Sex, Lies and Scandal

Posted on 26. Nov, 2009 by admin in Headlines and Opinions

Gossip, scandal, hoaxes, topless Page 3 girls and outlandish headlines characterize the tabloid press. Love them or hate them, there is no doubt that South Africa’s media landscape was changed forever in 2001 with the introduction of new players on the block – noisy screaming bratty babies whose headline-grabbing tantrums have made these tabloids, the most popular daily papers with million of readers.

Kaapse Son, Daily Sun, Sunday World, Isolezwe, Son, English Daily Voice and Ilanga are newspapers that have drawn huge criticism from serious mainstream media who decry the poor journalistic standards and the supposedly racist, stereotypical paradigms in which tabloid media operates. This is part of on going debate about popular journalism and “tabloidization” among serious journalists and academics amidst a changing media landscape that is facing tough competition from an online revolution that has changed the way we consume news and information. But the real truth is that the tabloid press is not some rude upstart but really a part of a journalistic tradition going back to the 1890’s. Today’s tough market conditions have seen a number of respectable media houses publishing tabloid style newspapers following in the tradition of newspapers a good century ago who competed for attention with loud flashy pictures and attention snatching headlines. All over the world, the pattern is the same… tabloids make more money and have far greater circulation than their serious media counterparts.

Now that says a lot about what we, the general public want to read about.

Proponents of the tabloid talk of its truly “subversive” nature, its ability to challenge the status quo and its focus on giving people the information they want to hear. The tabloid agenda is often very simple – big, loud SCANDAL which may embarrass the powers that be, catch celebrities in compromising positions (remember Hugh Grant) or spill the beans on the latest government gossip.

Providing entertainment galore, who can resist a headline like: I married an Alien or My child is a tokoloshe? Research has shown that readers of the tabloid press in SA are generally Black South Africans who have never bought a newspaper before. One view is that mainstream newspapers don’t reflect the “face” of the largely uneducated working class who’s spiritual and material realities are very different to sophisticated suburbanites. With their “ask Ma “ advice columns and how to access services articles, their popularity is based on a “community” paper activist format that uses regional languages, gossip, bizarre headlines and larger than life pictures to forge a relationship with their readers.

Whatever the reason, the world is obsessed with gossip, celebrities and scandals. The “there for the grace of God go I “syndrome will keep the tabloid press in business for a long time. Think about poor Joost – his indiscretions continue to hog the headlines while Khanyi Mbau virtually owes her celebrity status to the tabloid press.

We may deny this, but we all love gossip, sex and scandal and how much better when they are combined in one infamous package.

One of DSTV’s post popular channels is the tabloid style E! Entertainment channel, a 24 hour television tabloid with shows like “Celebs Uncensored,” where paparazzi stalk star celebrities to catch their most embarrassing moments on tape. Think of poor Britney and her sans-panties picture!

Bizarre, bad, gutter press, scandalous, immoral, disgraceful, reprehensible, indecent, shameful, disreputable … all words used to describe tabloid journalism but no one could ever say BORING.