-radio, television, cable, Internet tabloids

-substantial audiences and public interest

-what is tabloid style?
-why have tabloid outlets arisen in the contemporary period?

-how has rise of tabloid newspaper and television outlets affected the way in which mainstream media cover culture and politics?
-what is relationship between core and peripheral press?
-how influential are tabloids with the general public?
-are the tabloids responsible for what many view as declining community standards in terms of sex and violence?

Definition: Six Elements of Tabloid News Style (Howard Kurtz, Fit to Print)
-flashy presentation in terms of audio, video, and graphics
-emphasis on personal background
-reliance on rumor and hearsay
-use of dramatic re-enactments
-use of sources with low or uncertain credibility
-paying sources for stories

1) technological

-new media outlets

-fragmentation of media marketplace

2) economic

-market competition

-narrowcasting

-desperate search for profits

How the Market and Audience Ratings Drive the Tabloids?
-tabloidization arises during eras of intense media competition (1790s with partisan press, 1890s with commercial press, and 1990s with fragmented press)
-market competition increases financial pressures on media, which encourages outlets to explore new niches or resort to scandalous stories
-Jerry Springer show started out as traditional television talk show but then moved more tabloid in order to boost ratings
-show personnel claim best market demographic is college students

This video takes a behind-the-scenes look at the tabloid televison show starring Jerry Springer. Thought to have remade the cultural landscape with its frequent depictions of bizarre social relations and sexual activities, this documentary features interviews with Jerry Springer and staffers about how the show is put together, clips from various shows, and how the talk show turned trashy in order to boost sagging ratings.

-ordinary people on TV

-shift from elite to mass participants

-metal detectors

-using Internet to recruit guests

-dangerous for society

-debases public discussions

-puts disgusting people on the air

-not good for general society

-Joshua Gamson book, Freaks Talk Back, argues that tabloid shows are good for society by publicizing diverse lifestyles; helps make society more tolerant of differences
-TV talk shows good because they increase diversity of entertainment models

-show more different kinds of people with various lifestyles

-contribute in long run to greater tolerance and understanding of others

-conventional wisdom on contemporary media emphasizes feeding frenzies (see Larry Sabato book, Feeding Frenzy)

-saturation coverage of scandals that feature negative and personalistic reporting on political figures

-examples: sex scandals of Gary Hart and Bill Clinton

-shows press at its worse

-but less attention to conceptual counterpart, responsibility frenzies

-press engages in reasoned self-restraint and chooses not to report salacious details about prominent politicians

Sept. 7, 2000 call from a network reporter

Christian Action Network was attempting to buy television time to air an ad against Hillary Clinton regarding whether she was a lesbian

CAN claims 150,000 members across the country. Its mission is "to defend the American family" and fight against what it views as "radical" homosexual and lesbian rights

Supports voluntary HC (homosexual content) warnings on all network and cable TV shows containing homosexual content

Research on Christian Action Network and its President, Martin Mawyer (1992 CAN ad against Bill Clinton and FEC lawsuit)

CAN press conference in NYC (6 reporters)

"It is rumored that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian. It is rumored that Hillary Clinton supports homosexual marriage. It is rumored that Hillary Clinton will leave her husband upon taking office. It was rumored that Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky. Sometimes rumors are true. Shouldn't you know the truth? For more information on traditional family values, please contact the Christian Action Network."

VO: It is rumored that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian.

Font: RUMOR Hillary Clinton is a lesbian

(file video of Hillary speaking at podium - probably Clinton first term)

VO: It is rumored that Hillary Clinton supports homosexual marriage.

Font: RUMOR Hillary Clinton supports homosexual marriage

(file video of Hillary speaking at a podium - probably pre-Presidency)

VO: It is rumored that Hillary Clinton will leave her husband upon taking office.

Font: RUMOR Hillary will leave Bill after taking office

(shot of President & First Lady seated side by side. She is facing camera. She leans in, whispers in his ear. He nods.)

VO: It was rumored that Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Font: RUMOR Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky

(but, in this shot, the statement is keyed over the word RUMOR, which colored letters are faded down somewhat compared to three previous *RUMOR*s, which were brighter, and which were printed separate from the rest of the text so that the viewer could see the word *rumor* clearly)

(the notorious Monica beret ropeline embrace video)

VO: Sometimes rumors are true.

Font: Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky (the word RUMOR fades out altogether, only the statement is left)

(the finger-wagging President video. You see him wagging the finger, but you do not hear the *that-woman* audio)

VO: Shouldn*t you know the truth?

Font: TRUTH Christian Action Network, P.O. Box * Forest, Va*

(b-roll of the White House)

VO: For more information on traditional family values, please contact the Christian Action Network.

Font: TRUTH Christian Action Network, P.O. Box * Forest, Va* (background shot of White House disappears. Background become black with TRUTH in red letters, their address in white)

-Sept. 7 press conference

-most major outlets did not cover story at all

-exceptions: Washington Post (Sept. 19); Virginia Roanoke Times (Sept. 21); New York Post (Sept. 26); Yahoo.com TV coverage (Sept. 27); San Francisco Examiner (Sept. 28)

-Mawyer letter challenging Mrs. Clinton to reveal sexual orientation

-Ad aired on one station in Watertown, New York (all others refused to run it)(non-candidate sponsored so stations could say no)

-Oct. 17, 2000 National Enquirer Cover Story "Hillary Caught with Galpal in Midnight Swim" (Red box: "New Gay Scandal Erupts")

-Oct. 20 gay.com in-depth report of the entire controversy

-how should reporters cover personal background?

-Cover press conference?

-Cover rumor?

-Cover TV ad, but only if aired?

Howard Kurtz, Hot Air: All Talk, All the Time, Times Books, 1996

Wayne Munson, All Talk: The Talk Show in Media Culture, Temple University Press, 1993

Aileen Joyce, Jerry Springer, Kensington Publishers, 1998

Gini Scott, Can We Talk? The Power and Influence of Talk Shows, Insight Books, 1996

Jerry Springer and Laura Morton, Ringmaster, St. Martins Press, 1998