Tabloid (newspaper format)
Red top tabloids are distinct from broadsheet newspapers, which traditionally cater to more affluent, educated audiences with in-depth reporting and analysis.
In countries like Germany and Australia, tabloids such as Bild and The Daily Telegraph have significant readerships and political clout.
A 1902 item in London's Westminster Gazette noted, "The proprietor intends to give in tabloid form all the news printed by other journals."
Thus tabloid journalism in 1901, originally meant a paper that condensed stories into a simplified, easily absorbed format.
[2] Tabloid newspapers, especially in the United Kingdom, vary widely in their target market, political alignment, editorial style, and circulation.
Red top tabloids, named after their distinguishing red mastheads, employ a form of writing known as tabloid journalism; this style emphasizes features such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news.
Celebrity gossip columns which appear in red top tabloids and focus on their sexual practices, misuse of narcotics, and the private aspects of their lives often border on, and sometimes cross the line of defamation.
Red tops tend to be written with a simplistic, straightforward vocabulary and grammar; their layout usually gives greater prominence to the picture than to the word.
In fact, most compact tabloids formerly used the broadsheet paper size, but changed to accommodate reading in tight spaces, such as on a crowded commuter bus or train.
The term compact was coined in the 1970s by the Daily Mail, one of the earlier newspapers to make the change, although it now once again calls itself a tabloid.
[citation needed] The purpose behind this was to avoid the association of the word tabloid with the flamboyant, salacious editorial style of the red top newspaper.
Compact tabloids, just like broadsheet- and Berliner-format newspapers, span the political spectrum from progressive to conservative and from capitalist to socialist.
[citation needed] Besides offering a sometimes satirical view of the seriousness of mainstream news, the Daily Sun also covers fringe theories and paranormal claims such as tikoloshes, ancestral visions and all things supernatural.
[citation needed] In Georgia, the weekly English-language newspaper The Financial switched to a compact format in 2005 and doubled the number of pages in each issue.
In the Southern Philippines, a new weekly tabloid, The Mindanao Examiner, now includes media services, such as photography and video production, into its line as a source to finance the high cost of printing and other expenses.
The old more serious newspaper Berlingske Tidende shifted from broadsheet to tabloid format in 2006, while keeping the news profile intact.
But the most famous tabloid dealing with crime stories is Le Nouveau Détective, created in the early 20th century.
Two free tabloid newspapers were also introduced in the early 2000s, 'Metro and Sp!ts (ceased 2014), mostly for distribution in public transportation.
The Morning Star also comes in tabloid format; however, it avoids celebrity stories, and instead favours issues relating to labour unions.
Other factors that distinguish "alternative" weekly tabloids from the major daily newspapers are their less-frequent publication, and that they are usually free to the user, since they rely on ad revenue.
Alternative weekly tabloids may concentrate on local and neighbourhood-level issues, and on entertainment in bars, theatres, or other such venues.
An upmarket weekly's advertisers are often organic grocers, boutiques, and theatre companies while a downmarket's may have those of trade schools, supermarkets, and the sex industry.
