest, graphically told story, heavy on pictures and short, pithy, highly stereotyped prose" (Bird 8).  The audience for tabloids is often "a mass, less-educated" one because "from the start the tabloid identified itself completely with the common people.  It concentrated upon their interests, dramatized their heroes and villains, responded with keen sensitivity to their needs and spoke their language" (Bessie 17). 

      "[Tabloids have] flourished particularly in times of increased competition in the news industry as well in times of rapid social change, such as that experienced by the immigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries" (Ehrlich 3). From as early as 1924, the objective of tabloid journalism has been to entertain rather than to inform. "We intend to interest you mightily," explained Bernarr MacFadden, publisher of the New York Daily Graphic.  "We intend to dramatize and sensationalize the news and some stories that are not news... If you read it from first to last and find anything therein that does not interest you, we want you to write and tell us about it" (Bird 7).  Closely following the introduction of the Daily Graphic was the popular production and distribution of "the nine-month-old paper, [the Mirror,] which, "[i]n March 1925 [...] crossed the 250,000 mark and by the summer of 1926 it had mounted to 370,000, a total exceeded by only one morning paper in New York -- the Daily News" (Bessie 143).  With these two prominent publications the popularity and awareness of tabloids swept the nation and became a popular source for news regarding crime, sex and gossip of celebrities and not-so-average everyday people within society.  I'D REORGANIZE THIS BY CHRONOLOGY: FIRST TABLOID WAS DAILY NEWS, THEN MIRROR, THEN GRAPHIC (NICKNAMED PORNOCGAPHIC). THE SUPERMARKET TABLOID COMES LATER -- MAKE SURE READER KNOWS HOW MUCH LATER -- THAT THE CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IS CLEAR -- TABLOIDISM IS OF COURSE NOW RAMAPANT IN THE NEWS MEDIA -- ON TV AND IN MORE CONVENTIONAL NEWSPAPERS, WHERE ENTERTAINING NEWS IS AS COMMON AS SIGNIFICANT NEWS -- THAT SEEMS TO ME THE INFLUENCE YOU OUGHT TO FOLLOW

     The introduction of the "supermarket tabloid" started a revolution within the entire tabloid journalism genre.  One of the first major transformations of the tabloids that motivated other huge publishers to do it as well was Extra's spur of the moment stray from their normal issue.  "With the deadline [of Friday morning] looming and ideas scarce [on Wednesday night,] it didn't help that there was also virtually no budget for Extra.  [The] 25,000 copies it sold in a typical week to lunatic-fringe readers and campy college kids didn't justify spending money on agency pictures or freelance articles.  The idea was to stuff Extra with file photos, bizarre in-house columns, a few knockoffs from other papers, and cover stories concocted out of desperation, alcoholic fantasy, and whole cloth" Sloan (12).  This new layout and attractive pictures and random articles influenced the owner of The Enquirer to change up their usual issue as well: "The suddenness of the Enquirer's transformation of 1967-68 caught [...] imitators completely by surprise.  The magnitude and totality of the change left other tabloid publishers blinking their eyes, scratching their collective heads, and wondering if [the owner] had taken leave of his senses.  By the time some of them figured out what was happening, Enquirer display racks were already being installed at score of supermarket checkouts, and its outflanked competitors were left to play a desperate game of catch-up.  At a casual glance, the 'new' Enquirer still looked pretty much like the old Enquirer.  It still had the same splashy photo layouts, blaring headlines, circus makeup, and breezy, rat-tat-tat writing.  But the different in tone and subject matter was like the difference between night and day.  Now, instead of 'MOM BOILED HER BABY AND ATE IT,' it was 'YOU CAN'T GET A DOCTOR WHEN YOU NEED ONE' and 'Outraged Public Authorities Demand... GET TOUGH WITH COLLEGE RIOTERS'" (Sloan 79).  This transformation shocked the public and started the major revolution of "supermarket tabloids" which, "[a]s any checkout-lane browswer knows, [...] serve up a mixture of celebrity gossip, human-interest features, usually with a 'sensational' twist, stories about occult and psychic phenomena, UFOs and so on, and large doses of advice, self-help tips, and medical news" (Bird 8).               

MY SUGGESTION IS THAT WHEN YOU ORGANIZE AND PARAPHRASE ALL THIS, YOU BEGIN BY EXPLAINING WHAT THE TABLOID FORMULA IS AND THEN RECAPITULATE ITS HISTORY, FROM THE DAILY NEWS TO TABLOID TV SHOWS, WITH SPECIFIC EXAMPLES ALONG THE WAY. IT SHOULD BE PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD TO DO.

Possible Quotes for Entry

EHRLICH:

"[Tabloid television news] exists because it makes money."

"Scholars have traced a tradition of tabloid-like sensationalism in the news as far back as the 16th century, noting that the human fascination with crime, sex, and gossip seems to transcend time and place.  Many scholars view American tabloid journalism as a kind of contemporary folklore centered around these familiar themes.  It has flourished particularly in times of increased competition in the news industry as well in times of rapid social change, such as that experienced by the immigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  And it has been a continual target of scorn from "respectable" news outlets, which long have viewed the tabloid press as a "danger-laden organ of vulgarity and evil."

"Stories that combine crime and sex are especially prevalent.  These two elements intertwine not only in high-profile scandals [...], but in other stories as well."

"Tabloid television's gory tales of murder, sex, and mayhem are leavened by stories of celebrities.  It is true that sometimes these stories are scandalous, such as those of child molestation charges against Michael Jackson.  But just as often they are puffery, similar to what one might see on Entertainment Tonight -- a story about Barbara Streisand being honored for her work against AIDS, or about Kevin Costner enjoying a night on the town."

"While crime, sex, and gossip are the staples of tabloid television news, they are not the only topics with which the programs deal."

"[Human interest stories include those] focusing not on crime or celebrity, but on "common" people living uncommon lives."

"[Tabloid] programs also use irony as a source of sick humor.  A Current Affair's "Brotherhood of Blood" followed a detailed description of the mob bleeding their victims in the apartment shower with a sound bite from a current resident of the apartment, complaining about how they had "messed up the plumbing."  

"[Tabloid] television news similarly crafts a great many of its stories around the themes of victimization, innocence, and guilt -- not just the relatively high-minded investigative stories, but also the crime, sex, and celebrity ones.  Investigative and tabloid news also are similar in their extensive use of irony."

"The tabloids tell ironic and morally outraged stories of smutty royalty, murderous nudists, and larcenous judges at the same time they tell fawning and weepy stories about "good" celebrities, wacky inventors, and dying newlyweds.  In so doing, they excoriate violations of "traditional virtue" at the same time they celebrate those who through their fame, eccentricities, or ill fortune appear to uphold that virtue."

"[The] tabloids are far more interested in exposing personal flaws than systemic flaws."

"[The] tabloids elevate themselves and their viewers into a position of "ironic knowingness," superior to the stories themselves and safely detached from their more sordid aspects."

"[Tabloid] reporters place great weight on developing sources who can help them 'supply five days a week of shockers.'"

"The tabloids actively solicit and pay for tips and screen them according to their potential for turning into 'juicy' stories."

"Some commend tabloid television news for its pizzazz and sense of humor, as well as its focus on stories that are of genuine interest to a broad audience."

"The tabloids are typically aimed at a mass, less-educated audience."

"[Tabloid] reporters disassociate themselves from the stories they tell, as if to remind the viewer that is is all just a diversion, a show for one's amusement, outrageousness merely for the sake of outrageousness."

"Tabloid programs are popular and profitable because they recycle a proven formula with widespread appeal -- a mix of crime, sex, gossip, and human interest stories.  Although this formula is relatively new to U.S. national television and to the television of other Western countries, it is hardly new to the world of journalism.  The programs' stories and methods are in fact old, as are the criticisms they attract."

"[Tabloid television news] is 'popular' in that it is watched by a lot of people who do not read the New York Times.  But it is not particularly 'open' to any sory of 'multiplicity' of voices and opinions."

SLOAN:

"With the deadline [of Friday morning] looming and ideas scarce [on Wednesday night,] it didn't help that there was also virtually no budget for Extra.  [The] 25,000 copies it sold in a typical week to lunatic-fringe readers and campy college kids didn't justify spending money on agency pictures or freelance articles.  The idea was to stuff Extra with file photos, bizarre in-house columns, a few knockoffs from other papers, and cover stories concocted out of desperation, alcoholic fantasy, and whole cloth."

"The suddenness of the Enquirer's transformation of 1967-68 caught [...] imitators completely by surprise.  The magnitude and totality of the change left other tabloid publishers blinking their eyes, scratching their collective heads, and wondering if [the owner] had taken leave of his senses.  By the time some of them figured out what was happening, Enquirer display racks were already being installed at score of supermarket checkouts, and its outflanked competitors were left to play a desperate game of catch-up.  At a casual glance, the 'new' Enquirer still looked pretty much like the old Enquirer.  It still had the same splashy photo layouts, blaring headlines, circus makeup, and breezy, rat-tat-tat writing.  But the different in tone and subject matter was like the difference between night and day.  Now, instead of 'MOM BOILED HER BABY AND ATE IT,' it was 'YOU CAN'T GET A DOCTOR WHEN YOU NEED ONE' and 'Outraged Public Authorities Demand... GET TOUGH WITH COLLEGE RIOTERS.'"  

BESSIE:

"In March 1925, the nine-month-old paper, [the Mirror,] crossed the 250,000 mark and by the summer of 1926 it had mounted to 370,000, a total exceeded by only one morning paper in New York -- the Daily News."

BIRD:

"We intend to interest you mightily.  We intend to dramatize and sensationalize the news and some stories that are not news... If you read it from first to last and find anything therein that does not interest you, we want you to write and tell us about it." - Bernarr MacFadden, introducing the Daily Graphic, 1924

"As any checkout-lane browswer knows, the tabloids serve up a mixture of celebrity gossip, human-interest features, usually with a 'sensational' twist, stories about occult and psychic phenomena, UFOs and so on, and large doses of advice, self-help tips, and medical news.  They almost never cover politics, except at the level of the personality story [...].  Usually working with several weeks of lead time, they have little interest in fast-breaking 'hard' news stories."

"Although the term 'tabloid' refers only to the half-broadsheet size of the papers, it is now almost invariably used to refer to the 'sensational' tabloid -- the paper whose stock in trade is the human-interest, graphically told story, heavy on pictures and short, pithy, highly stereotyped prose.  The weekly tabloid in its present form is a phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s, but the current papers are the heirs of a long tradition in journalism, whose roots may be traced back hundreds of years.  Journalists today seem to prefer the idea that the tabloids have nothing to do with 'real journalism,' and indeed they often draw inspiration from sources that daily journalism would find less than credible."

"'We take that story nugget and then we have a reporter who will call authorities, individuals, police or whatever, get some more quotes, and then develop it in our style.  We'll take a story that is two paragraphs in some paper and through phone calls and our kind of questioning, we'll have the story." - Cliff Linedecker, former National Examiner associate editor

"We're fun, we're fascinating.  When you don't want to be bored, you turn to your tabloid... We're providing them with an alternative, relieving them from the barrage of boredom that hits them every day." - Bill Burt

"Embalmed in their arresting pictures and bold headlines are the happenings and persons which comprise the folklore of our times, more so than in the conventional newspaper because from the start the tabloid identified itself completely with the common people.  It concentrated upon their interests, dramatized their heroes and villains, responded with keen sensitivity to their needs and spoke their language."  - Simon Bessie

Works Cited

Bessie, Simon. Jazz Journalism. New York: Russell & Russell, 1938, rev. 1966.

This book recounts the rapid rate at which tabloids swept the nation and how the picture-packed newspapers came to be.  It contains reprints of front pages of The New York Graphic, the most flamboyant of the early tabloids.

Bird, S. Elizabeth. For Enquiring Minds : A Cultural Study of Supermarket Tabloids. New York: University of Tennessee, 1992.

This book explains monumental stepping stones throughout tabloid history with sample tabloid covers.  This book also explains the tabloid from the writer's and the reader's points of view.

Ehrlich, Matthew C. The Journalism of Outrageousness: Tabloid Television News vs. Investigative News. Columbia, SC: The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1996.

This monograph explains why and how tabloid journalism became so popular and what topics tabloids thrive on. It also exposes the real thoughts behind tabloid journalists’ approaches to their scandalous stories.

Sloan, Bill. I Watched a Wild Hog Eat My Baby! : A Colorful History of Tabloids and Their Cultural Impact. New York: Prometheus Books, 2001.

This book describes how tabloids came to be sold at supermarkets and gives a brief chronology of tabloid journalism.  It also offers a synopsis of the process tabloid writers use to develop stories.

Return to FrontPage