12.8 Discussion topics.
If people in your country want to read about gossip, celebrities and scandals, what do they read? How do you think this compares to Britain? Are sensationalist newspapers popular in your country? Why? / Why not?
In Britain celebrity gossip, celebrities and scandals are concentrated on in both magazines and sensationalist newspapers. These newspapers, which are sometimes called the tabloids, are enormously popular and consequently rich, powerful and influential. The most famous of these are The Sun, a daily paper which had a circulation of four million of a total market of fourteen million real newspapers before most newspapers went online; The Mirror had three million.
Of course, there are many other more ‘serious’ papers, which are known as broadsheets, such as The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and The Independent (online only) . Nowadays, the power of the press has diminished a bit with so much online social media, news channels and blogs. But the big guns remain the same. In many other countries tabloid papers have had little success, and you have to go to magazines to find gossip, star stories and scandal. Why? Perhaps because of the press’ code of ethics. In many countries the press refuse to pay for stories. In Britain this is standard practice. Not only do papers like the The Sun buy stories, but they pay enormous amounts of money. These large quantities of cash involved have attracted many sensationalist press agents, ruthless reporters and unpleasant characters ready to sell apocryphal stories, creating a market of scandals, corruption, lies, exaggeration, backhanders, sweeteners, bribes, and occasionally news which isn't fake news.
Think of the people who buy magazines.
What type of people are certain magazines aimed at, and what kind of things do publishers put in them to attract people? Is what men read, different from what women read?
The British choice of magazines is enormous. A look into any typical newsagents will show hundreds of magazines on just about every subject, but often aimed at specific groups of people. The highest selling magazines are those such as Radio Times, which list television programming and family friendly articles. Women have for years had a wide range of magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Elle, covering women’s topics like glamour, make-up, fashion, style, health, advice, agony aunts, and how tosatisfy your boyfriend in bed. Until recently this remained an unexploited area as far as men’s magazines were concerned.
A few years ago the term ‘men’s magazine’ meant pornographic magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse. If you wanted to read about other subjects, you would have to look for individual magazines to cover each masculine interest. Nowadays a typical men’s magazine will feature sports such as football, semi-nude models, interviews with celebrities, music and many other subjects considered to be of male interest. Some of the more popular ones are Arena, GQ, FHM and Esquire. These magazines are directed at men who have money to spend, the emphasis being on the consumer, and, like the women’s ‘mags’ mentioned above, contain more advertisements than anything else. Another area of high sales is that of the more ‘down to earth’ women’s magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Woman and Woman’s Own, which include more domestic subjects such ascookery, diets, knitting, household tips, as well as fashion and gossip. Then, of course, there are car magazines, computer magazines, the music press, interior decoration magazines and a whole range of sports magazines.
Who are the people who have become celebrities in your countries, for appearing in the ‘gossip columns’? Describe them. Who are the interesting celebrities in your country? Who are the least interesting ones? Do you have any professional celebrities, people who don’t actually have a career or a speciality, but are famous just for being famous? What type of qualities do you need to be a magazine and TV celebrity? What do you think about people who make a living in this way? Is it a real occupation? Would you like to do something similar yourself?
If we are going to talk about unemployed layabouts who don’t really work, or have ‘real’ occupations, and earn too much money, then we should start with the most famous of them all: The British royal family. They help sell more magazines and newspapers than anyone. The Queen Mother has long been considered the public’s favourite, but whether she fills more column inches than Princess Diana is not known. Princess Diana was the perfect celebrity to put on a magazine cover; glamorous, wide-ranging appeal, interesting love life, an enormous enviable house, and a soap opera like divorce. Her sons Harry and William are currently filling gossip columns throughout the world, not only in Britain. But basically any old royal will do. They don’t have to be British.
Actors and actresses too don’t need to be from Britain either, but if you aren’t an English speaker you’ll have trouble joining the celebrity club. There are usually one or two footballers or sports stars amongst the list of people who actually have a ‘real’ occupation. For years George Best, Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer was seen in all the gossip columns, usually going out with the current Miss World and usually drunk. David Beckham took over his role, although he hasn’t turned into a professional alcoholic yet. His wife Victoria like so many other magazine page fillers, can’t seem to decide if she is a singer, model, writer, or actress. The criteria for being a magazine favourite don’t seem to be based ontalent or intelligence. Nor, on being good-looking. The royal families of Europe handsome? Nor, on good dress sense. What then? A scandalous love life helps. Being seen at the ‘right’ parties must help. Being rich must help too. So that’s you and me out of the question.
What is your opinion about the quality of magazines, papers and reading in your country in comparison with those of other countries? Are there any subjects that you think shouldn’t be written about, or any photos that shouldn’t be printed?
Think about topless celebrities, photos of dead accident victims, etc.
British newspapers generally have a bad reputation as a result of the infamous ‘tabloids’. Their sensationalist material tends to concentrate on sex scandals, corruption, sleaze, hypocrisy, the lottery, celebrities and sports news. What they don’t often include are macabre photos of killings, accidents or anything that contains too much blood. This type of sensationalism is much more common in many other countries.
Many magazines in Europe were ready to print the photos of Princess Diana in the car accident in which she died, while in Britain this would have been unthinkable. European media groups complained that the pictures issued by the American press of the World Trade Center terrorist attack, weren’t graphic enough.
Which must beg the question: which form of sensationalism would you prefer?
A topless model sat on the bonnet of a car on page three of a British daily, or a headless model sat in a written-off car on page three of a foreign paper? I know which one I prefer.