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    Weekend Ponder: What is the origin of the phrase "tabloid journalism"?

    +3  Views: 563 Answers: 4 Posted: 13 years ago

    4 Answers

    The word tabloid originates from the fact that small paper size papers were printed by pressing letters from a small frame called the "the tablet" as oposed to broadsheet which is a large sized pages.

    Chiangmai

    Great answer.

    Pretty much means tabloids such as the National Enquirer, Star Smut Sheet etc. etc. etc. Sensationalism crap...oftentimes all BS..they tend to go out of their realm of decency just as much as they can without being totally sued...(:

    Chiangmai

    I totally agree, hipster. I am looking for kinda like the origin of the word though.

    Clue: 1884 & British

    Never letting the truth get in the way of a good story.

    Chiangmai

    How true. However, I am looking for how this darned expression came about.

    Tabloid Journalism


    Around March, 1844,  a British company registered the word tabloid for a very small tablet it was marketing.  On or about the same time, large broadsheet newspapers were challenged by small-format journals, and because tabloid had come to mean anything small, that's what the new papers were called.  These tabloids often resorted  to gossip instead of hard news, hence, giving the sloppy reporting the name "tabloid journalism".


     



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