The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism

(Hardback)

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Description

The Newsmongers unfolds the seedy history of tabloid journalism, from the first printed 'Strange Newes' sheets of the sixteenth century to the sensationalism of today's digital age. The narrative weaves from Regency gossip writers through New York's 'yellow journalism' battles to the 'sex and sleaze' Sun of the 1970s; and from the Brexit-backing populism of the Daily Mail to the celebrity-obsessed Mail Online of the 2000s. Colourful figures such as Daniel Defoe, Lord Northcliffe, Hugh Cudlipp, Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell are brought to vivid life. From scandalous confessions to the Leveson Inquiry, the book explores journalists' unscrupulous methods, taking in phone hacking, privacy breaches and bribery. In the digital era, popular journalism succumbed to 'churnalism' while a certain royal is seeking revenge on the tabloids today.

Reviews

"A first-class book from a first-class journalist. Kirby tells a highly readable story that whisks us from the age of deference by way of scandal, sleaze and sensation to the era of clickbait, the Kardashians and rampant criminality. The Newsmongers presents a more than timely insight into the most powerful political force in the United Kingdom today: the tabloid press."--Brian Cathcart, former professor of journalism at Kingston University and a former director of Hacked Off
"Like its subject, this book is not only accessible and entertaining, but a detailed, critical and authoritative history of a vital and controversial part of our culture and politics. At the very moment when newspapers are most challenged, The Newsmongers reminds us that journalism is always changing and that the popular press is often the most innovative."--Charlie Beckett, founding director of Polis and professor in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics

Author Bio

Terry Kirby is a senior lecturer in journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London, and author of The Trials of the Baroness (1991). He has been a journalist for more than four decades and has worked for local, regional and national newspapers.