Tabloid Journalism and the Public Sphere - Henrik Ornebring

There are many well known problems with tabloid journalism. It would appear to reach out towards the lowest common denominator of public taste. it simplifies, it personalises and thrives on sensationalism and scandal as a selling tool. It acts as 'the voice of the people', and this can lead to innacurate or biased reporting, as it tries to please a mass audience. It favours political scandal rather than actual political issues.

The arguement here is that tabloid journalism is a threat to our democratic society. Through people reading these newspapers, they take less of an interest in politics and take more of an interest in people's personal lives, and causes people to believe that this is more important.

The public sphere allows members of society to voice their opinions as an informed public, which, in a successful democratic society, is very important. As time progressed, the powers that be were able to take some control over what went out to the public and restrict what the people could find out.

Now if a democratic society is misinformed ( or not even informed at all!) then the whole point of democracy falls flat on it's face.

This is what leads to the alleged 'sinking to the lowest common denominator' or 'dumbing down' of the news. With not much public interest in serious matter such a politics etc. they seek something that is accessible to them, such as celebrity news. Tabloids would say that the public have a right to know what's happening in the world of celebrities, and that celebrities and even politicians are 'owned' by the public. The counter-arguement to this would be that is it of actual interest to the public? or are tabloid papers making them think they should care about scandal?