From: twcaps@tennyson.lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: "Tabloid Readers Not Dumb"
Date: 14 Dec 1992 07:55:53 GMT
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Reply-To: TWChan@lbl.gov (Terry Chan)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.117
Summary: A.F.U. Collective Sigh of Relief

In a story from the _Orlando Sentinel_ which I found in the 
10 December 1992 _SF Examiner_, they review a book with some 
pertinent insights to a.f.u.

It seems one Elizabeth Bird has written a book entitled 
_For Inquiring Minds: a Cultural Study of Supermarket
Tabloids_ which supposedly reveals some interesting aspects
of those people who read supermarket tabloids.  She finds that 
tabloid readers: 

- are very selective about the stories they read -- and believe.

- are typically middle-aged, white females from a working class
  background.

- are likely to have at least a high school education.

- are likely to feel powerless and to distrust mainstream media,
  government, big business and science.

- are likely to be conservative in their social and political views.

Bird is a professor of humanities and anthropology at the University
of Minnesota.

Some other findings.  "There's almost nobody who picks up the
_Weekly World News_ and believes the whole thing...The tabs
[tabloids] seem to reinforce people's existing beliefs.  I'd find
people who believed in UFO stories, but when it came to ghosts
or psychics, they'd say, 'That's a load of nonsense."

While most readers do it out of fun and indulge in a guilty 
pleasure, there is a "downside."  The "hard core of tabloid 
readers--are characterized by distrust an alienation from 
the establishment and a feeling of powerlessness.  An important
element in their readings is a form of resistance to dominant
values--an awareness that they 'should' be reading about news
and current affairs but find these boring and irrelevent."

For those less acquainted with them, Bird mentions that the
_Enquirer_ and the _Star_ "appeal to readers' decidedly
conservative beliefs. Each week they recycle certain themes...
the star who desperately wants a baby, the search of all 
celebrities for a perfect marriage and the ever popular TV
queen whose life is falling apart because of her success."

"Celebrity stories do the same thing as old folk stories and
fairy tales used to do...They provide you with a fantasy life
and introduce you to the life of the rich and famous."

"But they also tell you, 'These are really unhappy people.
You're probably much happier than they are because you're
married and have a family and they don't."

She makes an effort not to make judgments, and concludes with
the following:

"We all have outlets for fantasy....It may be classic novels,
highbrow films -- but we're still doing it (escaping from
reality).  To say the tabloid readers' form of escapism is
cheap, low and nasty, and mine is somehow better is a real
value judgement."

True to form, her book is based on a self-selected sample of
114 responses to a posted announcement in the _National Enquirer_.

Terry "Y'all can feel better now" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division   | Internet:  TWChan@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory      | 
Berkeley, California  USA  94720  | Carpe Per Diem