Today I will be sharing with you about broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. Do take a look on the blog prompt to have a feel of what I will be talking about in this post!
Blog prompt:
What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers? Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journalism than the other? Are there in-between types of newspapers?
I believe many of us are not familiar with these two terms – “broadsheet newspaper” and “tabloid newspaper”, so firstly let me start off by defining them.
A broadsheet newspaper is one which has pages of standard dimensions, and is normally quite large in size. It is also known to treats various types of news very seriously. A good example would be The Straits Times, a renowned newspaper from Singapore.
A tabloid newspaper is one which has a page size significantly smaller than a broadsheet one. It is well-known for its emphasis on sensational stories like celebrity and television gossips. A good example would be The Sun, a tabloid from the United Kingdom. Although the word 'tabloid' does have negative connotations, its traditional meaning refers more to the size of the paper, like the all-too-familiar Today or The New Paper.
A very good contrast between a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper would be the reporting of the Libyan war.
With reference to the tabloid newspaper, “The Sun”, in a report called “Your Time is Up” written by Virginia Wheeler on 26 March 2011, Saturday. The URL is as follows: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3492866/RAF-Top-Guns-KO-Libyan-tanks.html. This article stamped the Libyan leader Gaddafi as “Mad Dog”. In addition, it bolds and capitalises words like “SECOND” and “THIRD”, in a bid to emphasise on its point. However, all these show its lack of formal journalism.
The broadsheet newspaper, “The Straits Times”, in a report called “Libyan rebels push ahead unchallenged” on 28 March 2011, Monday. The URL is as follows: http://www.straitstimes.com/World/Story/STIStory_650118.html. In this article, we see a stark contrast to that of “The Sun”. For example, this article calls Libyan leader Gaddafi by his title and full name, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. There is no bolding and capitalising of words in this article. Overall, this article exhibits a greater and deeper sense of professional journalism as compared to “The Sun.
Another example would be the Jack Neo and Tiger Woods sex scandals, whereby a large difference between the way tabloids and broadsheet newspapers carried the news. In fact, the former chased the story for more than a week, as though it brought much pleasure and entertainment to its readers. In addition, they harassed the family; for example, in the Jack Neo scandal, they pursued the case until Mrs Neo broke down and cried to plead with them to stop reporting about the incident. However, the broadsheet papers merely reported it for a day or two before dropping the topic before picking up on something more important.
It is a generally agreed that the broadsheet newspaper is more globalised and concise, whereas the tabloid does not cover all the news that happens around the world.
When I asked my mother what she thought about the broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, this was her answer.
“Both newspapers do report global and entertainment news. Take The Straits Times as an example, the emphasis is more on news – global news, international news as well as local news. Sometimes, only half a page reports entertainment news, like in the Life section. In all, all that happens around the world will be reported, whereas the tabloids report selective news. If you take a look at The New Paper, the news is more sensationalised and the headlines are usually based on local crimes.”
In our family, we never buy the tabloid newspapers (except for the occasion when Miss Huang asked us to bring our newspapers to school to analyse the differences between a tabloid newspaper and a broadsheet one), as we feel that they are a waste of money. As can be seen in class, nobody else brought a tabloid newspaper, which just goes to show that tabloids are less popular.
Upon saying this, it is unfair to say that one always deals with more respectable news or produces professional journalism than the other. Whilst flipping through the broadsheet newspapers like The Straits Times, I saw some very sensational news which is not very important, such as “Singapore’s most eligible bachelors”.
When there is white and black, there is always a grey zone. Similarly, there are some newspapers which are in between – fitting fully in neither the broadsheet newspaper nor the tabloid newspaper category. Some good examples of such newspapers are the Daily Mail, a British newspaper which covers both important world news as well as sensational news and gossips about celebrities.
All in all, I believe that newspapers must cater for various types of readers. Some readers go for entertainment news, others the global news. Therefore, there is no perfect newspaper which everyone will like. That is the reason why the tabloid and broadsheet newspapers cover both types of news – just that they put their emphasis on different types of news.
Feel free to share your views and voice your comments on this post!
Best Regards,
Nathan :)
