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Dante Hicks · 20 Jun 2006, 12:30

The power of the tabloids is obviously exaggerated I would imagine the vast majority disagree with the tabloids "line" on a number of issues. They are usually most powerful on things which people already feel strongly about - things like child molesting or what not. The power stems from pointing out something in isolation which obviously does seem "wrong". If we're going to put bank robbers in prison for in excess of twenty years (we are told) then _obviously_ it is wrong that a child rapist could be released in five. And as pointed out in that Guardian article Ste posted, that is true, in a kind of simplistic obvious sense.

Their influence in other areas is debatable. The Sun may believe they "won it" in '92, but there's actually little evidence for this. Where people have a strong opinion on something, I'm not sure they'd be swayed by a newspaper. It's probably stronger where people don't have any direct personal experience - a lot of drugs coverage seems to be directed at people who don't have a clue.

Having said all that the tabloids are not particularly different from the rest of the media (or business generally) - they may be slightly more crude but it's the same sort of crap from most of them. In many cases the "tabloid agenda" is slavishly followed by the BBC or other outlets. In other cases (e.g. Big Brother pap) it originates elsewhere and the tabloids simply follow.

Newspapers do not have a particularly high readership and like to think they're more important than they are. Of course they do have influence (a particularly poisonous one in most cases) and the answer is to build alternative media sources (web sites, community papers, blogs, zines, etc). Short of that, we're probably best off murdering right wing editors. A midway could be boycotts - I understand sales of the Sun pretty much collapsed after their appalling Hillsborough coverage.

20 Jun 2006, 12:30	#3
Dante Hicks Clerk Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 13,940	Re: the threat of the tabloids to democracy The power of the tabloids is obviously exaggerated I would imagine the vast majority disagree with the tabloids "line" on a number of issues. They are usually most powerful on things which people already feel strongly about - things like child molesting or what not. The power stems from pointing out something in isolation which obviously does seem "wrong". If we're going to put bank robbers in prison for in excess of twenty years (we are told) then _obviously_ it is wrong that a child rapist could be released in five. And as pointed out in that Guardian article Ste posted, that is true, in a kind of simplistic obvious sense. Their influence in other areas is debatable. The Sun may believe they "won it" in '92, but there's actually little evidence for this. Where people have a strong opinion on something, I'm not sure they'd be swayed by a newspaper. It's probably stronger where people don't have any direct personal experience - a lot of drugs coverage seems to be directed at people who don't have a clue. Having said all that the tabloids are not particularly different from the rest of the media (or business generally) - they may be slightly more crude but it's the same sort of crap from most of them. In many cases the "tabloid agenda" is slavishly followed by the BBC or other outlets. In other cases (e.g. Big Brother pap) it originates elsewhere and the tabloids simply follow. Newspapers do not have a particularly high readership and like to think they're more important than they are. Of course they do have influence (a particularly poisonous one in most cases) and the answer is to build alternative media sources (web sites, community papers, blogs, zines, etc). Short of that, we're probably best off murdering right wing editors. A midway could be boycotts - I understand sales of the Sun pretty much collapsed after their appalling Hillsborough coverage.