Reading Tabloids Tabloid Newspapers and Their Readers Sofia Johansson Södertörns högskola 2007 Södertörns högskola ISBN 978-91-89315-77-8 Södertörn Academic Studies 34 ISSN 1650-433X Mediestudier vid Södertörns högskola 2007:1 ISSN 1650-6162 Cover: Joseph Hill © The author Acknowledgements This book is an edited version of my PhD thesis, which I wrote at the Com- munication and Media Research Institute at the University of Westminster. It deals with the topic of British tabloid newspapers and their readers. In many ways, this is a specifically ‘British’ topic – tabloids dominate the British news- paper market, and their particular style of journalism is the subject of much debate. Yet, these newspapers have counterparts in a number of countries, and tabloid journalism continues to spark off controversy at an international level. My hope is therefore that the book can contribute to discussions of the press, journalism and popular culture more widely. I am indebted to several people for managing to complete it. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the readers of the Sun and the Daily Mirror who agreed to take part in the research, generously sharing their experiences. At CAMRI, I want to thank Annette Hill for her guidance, support and pa- tience throughout the PhD research. Some of the most rewarding discussions about the research took place in her kitchen (with two friendly Golden Retriev- ers and a couple of cats contributing to the creative process). Peter Goodwin, likewise, helped greatly with encouragement, clear-sighted editing and insights into the British media. Colin Sparks has been a source of inspiration at CAMRI and I am indebted to him, and to Peter Dahlgren of the University of Lund, for their perceptive comments as examiners of the thesis. Also, the editorial board of the journal Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture has been invaluable in providing such a motivating atmosphere. Many thanks! The idea of turning the thesis into a book occurred while teaching Media Stud- ies at Södertörn University College in Sweden, and I am grateful to my col- leagues at the Department of Media and Communication Studies for taking an interest in my research and for reminding me of its relevance to the Swedish context. In particular, I thank Göran Bolin, who encouraged me to publish the book and helped with the final manuscript and publishing process. I am also grateful to the Södertörn Publication Committee for granting the publication of the book. Some of the material in Chapters 8 and 9 has been used as a basis for two an- thology contributions, in Framing Celebrity: New Directions in Celebrity Culture (2006), published by Routledge, and in Media and Public Spheres (2007), published by Palgrave Macmillan. In the book chapters, I develop some of the arguments made in these publications. Thanks to Alex Worters, my dear friend and conscientious proof-reader of the manuscript, to Stefan Melzak for checking the theory chapters, and to Mattias Hésserus for inspiring conversations. To Jordan, for being there, and to my mother. Stockholm, November 2007 Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction....................................................................................... 7 The research topic.................................................................................................... 8 Outline of the book ............................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2 Tabloids in Context........................................................................ 13 Introduction............................................................................................................ 13 Tracing the tabloid................................................................................................. 13 The growth of the popular tabloids .................................................................... 16 The Sun and the Mirror today ............................................................................... 22 Summary.................................................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 3 The Debate about Tabloid Journalism........................................ 31 Introduction............................................................................................................ 31 Tabloids and tabloidization .................................................................................. 31 Tabloid journalism and society ............................................................................ 36 The ‘cultural discourse’ approach........................................................................ 44 Summary.................................................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER 4 Turning to Audiences..................................................................... 51 Introduction............................................................................................................ 51 Audience research: paradigms and trends.......................................................... 51 Fiction, drama and leisure formats...................................................................... 55 Studies of news reception..................................................................................... 59 Summary.................................................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 5 Researching Tabloid Texts and Readers ..................................... 67 Introduction............................................................................................................ 67 A qualitative approach........................................................................................... 67 Research design ...................................................................................................... 71 Reflections on the research process.................................................................... 78 Summary.................................................................................................................. 84 CHAPTER 6 Tabloids as Texts ........................................................................... 87 Introduction............................................................................................................ 87 Tabloid style and content...................................................................................... 87 Imagined communities.......................................................................................... 95 Sex and gender...................................................................................................... 100 Celebrity................................................................................................................. 111 Summary................................................................................................................ 116 CHAPTER 7 Readers and Their Papers............................................................ 117 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 117 The readers............................................................................................................ 117 Tabloid reading habits......................................................................................... 120 Perceptions of tabloids........................................................................................ 122 The Sun versus the Mirror ................................................................................... 127 Summary................................................................................................................ 130 CHAPTER 8 Enjoying Tabloids......................................................................... 133 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 133 Tabloids as ‘fun’ ................................................................................................... 133 Attacking social privilege .................................................................................... 142 ‘Seeking safety’...................................................................................................... 148 Summary................................................................................................................ 153 CHAPTER 9 Tabloid Reading and Public Life................................................ 155 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 155 Reading politics .................................................................................................... 156 Political knowledge, political frameworks........................................................ 162 Reaching out, talk and participation.................................................................. 169 Summary................................................................................................................ 175 CHAPTER 10 Conclusions ................................................................................. 177 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 177 Summary of research........................................................................................... 177 Tabloid