After thoroughly enjoying learning about the history of the tabloid papers last term, this term we moved onto parts 2 and 3 which were again very interesting to read about.
From these two sections I have to admit that I am still surprised at the number of journalists who were simply drunks and alcoholics, and how this level of drinking in the news room was accepted as the norm and very often seen as strange if they didn't drink. Despite this the tabloid that we know today is formed from the days of the newsroom filled with alcoholics! This was mentioned in the seminar, as was the strange manner of many of the top journalists such as Bart who would often hit people round the head with wood and was illiterate! These make for a strange combination and often makes me wonder how the paper's made their deadlines in time. I also found it amazing at the items that were claimed as expenses and the relaxed nature, due to the amount of money that the paper was making at certain point in history.
Starting in the 1950's the Mirror and the Express were the two largest selling tabloids and were in direct competition with each other. New editor Jack Nener sacked a lot of the staff from Bart's era and the paper was reshaped meaning that it became the biggest selling newspaper in the country; selling to younger readers. At this point paper was rationed and therefore the paper had to be condensed so that no space was wasted and that as many adverts and news stories could be placed into such a small newspaper. The Mirror at the time contained stories of sex, violence and human interest, often releasing SHOCK ISSUES; with stories of poverty, child abuse and other campaigns which brought in a lot of readers. Cassandra was the star writer and advertising revenue was flooding in; a good time for the Mirror.
Some of the Express staff were soon bought to the Mirror as a result of the higher wages that the Mirror was offering. King, Cudlipp and Cassandra were all seen as homophobes as a result of many of their insensitive articles, often calling homosexuals 'sex perverts'. This was made worse when Liberace; a gay columnist was attacked in a article by Cassandra which had to be settled in court.
In 1959 the newsprint ration ended which increased competition between papers. As well as this in 1956 ITV was created which meant that advertising could now be deployed on TV meaning that ITV was in direct competition with the tabloid newspapers, which had the same audience.
By the 1960's the Mirror was trying to target a younger audience and the Express was now very old fashioned as Beaverbrook was now in his 80's. The Mirror moved to its new offices in Fleet street and were selling more than 5 million copies a day, making it the biggest paper in the world which it celebrated. Large numbers of journalists were hired by the Mirror at this time, often stocking up so that the other papers did not have quality journalists, meaning that competition was limited. Many journalists could go months without having an article published.
King was not often involved directly with the paper and this was something that Cudlipp liked. King soon bought Oldham magazines as part of his empire; controlling over 200 magazines in the USA, UK and France whilst also having a stake in ITV which included the Daily Herald which was then changed into The Sun after a re-launch. The Sun was a paper for 'young steak eaters' and sold over 3 million copies on its first day. However it soon became a liability as sales collapsed and its last edition came in 1969.
The headline 'Enough is enough' came from the Mirror asking prime minister Harold Wilson to leave office, and this had enourmous effect as the Mirror had always supported labour, however after a fall out between King and Wilson over European policy and the economic crisis, King wanted a dictator to rule and predicted the collapse of labour. King believed that King was ruining the country but that the Tories were just as bad King talked to Mosley, lord Louis Mountbatten and Solly Zuckerman about preparing a coup, however all three were against the idea and the plans fell through. King had dealings with the intelligence services and worked with Ireland. However King was eventually found out after a publivation highlighting the details of the meetings.
Cudlipp, with the support of the board, sacked King after a coup to get him out. This made big TV news. Cudlipp however, felt grim about leading the Mirror forward, he was a journalist and no a businessman. The sacking of King meant that all connections with the Harmsworth family were gone.
Rupert Murdock eased in the British newspaper industry buying The News of the World in 1968. The paper had big financial problems which were solved by Murdoch. Murdoch then took over the Sun so that the News of the World had a daily paper as well to help it financially. The Sun was now competition for the Mirror, but Cudlipp underestimated Murdoch and chose to ignore The Sun altogether, while The Mirror was crashing to disaster.
Larry Lamb was editor at The Sun and previously worked at The Mirror but left after not being given the editors role. The team at The Sun was largely made up of former Mirror staff who wanted the paper to be like The Mirror in its best days. However their attempt failed and The Mirror was like the 1930's Mirror but a much worse version and no one wanted to work for The Sun. It had spelling mistakes, layout issues and blotchy pictures, but this was soon ironed out and became better value for money.
The Mirror was launched as a quality tabloid to look more upmarket, it was full of young journalists but turned out to be a catastrophe. The readers did not like that it was upmarket as it wasn't like the old Mirror. Projected losses were at 5 million a year. The Mirror treated news agents badly and the paper was pushed to the back, whereas the Sun gave news agents bonuses for sales and therefore sold better. The Mirrors loss of sales to The Sun were devastating. The Sun had massive sex content and WIN, FREE, SEX, on the front page which was a big success, as well as semi naked girls on page 3. The sun powered ahead while Cudlipp still refused to take The Sun seriously. The Mirror tried page 3 girls but was told to stop by the board.
The Mirror tried to bring back the SHOCK ISSUES, but The Sun powered ahead with the two locked in a circulation battle. Cudlipp left The Mirror in 1974 and Tony Miles took over, with Mike Molloy taking over as day to day editor. But sales dropped after their takeover as the Mirror tried to introduce more sex, features, investigation scoops and an attempt to take readers from the Express. The Sun was now the biggest sellling paper in the country and Molloy blamed everyone for this; he enjoyed the power but didnt actually do much work, as The Sun continued to power ahead after a strike by Mirror journalists over pay. The Mirror was later sold to Robert Maxwell.
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