Page 257 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

246 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

It would be misleading to suggest that all the tales of tellyland are
concerned with sexual encounters and the problems following from
them. Something of the range is indicated by the following list of the
kinds of narrative action employed during the period when the papers
were monitored. These include:

Rise to stardom by chance: as in the story ‘FAITH THANKS
HER LUCKY BOOBS—SPLIT DRESS SHOT ME TO
STARDOM' (Mirror, 15 December 1988).

Demonstrating worthiness of a place among the stars: as in the
Stories ‘I’M A PERFECT DAD SAYS RIK THE B’STARD’
(News of the World, 12 February 1989) and ‘I’LL BE BACK
VOWS BRAVE MARTI’ (Mirror, 16 January 1989).
Being seen doing star-like things: worthy deeds on behalf of less
fortunate beings, such as contributing to charities or being
photographed at charity functions.
Fortunate escapes: usually being let off minor misdemeanours
such as fines for driving offences.

Revelation of sexual encounters, scandal or intrigue: as in the
Stories ‘TARBY’S NIGHT WITH BLONDE—SECRET DATE
IN COUNTRY HOTEL’ (Sun, 16 January 1989) and ‘TV’S
MIKE ROCKED BY SEX SCANDAL TRICK OR TREAT
EMPLOYS VICE GIRLS’ (Star, 16 January 1989).

Revelation of unheroic qualities or ‘secrets’: as in the stories
‘CABBIE KILLER DEN WAS KING OF THE NICK’ (Sun, 16
January 1989) and ‘THE FILTHY TRUTH ABOUT TELLY-S
MR NICE’ (News of the World, 12 February 1989).

Others included the expression of sympathy in the face of misfortunes
of a personal kind, and celebration of reinstatement and success. One
other category deserves rather fuller mention, and that is boundary
transgression.
This occurred in several guises. Fundamentally, there were two broad
classes, the one involving the hierarchical system of tellyland and its
appropriate modes of behaviour, the other the place of tellyland in the
wider social system. Examples of the former were the stories about