tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/tabloids-14519/articlesTabloids – The Conversation2023-03-03T08:14:56Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1999112023-03-03T08:14:56Z2023-03-03T08:14:56ZTabloid newspapers are seen as sensationalist - but South Africa’s Daily Sun flipped that script during COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510873/original/file-20230217-330-cns8yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Daily Sun covered the pandemic through a social impact lens. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christopher Furlong/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tabloid journalism usually refers to short, easily readable and mostly human-interest news, presented in a highly visual and sensationalist style. “Tabloidisation” has become shorthand for the deterioration of journalistic standards. </p>
<p>Newspapers like this are often criticised for diverting readers from serious news and analysis towards entertainment. They are viewed as low-quality because of their focus on sports, scandal and entertainment over politics or other serious social issues. </p>
<p>When tabloids first emerged in South Africa in the early 2000s, observers in mainstream journalism <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.10520/EJC146378">criticised</a> them for their potential to undermine democratic values by peddling gender stereotypes and treating serious issues superficially.</p>
<p><a href="https://iupress.org/9780253222114/tabloid-journalism-in-south-africa/">Scholarship on tabloids</a>, however, has also shown how they are attuned to their readers’ needs, and the experiences of poor and working class South Africans – more so than their mainstream counterparts. </p>
<p>Against this background, the COVID-19 pandemic raised questions about how tabloid coverage of it differed from that of mainstream news. The media play a key role to keep the public informed about health issues and shape citizens’ perceptions. </p>
<h2>Covering COVID-19</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00052_1">previous research</a> showed that the front pages of mainstream media in South Africa presented the pandemic largely as individual events, and in negative and alarmist terms. They focused mainly on the impacts of the pandemic. </p>
<p>We were interested in how the coverage provided by tabloid newspapers compared.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01634437221140514">latest study</a>, we focused on the <a href="https://www.media24.com/newspapers/daily-sun/">Daily Sun</a> newspaper as a case study of tabloid newspapers and their response to the pandemic. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-front-page-stories-about-covid-were-sensationalist-and-unhelpful-170412">South African front-page stories about COVID were sensationalist and unhelpful</a>
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<p>The Daily Sun has not escaped the trend of plummeting circulation figures for print newspapers. But it is still the largest daily newspaper in South Africa, with an audited circulation of <a href="https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/90/233509.html">around 31,000 a day</a>. Its closest rival is the isiZulu-language tabloid <a href="https://www.isolezwe.co.za/">Isolezwe</a>, which sells around 29,000. </p>
<p>The Daily Sun, however, has a much bigger readership, as each copy is <a href="https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/71550/the-remarkable-readership-of-the-daily-sun">estimated to be read by about 20 people</a>. Daily Sun recently <a href="https://themediaonline.co.za/2020/05/daily-sun-publishes-last-print-issue-goes-online-only/">extended its digital offering</a> to reach readers outside Gauteng, its major market and now the only province where printed copies are still sold. <a href="https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/90/217488.html">More than 2 million</a> people read the paper on Facebook a month. Its website receives a million unique visitors a month.</p>
<p>Contrary to what might have been expected by its critics, we found that its coverage was contextually relevant and informative. It was in typical tabloid genre style, but focused on the social impact of the pandemic on its urban, aspirational readers, who fall largely in the <a href="https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/71550/the-remarkable-readership-of-the-daily-sun">Living Standards Measure (LSM) 5 to 7</a>.</p>
<p>These findings emphasise the importance of tabloid news in South African society. Researchers interested in media coverage of major events should therefore include tabloids like the Daily Sun in their scope.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>We sampled 1,050 news stories from the Daily Sun website during the period March 2020 to August 2021. This timeframe includes the start of the outbreak of the pandemic in South Africa and the first lockdown in March 2020. It concludes as the “third wave” of the pandemic began to wind down in 2021. </p>
<p>We analysed the content of all the sampled stories and conducted a close reading of a smaller sample of 130 stories. We coded the stories for 14 variables. These included the headline, date, narrative modes, type of reporting, frame of story, primary focus of story, use of language and emotional appeal. We also checked for sensationalist language or misinformation, provision of health information, sources quoted, overall tone of article and whether COVID-19 or the vaccine was the main focus of the article.</p>
<h2>Daily Sun’s COVID coverage</h2>
<p>Daily Sun news stories encompassed a range of narrative modes. Only 36% fell into the category “sounding the alarm”. This refers to a predominance of fearful claims made in an attempt to convince the public that a threat is real and serious. Daily Sun had much less of this than mainstream media. </p>
<p>There was no overt use of sensationalist language, though reporting often relied on shock aesthetics like colourful headlines, exclamation marks and capital letters. Most stories fell into what we categorised as “mixed messages”. These had some elements of fear, but reassured readers by highlighting systems in place to cope with the pandemic. </p>
<p>The Daily Sun often used the pandemic as a framing tool to highlight social issues that COVID-19 made worse. Electricity price hikes, wage cuts and job losses, for example, affected its readers more than wealthier readers. COVID-19 was framed contextually to increase its relevance for the newspaper’s readership by focusing on social impact and their everyday lives.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/william-ruto-vs-kenyas-media-democracy-is-at-stake-190780">William Ruto vs Kenya's media: democracy is at stake</a>
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<p>One area where tabloid reporting fell short, similar to mainstream coverage, was its lack of practical information for readers on how to limit the spread of the virus. Similarly to mainstream coverage, government officials were most quoted (41%), rather than voices from civil society and the public. In this sense, tabloid newspapers also privileged elite sources despite their working class audience.</p>
<p>Our research also found, however, that 90% of stories were thematic: they provided background information, a wide-angle lens, and more in-depth reportage, as well as a focus on solutions. Several stories debunked rumours and myths – despite the frequent criticism that tabloids play fast and loose with facts. The overall tone of the stories coded was primarily neutral (44%).</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>Tabloid news coverage of COVID-19 played an important role in reaching audiences left out by mainstream print media. The Daily Sun highlighted the social impact of the pandemic by providing thematic and contextual coverage, and focusing on how ordinary citizens were affected. This news coverage goes counter to stereotypical perceptions of tabloids. It upholds tabloids’ reputation for making news relevant to the everyday lives of their readers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/media-literacy-education-in-south-africa-can-help-combat-fake-news-heres-whats-needed-185338">Media literacy education in South Africa can help combat fake news - here's what's needed</a>
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<p>This adds to researchers’ understanding of the role that popular media can play in raising awareness of public health matters, and the impact of a pandemic on the lives of ordinary citizens. Tabloid journalism in South Africa should be taken seriously and not dismissed as frivolous or irrelevant when it comes to social and political matters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The newspaper confounded critics with its contextually relevant and informative stories.Tanja Bosch, Associate Professor in Media Studies and Production, University of Cape TownHerman Wasserman, Professor and Chair, Department of Journalism, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976662023-01-19T16:37:09Z2023-01-19T16:37:09ZWhy do we read about accidents? Lessons from 18th-century English newspapers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505218/original/file-20230118-14-cf083o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=85%2C100%2C5090%2C3344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">18th-century London newspapers frequently reported on the tragic and curious accidents that befell the city's residents.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“If it bleeds, it leads” is a well-known maxim associated with journalism. Accident reports often attract readers, even when their headlines give away the plot. This has been true for over three hundred years, since <a href="https://londonist.com/london/history/320-year-anniversary-daily-courant-elizabeth-mallet-first-newspaper">reading the news became part of daily life in 18th-century Britain</a>. </p>
<p>Just four pages long, British newspapers of the 1700s had few images, no headlines and little separation between articles. Their random arrangement of news paragraphs is reminiscent of modern social media feeds without their algorithms. Jostling with news ranging from foreign military reports to book reviews, accounts of accidents occur as random shocks, nearly as surprising for the newspaper’s readers as the original accidents must have been for their subjects. </p>
<p>As a scholar who studies 18th-century British media, I often encounter accounts of accidents as I read old newspapers. Despite the different look of these newspapers, their readers evidently possessed an interest in spectacular, unusual and gory accidents that feels very familiar. The accidents most frequently reported in newspapers of the 1700s arise from traffic, working conditions, natural disaster and human error. </p>
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<h2>Traffic accidents</h2>
<p>18th-century London’s narrow roads were congested with horse-drawn vehicles, pedestrians and panicky animals. Traffic accidents were frequent. Readers of the <em><a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=qVrUTUelE6YC&pg=PA426&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Morning Chronicle</a></em> on March 9, 1784 could trace a runaway ox’s destructive path <a href="https://www.grubstreetproject.net/london/#map=63/@-9662,0,119324z">through the city:</a> </p>
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<p>“Yesterday morning an over-drove ox tossed a boy in Smithfield, but fortunately was not much hurt; the ox then ran down Cow-cross, and opposite Mr. Booth’s, the distiller, tossed an ass, carrying a pair of panniers, filled with dog’s meat, nearly to the height of the one pair of stairs windows, and before he could be secured terribly gored a young man, who was taken to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.” </p>
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<p>Readers were no doubt reassured that the ox was unhurt after tossing a small boy and amused that the animal ran amuck down the appropriately-named street “Cow-cross.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting featuring people holding a lantern next to a damaged carriage next to a fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">‘Night’ by William Hogarth circa 1738 depicts a damaged carriage on a London road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia)</span></span>
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<p>Traffic incidents involving notable people were particularly popular. The <em>Morning Chronicle</em> of April 9, 1800 reported that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Augustus-duke-of-York-and-Albany">Duke of York</a> had been enjoying a ride when “a dog belonging to a driver of cattle ran across the road, and impeding the progress of the horse, the animal fell on his Royal Highness, and the Duke unfortunately being entangled in the stirrup, was dragged a considerable way.” </p>
<p>Luckily, two patriotic men in a passing chaise made room for the injured Duke and tipped the post-boys two guineas to carry him to a surgeon. </p>
<p>Waterways were equally treacherous. Pity the poor father who, having placed his child and his nurse in a boat, then saw them fall into the Thames. He “with great Difficulty took up the Nurse, but the Child was drowned: The Child had been brought that Day from Wandsworth to be seen by its Parents, and was returning when this melancholy Accident happen’d,” lamented the <em>Daily Post</em> of Sept. 16, 1729. </p>
<h2>Sympathy or laughter?</h2>
<p>Eighteenth century readers were often given emotional cues from newspapers’ descriptions of accidents as “unfortunate,” “melancholy” or “shocking.” These small adjectives had the power to transmute unseemly gawkers into sympathetic witnesses. On March 1, 1801 <em><a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/bells-weekly-messenger">Bell’s Weekly Messenger</a></em> reported the tragic fate of Lady Hardy: </p>
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<p>“[S]itting alone after dinner reading, but falling asleep, her head dress approached too near the flame of the candle, and caught fire; it communicated to other parts of her dress before her Ladyship awoke. On awaking, and perceiving her situation, she inadvertently ran out into the passage, where the draught of air so much increased the flames, that she was found entirely in a blaze… she was rolled up in a carpet, which instantly extinguished the fire; but her Ladyship was so dreadfully burnt, that she lingered till four o’clock the next morning in the most excruciating agonies, and expired.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old newspaper titled: The London Chronicle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A copy of The London Chronicle from Oct. 16, 1759.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Occasionally, a newspaper’s tone seemed more amused than sympathetic. “A few Days since as the Son of Mr. Mitchell … was felling a Tree, it fell on him,” reported the <em>General Evening Post</em> of Dec. 17-19, 1747. The unfortunate Mr. Bacon was struck by lightning so violently that it “made his body a most shocking spectacle,” punned the <em>Public Advertiser</em> of July 18, 1787.</p>
<p>Present-day journalists’ codes of ethics stress sensitivity and avoid <a href="https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/the-do-s-and-don-ts-of-reporting-on-death-and-grief/s2/a954028/">intruding into others’ grief</a>. Eighteenth century Britons’ sense of humour, however, could be <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25098027">ruthless</a>. </p>
<h2>Workplace accidents</h2>
<p>Accounts of work-related accidents abound in the news of the 1700s. Bricklayers and carpenters plummet from scaffolding. Painters and glaziers fall through windows. Watermen drown. </p>
<p>As <em>Fog’s Weekly Journal</em> reported, one poor currier, “as he was standing on a Stool to hang up some Skins in his Shop … fell with his Neck upon the Edge of a sharp Iron used in that Trade.”</p>
<p>Modern journalists have a <a href="https://accountablejournalism.org/ethics-codes/british-national-union-of-journalists">duty to inform the public</a> about accidents, to provoke investigation into their causes and offer strategies for increased public safety. In 18th-century newspapers, there is less emphasis on preventative legislation and institutional culpability and more focus on personal diligence.</p>
<p>Articles often also stressed the admirable fortitude of an accident’s victim or responder. The <em><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020548">London Evening Post</a></em> on Jan. 1, 1760 reported a courageous post-boy’s efforts to deliver the mail:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[M]istaking the Road, [he] got into a Wood where there was a great Declivity, and both Horse and Lad fell into the River, broke the Ice in one of the deepest Places, and sunk to the Bottom; the Horse could not get out, but was drowned; the Boy got hold of a Twig, and by that Means saved his Life, yet exposed it again to the greatest Danger, by endeavouring to recover the Mail, which he did, with the Saddle, to the Surprize of every one.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Better still, the boy delivered the mail the next day. In the newspaper record, pluck and valour are celebrated characteristics.</p>
<p>Accidents interrupt our daily routines with their disturbing novelty. Like fables, 18th-century newspapers’ short tales of accidents deliver moral lessons on the value of diligence, empathy and courage. Stories of fatal accidents are <em><a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/memento-mori">memento mori</a></em>: in their remembrance of death, they prompt us to seize hold of life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie Ritchie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>News reports about accidents can deliver important moral lessons and remind us to value life.Leslie Ritchie, Professor of English Literature, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1754852022-01-27T13:28:09Z2022-01-27T13:28:09ZWest Elm Caleb and the rise of the TikTok tabloid<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442290/original/file-20220124-15-142deel.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=529%2C3%2C1700%2C1250&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On TikTok, stories can be manufactured and dramatized like an investigative gossip reel.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jenna Drenten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can you believe Makayla was dropped from <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/08/10631092/alabama-rush-tiktok-obsession-reason">Bama Rush</a>? Do you think <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/who-is-couch-guy-on-tiktok-the-internets-latest-obsession-explained/">Couch Guy</a> was cheating? Did you see <a href="https://www.insider.com/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-missing-found-true-crime-tiktok-2021-9">Gabby Petito’s</a> last post before she went missing? </p>
<p>If you don’t spend much time online, you may not recognize these names.
But on TikTok, their stories became sensationalized, memeified, hashtagged and rehashed.</p>
<p>The most recent is “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/westelmcaleb">#WestElmCaleb</a>.” Women took to TikTok to share their experiences of being <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/love-bombing-online-dating_l_61e9d178e4b04e26edba87e2">peppered with affection</a>, strung along and ultimately ghosted by a New York City-based designer named Caleb, who became the exemplar for the worst aspects of online dating culture.</p>
<p>Together, these stories represent the emergence of what I call the “TikTok tabloid,” in which users collectively manufacture and dramatize stories like an investigative gossip reel. Traditional tabloids place the lurid limelight on celebrities and public figures. But the TikTok tabloid targets everyday people. </p>
<p>How did we get to the age of the TikTok tabloid? As someone who studies <a href="https://jennadrenten.com/">digital consumer culture</a>, I see it as an outgrowth of the dynamics of <a href="https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/pub_dom">social surveillance</a>: using digital technologies to keep a close watch on one another, while producing online content in anticipation of being watched.</p>
<h2>Shocking! Exclusive! Scoop!</h2>
<p>Tabloid journalism isn’t new. <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/tabloid-culture-reader/oclc/156810350">Common tabloid genres</a> of stars, sex, scandals and slayings have been cultural guilty pleasures since the early 1900s.</p>
<p>In the U.S., early tabloid newspapers like The Daily Mirror and New York Daily News ushered in an era of sensationalist reporting. These papers were particularly popular among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14616701003638368">working class readers</a> who reveled in the speculative shenanigans of high society.</p>
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<img alt="Stacks of newspapers featuring Bill Clinton." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442811/original/file-20220126-13-1bv1ltd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tabloid newspapers specialize in sensationalism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/recent-new-york-tabloid-newspapers-sport-clinton-headlines-news-photo/1594451?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Newsmakers via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In the 1970s, glossy tabloid magazines like People and Us Weekly picked up the helm with behind-the-scenes celebrity exclusives and human-interest stories. Tabloid journalism <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203135211/tabloid-television-john-langer">migrated to the small screen</a> in the 1990s with television shows like “Hard Copy” and “Inside Edition.”</p>
<p>And in the 2000s, the internet churned out <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2008/10/01/fame-losing-game-celebrity-gossip-blogging-bitch-culture-and-postfeminism">round-the-clock celebrity gossip</a> with clickbait headlines on websites like TMZ.com and PerezHilton.com.</p>
<p>Previous eras of tabloid journalism were marked by <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Stardom_and_Celebrity/YSRTvYgS8AwC?hl=en&gbpv=0">highly curated content</a> with a focus on lifestyles of the rich and famous. The brokers of attention were editors, publishers, paparazzi, journalists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X20920821">and publicists</a>. Tabloids filtered information to the masses, and in turn the masses influenced celebrity behaviors.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A banner for a gossip website." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442372/original/file-20220124-23298-4k9mdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TMZ is an online clearinghouse for celebrity gossip.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.TMZ.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>But now we are witnessing a new iteration of tabloidization playing out in real time on TikTok, where digital technologies enable everyday consumers to play the roles of armchair experts, investigative reporters, digital paparazzi, talking heads and celebrities themselves.</p>
<h2>Watching and being watched</h2>
<p>Traditional tabloid journalism is predicated on surveillance dynamics of “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480697001002003">the many watching the few</a>”: an obsession with a relative handful of selected stars and scandals. The emergent TikTok tabloid relies on dynamics of social surveillance, or “<a href="https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2013/02/25/liquid-surveillance-social-media-three-provocations/">the many watching the many</a>” – a network of everyday people watching and being watched. </p>
<p>According to media scholar Alice E. Marwick, <a href="https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/pub_dom">social surveillance</a> is defined as “the ongoing eavesdropping, investigation, gossip, and inquiry that constitutes information gathering by people about their peers, made salient by the social digitization normalized by social media.” </p>
<p>Classic views of surveillance envision a prison state – <a href="https://books.google.com/books?dq=Big%20Brother%20is%20Monitoring%3A%20Feminist%20Surveillance%20Studies%20and%20Digital%20Consumer%20Culture&hl=en&id=mhdYEAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&pg=PA368&printsec=frontcover&source=newbks_fb#v=onepage&q=Big%20Brother%20is%20Monitoring%3A%20Feminist%20Surveillance%20Studies%20and%20Digital%20Consumer%20Culture&f=false">a Big Brother-esque panopticon</a> where a guard in a tower can watch prisoners in cells but the prisoners in the cells cannot see into the tower.</p>
<p>In social surveillance, everyone online is both a guard and a prisoner, constantly consuming online content and producing content for others to see.</p>
<p>This always-on dynamic works to control behavior. Everyday people have the power to orchestrate what other users see, read and believe – not only about traditional celebrities, but also about regular everyday people. </p>
<p>In the case of Gabby Petito, who went missing in September 2021, TikTokers <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkb5j8/gabby-petito-internet-sleuth-investigation-tiktok-instagram-spotify">developed theories</a> about her disappearance based on her final Instagram post and her Spotify playlists, claimed to <a href="https://www.insider.com/gabby-petito-tiktok-psychics-criticism-controversy-2021-9">psychically track her</a> and scrambled to be the first to report <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/gabbypetito?lang=en">#GabbyPetito</a> breaking news.</p>
<p>Such deep-diving into people’s private lives for public entertainment is a function of social surveillance only further accelerated by the interactive features of TikTok.</p>
<h2>‘Like for part two’</h2>
<p>TikTok’s unique features and storytelling culture make it the perfect social media platform for making everyday people fodder for tabloid-like coverage. </p>
<p>First, interactive features of the platform allow TikTokers to collectively contribute to the TikTok tabloid in real time. TikTokers can directly <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/product-tutorial-reply-to-comments-with-video">respond to comments</a> with new videos, curate and follow content via <a href="https://boosted.lightricks.com/a-guide-to-hashtags-on-tiktok/">hashtags</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/tiktok-creation-essentials/the-importance-of-sounds/">sounds</a>, <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/new-on-tiktok-introducing-stitch">stitch</a> videos together with other content, <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/introducing-auto-captions">caption them</a> for context, and use a <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/green-screen-effect-on-tik-tok/">green screen</a> effect – just like a real news studio.</p>
<p>Second, <a href="https://later.com/blog/tiktok-algorithm/">TikTok’s algorithm</a> serves users content based on a combination of their interests and what seems to be generally trending. Watching a few videos about West Elm Caleb easily triggers a stream of West Elm Caleb content on the “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/creators/creator-portal/en-us/tiktok-creation-essentials/whats-the-for-you-page-and-how-do-i-get-there/">for you page</a>,” or #FYP: the TikTok version of front page news.</p>
<p>Third, storytelling practices on the TikTok platform mimic exclusive reports, hot takes and cliffhanger media. TikTokers dangle tantalizing bits of stories in front of viewers with caveats of “like for part 2” or by serializing their content. These stories then take on lives of their own, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814535194">becoming culturally embedded memes</a>.</p>
<p>Social media <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047320961562">can be a useful mechanism for accountability</a>. On Twitter, for example, users voiced outrage over racist actions of the <a href="https://www.bet.com/article/74a5kv/black-twitter-ain-t-buying-nyc-woman-who-accused-black-man">Central Park Karen</a> and found solidarity in sharing experiences of sexual harassment through the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/692140">#MeToo Movement</a>. </p>
<p>But where platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook enable users to tell stories, TikTok enables users to create full-fledged narrative rabbit holes. A nugget of content can be collectively transformed into an epic drama.</p>
<h2>The promise and peril of publicity</h2>
<p>The TikTok tabloid democratizes access to fame while fueling America’s <a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/34636">cultural penchant for gossip</a>. </p>
<p>The TikTok tabloid may seem fun and frivolous – an entertaining live action, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335570557_Intensified_Play_Cinematic_study_of_TikTok_mobile_app">participatory role-play</a> version of TMZ playing out in real time. But there can a dark side to this form of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22716772/west-elm-caleb-couch-guy-tiktok-cancel">public shaming</a> and <a href="https://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/blog/2021/10/29/true-crime-tiktok-affording-criminal-investigation-and-media-visibility-in-the-gabby-petito-case/">internet sleuthing</a>.</p>
<p>The constant churn of sensational news can take a toll on <a href="https://www.amity.edu/gwalior/jccc/pdf/jccc-12-19-19.pdf">well-being</a>, particularly for those most <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/12/tiktok-couch-guy-internet-sleuths.html">directly involved</a>. In November 2021, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tiktok-true-crime-conspiracy-theory-fake-1264687/">Sabrina Prater</a> became unwitting front-page news of the TikTok tabloid when her mundane dancing video spiraled into conspiracy theories of being a serial killer. She later posted a tearful video pleading for the emotional attacks to stop.</p>
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<p>In contrast to traditional celebrities, few everyday people have publicists, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.37">spin doctors</a> and social media managers who can help them handle <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2019.1637269">the stresses of scrutiny</a>.</p>
<p>Who manages the public images of people who didn’t choose to become public figures?</p>
<p>It would be easy to say they should just stay off TikTok. But it’s not that simple. Social surveillance ensures we all have the potential to become headline news – beholden to the TikTok tabloid taste-makers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenna Drenten does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tabloids traditionally have gone after the rich and famous. On TikTok, anyone can be a target.Jenna Drenten, Associate Professor of Marketing, Loyola University ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1704122021-11-09T14:52:56Z2021-11-09T14:52:56ZSouth African front-page stories about COVID were sensationalist and unhelpful<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429924/original/file-20211103-17-j4z5b4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sensationalist coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic spreads fear and is unhelpful</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global public health emergency <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340063000_WHO_declares_COVID-19_a_pandemic">in March 2020</a>, it became apparent that the news media’s role in communicating health information was going to be pivotal to help control the spread of the coronavirus and prevent disease. </p>
<p>As the world inches towards the end of the second year of the pandemic it’s useful to take a look at how well or otherwise it’s done.</p>
<p>Previous <a href="https://www.aimspress.com/article/10.3934/mbe.2020147">research</a> has shown that media reporting about COVID-19 can influence public attitudes towards the disease and help citizens understand how to protect themselves. The <a href="https://www.ejimed.com/article/online-news-media-framing-of-covid-19-pandemic-probing-the-initial-phases-of-the-disease-outbreak-in-8402">media</a> can also convey complicated health information in ways the public can understand. And it can also document the economic impact of the crisis and provide platforms for public debate about the issue.</p>
<p>The news media can also provide reliable, accurate information to help counter the <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/infodemic#tab=tab_1">‘infodemic’ </a> of abundant and often false information about key issues such as vaccines. </p>
<p>Trust levels in news media had been on the decline globally before the pandemic broke out. But they <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021/dnr-executive-summary">rebounded</a> as people sought reliable information from trusted news outlets. </p>
<p>But the media’s role hasn’t been unblemished. News media has <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29474133/">been accused</a> of covering the crisis in a way that incites panic, speculation and fear. And failing to offer solutions. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated economic pressures on the media. This caused staff cuts and even closures of media outlets across the continent.</p>
<p>Against this background, we undertook <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jams/2021/00000013/00000003/art00003">a study</a> in which we asked the question: How did the South African news media cover the pandemic?</p>
<p>We found that front page reports were mostly alarmist, sensationalist and negative in tone. Moreover, these reports did not see much possibility for individual agency in combating the pandemic.</p>
<p>This finding is important as it suggests that South African newspapers could have contributed to public anxiety and fear. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>We focused on print media. For three months (1 March to 30 May 2020), we collected data from 11 English-language daily and weekly newspapers in the country. Our <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jams/2021/00000013/00000003/art00003">study</a> focused only on newspaper front-page stories, as these stories usually represent what a particular news outlet considers the main news of the day.</p>
<p>We analysed 681 stories on COVID-19, to explore the ways in which the papers presented the COVID-19 pandemic to their readers. We based our content analysis on the assumption that media can shape the public’s understanding of a health crisis, as well as people’s behaviour.</p>
<p>We strove to focus on a cross-section of daily broadsheets, weekly papers, Sunday papers and tabloids.</p>
<p>Our study included national newspapers <a href="https://mg.co.za/">Mail and Guardian</a>, <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/">Sunday Times</a>, <a href="https://www.news24.com/citypress">City Press</a> and <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/">Business Day</a>. We also looked at regional newspapers <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes">Cape Times</a>, <a href="https://www.news24.com/witness">The Witness</a>, <a href="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/">Daily Dispatch</a>, <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/">Sowetan</a>, <a href="https://www.dfa.co.za/">Diamond Fields Advertiser</a>, <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/sunday-sun/">Sunday Sun</a>, and <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/the-star">The Star</a>. </p>
<p>We found that almost half (47.79%) of the front-page reports in both the broadsheet ‘quality’ papers as well as the tabloid used an alarmist narrative when reporting on the pandemic. Reports are defined as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0267323113486235">alarmist</a> when they are negative in tone, use fearful words and metaphors, use sensationalist and emotionally charged language, focus on worst-case scenarios, and provide limited information to help citizens reduce their personal risk.</p>
<p>The majority (55%) of front page reports were negative in tone, seeing very little possibility for individual agency and self-efficacy. Such alarmist and negative media coverage can amplify public anxieties and fears, instead of providing people information that may empower them to navigate the uncertainties they face amid the ‘infodemic’ from overabundant information.</p>
<p>Our analysis also found that most of the publications (72%) reported on the pandemic on their front pages in an episodic rather than thematic manner. This meant that reports were mainly superficial and event-oriented, rather than offering in-depth analysis. </p>
<p>We also found that the reporting was predominantly alarmist, negative and episodic. A large percentage of the articles also used sensationalist language. This means the specific use of words that make emotional appeals, with headlines such as ‘The war we have to win’, ‘Scramble for vital supplies’. </p>
<p>This perhaps makes sense, given the norms and conventions of hard news journalism and the practice of using front-page stories to attract readers. However, the danger is that readers might be put in unnecessary panic mode.</p>
<p>We also found that the majority (81.86 %) of the front-page reports didn’t provide health information or any information about how readers could avoid contracting or spreading the virus. </p>
<p>Only 3.23% of the reports debunked myths, rumours and gossip about the pandemic which were circulating widely on social media and messaging platforms. And, while the pandemic affected everyone, the voices that readers of South African newspaper front pages heard more than any other were those of men in power. </p>
<p>Just over half of the front-page reports quoted or cited government officials (49.49%). Almost three-quarters of these government officials were male (75.37%).</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>The ways in which the media report on a national and global health emergency could have implications for how society responds to big challenges and threats. Although our study was limited in its focus on front pages of newspapers, the findings nevertheless suggest a tendency to use alarmism and sensationalism to attract reader interest, without providing health information or offering solutions to mitigate their concerns. </p>
<p>The findings raise questions about the roles and responsibilities of South African newspapers in how they use their front pages to frame key issues, especially during times of crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Herman Wasserman receives funding from the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam receives funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanja Bosch and Wallace Chuma do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The majority of front page reports were negative in tone, seeing very little possibility for individual agency and self-efficacy. This can amplify public anxiety and fear.Herman Wasserman, Professor of Media Studies in the Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape TownChikezie E. Uzuegbunam, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Cape TownTanja Bosch, Associate Professor in Media Studies and Production, University of Cape TownWallace Chuma, Associate professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1569012021-03-10T18:14:18Z2021-03-10T18:14:18ZRupert Murdoch at 90: why the old mogul may have one final act in him yet<p>To understand why Rupert Murdoch, who is 90 years old on March 11, is still in charge of a global media empire and hungry to keep expanding, it may be instructive to look at the pithy assessment he made of career self-publicist and professional narcissist, Piers Morgan.</p>
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<p>Morgan, who walked out of his latest job presenting ITV’s Good Morning Britain in a fit of pique on Tuesday March 9, cut his teeth as a senior executive at Murdoch-owned tabloids the Sun and News of the World in the 1980s and 1990s. He then defected to the Daily Mirror, where fabricated photos of British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners eventually cost him his job.</p>
<p>Murdoch’s view of his former charge <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/06/biography.society">was that</a> “his balls are bigger than his brains”. In other words, Morgan may have been fearless – reckless even – in his editorial decision-making, but he lacked the intelligence to see the possible long-term consequences.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Murdoch’s brains and balls are pretty much the same size – huge.</p>
<h2>Murdoch begins</h2>
<p>That combination of ruthless ambition and razor-sharp business instincts have seen Murdoch transform the global media industry since he took over his father’s Adelaide-based newspaper, The News, in 1953. Having made a success of the title, he built up a stable of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding to the UK in the late 1960s with the acquisition of the News of the World and then the Sun. </p>
<p>He later bought into US newspapers, including the New York Post, and became a cheerleader for Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. He famously went to war with the British print unions in 1986 after adopting technology that needed far fewer printing press workers. By that time, the man known to his enemies as the Dirty Digger was also the owner of the 20th Century Fox movie studio, and on his way to building a global media juggernaut that also spanned television and book publishing with brands such as Harper Collins and Sky. </p>
<p>Yet the mogul who swung elections and had the ear of prime ministers and presidents is now facing an uncertain future in his business life. </p>
<p>Murdoch still controls News Corporation, whose titles include the Sun, the Times, the Australian and the Wall Street Journal, as well as Fox News, and has a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-murdoch-family-rupert-murdochs-media-empire-heirs-2020-8?r=US&IR=T">personal fortune</a> in the billions of dollars. But he wasn’t able to stay at the top of the media pile. The mogul says that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2019/03/20/what-the-disney-fox-deal-means-for-rupert-murdochs-fortune/?sh=5d0db130312e">his sale of</a> 21st Century Fox to Disney for US$71 billion (£51 billion) in 2019 – after he <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45654792">also unloaded</a> his Sky interests to Comcast – was not a sign of him retreating from the market but merely “<a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/rupert-murdoch-says-hes-not-retreating-hes-pivoting-at-a-pivotal-moment-20171215-h04zwu">pivoting</a>” to a new position.</p>
<p>Two years on, it’s still not clear exactly what that new position will be. But if Murdoch lives as long as his mother Elisabeth – who died aged 103 – <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/rupert-murdoch-at-90-fox-succession-and-one-more-big-play-1.4499086">he’s worked out</a> that he has possibly 75,000 working hours left, enough for one more big play.</p>
<h2>The final act</h2>
<p>A newspaperman at heart, Murdoch will be loath to lose his famous British, American and Australian titles, but he has to find a way to compete without seeming a dinosaur, stuck with the values of previous generations.</p>
<p>And in the background, his six children have a variety of views of the way forward. Among the leading heirs, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/03/30/lachlan-murdoch-fox-news/">Lachlan runs</a> Fox News, and is renowned as a staunch <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/lachlan-murdoch-is-even-more-of-a-right-wing-ultra-than-his-old-man">neo-conservative</a>.</p>
<p>James, who is more progressive, took much of the heat for the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/apr/03/james-murdoch-step-down-bskyb-chairman">UK phone hacking scandal</a>. He resigned from the News Corp board in 2020 over editorial differences and was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/16/james-murdoch-says-us-media-lies-unleashed-insidious-forces">recently implicitly blaming</a> Fox for the storming of the Capitol building in Washington. And then there is Elisabeth, a successful global TV executive who has mainly stayed out of her father’s business over the years. </p>
<p>Anyone who has watched the TV series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7660850/">Succession</a> about the trials and tribulations of the Roy family can get an inkling of how a media family with an all-powerful patriarch may operate. The difference is that Murdoch’s finances are in good shape, and the end of a two-year hiatus on dealmaking imposed when he sold 21st Century Fox will give him the chance to revive his legendary dealmaking skills very shortly.</p>
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<p>Against that there’s the worry that, at 90, Murdoch may not be quite the man he used to be in terms of energetic acquisitions. He also needs to factor in that it won’t be him but Lachlan who is likeliest to be running things in the future. So how much does Murdoch allow his son to choose potential assets?</p>
<p>With the Democrats now in power in America, will the phenomenally successful but right-leaning Fox News that had President Trump as a devotee continue to lose ratings? And what will be the effect of a US$2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/business/media/smartmatic-fox-news-lawsuit.html">for allegedly</a> playing a role in backing the false news that the recent election was rigged? (Fox News points out that its ratings are <a href="http://press.foxnews.com/2021/03/fox-news-channel-dominates-february-as-top-rated-cable-network-in-primetime-total-viewers/">still ahead</a> in primetime, and it <a href="http://press.foxnews.com/2021/02/fox-news-media-moves-to-dismiss-smartmatic-lawsuit/">has lodged</a> a petition to dismiss the lawsuit.)</p>
<p>Murdoch, who has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/business/media/smartmatic-fox-news-lawsuit.html">just celebrated</a> the fifth anniversary of his marriage to fourth wife Jerry Hall, has never worried about critics and enemies, of course. So it seems unlikely that he will start now. If his past record is anything to go by, 90 may prove to be just another number. Don’t be surprised if the old media titan has one last act in him yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Lambden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As he enters his tenth decade, we are still waiting for his pivot.Stephen Lambden, Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Television, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1564242021-03-08T10:16:52Z2021-03-08T10:16:52ZMeghan and Harry’s Oprah interview: why British media coverage could backfire<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388087/original/file-20210305-15-44ug0a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1080&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Sussexes' interview with Oprah aired on CBS on Sunday</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7LJrh5UTr4">CBS/YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“I would sit up at night, and I was just, like, I don’t understand how all of this is being churned out … And I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.” This stark admission from the Duchess of Sussex during her and her husband’s much-anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey captures how press treatment of Meghan drove the couple’s decision to step back from royal duties.</p>
<p>In the run-up to that interview, with uncanny timing, damaging stories about the couple have emerged from the palace, which seems distinctly rattled by the couple’s determination to speak out. Predictably, these allegations have been seized upon by a British press that thrives on reporting – and fomenting – royal discord. </p>
<p>The previous week, the Times broke a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-aides-reveal-meghan-bullying-claim-before-oprah-interview-7sxfvd2c3">story</a> that a bullying complaint had being lodged against Meghan while she was living at Kensington Palace. The complaint had been made over two years earlier, but royal aides had only just approached the Times in order to “tell their side”. </p>
<p>These timely leaks included the suggestion that Meghan was given earrings by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shortly after the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had been murdered, a wardrobe story deemed sufficiently heinous to warrant a dedicated <a href="https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1366887706085773314?s=20">tweet</a>. Clearly, the Oprah interview is worrying minds.</p>
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<p>Where the press goes, some TV programmes follow. Bethan Sayed, a member of the Welsh parliament tweeted a picture of how ITV’s Good Morning Britain (hosted by Susanna Reid and Meghan-critic Piers Morgan) chose to cover the story, with a revealing <a href="https://twitter.com/bethanjenkins/status/1367018346638696448?s=20">picture</a> of four ageing white men on a Zoom call. Her accompanying text read: “5 men character assassinating a woman. No wonder Meghan left the UK.” </p>
<p>As one journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/Otto_English/status/1367019345956786177?s=20">put it</a>: “We’re getting to the point where if Meghan Markle were to take a posy offered to her, the press would report it as: ‘Evil Duchess steals flowers from child.’”</p>
<h2>Years of toxic tabloid coverage</h2>
<p>This kind of visceral hostility is not new. When Meghan launched her legal action against the Daily Mail in October 2019 for publishing a private letter that she wrote to her father, Prince Harry referred to Meghan as “one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year.” He spoke for many victims of Britain’s toxic tabloid culture when he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/02/put-simply-its-bullying-prince-harrys-full-statement-on-the-media">continued</a>: “Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people.”</p>
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<p>The tabloid media’s ever-expanding charge sheet of distortion and vindictiveness towards the Sussexes is extensive, and sometimes beyond parody: one particularly absurd Mail headline from 2019 <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6621047/How-Meghans-favourite-avocado-snack-fuelling-human-rights-abuses-drought-murder.html">read</a>: “How Meghan’s favourite avocado snack…. is fuelling human rights abuses, drought and murder.” </p>
<p>The sheer volume of hostility was captured by a BuzzFeed <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal">article</a> which juxtaposed headlines about Meghan and Kate Middleton to demonstrate how Meghan was routinely vilified for behaviour that the same papers applauded in Kate. This treatment isn’t always confined to the tabloids, however. The British broadsheet The Telegraph, for example, was equally happy to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/23/meghan-cookbook-mosque-linked-19-terror-suspects-including-jihadi/">headline</a> a highly tenuous link with terrorist groups in 2018.</p>
<p>Underlying some of this reporting has been implicit and unpleasant racism that refers coyly to Meghan’s “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3909362/RACHEL-JOHNSON-Sorry-Harry-beautiful-bolter-failed-Mum-Test.html">exotic DNA</a>” or labels her as “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3896180/Prince-Harry-s-girlfriend-actress-Meghan-Markles.html">straight outta Compton</a>”, carrying the unambiguous message that she is “not one of us”. In her Oprah Winfrey interview, Meghan all but confirms that the racism she experienced extended into the royal family itself. </p>
<h2>The reasons behind the media’s malice</h2>
<p>There are at least three reasons to explain this apparently visceral hostility to the Sussexes.</p>
<p>First, there are the legal cases which both royals have brought against the press and comprehensively won. Last month, Harry <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-prince-harry-wins-substantial-23420878">won</a> an apology and “substantial damages” from the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online for publishing false allegations that he had turned his back on the Royal Marines. </p>
<p>Ten days later, Meghan <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56028583">won</a> her privacy case against the same publisher in a summary judgement in which the judge called publication of her father’s letter “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful”. The British press does not like being bested in court, and the Mail in particular will be looking to exact revenge.</p>
<p>Second, there is the commercial imperative: sales and clickbait. The royal family sells newspapers and attracts online readers. In the pre-electronic era, every publisher knew that a front page picture of Princess Diana would be guaranteed to shift copies from newsagents, street sellers and garage forecourts. Today, casual readers are drawn to headlines on social and online media, which are fed by a worldwide fascination with the Royal soap opera. </p>
<p>Every soap opera needs its heroes and antagonists. Britain’s tabloid press has demonstrated over the years how adept it is at creating fairy tale princesses and pantomime villains, regardless of the impact on the individuals themselves. Stories are embellished, distorted or simply manufactured to generate more clickbait and thus more revenue. </p>
<p>Third, there is a longstanding culture in British print journalism that, as far as celebrities are concerned, their business is our business. At one level, this is an entirely appropriate journalistic imperative to hold power to account (think, for example, of the Prince Andrew <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBS8COhhhM">interview</a> on the BBC’s Newsnight). </p>
<p>Too often, however, the norm of journalistic scrutiny is exploited as a fig-leaf to justify monumental invasions of privacy and downright lies that cannot be justified by any arguments around accountability. A healthy journalistic culture knows the difference between exposing incompetence, corruption or dishonesty in high places and the vindictive hounding of individuals designed simply to maximise corporate profit.</p>
<p>It is just possible that the press in this case has overreached itself. Its vilification campaign is transparent and is being called out on social media in the <a href="https://twitter.com/munyachawawa/status/1367182324291493894?s=20">UK</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrissieEvert/status/1367300705405591557?s=20">US</a>. As legacy newspaper circulations continue to fall, such grievance-driven journalism looks increasingly like an ageing relic from a bygone age. Even before the current pre-Oprah drama, Guardian columnist Marina Hyde <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/16/harry-meghan-media-critics-worse">wrote</a> that “Much UK media reaction to Meghan and Harry reeks of this gathering powerlessness.” </p>
<p>No doubt more vicious headlines will greet the Sussexes after Sunday’s interview. But we may just be witnessing the decline of a toxic tabloid culture that treats individuals – ordinary people as well as celebrities – as sensationalist copy fodder. If so, it will be good news for British journalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Barnett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Could the press’s increasingly hostile campaign against the Sussexes lead to the fall of our toxic tabloid culture?Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1553042021-02-24T03:40:40Z2021-02-24T03:40:40ZPodcast host, DJ … how the much lampooned Paris Hilton has rewritten the celebrity script<p>Paris Hilton — model, reality TV star, actor, pop singer and DJ — gained worldwide notoriety in 2003 because of a leaked sex tape. Over the years she has been viciously parodied and lampooned, famously on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7F7Ca3TEhQ">South Park</a> and in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYwhfMg0_20">World of Warcraft</a>. </p>
<p>But she has endured — and this week launched a new podcast, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-this-is-paris-76875461/">This Is Paris</a>.</p>
<p>In the first episode, Hilton and her co-host, US television personality <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_March">Hunter March</a>, discuss love, commitment and hard work. Hilton’s fiance, Carter Reum also appears — apparently as a favour to her “because you know I hate this stuff”. The episode ends with a modern advice column in which Hilton responds to fan voicemail questions, including “how do I look hot on Zoom?”</p>
<p>In her recent tell-all documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10306228/">of the same name</a> Hilton opened up about her difficult experiences growing up in the spotlight and alleged she had endured traumatic abuse <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/09/07/paris-hilton-details-abuse-allegations-this-is-paris-documentary/5678747002/">at boarding school</a> as a teenager. </p>
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<h2>The treatment of female celebrities</h2>
<p>As with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12673718/">Framing Britney Spears</a> (2021), the documentary prompted timely discussion of the treatment of women celebrities and their struggle to maintain agency within the structures of Hollywood and the media.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1301&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385715/original/file-20210223-19-1msq4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1301&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Hilton modelling for Brazilian designer Colcci in 2004.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Renzo Gostoli</span></span>
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<p>Born in 1981, Hilton was first known as an heiress to the Hilton hotels empire, founded by her great-grandfather. She began modelling as a child, and by the age of 18 was a socialite regularly photographed in the A-list New York party scene. </p>
<p>The 1990s has been dubbed “<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1999/02/david-kamp-tabloid-decade">the tabloid decade</a>”, and along with celebrity compatriots such as Lindsay Lohan and Tara Reid, Hilton was ruthlessly torn down for her perceived moral failings. Notably, it was young women who bore the brunt of this criticism — not men who behaved “badly”.</p>
<p>When she was 22, in 2003, internet pornography company Marvad Corp leaked a sex tape of Hilton and her then-boyfriend Richard Salomon (released as One Night in Paris in 2004). </p>
<p>Hilton <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/2020/09/08/paris-hilton-pressured-sex-tape-rick-salomon-documentary/">sued</a> the internet company she claimed illegally distributed the video (the case was <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/hilton-salomon-end-sex-tape-legal-battle/">later dismissed</a>). In her documentary, she spoke about its release:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>That was a private moment with a teenage girl not in her right headspace. But everyone was watching it and laughing, like it’s something funny. If that happened today it would not be the same story at all. But they made me the bad person. Like I did something bad.</p>
<p>It was my first real relationship. Eighteen. I was so in love with him and I wanted to make him happy. And I just remember him pulling out the camera. And he was kind of pressuring me into it. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But it was this leaked sex tape that ultimately helped solidify her status as a celebrity. In 2003, Hilton and fellow socialite Nicole Richie began filming <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362153/">The Simple Life</a> (2003–2007), right when <a href="https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4442&context=etd">reality TV’s popularity</a> was soaring. </p>
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<p>The show, following Hilton and Richie as they attempted working-class jobs such as farming and fast food service, drew <a href="https://www.realitytvworld.com/news/fox-the-simple-life-premiere-draws-13-million-viewers-and-night-highest-adults-18-49-rating-2050.php">13 million viewers</a> the night it premiered. This humiliation of the privileged Hilton gave audiences an opportunity to recognise her for more than her tabloid presence.</p>
<p>She became a celebrity who was famous for being famous.</p>
<h2>Changing with the times</h2>
<p>Over the years, Hilton morphed into a legitimate celebrity through her sheer deftness at embodying — and doing the work of — celebrity itself.</p>
<p>She released her first fragrance in 2004, and her debut single in 2006. If bitterly, she even received some <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/music/paris/paris-hilton/critic-reviews">critical praise</a> for her titular debut album: “it’s really not all that bad,” said one critic.</p>
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<p>She forayed into acting, with bit parts on The O.C. and Veronica Mars, reaching a peak when she starred in the schlocky horror film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397065/">House of Wax</a> (2005). Like her pop album, her performance in this film was received with a combination of ridicule and <a href="https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3342522/defense-house-of-wax/">begrudging appreciation</a>.</p>
<p>In 2012, the year electronic dance music (EDM) was named the <a href="http://www.thembj.org/2012/10/the-rise-of-edm/">fastest growing mainstream music genre</a> in the US, Hilton began her <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8211411/Paris-Hilton-DJing-virtual-music-festival-TrillerFest-help-affected-coronavirus.html">lucrative EDM DJ endeavours</a> earning up to US$1 million per 90 minute set. She continues to DJ, including at the reputable <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzJ1HI8d5Eg">Tomorrowland festival</a> in Belgium in 2019.</p>
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<span class="caption">Hilton DJing at the Ministerium nightclub, Odessa, Ukraine in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Up close and personal</h2>
<p>In the current digital media epoch, “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1354856517736983">authenticity</a>” is required of celebrities. Generating a persona that allows her fans a seemingly real connection, Hilton is once again making savvy use of the zeitgeist.</p>
<p>With a tone that feels self-aware and bold, Hilton’s new podcast is reflective not only of her experiences as a celebrity, but also her resilience. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-obama-podcast-host-how-podcasting-became-a-multi-billion-dollar-industry-142920">Michelle Obama, podcast host: how podcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The overtly constructed nature of many of Hilton’s former pursuits might attract little admiration in today’s social media spaces — and as an heiress, she is undoubtedly from a privileged background. </p>
<p>Yet her current intimate mode of celebrity is likely to lengthen her celebrity shelf life. As she strives for “authenticity”, Hilton is again rewriting her own celebrity script.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coming to fame at the end of the ‘tabloid decade’, Hilton has long been a source of ridicule. But a deeper look shows a woman who is constantly working for her celebrity.Corey Martin, PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of TechnologyJoanna McIntyre, Lecturer in Media Studies, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/639732016-10-07T15:30:54Z2016-10-07T15:30:54ZBrits abroad: stereotype or media hype?<p>Now that summer is officially over and there is a moment to stake stock, I find myself once again dismayed that “Brits abroad” still made for ample copy in many tabloid newspapers. Not because of their so-called antics, but because of the way they were reported on.</p>
<p>Every year a number of Britons head to holiday resorts across the Mediterranean with its guarantees of sun, sea and sand. And for many there’s a fourth “s” on offer too – sex. Their behaviour seems to attract a great deal of salacious media scrutiny. It expresses both moral outrage and disgust, but at the same time works to titillate the reader. </p>
<p>This summer was no different. For example, in August <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3738819/How-s-clampdown-going-Explicit-video-shows-NAKED-Magaluf-holidaymakers-gyrating-UV-paint-party-year-police-vowed-stamp-debauchery-tourism.html">the Daily Mail asked</a>: </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140297/original/image-20161004-20223-1vxjqc6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Sensational reporting by the Daily Mail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3738819/How-s-clampdown-going-Explicit-video-shows-NAKED-Magaluf-holidaymakers-gyrating-UV-paint-party-year-police-vowed-stamp-debauchery-tourism.html">Daily Mail</a></span>
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<p>Even in late September <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/1850735/the-crazy-x-rated-photos-of-boozy-brits-in-magaluf-this-summer/">The Sun reported</a>:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140298/original/image-20161004-20205-1e4if94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sun gets in on the act.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/1850735/the-crazy-x-rated-photos-of-boozy-brits-in-magaluf-this-summer/">The Sun</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both of these focus on the so-called party resort of Magaluf on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, but it could easily be replaced with resorts in Greece such as Malia on the island of Crete. </p>
<p>This seeming fascination with what the Brits do abroad isn’t restricted to holiday resorts. The violent clashes between England football team supporters and those supporting Russia at the start of the Euros was a classic example of the press taking the moral high ground. In this particular case, it was the Russian fans <a href="https://theconversation.com/russias-ultras-are-a-return-to-nationalist-posturing-in-football-and-the-media-61315">who received the brunt of criticism</a>. </p>
<p>But still, images of drunk, bare-chested, fist-wielding men pervaded the UK media, followed by calls for fans to behave responsibly at future fixtures. It is this kind of conduct that goes hand-in-hand with the stereotypes associated with the British abroad – of being over “there” and out of control. </p>
<h2>Shock and horror</h2>
<p>This image of the Brits abroad reached new heights with what is by the now the infamous “mamading episode” reported in July 2014. Based on an incident that occurred in Magaluf, typical headlines <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/magaluf-video-exposes-sleazy-party-3818174">included The Sunday Mirror’s</a>: “Magaluf exposed: Sleazy party capital where girls are bullied into sex acts with strangers.”</p>
<p>The Mirror’s report was based on a video filmed at one of the resort’s nightclubs. The footage, allegedly recorded by one of the club’s reps and sent to a friend who then put it on Facebook, purports to show a young woman (aged 18) engaged in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/03/mamading-magaluf-video_n_5554565.html">“mamading”</a>. This is the practice of encouraging women (who are usually inebriated) to perform oral sex on numerous different men for a reward. </p>
<p>In this report that caused such horror in the summer of 2014, the woman in question was cajoled into fellatio with a total of 24 men. As for her reward, she is said to have believed her actions would earn her a free holiday. The holiday in question, however, was not a vacation but the name of a cocktail. </p>
<p>Alongside the shock and horror, there followed a number of other revelations in the British press about the apparently lewd behaviour of British tourists in Magaluf. A form of moral panic ensued in which British youth – but notably women – holidaying abroad were demonised for their behaviour.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"489107877052030976"}"></div></p>
<p>The events in Magaluf even inspired a TV investigation by tabloid talk show host Jeremy Kyle. When he visited Magaluf for himself <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jeremy-kyle-was-pepper-sprayed-by-a-nightclub-bouncer-in-magaluf-claims-gogglebox-star-9607384.html">and was pepper sprayed by a nightclub bouncer</a>, it added yet more sensationalised outrage to the coverage. The media attention Magaluf attracted during this period built and added to its existing reputation and focused on the shocking and titillating exploits of badly behaved tourists. </p>
<h2>Why now?</h2>
<p>I first went to Magaluf in the summer of 1997 and continued my research into tourism there over subsequent years. During my first visits to the resort I witnessed behaviour similar to that of the mamading incident, and certainly of British tourists’ drunken exploits, but I don’t recall the moral outrage and media coverage then that these activities now attract. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140304/original/image-20161004-20239-8p0oa4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Another view of Magaluf.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/antoskabar/13940261173/in/photolist-neRtYz-cmSoS1-7NZePq-7NZv2E-Pg7G2-7NZePC-7NZePL-yDvZK-ntcAQv-nsbNKk-yDwaX-7NVQPe-8jAqux-7NZePE-7NZv2w-7NZv2L-ntdXJ2-7MHKQ5-noaJ1x-nsNsdY-najqzR-nuQjat-njvtve-nqG6QH-nBrkso-8jAgSX-nFE9Ex-an4nCW-5eQQzo-5fBopE-8jA3Ct-5f7xAE-5d9YuX-5fgMzM-pQj62V-cW4s1s-8jAgSr-6z9GMr-e8oPc8-8jAgTa-5cHstS-nYhx4E-dp8GGy-57dTzc-9ejwX8-5g9Sof-8jA3Me-8jA3LP-8jA3Gr-8jAgT2">Antoskabar/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My latest visit in 2015 I found that very little had changed in terms of the look of the resort and what it had to offer from when I went in 1997. This begs the question “why now?” Social media is certainly a factor. The ability to instantly upload photos and videos means that what happens on holiday no longer stays on holiday. The ability to transmit behaviour at the push of a button and on a global scale, takes things much further out of the control of the individual concerned. </p>
<p>Another factor is that there is a whole industry based on this material. There is money to be made here by a media that knows how much the moral right enjoy tut-tutting over those Brits who do not travel for what they deem to be the “correct” cultural reasons. But while these moral arbiters express their disapproval their reporting creates an image of the destination that itself helps establish expectations of what people find when visiting and, in turn, how they should behave when there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hazel Andrews does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The antics of ‘Brits abroad’ continues to fill copy in tabloid newspapers but it’s more about titillation than genuine moral outrage.Hazel Andrews, Reader in Tourism, Culture and Society, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/365152015-01-20T11:25:59Z2015-01-20T11:25:59ZLet’s get real about Page 3 cover-up – The Sun still treats women as sex objects<p>So finally The Sun has dropped the Page 3 topless model. In the absence of any announcement from the paper, it was a Marks & Spencer’s bra which heralded the new era on Monday January 19, covering up the bare breasts that have appeared in the UK’s largest-selling newspaper for the last 44 years.</p>
<p>Later, in what was the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/19/has-the-sun-axed-page-3-topless-pictures">first statement</a> from the red-top tabloid, an unnamed spokesman was quoted in The Times on Tuesday in typically irreverent mode: “Page 3 of The Sun is where it’s always been, between pages 2 and 4, and you can find Lucy from Warwick at page3.com.” </p>
<p>This might have sounded more like a twin-track marketing strategy than a feminist victory, but it is easy to be too cynical here. The <a href="http://nomorepage3.org/">No More Page 3 campaign</a> has galvanised considerable popular debate about key issues which have concerned feminist media critics for decades – among them: objectification, news values, trivialisation of violence against women and sexual harassment in public spaces. </p>
<h2>Why the campaign worked</h2>
<p>The strength of the campaign has been both the apparent narrowness of its aim – to encourage the editor to voluntarily remove the topless models on Page 3 – and the way organisers and campaigners have been able to connect this to broader debates. </p>
<p>While the comments on the No More Page 3 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NoMorePage3">Facebook page</a> after the story broke contained plenty predictable feminist-baiting, from supporters there was cautious optimism – characterised by a sense that the tide was changing and they were the ones changing it. Their activism is cause for celebration, particularly if that energy can be carried over to related campaigns.</p>
<p>A key component of the campaign has been to argue that context is all: “Boobs aren’t news”. Now the “boobs” are moving online, to be accessed by subscription, and it seems that Page 3 in the newspaper will focus instead on models in their underwear. To use an example oft cited in the campaign: children will no longer be “exposed” to topless models over breakfast.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69515/original/image-20150120-24434-1sm2gvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Victory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/diamondgeyser/16013797271/in/photolist-qp5U1X-psvaBv-q7Hc4d-5R63m-biubq8-qpf9a4-q7GqKJ-bzHzXh-839ujM-7SVAkP-8367w1-iMSTfV-jiuwqm-75o2xU-83cDMq-81JA6w-83cCYd-9NBBMn-8sqDsF-7dCfjM-nRTKHG-8PAk4V-51onL4-cisdqw-9TKYq1-81FtLe-81JCL1-doWHPg-61Wwcx-839vki-9RWbrC-839uug-6MnDGi-81FrFK-4xG1jC-9NEnS2-51ojDi-4A6dyX-NdAUQ-6LXcjN-pripqq-4xSKzt-6agmPN-69wraX-4ktch9-q7Pt3e-qpbxLh-qmY17W-q7Fzf9-qpby5y">Isabelle</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This rather dated trope of family breakfasts accompanied by the morning paper has been a powerful one in debates about Page 3. Campaign organisers made it clear that they are not concerned about children seeing breasts per se. Rather their arguments have focused on the way Page 3 promotes a pornographic and objectifying gaze which is implicated in broader inequalities. Page 3 doesn’t cause these inequalities, but it is part of the context in which they are legitimised.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree, but the problem with focusing on the child and the inappropriateness of these images in a “family” newspaper, is that it suggests that a sexually objectifying gaze is fine elsewhere. To argue otherwise is always to risk accusations of being anti-sex, anti-choice and anti-nudity: all standard insults lazily fired off at any woman who speaks out against sexual objectification. </p>
<p>On the No More Page 3 website, we are assured that those involved in the campaign: “love breasts! and have nothing against the women who choose to show them, we simply feel that a family newspaper is the wrong context for these images.”</p>
<h2>Remember who’s in control</h2>
<p>Yet we can’t discuss context without also discussing power. Objectification is defined by power. To say this is not to argue that to be the object of the gaze is to be automatically powerless. Nor is it to deny that Page 3 models are (typically) there out of choice. </p>
<p>Rather, it is to pose a set of questions not only about where that gaze is enacted, but also by whom, to what purpose and in whose interests. Of course, women can objectify other women (and men), but these looks receive far less cultural sanction than the innocuous, everyday, wallpaper of men’s sexualised objectification of women. </p>
<p>In this context, a bra-clad woman is no less objectified than her breast-baring sisters: she is still a two-dimensional image, of interest only for her body, addressing a male gaze in the most predictable of ways, contributing to a broader culture which naturalises men’s sense of sexual entitlement over women. She’s your Page 3 girl after all. Though Murdoch has now kindly – and in response to reader feedback – moved her online. To increase his bottom line.</p>
<h2>Lucy from Warwick is alive and well</h2>
<p>The clip from the 1970s TV comedy Porridge which opened <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b050g36m/newsnight-19012015">BBC Newsnight’s segment</a> on the story on January 19 was supposed to speak to the “dated” nature of Page 3: a relic of a bygone era, an era in which sexism was acceptable (and feminists non-existent apparently). </p>
<p>But the clip also highlighted the way that images of women function as objects of exchange between men. Breasts to be leered at. A joke to be shared. That camaraderie is precisely what The Sun’s spokesman is banking on in directing readers to Lucy from Warwick’s future home on The Sun’s website. </p>
<p>So, in the tradition of joylessness of which we feminists are so predictably accused, The Sun’s discovery of the bra – for its print edition only – is not much of a cause for celebration.</p>
<p>That the campaign has been so successful in opening up a public discourse about these issues, however, is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Boyle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>So finally The Sun has dropped the Page 3 topless model. In the absence of any announcement from the paper, it was a Marks & Spencer’s bra which heralded the new era on Monday January 19, covering…Karen Boyle, Chair in Feminist Media Studies, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.