Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Theses Department of Communication 1-12-2006 Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: A Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case Nichola Reneé Harris Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_theses Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Harris, Nichola Reneé, "Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: A Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2006. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_theses/7 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: A Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case by Nichola Reneé Harris Under the Direction of Merrill Morris ABSTRACT The media have extensive power in that they represent the primary, and often the only, source of information about many important events and topics. Media can define which events are important, as well as how media consumers should understand these events. The current trend towards tabloidization, or sensationalism, in today’s American