Soft News and the Sexualisation of the Popular Press

When Rupert Murdoch took over The Sun in 1969, they have used women to give the newspaper a sexy edge. Page 3 was introduced, featuring a young attractive girl, topless. It set a trend for tabloid (soft) newspapers to address the individual, to appeal to their emotions, focusing on peoples interests (such as sex and comedy) rather than intellect.

The introduction of page 3 was a huge public statement. It invited women to be openly sexual. It's idea was to present the girl as free to do this. The girls would always have smiles on their faces, showing that this was their choice and they were enjoying it, and gave it a fun, friendly, slightly tongue-in-cheek approach. They didnt look like top super models, they looked like every day girls having a bit of fun.

This basically personified everything the paper stood for. That it was a fun newspaper which looked at life in more of a fun way. It was a statement for the more 'cheerful' news, and began The Sun's drift towards entertainment and away from the news.