Please read the following article from Time Magazine. A Brief History Of: Tabloids!! By Kate Pickert
When John Edwards admitted what the national Enquirer had been saying for months--that he had had an affair with a campaign videographer--it was only the latest in a string of high-profile scandals broken by the supermarket press. But politicians' foibles weren't always the target of choice for the tabloids. In the 1950s, their pages were splashed with bloody car accidents and gruesome mutilations. Enquirer owner Generoso Pope dialed down the gore in an effort to appeal to housewives in the checkout aisle, replacing it with alien abductions and medical oddities. Celebrity gossip took over by the late 1960s, as the Enquirer and rival Globe feasted on Chappaquiddick, Jackie Kennedy's remarriage and the death of Elvis. (The Enquirer paid a Presley relative to snap a picture of the King in his coffin.) Rupert Murdoch's Star joined in soon after. Weekly World News, billing itself "The World's Only Reliable Newspaper," carried on the mantle of the weird, covering miraculous cancer cures and zombie sightings. "When we inform people, it's usually by accident," admitted its editor. Tabloid circulation peaked in the 1980s, but the O.J. Simpson trial prompted a rapid--and ironic--reversal of fortune. Broadcast coverage of the spectacle eclipsed anything that could be done in print, setting a template for sensational TV journalism that would drive the tabs' circulation down 30% by the mid-'90s. Celebrity print media has bounced back in recent years, thanks to Britney and Paris, although mostly in the glossy magazine format that Star switched to in 2004. And as it is with most papers, the Internet is impinging on tabloids' turf. The new medium has already claimed Weekly World News, which folded in 2007--but readers looking for the latest on the ALIEN BABY LOVE CHILD can still find it online.
ASSIGNMENT: Part 1- DUE the end of class on Wednesday 15 February.
Irresponsible journalism-what you don’t want! Go to the link below:
http://www.toptenlinks.com/cat.php/News:Newspapers:Tabloids
http://www.toptenlinks.com/cat.php/News:Newspapers:Tabloids
If you have trouble with this, here is a list of tabloids. 1, National Enquirer 2. Star Magazine 3. Weekly World News 4. New York Post 5.The Mirror 6.The Sun 7.New York Daily News 8 Globe Magazine 9. Tabloid 10. Mega Star
Read 4 articles from 4 different tabloids. In approximately 250 words, respond to this question: What commonalities do you find within these articles? What ethical problems do you note? What purpose do these writings serve.
Assignment:Part 2 of the assignment; due Friday 17 February
Now write your own tabloid article: length approximately 400 words. Make sure to include an image at the top of the article. Possible topics:
mythology / folk / fairy tale characters. The Three Bears Cinderella Little Miss Muffet The Return of Odysseus Robin Hood The Trojan Horse Davy Crocket at the Alamo George Washington and the cherry tree The Old Woman and the shoe Johnny Appleseed Casey Jones Aladdin Little Red Riding Hood The Little Mermaid Snow White The Three Little Pigs Anything else that appeals to your imagination. Don't forget to apply the who, what, where, when and how to your article, as well as your quote.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen i was looking through these tabloids i found that many words and actions were exaggerated. And some facts that were stated were not supported with actual information. Some words were written in bold to get action from readers. The main ethical problems these tabloids have is the lack of source verification. Most if not all contain some false in them. The writing is purely fiction, and what you read may not always be the case. Instead of relying on these sources we should rely elsewhere because the information is not factual. Tabloids are just for entertainment and not for information.
ReplyDeleteI do not really see many, if any differences in these tabloids. I think there are lots of things wrong with this type of “writing”. I do not just think there are things that are morally wrong about this, but I think it is a waste of time, energy, and human existence. One commonality that I noticed about these articles was the lack of any substance. The articles that I read weren’t really about anything, in my opinion. If people reacted the same way towards everybody that they do towards celebrities, there would be mass hysteria and panic every time somebody went to the grocery store without makeup on. I think that a lot of people’s ethics are somewhat imbalanced. If a person followed a random person around everywhere just waiting with a camera for the perfect wardrobe malfunction, arrests would be made. Why is it ethically ok for us to not only follow celebrities like this, but to publish this gossip information (true or not true) in mass amounts to the public? I am honestly at a loss for words as to what purposes these writings serve. There are two main reasons I can think of that people would be interested in this kind of publishing. Either they wish they were in the celebrity status, so they want to know everything about them, or they are jealous of the celebrities, and need a reason to hate them. Other than these things I do not know why people would take so much time, money and/or energy out of their daily lives for things like this
ReplyDeleteOverall, these tabloid articles seem to follow a similar set-up as an AP style article: a short and concise description of the events occurring. However, I also have to note that the diction and tone of the articles are less serious than those of the New York Times or the Associated Press. For example, in the National Enquierer’s Article “Storage Wars Secrets”, an article revolving around the life of Barry Weiss, the tone of the writer seems highly conversational. “But what might surprise fans most is his incredible way with women.” The sentence structure is basic, which is frequently employed in most conversational addresses to others. There is also the matter of the bias presented within the article. The use of the word “incredible” makes the author appear to be gratifying Weiss, as opposed to objectively saying “Women are attracted to Weiss”.
ReplyDeleteOn the note of ethical problems, tabloids seem to cover a wide range of them. Two of the articles I read (the Weiss article from The Enquierer and an article about the deat of Whitney Houston in The Sun) covered topics most relevant to popular culture. The articles (and headlines) made the topics seem as though they were the “most important news”, something that everyone should look out for and pay attention to. However, this left actual local news stories, such as the death of a Brooklyn man in The New York Post, left well off to the side, as though they held little importance to the readership. To be more concise, topics relating more to popular culture seem to be inflated more than the actual local news that pertains to one’s community. All in all, I feel as if tabloid articles are just for “flash” than any actual substance that relates to who and where I am from. Although popular culture is a large part of society, it doesn’t (and should not) hit as close to one as something more related to the home.
One of the four tabloids I discovered was one on Whitney Houston and a rumored reason of her death. Another article I found was about the star Katy Perry and her husband. It provided information saying the rumor about Russell leaving her because she abused drugs was false. I read an article about Cameron Diaz “World crumbling”. My last article talked about Adele and her new man. All of these articles revolve around celebrity’s personal lives. From making a lie about someone’s reasoning of death to making positive and negative assumptions on someone’s relationship. I also notice that never once was there a direct quote from the stars, there was always a “friend” or “our sources” quoted in the articles. The ethical problems are that are faced in article one is that people are picking at a women who has passed on. It shows that the author did not care about the family or the person who the article was towards due to the disrespect they showed. Bringing up old rumors to gain views to the article is just absurd. In article two, giving a negative suggestion about the relationship of the two stars was very dishonest and could have ruined there careers. True or not it’s still their personal lives that are being exposed and tampered with. In article three I believe the article to be true but once again we don’t know because we don’t have proof. Cameron Diaz article is very discourteous. The subtext of her article is that she’s old, single, and depressed. These articles purpose is to inform people with news that is false and true. There can be true statements and false statements but we never know. They seek views and money off the magazines sold
ReplyDeleteOut of the variety of tabloids you gave us, I chose The Enquirer, Star Magazine, World Wide News, and The Globe. In the Enquirer it broadcasted that Will & Jada Smith are on the verge of a very nasty argument that might lead an inside friend to be in the middle of everything as she let's the tabloid kniw that she know everything. In Star Magazine it tells about Scarlet Johanson being spotted at dinner enjoying herself with her new beau, being that her diciest was finalized late July. In the Weekly World News it's tell how Chris Brown & Rihanna were spotted on a night club engaging in very flirty conversation roomering to have been kissing & met up later that evening & how her managers don't like it one bit , but Rihanna feels Chris Brown " You Da one " & vice versa. In Globe magazine it reveals how the late Don Cornelious did not commit suicide but was murdered! In these articles I see that they have no actual facts about these famous people personal, intact tabloid are just gossip that is used for the support of these magazines meaning without all of these so called " juicy details " most magazines probably wouldn't have made it this far in the printing world. Also the gossip & the hunger of the knowing of secret lives of stars is discusting leaving these famous people with alot of pressure because it slowly broadcasts private things couples may not want people knowing & makes there situations worse , giving the public a view of what there going through & them getting alot of feed back most likely influencing there troubles & lives. Tabloids completely take it over board from one stage to another. Prime example tabloids had the world believing Don Cornelious committed suicide leaving America to wonder , when in reality he was murdered. They stretch & exaggerate the truth , ant they even sometimes lie making it hard for people. But it's the gossip that keeps tabloids in business because it's just apart of everyday life as we know it.
ReplyDeleteThe first article I read from the National Enquierer was "who is tthe mystery woman that knows all of Will Smith's intimate secrets?". Just the tilte is like an instigator because right away it makes the viewer think that he's having an affair. The story their trying to tell though, is that if Will Smith and Jada PIncket divorse, their stylist will be caught in the middle of it because shes been part of their family for the duration of their 14-year marrige. Nobody kinows if this is true, and why would anyone be looking to how something could go bad in someone elses lives? In Star Magazine, the top article was the one that i chose to read because they all seem equally uniportant to me, it said: "Teen Mom Catelynn: She's No Angel". When i read it I just said wow. It sais that Catelynn is the Teen Mom on MTV that gave her daughter up for adoption and that her problems are a product of her upbringing. Then sais that MTV doesnt want the girls smoking cigarettes on camera because it portrais a bad image.......... But I guess it's ok to make millions of girls think its cute to have sex ahead of time and be a hoe and have a kid and not honor their lives. Ok, I guess. It's hard for me to understand why they want to make her look bad in the first place on top of already publicising her hardest times on television. I think That perhaps these tabloids serve as humor because you clearly cant believe the outragious things they say, example, on Weekly World News: "Megan Fox is a man". This sunday at the Golden Gloves Ceremony she joked about looking like a man. And so that must of meant it was "a jovial attempt to cover her nerves". These tabloids almost sound like the scene in Hocus Pocus where the three witches were making a potion out of really nasty things and throwing all the gross things they could think of in there. In the New York Post, an ad for Whitney Houston's house speaking about its value and how she listed it a couple years ago. But what's disturbing and just wrong is that it closes with, "With all of this incredible star studded history, if you owned this house you would always have these incredible stories to go with it. A great conversation piece for anyone." Theirs no respect anymore. Everything is exagerated with no backup. All the tabloids sound like gossip, really fake, i-have-nothing-better-to-do gossip. It crosses so many respect boundaries and makes up so many lies. I cannot see the purpose of these writtings at all, expect for maybe something to keep a bored person entertained when having friends and watching a movie dont.
ReplyDeleteThe most important and likely the only commonality between the four episodes is that they report information. This is not to say that a chunk of the information given wasn’t exaggerated, however some of the more serious articles were more factual (US drone attacks kill 13 in Pakistan - New York Post and Jolie Receiving Death Threats from her last production – National Enquirer), than for a cheap thrill (Scarlett Johansson’s New Beau – Star Magazine, Rihanna and Chris Reuniting – Weekly World News).
ReplyDeleteIt’s usually trivial to look into the lives of celebrities a lot of the time because it’s not reality for normal civilians. Life’s hard enough to get through without publicizing our struggles. Celebrities are human beings like the rest of us, it’s just that the career they chose put them in the lime light. There’s a lot of responsibility and consequence that comes with that amount of exposure.
News concerning subjects like our local community, the social welfare of the nation, international affairs are more substantial. However these reports are often frustrating, disturbing, and cyclical. Hearing that another car was blown up because of someone’s conflicting religious or political beliefs remains unreal no matter how often it happens.
It’s necessary to stay updated on what’s going on so we as individuals and as a people can know what we’re dealing with and figure out the best way to handle the situation. The news can offer perspective and a variety of beliefs which I believe is socially important. However it’s also crucial to navigate past all the unnecessary crap people try to use to distract us from the big picture.
This is Jenee Skinner
DeleteLatriece says- Rumors exist everywhere today. Tabloids are just a mass media way of getting rumors out about public figures, and celebrities. Honestly, there are no ethical problems about this article except that they consist of publicizing someone’s personal life and business. Tabloids are written for the American who has nothing to do but fill their time with being in someone else’s business without the personal discomfort of being that nosy neighbor or friend. These articles are just wrong to be written and simply are ethically wrong with the information that it consist of. The purpose they serve as stated earlier is to entertain every day and obsessive Americans who want to know about other people’s problems and business. On a more intellectual level tabloids are written to occupy the time of bored Americans like house wives or husbands or retired people who now have their day free of things and need some source of entertainment. What else is more entertaining than someone else’s business? Hearing about other people’s problems only make people feel more secure and grateful about their life and what they doo that’s right that celebrities “reportedly don’t”. Lastly tabloids are used to de-idolize celebrities and bring them back to a level of humanity and everyday people. They in a sense humanize public figures by simply talking about their problems and what they face every day. The only problem about that is today tabloids take it too far and instead of humanizing them they , they slay them in public and exploit their lives to a point of uncomforting situations and disrespect.
ReplyDeleteYour response and Idalis's response sounds almost identical...
DeleteRumors exist everywhere today. There are always out about public figures, and celebrities. There are really no ethical problems about these articles except that they consist of publicizing someone’s personal life and business. All of the tabloids I read had to do with people and all there negatives in life. It seems that since there celebrities that can’t make mistakes. Example: In star magazine the article about teen mom Catelynn, it talks about how MTV covers-up how Catelynn really is, such as her partying lifestyle. "MTV doesn't even want the girls smoking cigarettes on camera, because it portrays the wrong image," an MTV insider explains. Another example: In the National Enquirer, an article called, “BILL CLINTON: I SCREWED UP WITH MONICA” was about Bill Clinton having an affair with Monica. He was impeached because he lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He had a poll and majority of the people had positive attitudes towards him. Just because he made a mistake, they wanted him out the office but they didn’t even think twice about all the positive things he did for the country.
ReplyDeleteThe major problem with tabloids is that they try to make a big deal out of things that do not deserve such attention. Does it really matter who Johnny Depp is dating right now? No but a majority of the public think it means the sky is falling. The tabloids try desperately to reveal every little secret in a celebrity's life and they can't look in the mirror and solve their own problems. It really is a shame to see such media attention focused on a topic such as Facebook closing when we all know that's never going to happen. Certain topics such as the newest news about a cure for diabetes ( I know that one does not exist ) would need much more attention than a celebrity's love life. I don't appreciate tabloids like that.
ReplyDeleteTabloids consist of Rumors or allegations against someone famous. The only purpose for tabloids is to entertain nosy people, or people who want to know about someone else's personal life. The tabloid in Star Magazine, "Teen mom Catelynn: She's no Angel" shows that whoever is behind this probably doesn’t have a life and that can be the reason why they are so busy worrying about everyone else's life. There is no need for the world to know that this girl smokes a cigarette to calm her nerves. She does not even have her baby, the baby was adopted when she was first born, and therefore Catelynn should be able to have a smoke when she wants because she does not have a small child to look after. People smoke every day, what’s the big deal about her doing it? In tabloids most likely only the frowned upon things are shown. There is always something bad being said about someone or the person who wrote the tabloid always gives their negative feedback about the celebrity’s life. Even if the tabloid is truthful, a celebrity is always being bashed about the way they are living their life or who they’re dating or if they are gay or straight. None of this should even matter to a “normal” person, we do not even know these people so why do we care? Tabloids do not serve a purpose in my life but people around me and people in my neighborhood are always waiting to know what’s next.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Corbitt
ReplyDeleteMs. Parker
Tabloid Assignment
14 February 2012
National Enquirer: Obama Truth Teams Unleashed
Star: Teen Mom Catelynn: She’s No Angel
Mirror: City Refuse to Forgive Tevez and Forget
The Sun: 40-Stone Brenda is Britain’s Fattest Woman
As far as I am concerned, the tabloids are written for pure entertainment. One could read several different articles from the same tabloid and would not be any more educated on the current issues everyone is being forced to deal with after reading them. Reading tabloids serve a purpose for people who are searching for “facts” that usually tend to be everything except factual. In the “National Enquirer”—Obama Truth Teams Unleashed, the writer successfully caught my attention by beginning the article with “President Obama sets loose the dogs campaign rhetoric—TRUTH TEAMS—to battle rivals amazing propensity to sling mud. Being that the 2012 presidential campaign is well underway, everyone is intrigued with information regarding any candidate. As you read further into the article the information becomes less informative and relevant. The author explains how Obama is in preparation for the campaign, which is obvious. Of course tabloid magazines portrayed the message of important breaking news. When dealing with tabloids, pictures that are taken with a celebrity caught off guard usually are worth a thousand words. Editors of these tabloid magazines take any picture of a celebrity and turn it into something negative and vile. In the “Star”—Teen Mom Catelynn: She’s No Angel a cast member from a reality show is caught smoking a cigarette and is suddenly labeled as the bad seed. These are the double standards of living a normal life and living in the spotlight. Anybody who wasn’t a celebrity wouldn’t be labeled as anything other than a smoker, however Catelynn is judged differently. In general, tabloids dramatize the truth and stretch the lies. The ethical problems tend to arise because similar to the judicial system ‘one is innocent until proven guilty.’ Unfortunately the same rules are not applied for tabloid writing; these writers never seem to have any solid proof of their accusations. Their proof always consists of “a source” that may or may not exist.
Shymel Hardy
ReplyDeleteWith reading tabloid articles whether on the web, in a magazine or a newspaper; there are always obvious commonalities. These articles usually showcase or display the ever so “private” lives of celebrities and socialites. Many people thirst for celebrity gossip as they feel more connected to that particular person. For this assignment I decided to mix and match the articles I read in order to prove a fact that commonalities are extremely prevalent throughout. An article from Radar Online talked about Lady Gaga and her open relationship with Vampire Diaries Taylor Kinney. This article claims that Gaga wanted an open relationship with Taylor to prevent him from cheating and if so, he may only engage in sexual activities. Another article from this site talked about Rihanna throwing and intimate birthday bash in which ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was in attendance. Now, I don’t believe this article to be true but sentences like “Sources at the bash confirm to Celebuzz that Chris was indeed in attendance and we’re told the two definitely appeared friendly”, may alter someone opinion and make them believe it to be true. On the other hand, the next article from World Inquirer I saw wasn’t technically a traditional article; there were just images. This article exhibited the life of Whitney Houston in photo form. These photos showed Whitney at her highs and lows and may have caused mixed reviews from readers. The next and final article from Bossip I read may also cause mixed reviews. This article talked about Beyonce taking off from to be a full-time mother to newborn daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. Even though Beyonce is doing the morally right thing, stubborn fans want to be entertained by Beyonce and are waiting to see something new from her. These writings serve many purposes but, it is ultimately up to writer’s skills and the reader’s response or reaction that keeps the tabloid relevant.
Tabloids are designed to appeal to a mass audience. They are usually about people who are in the public eye like political figures, professional athletes, famous musical artists e.t.c. Writers of tabloids usually create a headline that will automatically attain the reader's attention. These headlines are generally very straight to the point, which makes the reader want to learn more. In the Star magazine tabloid I read about Lady Gaga, the journalist writes about Lady Gaga's "Open relationship" with actor Taylor Kinney. The headline of the Tabloid was "Lady Gaga and Taylor: Open Romance". This tabloid is definitely going to catch the readers attention, because for some reason people are naturally inquisitive, especially when it's about the love life of a celebrity. The next tabloid that I read is in "The Sun". It reads "Whitney family fears Brown's after her millions". This headline is definitely going to catch the reader's attention, because of all the publicity Whitney's recent death has been receiving. The next tabloid headline that caught my eye was in the NY Post, it reads, "Knicks guard Lin added to Rising Star's game". This is going to grab a lot of viewers attention, especially in New York, because of how well their new starting point guard has been playing. The Knicks were struggling until they found an unlikely superstar in Jeremy Lin. Lin played basketball at Harvard for years, and sat the bench until his senior season. He was overlooked in the 2010 NBA draft and signed to the Knicks as a Rookie Free Agent. Since the Knicks gave Jeremy Lin the starting position they have been undefeated in their last seven games, and he is averaging 24 points, and 8 assists. The last tabloid I read is in Globe Magazine. The headline reads, "Frank Sinatra Seduced Two First Ladies". This headline attained my attention, because for one it's unbelievable, and secondly I wanted to know who he supposedly was having an affair with. Although some tabloids give people positive exposure, I feel that the vast majority of them are unethical, and the people who create these rumors find it okay to sabotage the reputations of others for entertainment purposes. Tabloids can be used to get good information to the people, but a lot of times they are used to stir up drama. I think it is very important that people have the the ability to determine what's truthful, and what is most likely false.
ReplyDeleteThe first tabloid I read was on National Enquirer about Will and Jada Smith marriage. They were saying how there’s a rumor out there that their marriage was on the verge of a divorce. It said that his “style director” Fawn Boardely would be the first person people run too because she was like the cloest to Jada and Will and could give all the inside information. The second tabloid I read on New York Post was about the singer Adele who was sueing because of a rumor that a false sex was going to be released staring her. That headline was "Adele vows to sue over "false" sex tape claims". The third tabloid was "Whitney Houston's Final Few Months: Bingeing on Booze, Pills and Cocanine". This tabloid was found on Star Magazine, was saying how the last few months of Whintey's life was "truly tragic" and how she couldnt fight the biggest devil" aka her pills and cocaine. The fourth one I read was on Daily News, the headlike for this was "Chris Brown to guest star on Rihanna's Birthday Cake Remix". Three years after Chris Brown was arrested for assualting Rihanna news say that their back at it again. All of the headline were very catchy because these are people that I know about, listen to or have seen in music so ofcourse after reading a intresting headline I'm dying to read more. One thing that they all have in common are they none of them have facts, it's all "he said, she said" stuff. Writing usually write things to get people all excited and roudy for no reason.
ReplyDeleteLynnea Says:
ReplyDeleteRihanna and cHris Brown "Back Together"
"Teen Mom Catelynn: She's and angel"
"Whitney Murdered in Drug Crover Up Plot"
"Jermey Lin confused on the Line Up"
In every tabloid weather your reading it in the newspaper, internet or television they all have slight similarties. And also, in every tabloid there’s always a lot of yellow journalism. Yellow Journalsim meaning informations hat people twist and use to for their own convience to make the story sound better and/or more believable. I found that there were a lot of similarties and info that fans or people of the public might want to know about these superstars. The Chris Brown and Rihanna tabloid immediately caught my attention because as everyone knows they were separated do to domestic violence from Chris Brown and how that the media has exposed their back together things will get out of hand everyone will have their own opinion and questioning to why she took him back. Another example is the Jeremy Lin tabloid. Leave it to the media they’ll make tension and void no matter what, they see a good player come in while Carmelo is injured and they immediately make it a competition instead of seeing it as an good thing them having another good player to compete with. I’m pretty sure both players from the New York Knicks and they whole team is focused on winning a championship not who’s better than who. In general 95% of tabloids are either untrue or toyed with to make the story more dramatic. I don’t see why butting in people’s business and making up false accusations pleasure them but, that’s today’s society I suppose.
There are many rumours today in these stupid tabloids it's crazy how peoplebelive them like about Whitney Houston's death and how within her last moments she was bingeing on booze, Pills and Cocaine. That was found in The star magazine but in the national enquirer they said that she failed her medicial test 2 weeks before sge died. Al theses things makes you want to belive the bull crap no one will ever know. The next magazine is star magazine talking about how Lady Gaga and her new beau Taylor Mckinney have an open relationship, but we all thought LAdy Gaga was gay ,or maybe now she's bi sexual and will we hear another lie soon.In the weekly world news they said A UFO shot sown 100 birds ! Why wasn't this is the real news though, but it looks so real which would kind of freak me out. ALl these crazy rumours really make ppl believe these dumb things that happen My last one talk about Will Simth and his secret lover , I know him and Jada had some problems but he is definatly not cheating they are still married nothing said it was official they have been married for over 14 years. CRAZY TABLOIDS !
ReplyDeleteBrianna Corbitt
ReplyDeleteNational Enquirer: Obama Truth Teams Unleashed
Star: Teen Mom Catelynn: She’s No Angel
Mirror: City Refuse to Forgive Tevez and Forget
The Sun: 40-Stone Brenda is Britain’s Fattest Woman
As far as I am concerned, the tabloids are written for pure entertainment. One could read several different articles from the same tabloid and would not be any more educated on the current issues everyone is being forced to deal with after reading them. Reading tabloids serve a purpose for people who are searching for “facts” that usually tend to be everything except factual. In the “National Enquirer”—Obama Truth Teams Unleashed, the writer successfully caught my attention by beginning the article with “President Obama sets loose the dogs campaign rhetoric—TRUTH TEAMS—to battle rivals amazing propensity to sling mud. Being that the 2012 presidential campaign is well underway, everyone is intrigued with information regarding any candidate. As you read further into the article the information becomes less informative and relevant. The author explains how Obama is in preparation for the campaign, which is obvious. Of course tabloid magazines portrayed the message of important breaking news. When dealing with tabloids, pictures that are taken with a celebrity caught off guard usually are worth a thousand words. Editors of these tabloid magazines take any picture of a celebrity and turn it into something negative and vile. In the “Star”—Teen Mom Catelynn: She’s No Angel a cast member from a reality show is caught smoking a cigarette and is suddenly labeled as the bad seed. These are the double standards of living a normal life and living in the spotlight. Anybody who wasn’t a celebrity wouldn’t be labeled as anything other than a smoker, however Catelynn is judged differently. In general, tabloids dramatize the truth and stretch the lies. The ethical problems tend to arise because similar to the judicial system ‘one is innocent until proven guilty.’ Unfortunately the same rules are not applied for tabloid writing; these writers never seem to have any solid proof of their accusations. Their proof always consists of “a source” that may or may not exist.
The purpose of each tabloid is to deliver information usually in an exciting or intriguing manner. Often time there's a sense of urgency to them, like breaking news or a shocking scandal. What I found to be common in each of the tabloids I read was that were recognizable details for the celebrities featured in the stories to help identify or remember who was being discussed. For instance the name of the individual was included in addition to a big accomplishment or certain detail about him or her that makes them memorable ie. (Whitney Houston; I Will Always Love You singer). I also saw in Star Magazine, the National Enquirer, the Mirror, and also in the New York Daily that there was never a direct quote from someone discussed in the article but instead a listed “source” or “eyewitness” this poses an ethical issue seeing that the anonymous resources are not trustworthy and they are indeed what the article is solely based upon. There was no true evidentiary support for either of the articles I read making them pure speculation. However, the catchy titles, sense of urgency, recognizable celebrities, and gossipy tone makes each article have an entertaining appeal.
ReplyDelete