The Newsmongers

A History of Tabloid Journalism

Terry Kirby

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781789149814
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Vivid and racy, a deep-dive into tabloids from their sixteenth-century beginnings to the National Inquirer and beyond.
 
The Newsmongers unfolds the seedy history of tabloid journalism, from the first printed "Strange Newes" sheets of the sixteenth century to the sensationalism of today's digital age. The narrative weaves from Regency gossip writers through New York's "yellow journalism" battles to the "sex and sleaze" Sun of the 1970s; and from the Brexit-backing populism of the Daily Mail to the celebrity-obsessed Mail Online of the 2000s. Colorful figures such as Daniel Defoe, Lord Northcliffe, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Hugh Cudlipp, Rupert Murdoch, and Robert Maxwell are brought to vivid life.
 
From scandalous confessions to the Leveson Inquiry into the behavior of the British press, the book explores journalists' unscrupulous methods, taking in phone hacking, privacy breaches, and bribery. And now, in the digital era, The Newsmongers shows how popular journalism has succumbed to so-called churnalism while a certain royal is seeking revenge on the tabloids today.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 ‘STRANGE NEWES’
• 2 THE RISE OF THE MOGULS
• 3 ‘SEE THAT YOU SECURE A COPY FOR MADAM’
• 4 THE PREROGATIVE OF THE HARLOT
• 5 THE SUN RISES
• 6 GOTCHA
• 7 THE DAILY MAXWELL
• 8 THREE HEADLINES
• 9 THE DARK AGES
• 10 THE DARK ARTS
• 11 LEVESON
• 12 CHURNALISM 2.0
• 13 THREE EXITS, THREE COURT CASES
• CONCLUSION: The Current Condition of Planet Tabloid
• References
• Further Reading
• Acknowledgements
• Photo Acknowledgements
• Index