British Tabloid Sleaze
If there is one thing that Britain is known for it is their sleazy journalism. If you thought American tabloids were vicious then you might end up seeing the British press as monsters. There are no sacred cows in British tabloid writing and they mercilessly savage celebrities and members of the Royal family at every opportunity. They also pay good money for a good rumor about a famous person.
The biggest network is Rupert Murdoch’s famous News Corporation which owns The Sun and the News of the World. The Sun is trashy and published everywhere in the United Kingdom including Ireland. It has a popular Page Three Girl which is always a girl in a bikini. It also has the highest circulation of any English language daily paper in the entire world. The Sun is also the model paper for other Sun newspapers in countries like Canada and Australia where papers also have a pin up girl on page two or three, cross-words and lots of tabloid gossip.
Rupurt Murdoch’s News Corp also once ran the famous News of the World. This outrageous tabloid, which originally cost three pence in 1843 finally ended its long room in 1843 after a phone-hacking scandal. It was considered to be one of the most cut-throat rag sheets ever published in the world.
Also quite old is The Daily Mail Express which was created in 1900 and publishes a lot of crazy banner headlines and gossip. It is credited with introducing the newspaper crossword puzzle to the world. It still describes itself as “The World’s Greatest Newspaper.
The Daily Mirror is a left-wing tabloid that enjoys sensational attacks on the right wing and on the United States. It’s readership is primarily women and it’s take on life is more contemporary. It is famous for putting a picture of George Bush on it’s cover with the headline – “How can so many people be so dumb?” after the announced results of the 2004 U.S. Presidential election. It also contains a lot of reports about recipes, weight loss plans and beauty secrets.
Finally there is the Daily Mail, which is famous for having supported Adolph Hitler during World War II and is a wonderful example of right wing yellow journalism. It is a competitor with the Sun as is “The People which is laid out in the same sensationalistic way as the Mirror and the Sun.