OUTRAGE - Tabloid Newspapers, Kevin Myers and Vincent Browne

Analysis/Comment
OUTRAGE - Tabloid Newspapers, Kevin Myers and Vincent Browne
By Michael Hennigan
May 7, 2005, 23:25

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John Lloyd of the Financial Times and former editor of the New Statesman

John Lloyd of the Financial Times argues that the tabloid newspapers stock-in-trade of outrage and indignation won out in the British General Election campaign. He says that tabloid values make the gesture, the phrase and above all the personal story into the big truth. Their enemy is complexity and nuance: they can only succeed if the message is undiluted and high volume. As the underlying mood of the times increasingly privileges the individual and his or her demands and rights, so the simplest message for tabloid values is OUTRAGE.

Coupled with the ill-concealed disdain of the wealthy broadcast interviewers for the politicians and the media encouragement to members of the public to express OUTRAGE whether in a TV studio or a verbal ambush of a politician in front of the television cameras, there was little chance of an intelligent exploration of serious issues.

OUTRAGE is also the stock-in-trade of many columnists in the mainstream newspapers.

Kevin Myers of the Irish Times called Tony Blair a psychopath and conscienceless even though he supported the invasion of Iraq. Journalists and their editors are brave when it comes to hurling insults at foreign politicians. Vincent Browne through his outlets on three of the four principal Irish media organisations and his own publication, is also strong on OUTRAGE and abuse.

It is easier for well-paid journalists to tap words of OUTRAGE on their keyboards than provide solutions for issues in a world of complexity. Only a small number of newspaper columns reflect research done by the journalist. More often than not, what's presented to readers is a more dressed up version of a bar stool tirade.

John Lloyd says that the tabloids are waning, which is part of the decline of newspaper culture. He cites a recent study that was commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The study "Abandoning the News," was written by MSNBC.com's founding editor-in-chief, Merrill Brown, who adds grim statistics to growing evidence documenting the newspaper industry's losing effort to appeal to a young audience.

The survey of 18-to-34-year-old finds, for instance, that just 19% read a newspaper daily, 17% read it once a month or less -- and 12% said they "never" read a paper to get their news.

By contrast, 44% of the young people visited a Web news portal every day, and 37% watch local TV news daily.

Only 14% of respondents called the newspaper their "most important" source of news. Local TV newscasts were called the most important source for news by 31% of the young adults, while another 25% cited the Internet.

The 25-to-34-year-olds in the surveyed group said the Internet is as trustworthy as newspapers. And more than half of the heaviest newspaper users among young adults predicted that in the next three years they will be accessing the Web more for news.

In the study, Brown argues that traditional news outlets must figure out ways to "engage" young people the way the Internet does. "In short, the future of the U.S. news industry is seriously threatened by the seemingly irrevocable move by young people away from traditional sources of news," he writes.

Brown said that he is concerned by a common industry explanation that young people aren't reading newspapers because they're not that interested in the news itself. The survey, conducted in May 2004 by Frank N. Magid Associates, shows 18-to-34-year-olds want news, but most of them don't see a need to get it from a newspaper. "There's a blame-the-audience mentality in the industry," Brown said.

"Abandoning the News," highlights a few promising newspaper responses, such as The Northwest Voice, a weekly launched by The Bakersfield Californian that is largely written by readers who submit news via the Web.

Newspapers have to think "new product development," Brown said.

Brown says that young people don't want to rely on the morning paper on their doorstep or the dinnertime newscast for up-to-date information; in fact, they—as well as others—want their news on demand, when it works for them. And, say many experts, in this new world of journalism, young people want a personal level of engagement and want those presenting the news to them to be transparent in their assumptions, biases and history.

The rise of freesheets, which shun the OUTRAGE approach and the aversion of people to being told how to think by commentators, complete with all baggage, biases and self-interest, suggests that change is on the way.

1. Abandoning the News Report

2. Irish Newspaper Readership 2005: Fact or Fantasy?