Tabloid
This article is about the newspaper format. For information about tabloids as a type of "junk media", see tabloid television.A
tabloid is a
newspaper format particularly popular in the
United Kingdom. A tabloid format newspaper is roughly 23½ by 14 3/4
inches (597
mm × 375 mm) per spread. This is the smaller of two standard newspaper sizes; the larger newspapers, associated with higher-quality journalism, are called
broadsheets. A third major format for newspapers is the
Berliner, which is sized between the tabloid and the broadsheet. The phrase
tabloid press is used to refer to newspapers focusing on less "serious" content, especially
celebrities, sports,
sensationalist crime stories and even
hoaxes, though in recent years several "mainstream" newspapers have begun printing in the tabloid format (see below and
supermarket tabloid). The term
red top (as in
"News International red tops sweep the board") is also used in Britain for these less serious newspapers, on account of the red
nameplates used by most of them. Tabloid is also known as the
gutter press by people who wish to express it in a negative manner.
Recently, three traditionally broadsheet daily newspapers—
The Independent,
The Times, and
The Scotsman—have switched to tabloid size; due to the negative connotations of the label, they generally try to refer to themselves as being in 'compact' format.
The name seems to derive from
Burroughs-Wellcome's 1884
trademark for their process of making
"tablet-like" compressed
pharmaceuticals. The connotation of
compressed tablet was soon applied to other small things and to the "compressed' journalism that condensed stories into a simplified, easily-absorbed format. The label of "tabloid journalism" (1901) preceded the smaller sheet newspapers that contained it (1918).
There are two distinct uses of the term today. The more recent usage, actually deriving from the original usage, refers to weekly or semi-weekly alternative papers in tabloid format. Many of these are essentially straightforward newspapers, publishing in tabloid format. What principally distinguishes these from the dailies, in addition to their less-frequent publication, is the fact that they are usually free to the user, relying on ad revenue, as well as the fact that they tend to concentrate more on local entertainment scenes and issues. A modern tabloid can be positioned up market (quality), mid-market( popular) or down market (sensational). Newspaper studies have shown that readers prefer the smaller size - particularly commuters.
In its traditional sense, tabloids tend to emphasise
sensational stories and are reportedly prone to create their news if they feel that the subjects cannot, or will not, sue for
libel. In this respect, much of the content of the tabloid press could be said to fall into the category of
junk food news.
This style of
journalism has been exported to the
United States and various other countries. In the
People's Republic of China,
Chinese tabloids have exploded in popularity since the mid-1990s and have tested the limits of press censorship by taking editorial positions critical of the government and by engaging in critical investigative reporting.
Since 1999 all major US
supermarket tabloids (as distinct from local newspapers in the tabloid format) ; i.e., the
Enquirer,
Star,
Globe,
Examiner,
¡Mira!,
Sun, and
Weekly World News) have been under single ownership, which some readers fear has undermined the tabloids' traditional competitiveness and has significantly altered their editorial policies and news coverage.
The daily tabloids in the United States are slightly less overheated than their British counterparts. Since its initial purchase by
Rupert Murdoch in 1976, the
New York Post has become the exemplar of the brash British-style tabloid in the US, and its competition with the
Daily News has become newspaper legend (though the
News usually refrains from matching the
Post 's level of sensationalism).
Other prominent US tabloids are the
Philadelphia Daily News, the
Chicago Sun-Times, the
Rocky Mountain News in Denver,
Newsday on New York's Long Island and
The Examiner, which is a free newspaper published in San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. (
Newsday co-founder
Alicia Patterson was the daughter of
Joseph Patterson, founder of the
New York Daily News.)
The biggest tabloid (and newspaper in general) in
Europe, by circulation, is
Germany's
Bild-Zeitung, with around 4 million copies (down from above 5 million in the
1980s). Although its paper size is bigger, its style was copied from the British tabloids.
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Free daily newspapers*
Anorak*
A lecture on modern tabloids by Robb Montgomery at The World Editors Forum
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Tabloid Reader: news headline reader indexing over one hundered world tabloids.
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Tabloid Design forum on Visual Editors
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Online Newspapers from every country*
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies*
Online Etymological Dictionary: Tabloid
