THE ‘GUTTER PRESS’
GUTTER PRESS = TABLOIDS• Gutter = sewer
• Early 50
• National Enquirer/ Globe...
• Based on reliable information
• Focused on everyone
• Will TO REPORT the stories
• Based on gossips
• Focus on the lives of the famous
• Will to SENSATIONALIZE the stories
• => ‘The art of exagerrating without lying»
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE ?
Tabloids Regular press
COMPARE THE LAYOUT
National Enquirer The Time
Provocative photos
Eye-catching headlines
Use of block capitals in the title
Use of catchy colors
Use of words to catch the attention
Use of emotional connotations
Topics restricted mostly to sex, scandal and tragedy =>lexical field
Words that stereotype people
ANALYSIS OF THE COVER
• Theatrical and textual visual display
• Use of MELODRAMATIC perception of reality
ANALYSIS OF THE COVER: STYLISTIC DEVICE
A DIVERSION FROM THE MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
• Tabloids seen as «trash»
• Question of ethics
• Intrusion into the private style: Princess Diana’s press story
TABLOIDS AND ETHICS
From the Daily Mirror
NOTION OF PLOT AND CONSPIRACY
THE GOALS OF SUCH A LAYOUT• - To sell, sell and sell => Usually, you find the tabloids at the checkout
counters of supermarkets
• - to create and develop intimacy with the readers:
• - use of nicknames for celebrities to reinforce the sense of familiarity
• - The readers want to identify to the celebrities (common problems, divorce, money ...)
• Use of the first pronoun person
• Use of pseudo quotes (linguistic devices)