They're all over your store's front newsstand, waing to be read: The Tabloids. You are familiar with The Star, The National Inquirer, The Globe, Weekly World News, and in England, The Sun. They all have one thing in common: they like to print out gossip on celebrities, regardless of whether or not they are true. Some of these stories are even posted on various web sites like E!online or imdb.com. Do you believe some of the dirt they print? Do you even stand or care to read them?   

I don't read The Sun, I just look at the pictures!! :D. Most of the tabloids' business in the UK seems to be to publicise TV shows, and build people up into stars & then knock them down again. The amount of factual content is minimal, and is often restricted to the sports pages. I think most people who choose to read these sort of papers realise there is very little truth in them, but are looking more for light entertainment rather than hard facts. The Sun (with the exception of the soft-porn Daily Sport) is probably the worst 'offender' as far as lack of facts go, but conversly is the best-selling national newspaper in the UK. Obviously this indicates something about the British mentality, but I'm not sure it's very positive... ;D

Our tabloids in the States are not as lurid as the Sun in the UK, but they're prett d@mned shameless.  I just see the front pages at the supermarket checkout.  It's all celebrities getting fat, celebrities on dope, celebrities having sleazy affairs.  Then they run fantastical stories about the latest murder sensations.  For a good stretch it was Chandra Levy and Rep. Gary Condit, until they found Levy's remains.  Now it's Laci Peterson and Scott Peterson.  Remember JonBenet Ramsey, the child beauty pagent star for Colorado?  Ten years after her murder, they're still printing trash about it! That's how well JonBenet went over with tabloid readers.
The one's whith headlines like "Woman gives birth to extraterrestrial lobster," or "Martians kidnap Santa Claus from North Pole" are less noxious than the celebrity gossip.  The scary thought is that there are millions of people who BUY these things.  Who ARE they?  How many of these millions BELIEVE what they read in check out tabloids?
:o

Still more insidious are propaganda rags with no sense of journalistic integrity, such as Rupert Murdock's New York Post, or America's premier Moonie rag, The Washington Times.

Some of them are so funny. Ones I remember reading (a long time ago) was, "Boy's teddy bear possessed by the devil" and "Michael and LaToya Jackson are one-in-the same." How can you NOT laugh at that?



Cat

I give them a glance in the checkout line at king Soopers and they always crack me up with thier crazy stories! They actually had an accurate one once though...they called Bill Clinton a Liar :o ;D

It's all true.  How can you not believe "SADDAM WINS U.S. LOTTERY!"  ??

It's all true.  How can you not believe "SADDAM WINS U.S. LOTTERY!"  ??

;D

I don't read The Sun, I just look at the pictures!! :D. Most of the tabloids' business in the UK seems to be to publicise TV shows, and build people up into stars & then knock them down again. The amount of factual content is minimal, and is often restricted to the sports pages. I think most people who choose to read these sort of papers realise there is very little truth in them, but are looking more for light entertainment rather than hard facts. The Sun (with the exception of the soft-porn Daily Sport) is probably the worst 'offender' as far as lack of facts go, but conversly is the best-selling national newspaper in the UK. Obviously this indicates something about the British mentality, but I'm not sure it's very positive... ;D


British tabloids in a nutshell.

Great for building fires. 8)

Some tabloids are entertaining...others have gone off the deep end.  ::)

I think they're entertaining enough to make time go by when you're stuck waiting in line at the check-out at Wal-Mart; because goodness knows I'll never understand how it is they have upwards of 30 cash registers, yet only 5 operating at one time. :P ::)

You got these wierd articles like:

BatBoy survives
Woman has 3 breasts
guy weighed himself at 1,000 pounds


^Now,those are a bunch of bunk ::)


Howard

Our tabloids in the States are not as lurid as the Sun in the UK, but they're prett d@mned shameless. 

Still more insidious are propaganda rags with no sense of journalistic integrity, such as Rupert Murdock's New York Post, or America's premier Moonie rag, The Washington Times.


The common link between the two is that they're both owned by Uncle Rupert's News International, funnily enough...

Yes, the Sun is sensationalist, but it's also popular...I 'only' get it for 'Dear Dierdre's Problem Page' (those letters are all real, I tell you!) and for Richard Littlejohn's bi-weekly rant...

I also get The Mirror, regardless of whether they print fake photographs or not!!

Mind you, for pure unadulterated tosh masquerading as a story, their Sunday equivalents, The News Of The World (sometimes known as News Of The Screws!) and The Sunday Mirror respectively, have it down to an art form...!

If you're lucky, you might find a bit of news tucked away on page 21...!

I don't think I'll ever sink to the level of the Star or Sport, at least I hope not!

The common link between the two is that they're both owned by Uncle Rupert's News International, funnily enough...

Yes, the Sun is sensationalist, but it's also popular...I 'only' get it for 'Dear Dierdre's Problem Page' (those letters are all real, I tell you!) and for Richard Littlejohn's bi-weekly rant...

I also get The Mirror, regardless of whether they print fake photographs or not!!

Mind you, for pure unadulterated tosh masquerading as a story, their Sunday equivalents, The News Of The World (sometimes known as News Of The Screws!) and The Sunday Mirror respectively, have it down to an art form...!

If you're lucky, you might find a bit of news tucked away on page 21...!

I don't think I'll ever sink to the level of the Star or Sport, at least I hope not!

"In a river the colour of lead, immerse the baby's head,
wrap her up in The News of the World, dump her
on a doorstep, girl..."
--The Smiths
This Night Has Opened My Eyes

That's the first place I ever heard of that particular rag.  Th Smiths.
So it was with another British tabloid:

"I say Charles don't you ever crave
to appear on the front of the Daily Mail
dressed in your Mother's bridal veil?"
--The Smiths
The Queen is Dead

Some of them are so funny. Ones I remember reading (a long time ago) was, "Boy's teddy bear possessed by the devil" and "Michael and LaToya Jackson are one-in-the same." How can you NOT laugh at that?



Cat


Sounds like the Weekly World News to me. :D

There was one that was accurate about 17 yrs ago.  Some kids I went to school with were playing chicken with a train and lost.  One of them was an organ donor and his heart was given to his grandfather.  This made national news.  Other than that they are all bunk.

Actually, there have been women born with 3 breasts/nipples as well as people who weighed over 1000 lbs.  Now, whether or not he weighed himself is up for discussion, but it IS possible.  I saw it on Springer ;D

They say Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII had three breasts.  At the Memorial Day BBQ I had three breasts, two wings, and some spare ribs.  SORRY, couldn't resist!
::)

The people who weigh over 1000 pounds always drop several hundred pounds once they're in treatment.  A lot of that is excess fluid retention.  Morbid obesity is still a pretty shocking sight!