A Brief Introduction of Newspaper from the Cultural Aspect

周斌

Abstract：Generally speaking， newspaper can be divided into two kinds—the broadsheet and the tabloid. This essay talks about the four aspects of difference between the broadsheet and the tabloid， and use the British newspapers as examples， to explain why these two kinds of newspaper always exist in the market and what the trend of their future is.

Key Words：Newspaper， Broadsheet， Tabloid

Every newspaper in Britain can be classified into one of the two categories. The broadsheet， which usually measures roughly 29? by 23? inches （74.9 cm×59.7 cm） per spread， twice the size of a standard tabloid， so they often have to be folded to read； And the tabloid， whose size is roughly 23? by 14 3/4 inches （597mm×375mm） per spread. This is the smaller of two standard newspaper sizes. In Britain， the main broadsheets are the financial Times， the Guardian， the Independent， the Daily Telegraph and the Times； and the main tabloids are the Sun， Daily Express， Daily Mirror， Daily Mail， and Daily Star.

There are lots of differences between these two newspapers， which are often argued recently， and the most distinguishing one is the layout. The tabloids contain far less print and use far more for pictures to cater the youth and lower groupings， large headlines and simple English style are also used to attract the readers， while the broadsheets have less margin between the lines and less pictures， they often cover the details with long articles， and aim to the educated people and high social groupings. This prominent difference can be perceived immediately by contrasting the Financial Times and the Daily Mail.

Another great difference is the content. Tabloids often focus on the gossip， the scandal and human interesting stories， because people are nosey， they are always interested in what other people are doing， especially the famous persons， and also as the stories on the tabloids are often exaggerated， it makes more interesting to the readers. An example of gossip written in tabloids is“Jemimas Hurley-burly over Hughs ex” （Daily Mail， December 24th， 2005）. On the other hand， broadsheets often cover the national and international occurrences， and the reports are not exaggerated， as people read them just want to know the facts. So， the information in the tabloids cannot be trusted fully， people read them just for fun while the broadsheets which contain so much information， for instance， one page may have four or five articles， are more reliable and trustful. However， this does not mean broadsheets completely discard the scandal and the gossip or any other aspect of human life， the difference between them is the treatment of the topics they cover， to which aspect give the most prominent attention.

Furthermore， there also has difference in language between these two newspapers. Tabloids often use puns and alliterations to make the written style of articles more casual and chatty， it seems that there are not so many similes in the tabloids but metaphors usually appear on them， such as， ‘Its more like country club， Blair： You are on way home， which indicates a jail （The Sun， December， 23rd， 2005）. However， the broadsheets do not contain so many similes and metaphors， the subjects there are treated more seriously and the information is presented in the more complex style and long sentences， because it does not need to make the article more interesting， as they are written based on the facts. Another difference in language is that the tone in tabloids is more emotive， whose aim is to affect the peoples emotion towards the reports， and for example， ‘London is a charming British world metropolis （Daily Express， December 23rd， 2005）. Unlike the tabloids， the broadsheets have more formal and factual languages， examples of this are ‘Iraq troops sent back to bases， ‘Highest peak continue to hold fatal attraction （The Times， December 23rd， 2005）， etc.

The fourth major difference may be the sales volume. Tabloids are sold far better than the broadsheets. For example， in 1990s， the tabloids sell about six times as many copies as the broadsheets， This may because many people read newspaper just for relaxing， and the layout， content as well as the language in the tabloids happen to cater for such interest. However， this is an improvement on past decades， as in 1950， the tabloids sold twenty times as many. It seems that education has really put an effect on peoples reading habits. （ODriscoll， 2002）.

This trend is continuing， and many people indeed put their attention to the broadsheets， which can be perceived clearly during a recent discussion about the tabloids and broadsheets， for example， Aladdin， a woman said：“I wish tabloids didn't exist and I'd happily ban them or at least restrict them from calling themselves ‘newspapers or suggesting they are a news information”， and a man called Kermit： “The red-tops should be banned， except for the Star and the Sport”（Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd， 2005）， but the struggling publishers always seek for the quickest way to obtain the income， this lead many broadsheets convert the format into the tabloids to save newspapers. Such as The Times， follows the suit in late December， and it will expand the tabloid option nationwide； even The Independent which is the most serious newspapers in UK， began to offer a choice of a tabloid edition to single-copy buyers. However， if the newspapers want to gain more revenue， it is far from enough for they only alter the layout without changing the advertisement sales， or making any other actions， actually there do have lots of things are waiting for them to change. Though some people even regard the tabloid cannot be classified into newspaper， a lot more are fond of it， for the tabloid can offer plenty of gossip to them， reading tabloid is really a relaxing activity in this busy era.

References

[1]ODriscoll Britain： the Country and Its People. Oxford University Press，2002.

[2]Quarterly. Can The Tabloid Format Save Newspapers？ [online] available from[February 16th， 2016]

[3]Enmonds. Tabloid Stampede in the UK. [online] available from http：//www.poynteronline.org/content/content_view.asp？id=59015[February 16th， 2016]

[4]Coursework·Infor. Comparing tabloids&broadsheets.. [online] available from[February 16th， 2016]

[5] Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. Broadsheets Vs Tabloids. [online] available from [February 16th， 2016]