Reading Tabloid Papers

mikom · 27-06-2011 02:23PM

Forest Master wrote: »

Everyone I know who reads tabloids are lower class and/or really dumb and/or work on a building site/garage, etc.

My monocle steamed up upon reading this.

bean · 27-06-2011 02:42PM

Yep, those tabloid papers, if they are not complaining about the warm/cold weather, they are giving out about those foreigners, calling radio presenters names or praising the vigilante justice system....
oh wait that was boards out of hours this morning.

xsiborg · 27-06-2011 05:30PM

Forest Master wrote: »

Everyone I know who reads tabloids are lower class and/or really dumb and/or work on a building site/garage, etc. Co-incidence? I don't know - but that's my experience.
I don't read newspapers at all, BTW. I find the tabloids are full of moronic brain-dead bullsh*t, and the broadsheets are full of boring pretentious w*nk & D4 journo opinion pieces.

why would you associate yourself with those who you consider to be lower class, less intelligent than your good self? i wont even bother with the rest of your stereotyping, sounds like it really is coincidental of your own experience. either that, or you're just making it up, in which case that just makes your post laughable.

Forest Master · 27-06-2011 07:47PM

xsiborg wrote: »

why would you associate yourself with those who you consider to be lower class, less intelligent than your good self? i wont even bother with the rest of your stereotyping, sounds like it really is coincidental of your own experience. either that, or you're just making it up, in which case that just makes your post laughable.

I don't associate myself with them - I said people I know - not people I hang around with.

The Highwayman · 27-06-2011 07:52PM

Wow I was not aware you read said newspapers, I just presumed you just looked at the pictures?

Forest Master · 27-06-2011 07:54PM

The Highwayman wrote: »

Wow I was not aware you read said newspapers, I just presumed you just looked at the pictures?

Who are you even talking to? Use the quote function, FFS.

Craebear · 27-06-2011 08:08PM

If you took everyone who writes, sells and read tabloids and chucked them in a fire, the world would become a much better place.

I am coming for you OP. Make peace with your maker.

Einhard · 27-06-2011 08:15PM

JohnP199 wrote: »

So often we see threads/posts here b!tching about tabloid newspapers and questioning the intelligence of those who read them. But why? What's wrong with me reading The Star, Sunday World etc? When I'm looking for quality literature to read I buy a book. When I'm looking for some light-hearted daily reading one of the red tops is ideal.

Its funny though when you see threads started on Boards with a link to a tabloid article and nearly always the OP will say something along the lines of "well I never buy a tabloid paper but I just picked up The Sun without thinking and look what was written in it…". Why cant people just admit if the buy red top papers because there's nothing wrong with doing so.

And I do find it just a bit ironic that people who are regular user's of After Hours complain about another form of media and its lack of intelligent articles or over-exaggerated stories. Pot-kettle anyone?

Irish people like to think that we're not snobby as a nation, but we're terrible for it. The only difference between us and the Brits in terms of snobbery, is that they tend to go for the social side of it, whilst we're snobs about practically anything! Music, media, even deodorant as I found out in a thread here recently!

xsiborg · 27-06-2011 08:15PM

Forest Master wrote: »

I don't associate myself with them - I said people I know - not people I hang around with.

i could play silly semantics, but i was simply pointing out the folly of your argument, put forward from a stereotype school of thought, there wasn't anything that seemed like an original opinion in your post, just the same regurgitated BS one tends to hear down the pub (AH does seem to liken itself to the virtual pub atmosphere).

i wont get into a píssing contest with you about my academic, professional, or occupational achievements, but suffice to say that i could simply counter your argument by saying that in MY experience, i presume you meant manual labourers-

i havent met too many i would consider intellectually deficient, and since you talk about those on building sites i know of one particular quantity surveyor/engineer who i would consider at least academically intelligent, dont know if he reads tabloids though!.

Forest Master · 27-06-2011 08:34PM

xsiborg wrote: »

i havent met too many i would consider intellectually deficient, and since you talk about those on building sites i know of one particular quantity surveyor/engineer who i would consider at least academically intelligent, dont know if he reads tabloids though!.

You're clearly not able to grasp what I was saying. I never said that everyone on a building site is stupid, or that they all read the tabloids - I said "everyone I know who reads tabloids are lower class and/or really dumb and/or work on a building site/garage, etc". It's an observational comment about tabloid readers - not builders or tradespeople.

Do you know the difference between what I said and what you think I said?

Here's an analogy, since you're struggling: everyone who likes Black Eyed Peas has sh*t taste in music - but not all people with sh*t taste in music like Black Eye Peas.

Do you understand?

xsiborg · 27-06-2011 08:46PM

Forest Master wrote: »

Here's an analogy, since you're struggling: everyone who likes Black Eyed Peas has sh*t taste in music - but not all people with sh*t taste in music like Black Eye Peas.

Do you understand?

i understand what you said perfectly, and your analogy only serves to further confuse the issue, if thats what you use to support your opinion as merely a coincidence.

my point, throughout this thread, has been that not all tabloid readers are lower class knuckle draggers as you and many others in this thread have tried to imply.

Eric Cartman · 27-06-2011 08:58PM

Craebear wrote: »

If you took everyone who writes, sells and read tabloids and chucked them in a fire, the world would become a much better place.

I am coming for you OP. Make peace with your maker.

in all reality tabloid journalists and other staff cross over to broadsheets and visa versa all the time , the intelligence of the people researching and producing the content is no different, its just targeted at a different audience , infact sometimes it takes a lot more effort to write a tabloid story as you have to try explain complex things in simpler ways and still keep it fitting to a certain amount of paragraphs.

as for people who sell it , if every shop keeper in the country sold only what they thought was to their taste youd probably have most of them out of business and it would become very hard to get anything other than the local parish rag outside of dublin

Forest Master · 27-06-2011 09:00PM

xsiborg wrote: »

not all tabloid readers are lower class knuckle draggers

Yeah, they are. Really dim thick people, who are easily entertained by a pair of boobs, an article on football, and a bit of sensationalised scandal.

Sticky_Fingers · 27-06-2011 09:15PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlEIryW8zA

xsiborg · 27-06-2011 09:17PM

Forest Master wrote: »

Yeah, they are. Really dim thick people, who are easily entertained by a pair of boobs, an article on football, and a bit of sensationalised scandal hyperbole.

i have no interest in the football Forest, but boobs (particularly sam fox back in the day!) and sensationalised scandalised articles, overflowing with hyperbole, not to mention the lung bursting laughter i get from the dear deirdre pages after i read my stars!

yeah, i'll gladly fork out a euro to have it put a smile on my face in the morning, twenty minutes later it'll go in the bin, or be left on the bus seat, or given to the taxi driver, and i'll think no more about it.

gosuckonalemon · 27-06-2011 11:21PM

In work I pass the canteen on the way to the jacks for a dump. I often pick up one of the red tops to pass the time. I feel this is acceptable.

But I think it's justifiable to call anybody who would actually pay for a tabloid to be just a little bit retarded or at the very least, uneducated.

xsiborg · 27-06-2011 11:32PM

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

In work I pass the canteen on the way to the jacks for a dump. I often pick up one of the red tops to pass the time. I feel this is acceptable.

But I think it's justifiable to call anybody who would actually pay for a tabloid to be just a little bit retarded or at the very least, uneducated.

everyone on the internet has an opinion i suppose. at this stage, quite frankly i couldnt give a toss, in after hours we can talk about the most mind numbing nonsense, but mention that you read a tabloid, purely for the entertainment (i think i can just about manage to part with a euro, even in these recessionary times!), well, thats just wrong!

*off to flagellate myself* :rolleyes:

Son Of A Vidic · 27-06-2011 11:37PM

I don't read or buy tabloid newspapers but you do make a good point OP.

dx22 · 27-06-2011 11:40PM

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

In work I pass the canteen on the way to the jacks for a dump. I often pick up one of the red tops to pass the time. I feel this is acceptable.

But I think it's justifiable to call anybody who would actually pay for a tabloid to be just a little bit retarded or at the very least, uneducated.

Ya they are very handy if you run out of bog roll, the broadsheets are too big and might block the loo!

profitius · 28-06-2011 12:44AM

JohnP199 wrote: »

So often we see threads/posts here b!tching about tabloid newspapers and questioning the intelligence of those who read them. But why? What's wrong with me reading The Star, Sunday World etc? When I'm looking for quality literature to read I buy a book. When I'm looking for some light-hearted daily reading one of the red tops is ideal.

They were always viewed as being trashy newspapers from where I come from. Some like yourself will say theres nothing wrong with them but actually there is.

Its not a ligh hearted read in the slightest. Its designed to do the opposite. Thats why its full of people with mental issues (celebrities etc).The more you read that garbage the more normal their behaviour will become in your mind. Just like a parents protects a child from reading trash, adults should also stay away from reading or looking at trash in the media.

Spread · 28-06-2011 01:29AM

So, what about today's Daily Mail expose of Dail phones being used for non-Dail work? No tits ......... just MHR's bald pate

The bill was over €2k

johnmcdnl · 28-06-2011 01:33AM

xsiborg wrote: »

of course it's lazy journalism and it's everything the detractors on thi thread say it is, but as the OP suggested, why take it so seriously? if the people that read these papers are gullible idiots well its not like they're going to have any signifigant impact on world politics any time soon now, is it?

but these gullible idiots still have votes... and that can **** up the political system :mad:

Cavehill Red · 28-06-2011 01:49AM

Sneering at tabloids generally says a lot more about the sneerer than tabloids, which frankly break more news than broadsheets and broadcast news combined in this country.
The Irish Times is a press release rewrite mill, and the Independent papers are generally devoid of news entirely, filling pages instead with self-appointed ranters and their 'controversial!' opinions on whatever they read in, erm, the tabloids.
Yes, they contain tits, and sport and big pictures, and have short paragraphs filled with sentences with mostly un-polysyllabic words. So what? It's not obligatory to read them, so why get upset about them?
They serve a number of useful purposes, as far as I can see, including holding a near monopoly on the almost defunct skills of investigative reporting and breaking news.
The people who sneer at that display their own ignorance of what tabloids do, in my opinion. It's just shorthand for trying to convey to others their own insecure sense of superiority over the plebs.

WillyWaggler · 28-06-2011 03:16AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6jxLsjGD7w

pragmatic1 · 28-06-2011 03:33AM

Who reads newspapers for the news anymore. Its old news by the time it gets to print. Tabloids get a bad rep because they appeal to the lowest common denominator, they write sensationalist bull****, they're mostly inaccurate and often flat out lie.

autonomy · 28-06-2011 03:33AM

I like to play a little game when I read a story in the paper, I say to myself ok this story must not be true or there must be something there not telling us about and I let my imagination run wild

Cavehill Red · 28-06-2011 03:42AM

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Who reads newspapers for the news anymore. Its old news by the time it gets to print. Tabloids get a bad rep because they appeal to the lowest common denominator, they write sensationalist bull****, they're mostly inaccurate and often flat out lie.

This is the sort of opinion I was referring to, utterly uninformed and says so much more about the poster than about tabloids.
Sorry for picking on you, but firstly, at least a million people read newspapers in Ireland every day. They're not all buying them for the Sudoku. One must assume that many if not most are buying them to be informed. Not everyone is online, and those that are tend not to be while travelling to work, for example, which is when many papers are read.
But the bits I find interesting about your post are the frankly unsupported nonsense bits: 'appeal to the lowest common denominator', 'sensationalist bull****', 'mostly inaccurate', 'often flat out lie.'
If any of that were remotely true, they'd all be out of business a long time ago.
Tabloids do indeed have their own unique way of putting things - punning headlines, simplified language and so on. Like everyone else, they sometimes get things wrong. Unlike most other people (emergency services, medics, etc exempted) when they get it wrong, they're almost always answerable for it in a significant way.
If they were regularly lying and were mostly inaccurate they'd be sued out of business in no time, especially given the libel laws in Ireland, where a convicted criminal once successfully sued a paper for calling him a criminal.
No doubt if I asked you, you'd proudly tell me you never read a tabloid at all. Yet you feel qualified to offer an opinion on them from a position of ignorance.
If, on the other hand, you do read tabloids and hence have come to an informed opinion about them, I'd have to ask why do you read what you consider to be lowest common denominator sensationalist bull**** lies?

Eric Cartman · 28-06-2011 03:53AM

in reality, on the topic of crime , tabloids seem to have investigative powers above broadsheets by far ,

now in a perfect world id kill out the celebrity crap and all the other silly stuff like dear <insert name> pages and all the ads for sex lines and the like, but that sort of stuff sells heavily to young people and women to make up sales, and theres nothing wrong with making money. If you look at most large stories about gangland crime or drugs in Ireland, theyve been broken on the cover of tabloids.

And if you honestly believe tabloids are opinionated then just make sure you dont pick up a copy of the irish times, youll die from opinion overload

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 28-06-2011 08:12AM

Cavehill Red wrote: »

This is the sort of opinion I was referring to, utterly uninformed and says so much more about the poster than about tabloids.
Sorry for picking on you, but firstly, at least a million people read newspapers in Ireland every day. They're not all buying them for the Sudoku. One must assume that many if not most are buying them to be informed. Not everyone is online, and those that are tend not to be while travelling to work, for example, which is when many papers are read.
But the bits I find interesting about your post are the frankly unsupported nonsense bits: 'appeal to the lowest common denominator', 'sensationalist bull****', 'mostly inaccurate', 'often flat out lie.'
If any of that were remotely true, they'd all be out of business a long time ago.
Tabloids do indeed have their own unique way of putting things - punning headlines, simplified language and so on. Like everyone else, they sometimes get things wrong. Unlike most other people (emergency services, medics, etc exempted) when they get it wrong, they're almost always answerable for it in a significant way.
If they were regularly lying and were mostly inaccurate they'd be sued out of business in no time, especially given the libel laws in Ireland, where a convicted criminal once successfully sued a paper for calling him a criminal.
No doubt if I asked you, you'd proudly tell me you never read a tabloid at all. Yet you feel qualified to offer an opinion on them from a position of ignorance.
If, on the other hand, you do read tabloids and hence have come to an informed opinion about them, I'd have to ask why do you read what you consider to be lowest common denominator sensationalist bull**** lies?

PLEASE tell me you are NOT buying tabloids to be informed...??

Yes, people buy tabloids, but that doesn't mean that they are a positive influence or any way contributive to society. One million people CAN actually be wrong. The tabloids do exaggerate and a few of them have been caught lying (Piers Morgan, anyone? Hillsborough and the Sun?) and hypocritical (Rebakah Wade?). If you seriously think that they do NOT appeal to the lowest common denominator, why do you think they dumb down the sotries and take an emotive angle? They are massively inaccurate as, someone ealrier pointed out, they are quiet happy to withhold certain angles if it suits them to do so. They quiet frequently do get sued because of this, but have turned lying without actually commiting libel into an art form. That is the one thing they are damn good at.

Your post, in defense of and in denial of said behaviour, is laughable.

Seachmall · 28-06-2011 09:09AM

Cavehill Red wrote: »

'sensationalist bull****' [...] If any of that were remotely true,

The definition of a Tabloid Newpaper includes the fact they're sensationalist.

"of, relating to, or resembling tabloids; especially : featuring stories of violence, crime, or scandal presented in a sensational manner"

- Merriam-Webster

Reading Tabloid Papers

Comments