Newspapers and Magazines

Newspapers and Magazines: Lecture 9.

In Lecture nine we looked at how newspapers and magazines have influenced our culture. In the 19th Century newspapers only contained text and information on serious issues and there were rarely any images included, this continued up until the late 20th Century when coloured images were introduced. Newspapers changed from being serious to being a way of making money. This led to Tabloid stories being personalised by using first names, puns and jokes. Adverts were also being put in newspapers, this was another way of making money.
Newspapers used to be more intellectual, they used more serious and formal language. However, due to consumer influence, today, they are easier to read and compact. There is an idea that consumers want material that is relevant to their lives so, newspapers try to mimic how we speak. The reading becomes more sociable, lively and informal, for example; The Sun uses casual language that everyone can understand which is reader friendly. People like to read popular press, for example articles about celebrities being criticised or doing stupid things, it’s entertaining and is a form of escapism. Newspapers use gossip and untrue stories to cover up real news. This can be linked to ‘sceptical laughter’, this is the idea that we join in with the puns, jokes and language of the press even though we don’t necessarily believe everything we read; there is a pleasure in not being gullible and not taking in everything that’s written because we know it’s not all true. We are sceptical subjects; a stupid story encourages us to be sceptical and wary about what we read.
It is clear that over the years newspapers have changed. This maybe down to popular culture, as people are more interested in articles that are relative to their lives and what is popular at the time. The style of the popular press is sensational and scandalous, although they do have a moral tone to them, they tell us what is meant to be right and wrong, and they tell us what to think about an issue. In this sense, tabloids are half way between fiction and documentary, news and entertainment.