Page 261 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

250 COMMUNICATION AND CITIZENSHIP

understanding of it which fully grasps its complexity. Academic
discussion has rarely been able to go beyond its ‘union bashing’ in the
context of major industrial disputes, its national chauvinism and its
fascination with almost nude women. It has noted and measured the
increasing volume of material devoted to the world of entertainment,
and it has concluded that in conjunction with these other features the
tabloid press does not serve its readers well as a source of information.
Such a conclusion is based, I think, on too restrictive a judgement on
what an information service in the public domain should be and how it
should operate. Tabloid papers do not provide the service that ‘quality’
papers do, but this should not be taken as evidence that they have
abandoned an informative mission.
I think too much of the critical judgement of the tabloid press is built
upon a rather narrow understanding of politics and of the political role of
newspapers. It has often seemed that the ideal political role for critically
aware newspapers is to provide its readers with a daily run-down of the
most recent instances of the effects of economic exploitation on the part
of capitalism’s major economic forces, along with a clear indication of
the courses of action that the exploited should follow, and not least of
all an equally clear indication of the alternative forms of social
organization which the action taken would realize. When ‘politically
aware’ critics have found little evidence that anything of the sort is done
in either the tabloid or the quality press, they have concluded that since
the press is not on the side of the exploited, it must be on the side of the
exploiters. Within such a frame of mind it is not too difficult further to
conclude that the tabloid’s fascination with the world of entertainment
and with the actions of the jesters to the court of capitalism is to add to
their crimes by distracting potentially revolutionary groups—groups
who, one suspects, are seen to be all too easy to distract.
There are many things one could say about such criticism, but I shall
confine myself to its misunderstandings of the material which has been
discussed here. It is undeniable that the tabloids give over a
considerable proportion of their available space to the world of
entertainment and those who people that world. It is equally undeniable
that a good story about these people will, in most cases, be given
priority over those about the debates and disputes of parliamentary
political affairs. What is deniable is that this has anything much to do
with distraction.
The examples of the tabloid coverage of tellyland which have been
discussed here present those who people it as problematic. Though they
do exist, there are considerably fewer examples of coverage which