Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-07-08
Tabloid Journalism" It's Causes and Effects.

Recently we have been treated 70 an
experiment in daily journalism Mr.
Alfred Harmsworth has given US his idea
of what the notwithstanding newspaper
should be He calls it tabloid Journal
ism" Like everything now it has been
talked abut. condemned and approved.
This is an age of tabloids. which is only
a another name for concentration. We
take our medicine In the form Of pills
and capsules and tabluids; we take our
nourishment In the form Of an OK boiled
down To tea cup; even our intellectual
nabalum must come in a similar form.
1t is all characteristic Of the rush, hurry.
sGpernciaiily. and the desire to avoid
trouble. which were the distinguishing
traits Of the century just closed II a
man Is sick he takes his capsule because
NJ can absorb il anywhere; ii does nut
cause him To lose even q minute from h
blsiness; it is so delightfully."- simple; am!
SO. in the same way, he can snatch a
meal ont Of A spoonful Of beef tea. lie
can also read the history of the world in
one sitting in Somebody's The Universe
nj a Glance. in Pointed Paragraphs"
y man Of unusually keen perceptions
ana with the audacity which is spelled
genius when it wins. MIR. Harmsworth
saw in London a mine SO rich and SO cas-
ily to 10 worked that lis golden poSsibiii
ties were staggering. Education in Eng
land had succeeded admiralty in turning
out. every year, an ever-increasins host
III half-baked scioiists OF both SEXES. The
board schools, the Acts OF Parliament.
ana the cvcr-zealous educational officers
terin-: and with the Three RS they a :.
unired something which had not been
provided tor b. Parliament or boards oL
education Crude. immature, raw. ana
unable to assimi.ate the little know!eig
winch had been tabioidly furnished T."
them. the result 81 education. II nine
eases out Of ten. was to give them Il
vague longing Tor some thing which they
could not define or express. Il had given
them aspiration for what thcy knew not;
il had stirred passions AMI aroused de
siros which had shadowei across their
minds. nul never assumed SuDst1nc- Inc
work Us kid" WaO1c IaSt was grim
recollection Of starvation ana torture. an
whose anticipation of the future was
equally i0VlcSS. gave wa to the board
school hoy. who quickly forgot his null
tiplicatiun table ana his grammar, but
who never forgot shat not everybody
worl ed. In 4 word. he wanted TO he
amused
iI,yc was 4 constituency ready ma H.
Nj. iIarnsworth gave the world-his
world OF london. . city. remember with
Il population greater than that Of any
state of the american Union. with three
cxccntions-"A Answers. 1t was exactly
what had been demanded; il was the
answer to the uncXpreSSed desire 1t wa
neither vicious nor virtuouS: il did not ell
,Nutc, neither lid ii demDralizc. II was rut
witty or cnlightcning: il was simply com
monpacc. dali. trivial. and exactly suited
to the mental requirements of its readers.
And that. after al. WAS the secret " tn
ninctecnth-ctntury conner ial sue eSs-.n
give the people precisely what they want
ed Eirand boys and factory hands in
vested their coprcrs in ANSWERS. The
read II al their lunch. and il was the At
tic salt to their hunk of dry bread anu
rancid bacon. Z . errand boy took tab
loid one of Mr.. llarmsworth's para
cranhs as he went lettering between The
bank ana Lombard street the young clerk
in the interval between measuring hali u
ward of ribbon. fuitVcly Snatchcd Il tab
loid under the counter when the ficor-
walkers back was turned Mr.. Harms
worth was The l.. T. Barnum Of England
He furniSed a refined entcri anmeut.
He gave his readers amusement, he pro
yidcd them with Jokes. Some OF his
tabIoids We're so deity sugar-coated that
THE useful informal ton which they con
taired could lie taken by even the most
sensitive stomachs.-A. Maurice Low in
the Forum.