Smut goes beyond supermarket
Campus Times
October 18, 1996
by Christie Reed
Editor in Chief
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Steamy sex scandals! Alien life! Man-eating
animals consume family!
These are just a few of the interesting things that tabloids emblazon on
their front pages to grab customers as they stand in the supermarket checkout
lines.
I am just as guilty as the gossiping housewife who cannot get enough dirt
on the White House or Burt Reynolds. I will look at the superimposed pictures
on the cover of the Globe, and I give kudos to the talented photographer.
But, I have never once considered stealing an idea from a tabloid and presenting
it at a Campus Times meeting.
It appears as if I am the only one. Recently, mainstream newspapers are
flashing back to the era of yellow journalism to appeal to readers. The
duty of a newspaper is no longer to inform and educate the public, but to
grab the reader with enormous, fantastical headlines and an overabundance
of graphics.
It is sensationalism, and it pays. Just ask the Inland
Valley Daily Bulletin. While they compete with other Inland Valley newspapers
for readership, they are on the cutting edge and they are just about to
fall off.
The average subscriber may hold the paper in the utmost esteem, because
the home delivery issues are quality issues with top news on the front page.
But for any reader that peruses the newsstands, it is an entirely different
story.
Probably something like "Maternal Girl" in 120-point type on the
front page with a not-so-flattering photograph of the new mother, Madonna.
Hardly the most important issue of the day, but whatever garners readership,
right?
On Thursday, Oct. 3, the Daily Bulletin fell to an all-time low by not only
ruining the character of Mark Fuhrman with their one word headline, "Liar,"
but by editorializing a news story.
I may be mistaken, but didn't Mark Fuhrman plead "no contest?"
Although it is easy to assume that this is the same as a "guilty"
plea in the court system, it is not. He was charged with perjury for lying
in court about using a racial epithet, but the clarification on the Bulletin's
use of the word "liar" did not appear in the paper until page
four.
It is not libel because Fuhrman has become a public figure since the O.J.
Simpson trial, but it is irresponsible journalism nonetheless. The public
expects an unbiased, accurate account of the civil trial, not a sensationalized
account with only human interest appeal.
Obviously, this latest attempt at yellow journalism is paying off, otherwise
the Daily Bulletin would not continue with these ridiculous street issues.
And yes, the public is partly to blame for buying these issues.
On Friday, Sept. 6, do you remember what was happening in the world? Well,
according to the Daily Bulletin, "Cat Eats Dog." Plain and simple,
the front page story told of a cougar that invaded a La Verne estate, killing
a Siberian husky.
A map of the "area of attack" was accompanied by an emotional
quote, a picture of the poor dog, Addie, that was killed and a heart-wrenching
photo of the owner of the dog. All of these unnecessary graphics took up
half of the front page, yet the rest of the story was not continued until
page four.
It is important for La Verne residents to know that mountain lions are roaming
certain parts of the city. It is timely and in proximity to the circulation
of the newspaper, but the home delivery issue did not mention this article
for several pages.
Also in the Sept. 6 issue was the latest news on Hurricane Fran and a man
convicted of devising a plot to blow up 12 U.S. jets. Which has more consequence?
Back in the 1800s, when William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were
the top editors in the nation, The Journal and The World were guilty of
the same human interest stories and enormous graphics, but that was back
in a day when not everyone could read and the nation was going through the
Spanish-American War and attempting to make correspondence overseas. One
would hope that after a century of educational and technological improvements,
we could leave the smut to the tabloids.
Christie Reed, a junior journalism major, is editor in chief of the Campus
Times. She can be reached by e-mail at reedc@ulvacs.ulaverne.edu.