Reading Tabloid nation I felt i gained a much deeper knowledge of the history of journalism itself, and in particular the tabloid. I was shocked and amazed by the majority of these two parts of the books, and the development of the tabloid, with many of its features still in the papers today. The lecture after reading this book emphasised these points in greater detail and i found this helpful as it linked the booked to modernism, tying in the theme of this semesters HCJ with the timeline of the tabloid.
Alfred Harmsworth was the founder of modern journalism in the form of a tabloid newspaper and the creator of the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail. He worshiped his mother so much that the editorial offices of the Daily Mail were named after her; 'Geraldine House'. He published his cheap and cheerful magazine 'The answers' which had a large circulation due to gimmicks and competitions which he included in his magazine; give aways and competitions are still seen today in tabloids and also made up part of the 'free gift war' earlier in the history of the tabloids.
Alfred Harmsworth, also known as lord Northcliffe's first paper was the Daily Mail in 1896, which was made of up articles which were to be no longer in length than 250 words, simple and interesting stories aimed a a new target audience. He soon became editor in chief at The Daily Mail. J.K Jones was the editor of the paper and was feared by the staff, he introduced a women's section of fashion and cookery which was such a success, Alfred Harmsworth created the Daily Mirror; the first every women only daily paper.
K.J was put in charge of an entire female staff, which started with a boom, but sales dropped dramatically and it started eating the sales of the Daily Mail. The Mirror was rescued by the notable figure in the history of the Mirror; Hannen Swaffer; a photojournalist, who transformed the Mirror into a picture paper; pushing sales to just under 1 million. He was in charge of the photos and the look of the paper which now had a positive feel. It provided something to look at and was much less serious than other papers, as pictures were seen as easier on the eye than words.
The paper sold over 2 millions copies with pictures of King Edward VII's body on his death bed which was loved by Queen Alexandra, despite many thinking the paper would be done for treason. The paper was hated more and more by Northcliffe who hadn't imagined the paper turning out like it had.
Alexander Kenealy was hired by the paper; he thought that Swaffer was insane and they would often be found arguing and getting into fights. Swaffer would also have rows with Northcliffe, most notably over the handing of the Mirror's coverage of the Titanic; Swaffer wanted pictures, but Norhtcliff wanted a well written report. Northcliffe won the argument and there were no pictures in the Mirror. Swaffer encouraged his photographers go get in dangerous situations to get the best pictures they could. Swaffer eventually sacked himself in a row and joined a rival paper 'The Daily Sketch'. Swaffer claimed to be the best journalist in the world.
Northcliffe became increasing interested in politics and tried to use his paper to the pull strings politically behind the scenes, therefore buying the 'serious' paper 'The Sunday observer' and becoming less connected with the embarrassing Mirror. He then bought The Times three years later. The Mirror was seen by this time as vulgar, a picture paper and an intrusion into British life. The paper's photographers were seen as 'animals beneath contempt' and a paper for the uneducated working class with more photos than words, and simple writing.
Northcliffe cut his links with the Mirror in 1910 due to its lack of political influence. Harold Harmsworth also known as Lord Rothermere; the younger brother of Northlicffe bought the paper. Rothermere purely used the paper to gain money; hyping his own shares in the paper and making large cuts. Harry Guy Bartholomew took over from Swaffer as picture editor.
During the First world war circulation at the paper jumped to 1.7 million and the paper became know as the 'Forces paper'. This was a good time for pictures as people wanted to see the action of the war, and distribution of the paper was arranged to be sent to the trenches. This put the paper in a strong position at the end of the first world war, but due to Rothermere's large cuts and the shutting of the northen offices, the paper soon became a poor embarrassment once again.
The end came for Northcliffe in 1922 when he went incsane and believed everyone was trying to kill him. I found it extremely interesting to see that the people who shame the paper's and British Journalism today were often drunk or soon went insane after years as a journalist; slightly worrying, is this the pressure of the trade?
The free gift war was soon sparked which involved papers trying to buy free gifts with different prizes and competitions to gain readership and then benefit in sponsorship, with papers being forced to join in to stop their readerships being stolen.
The next chapter for the Mirror became its connection to fascism and its owners move towards fascism; discussed in the lecture as believing that you are the strongest race, a pure race and pure people, with everyone else worse than yourself; an obvious link to racism and dictatorship; away from the ideas on the enlightenment and individualism and towards themes in modernism such as the rejection of the individual and rights, towards masses and the state; everyone doing and looking the same. Led by the paper's leader Rothermere, the paper was in its worst years with embarrassing political campaigns, obsessed with nationalism, attending Nazi rallies, often in communication with Hitler and supporting British fascists such as Mosley. But this soon ended with the falling out over money between Mosley and Rothermere. Rothermere had to keep out of the way during the 1930's as tension of fascism grew.
In the 1930's Bartholomew (Bart) wanted to transform the paper after a dreadful spell with Lee Brownleigh as editor and Rothermere no longer the editor. Bart expressed himself in pictures and was determined to rise to the top of journalism. Cecil Thomas was appointed as editor, and Cecil Harmsworth was employed as advertising director. This team would soon make the Daily Mirror the biggest selling newspaper in the universe.
The paper became closely linked to the papers in New York at the time; Sensational stories and pictures, human interest, features, cartoon style strips, a younger generation target audience, bolder font and bigger headlines; making up the tabloid as we know it today. Hugh Cudlipp was soon brought in to the paper. The paper did not include any politics unlike the Rothermere generation and started to bring in other similar feature of today's tabloids such as nude women. The paper was once again strong with during the second world war; a time where the paper could use letters to answer questions of soldiers and families back home as well as photos of the war itself once again, as well as pro war propaganda.
Senior Mirror staff were even put on a death list during the war, and the offices of the Mirror were the only paper to be bombed by the Nazi's. The paper took the side of the young soldiers againt the 'old men' such as officers.
Bart soon became the chairman of the Mirror, but he was soon voted out of the company by the board of directors, many of whom Bart had installed into the Mirror himself, once again a journalist was consigned to the gutter as a drunk, dying only a few months later.
I enjoyed this first lecture and seminar and look forward to more lectures like this; I found the history of the tabloids as relevant and needed to the topic of modernism but also to broaden my knowledge of the history of journalism.
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