Page 258 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

TALES OF TELLYLAND 247

minor stars putting on airs and graces, about them presuming too much
about their standing in tellyland. Among the most vitriolic stories were
those about stars of the upper strata spiralling down. There are a few
stars whose actions normally trigger something pretty close to
celebration. They are treated as paragons of the implicit virtues. They
are perfect partners, faithful, generous in their charity and completely
professional. Perhaps because they are willingly celebrated as such,
when one of them goes off the rails little quarter is given. Often, their
transgressions fall within the second class, and involve improper
relations with those from other worlds.
The fabulous character of the tabloids’ coverage of television should
not be exaggerated for two main reasons. First, fabulous conventions
are tempered with journalistic ones. The things which happen to, or
involve, the heroes and heroines of the stories do so within a journalistic
time-scale; they have either just happened or are in the processes of
happening. The events or actions are reported, typically by sources
close to the main characters or by witnesses. These sources include
jilted lovers, outraged observers and friends or relations of injured
parties. Though I have mentioned only two, the stories employ a
sufficient number of journalistic devices to support the conclusion that
they are best regarded as of a hybrid genre, what we might term
‘fabulous reportage’. The primary function of this genre is to provide a
diurnal chronicle of the troubles or other noteworthy events of tellyland.
Second, television is featured in a number of other ways. All the
tabloids contained listings of and guides to programmes. The TV
sections within which they are placed also include some editorial
content by a named TV critic. This is usually an appraisal of selected
programmes from the previous day, or of an actor’s performance. Other
editorial columns also provide some, more traditionally crafted, stories
on television.
Editorial columns also provide a version of public affairs journalism
with television as the subject matter. Such material is only infrequently
provided and generally covered less extensively. There are no report-
oriented ‘media’ columns of the sort now to be found in the broadsheets.
During the monitoring period there were no news reports on such
matters as broadcasting’s changing pattern of industrial relations, nor on
the changing relationship between broadcasting and government. Policy
matters relating to television’s much disputed cultural role did appear as
the subject of news reports and in the form of moral issues. Just before
Christmas 1988, several of the tabloids ran reports on the BBC’s
decision to issue guidelines on the appropriate use of ‘four-letter words’,