Commercialisation and tabloidisation: Journalism as infotainment

Full text

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Beyond Fun: Media Entertainment,
Politics and Democracy in Nigeria

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … … … i
Title/Author … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … iii
Copyright … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … iv
Acknowledgements … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … v
Dedication … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … vi
Foreword … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … … vii - viii
Contributors … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … … … ix
Table of Contents … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … x
CHAPTER 1: Entertainment in the Making of a Nation
OLUYINKA ESAN … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 01
CHAPTER 2: Politics of Visuals and Gender Ideology in the Nigeria
Entertainment Industry: Feminists' Perspectives
ADESINA LUKUMAN AZEEZ … … … … … … … … … … … 23
CHAPTER 3: Content Analysis Of Women's Portrayals In Nigerian Video Films
OF YORUBA, KANYWOOD AND NOLLYWOOD
MUHAMMAD BASHIR ALI … … … … … … … … … … … … 50
CHAPTER 4: Music for All Seasons: Timeless Value of Apala and Sakara
Indigenous Music
ISRAEL FADIPE … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 79
CHAPTER 5: Music as Tool for Development Communication
IFEOMA VIVIAN DUNU AND GODFREY EKENE OKAFOR … … 95
CHAPTER 7: The Marriage of the Popular and the Political: A CriticalAnalysis of
Nigerian Hip Hop Music in Electoral Campaign Discourse
OLUWASEGUN OMIDIORA, ESTHER AJIBOYE & TAIWO ABIOYE… 121
CHAPTER 8: Globalization, Hybridization and Hip Hop Music in Nigeria
ROTIMI WILLIAMS OLATUNJI … … … … … … … … … … … 142
CHAPTER 9: Music as a Mechanism for Political Propaganda in Nigeria: An
Examination of the Propaganda Techniques in Ga Baba Buhari Ga
Mai Malafa Song during the 2015 Presidential Election
HASSAN ALHAJI YA'U AND ABUBAKAR MUHAMMAD ADAMU … 157
CHAPTER 10: The Use of Music as a Medium of Advocacy for the
Sustainability of Urhobo Culture and Tradition: A Study of
Ofua's Oratory and Musical Exploits
MAJORITY OJI … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 179
CHAPTER 11: Commercialisation and Tabloidisation:
Journalism as Infotainment
LAI OSO & S. OLASUNKANMI AROWOLO… … … … … … … 193
CHAPTER 12: Mimetic Monitors: The Political and the Playful in Selected Memes
on a Nigerian Online Forum
AYO ADEDUNTAN & DEBORAH N. DIKE … … … … … … … 212
CHAPTER 13: Cartoons and Socio-Political Communication: An Iconographic
Analysis of the Visual Communication Genre
GANIYU A. JIMOH … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 226

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CHAPTER 14: Cartooning in Nigerian newspapers: An analysis of political and
corruption issues in selected Nigerian newspapers
SEMIU BELLO & BIODUN ALESHINLOYE … … … … … … … … 241
CHAPTER 15: Communicating Change: Social Justice, Human Dignity and the
Intercourse of Medicine and Fiction in Tunde Kelani's Dazzling
Mirage
TUNJI AZEEZ & BABAFEMI BABATOPE … … … … … … … … 254
CHAPTER 16: Portrayal of Moral Lessons in Nigerian Movies: A Study of Tunde
Kelani's Maami
LANRE OLAOLU AMODU, OLADOTUN, MOTUNRAYO AMINAT,
OLUSOLA OYERO AND THELMA EKANEM … … … … … … 267
CHAPTER 17: Izu Ojukwu, Nollywood and the Social Change Imperative
AÑULIKA AGINA … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 278
CHAPTER 18: Edutainment for Development: An Assessment of 'I Need To
Know' and 'Edge of Paradise’
TOLULOPE KAYODE-ADEDEJI AND FUNKE OMOLE … … … 289
CHAPTER 19: Critical Appraisal of Disney's Use of Animation Movies to
Propagate Homosexual Culture among Children
CHINENYE NWABUEZE AND EMMANUEL ODISHIKA … … … 306
CHAPTER 20: Nollywood and Ethics: Pausing to Consider
KEMI OGUNYEMI… … … … … … … … … … … … … … 321
CHAPTER 21: Film Scoring in Nollywoodua:
Exploring the foreground-background discordancy
OLADOKUN OMOJOLA, USAINI SULAIMANU & DALYNTON
YARTEY… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 336
CHAPTER 22: Beyond Entertainment: Popular Culture, Politics and
Broadcasting in Northern Nigeria
BY UMARU PATE & SAMA'ILA SHEHU… … … … … … … … 347
CHAPTER 23: Laughing into the Presidential Suites: A Content Analysis of
the 2015 Nigerian Presidential Election Television Campaign
Commercials
STELLA A. ARIRIGUZOH AND AMOKA EUNICE… … … … … 362
CHAPTER 24: Transport Literature & Popular Culture in Kano State, Nigeria
HASSAN ALHAJI YA'U… … … … … … … … … … … … … 374
CHAPTER 25: Changing Patterns of Accessing Hausa Video Films 1990-2014
BINTA KASIM MOHAMMED… … … … … … … … … … … 399
CHAPTER 26: Popular Culture: Mediating Politics and Governance in Nigeria
LAI OSO, GANIYAT TIJANI-ADENLE & RAHEEMAT ADENIRAN 408

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Commercialisation and Tabloidisation:
Journalism as Infotainment
Lai OSO and S. Olasunkanmi AROWOLO
Introduction
There seems to be a general consensus on the character of journalism as a truth-telling
enterprise. As an institution and a social practice, journalism is expected to write and report
real events in the world, giving the public facts that have been objectively selected and
processed. The core values demand of the practitioner evidence-based narrative of
happening and events in the real world. In journalism “facts are sacred…” is a well-known
cliche. As Dahlgren as noted the political and societal assumptions and epistemological
premises underpinning the practice of journalism are based on liberal enlightenment
thinking;
…the notion of reason's capacity to provide secure knowledge about the
world, the possibility for unproblematical representation of such knowledge,
the belief in the integrated and antonomous subject and the tendency to neat
dualisms and polarities such as rational /irrational, mind/matter and
logical/mythical (Dahlgren, 1992, p.9).
The practice and discourses on journalism based on this social and philosophical
assumptions tend “to down play such historical and institutional aspects of Journalism's
intersection with advertising and entertainment and underscore journalism's role in the
rational transfer of socially and politically useful information” (ibid, p.7).
In journalism, just as fact is separated from opinion, so is the news/current affairs separated
from entertainment. In newsroom hierarchy, those who report politics, economics/business
enjoy higher prestige than entertainment reporters. In fact, in broadcasting, the division
between the news and entertainment is quite clearly reflected in the designation of the
produces of the two; journalists produce the news, while producers produce entertainment
drama, children programmes, musicals, talk-shows. The Director of News and Current
Affairs is different from the Director of Programmes. Journalism, through the news,
features, editorials and commentaries is expected to provide information and knowledge
while entertainment is for fun and laughter, relaxation and escape. Journalism mirrors the
world of reality, entertainment is the realm of fantasy.
Politics in particular resides in the domain of news and public affairs broadcasting. Civic
education, public opinion and citizens engagement with politics are the preserve of what can
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CITATION:
Oso, L. and Arowolo, S. O. (2019). Commercialisation and tabloidisation: Journalism as
infotainment. In L. Oso, R. Olatunji, O. Omojola & S. Oyero, Beyond fun: Media
Entertainment, Politics and Development in Nigeria (pp. 193-211). Lagos: Malthouse Press
Limited.

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be considered serious aspect of journalism. Citizens are expected to experience politics and
make meanings out of political events through news reports. News and public affairs media
are often regarded as the politically relevant media useful for democratic practice. Politics and
democracy are serious issues that should not be reduced to fun and amusement that
entertainment cannotes. As Brants once remarked “political communication (is) meant to
inform about issues and points of view and not to entertain with personalities and images
“(Brants, 2005, p.103). While the news reports serious events and issues dealing with reality
and objectively searching for the truth, entertainment is viewed with a hint of distain;
insignificant and escapist (Frith, 2000). The contrast between journalism, as the main
expression of the public sphere and 'popular' journalism is aptly put by Martin Conboy,
“the public sphere has always functioned as a predominantly serious space, with an emphasis
on 'communicative rationality: popular culture journalism has always rivalled the space… the
popular press as it has developed in the 20th century has a much closer rapport with laughter
and the lighter side of life (Conboy, 2008, p. 113).
While serious journalism elevated the standard and quality of public discourse, tabloid
journalism lowers it thus posing a threat to democracy.
However, Delli Carpini and Williams (2001) argue that the distinction between informative
news/public affairs media and entertainment is a social construction that tells us more about
the distribution of power than about the political relevance of different genre (p. 103). The
separation mirrors the argument about the difference between high/elite culture and popular
culture. High or elite culture caters to the educated, the experts who are endowed with the
ability for rational and reasoned thinking while popular culture is the culture of the ignorant
masses. This distinction between elite and mass audience resulted in “the elevation and
celebration of that which was enjoyed by elites and a parallel devaluation of “the popular” as
indicated in the works of the Frankfurt School popular culture is commercial culture,
produced to appeal to the emotion, stuffs for escape and diversion. On the other hand the
news media are expected to produce the type of information and knowledge that will furnish
the elite the cognitive resources for participation in public affairs and politics. In order to
perform its civic function, the news must be objective, accurate, balanced and fair. Facts must
be separated from opinions. Noting the division between the two and their respective
audiences, Delli Carpini and Williams observe that,
Distinction between public affairs and popular media were also maintained by
the nature of their respective audiences. Readers of prestige news magazines
and newspapers and viewers of public affairs broadcasting were a self-
selected segment of the population – a more elite social, economic, and
political strata of citizens. This elite audience signaled the serious nature of
what was being read or watched, distinguishing if from popular media (2001,
p.165).

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In a way, the division exhibits a class bias. As Sparks once remarked “when we make judgment
about tabloids, we are judging audience and we are entering the explosive terrain of social
worth” (Spark, 2000, p.2.).
News and public affairs journalism has also been walled off from entertainment in order to
protect its sacredness (Broddason, 2005) from the pernicious and corrupting influence of
commercialism which entertainment also connotes. News, as Hallin has observed is expected
to serve the public, “not simply the market” (Hallin, 2000, p.218).
But the wall separating the news from entertainment seems have been largely demolished by
recent changes in the socio-economic and technological environment of media production.
As Delli Carpini and Williams noted “this new media environment is a hostile one for
maintaining the always fragile distinction between public affairs and entertainment” (ibid. p.
166). The boundaries of journalism, ever so porous has been very difficult to maintain and
protect from intrusion by so many other social forces, the entire discursive edifice of
journalism has suffered so many assault that attempts at boundary maintenance has or more
or less become impossible.
The mass media are at a critical juncture, changes in technology, the political economy of
media (the commercial and competitive pressures on the media) and the composition and
taste of the audience have fundamentally affected the philosophical and ideological
foundation on which journalism practice is built.
The increasing intrusion of entertainment values and style into journalism has been
attributed to changes in the practice of politics by political actors, politicians and other social
actors are becoming more and more image conscious, employing marketing and public
relations tools in getting access to the public and attracting attention. In this emerging
promotional culture, it becomes difficult to separate political communication from popular
culture (Street,1997, p.57). In this context, Street further explains political communication.
…is not just about conveying information or about persuading people
through the force of argument. It is about capturing the popular imagination,
about giving acts and ideas symbolic importance. This means drawing on the
techniques on those who are practiced in these arts: advertisers and television
producers. It also means borrowing from the rhetoric and practices of the
populism that popular culture embodies, (ibid).
In driving home this argument, Street states that the pressure to produce image conscious
politics is the same pressure that is pushing news and entertainment into ever closer contact.
It should be noted at this point that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
have further encouraged numerous media productions just as it has made exposure and
consumption of media products easy in a tremendous way. Also, improvements in these

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media technologies are shifting power away from the traditional media.
Liberalised access has increased the quantum of competing information available to the
public, with amateurs, citizen journalists, comedians, producers of drama and film now
actively competing with journalists. Audience can access varying information on-the-go
through mobile devices. These consumers can also interact with the content they consume.
Technology has encouraged greater participation of the public in media production through
phone-in programmes, talk shows and i-reports. The point is that technology has
fundamentally altered the cultural environment, particularly in terms of elite definition and
control of what is relevant political media and information. As McNair (2006) has theorised
the media and cultural environment has become quite chaotic. The competition for readers
and viewers is pushing the traditional news media towards what has been called tabloidization
or dumbing-down, lowering standard. The news in this competitive commercial
environment must be made interesting to be marketable. To achieve this produces of political
communication draws on the techniques of advertisers, rhetoric and practices of populism
(Street, 1997, p.57). Tabloid culture has drawn not only from journalism but also from talk
show, popular factual programming and reality television (Biressi and Nunn, 2008).
Hallin has shown that the separation of journalism from business has given way to the
concept of total newspapering i.e. “the idea that circulation, sales and editorial effort must be
integrated, all directed towards the project of marketing news –information” (Hallin, 2000,
p.221). The scholar goes further to attribute the shift towards what he terms market-driven
journalism to two schools of thought-readership theory, and stockholder theory.
The readership theory, which seems to chimes with the postulations of cultural studies, holds
that to stem the tide of dwindling circulation newspapers must be more responsive to the
tastes of the public who now have access to more sources of information.
Commercialisation of news is justified in terms of giving the readers what they want. Public
interest becomes what is of interest to the public.
On the other hand, stockholder theory holds that the media owners are no more just
interested in the prestige that comes with ownership but want higher profit from their
investment. Such owners apart from cutting cost of production want to produce consumer-
oriented newspapers and broadcast programmes. This involves market research and shift
toward softer news (Hallin, ibid, p.222).
The point is that newspapers must maximize readership instead of serving a tiny elite fraction
of the populace. Infotainment and tabloidization are strategies for reaching a wider segment
of the population.
Franklin has offered a comprehensive description and criticism of this development:
Journalism editorial priorities have changed. Entertainment has superseded
the provision of information, human interest has supplanted the public

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interest, measure judgement has succumbed to sensationalism; the trivial has
triumphed over the weighty; the intimate relationships of celebrities…are
judged more ''news worthy'' than the reporting of significant
issues…infotainment is rampant.
The author goes further,
Since the late 1980s the pressures on news media to win viewers and readers in
an increasingly competitive market have generated revised editorial ambition.
News media have increasingly become part of the entertainment industry
instead of providing a forum for informed debate of key issues of public
concern. Journalists are more concerned to report stories which interest the
public than stories which are in the public interest (Franklin, 2008, p.13).
As commercial pressure bites harder, especially from social media and entertainment media
particularly among the youth, the conventional media will increasingly adopt tabloid format
and borrow techniques from marketing communication in order to make ends meet.
The adoption of this form of journalism is justified on two ground. First the news
organisation needs to survive. The decline in the market for news as traditionally defined has
forced journalist to “develop new kind of news that can reverse the trend” (Sparks 2000, p.9).
The second related issue is the issue of relevance. The tabloid style of news is seen as a way of
not only reaching readers but also of making the news relevant to their lived realities of the
audience.
However, whatever may be the reasons adduced by scholars and practitioners, there is a
general consensus that there has been a shift in the practice of journalism which historically is
supposed to nurture the public sphere and enhance citizen engagement with democratic
politics to a more popular form of journalism which as Neveu and Kuhn has noted is
associated with a “lexicon of threats”- adversarial reporting, public affairs, cynicism,
dumbing-down, infotainment, newzak, populism, sleaze and tabloidisation” (2002, p.11).
Tabloid defined
The term, tabloid has become a troubled concept, very difficult to define. However, it now
points to a dumbing down of media content and a weakening of the ideal function of mass
media in liberal democracies (Biressi and Nunn, 2008, p.1)
The term tabloid is a homograph – having more than one meaning. Tabloid may mean a
particular size of newspaper (a compact size of the broadsheet) or a particular form of
journalism. However, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (updated edition)
captures aspects of the two different meanings of the term: 'a newspaper that has small
pages, a lot of photographs, and stories mainly about sex, famous people e.tc rather than
serious news (broadsheet).

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The term tabloid is most often used to represent, the newspaper whose stock in trade is the
human interest, graphically told story, heavy on pictures and short, pithy, highly stereotyped
prose (Bird, 1992, p.8).
Sterling in Encyclopedia of Journalism explains the term when he posit thus:
Strictly speaking, the term tabloid refers to some newspaper size, which is half
that of a standard broadsheet. However, over the years it has taken on broader
definition that has less to do with size and more to do with the presentation
and styles of news (Sterling, 2009).
Sterling goes further espousing the term as becoming more of formulaic aspect of
journalism characterized by,
colourful narrative, coupled with dramatic visuals, and usually perceived as
distinct from standard, 'objective' styles of journalism (op. cit., 2009).
It is becoming increasing difficult to distinguish a tabloid newspaper by its size and shape. For
instance, almost all Nigerian newspapers adopt the so called tabloid size but they are not
strictly speaking tabloid in terms of content. It is only The Sun that unabashly proclaims
itself as a tabloid. The others are likely see themselves in a more serious light. In this case,
some distinguish between the quality and popular newspapers. In this context the emphasis
in defining the tabloid is on content and the goal of journalism. In terms of content the
tabloid devotes relatively little attention to politics, economics and society and relatively
much more to diversions like sports, scandal, and popular entertainment. It also devotes
relatively much more attention to the personal and private lives of people both celebrities and
ordinary people, and relatively little to political processes, economic development and social
changes (Sparks, ibid, p.10).
In terms of goals and social purpose of journalism the emphasis is on entertainment,
audience maximisation and profit making. In a nutshell, the term, tabloid now refers to not
just physical size or format of a newspaper but to how content is treated and presented, to the
attitudes and values that are commonly attached to these formats (Birresi and Nunn, 2008,
p.7).
It may be right to posit that the mass media has shifted its focus from their basic functions –
information and education to dwelling more on the entertainment. This has given rise to
another form of journalism labelled 'infotainment' – a fast growing practice. Communication
scholars like Collins Sparks, Christopher Sterling and Peter Golding have criticized this fast
growing media practice as “inferior and appealing to basic instinct and public demand for
sensationalism over information” (Sterling, 2009, p. ). Sparks in the same light notes “a
particular mystery as to what the nature of the news value of this 'popular journalism' is”
(Sparks, 2003, p._) and thus how it is designed to fulfil the perceived needs of readers. Tabloid
operates under some principles, according to Watson, 'they speak for their readers about
what is important in society and about what is of concern'. Watson theorized that,

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the tendency in practice is to fuse public interest and what interests the public
to the point where what interest the public is of public interest (Watson, 2003,
p.146).
The problem posed by tabloid journalism is that if content doesn't attract the interest of
readers, such contents are considered unworthy for publication. This is mainly driven by the
commercial interest of mass media organisations. Media owners are becoming more
interested in boosting newspaper circulation (with sensational contents) against delivery of
serious (or important) contents that are expected to underpin citizens' democratic
engagement.
It is therefore important to note that tabloidisation permits that even when a serious issue
arises, it may be killed because it is neither of readers' interest, nor within the tabloid tradition.
On the other hand, when such an issue is not ignored, it may be trivialised or sensationalised,
turning the issue into an object of fun and laugther.
James Watson in his book, Media Communication: An Introduction to Theory and Process
pointed out the criteria for tabloid news values. The determiners are summarised as C+5s:
Celebrity
Sex
Sensation
Scandal
Sleaze
Soap
He explained, “if celebrity does not already exist, the C+5s are means to achieving it (tabloid
news value). Once achieved, celebrity will qualify as a news value to the degree to which it is
served by one, two, three or all the initiating and sustaining S-values”.
Watson sums the explanations by acknowledging thus, “entertainment is the dominant news
value, not just in the western media but wherever commercial interests find room to take root
and expand” (Watson, 2003, p._).
According to Rodman, tabloid media use any device they could in the attempt to increase
circulation and put the other papers out of business. He identified some such devices as
“everything from sensationalistic stories to halftone printing of photographs on newsprint.
Another gimmick was colour comics, a technological marvel of the time (Rodman, 2010,
p.94). For tabloid journalism, strangeness and novelty are important criteria of a publishable
story (op. cit., p. 96). According to the scholar, he argued that 'two-headed births were
apparently more important than major treaties; an insane person's descent into cannibalism
got more space than a president's policy.' This shows the extent to which the tabloid
sensational practice has eaten deep into journalism practice.
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The Evolution
Although, some scholars have argued that tabloids began in Britain and the United States in
the 1920s, Sterling has argued that “the roots of tabloid journalism can be traced back further
to the sensational broadsheets and ballads of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
which circulated by the thousands in Europe and the United States” (Sterling, 2009).
Bird has also traced the roots of tabloid “back hundreds of years” (Bird, 1992). According to
her, the ancestors of today's is tabloid newspapers are the 17th century “broadside ballads
and newsbooks…packed with tales of strange and wonderful happenings, murders, natural
disasters , unusual births and omens.” The growth of the 'penny press” in the 1800s further
gave impetus to the sensational style that is characteristic of the tabloid. According to the
scholar,
Standard journalism history tends to suggest that this style was something
quite new neglecting to consider the non-newspaper roots of this kind of
journalism in the broadside ballads which continued to be influence and be
influenced by newspaper throughout the nineteenth century (ibid, p.13).
Lee (1976) has also shown that shift from serious political press to one interested in printing
less serious matters could be traced to the emergence of 'new journalism' in the 1880s.
John Tulloch has also argued that the debate on tabloid has been a reoccurring one in the
history of journalism. According to him, “indeed it's arguable that the current talking point
of 'tabloidization' is merely the latest spin on a debate that goes back to over a hundred years
and is reinvented every generation” (Tulloch 2000, p133).
Joseph Dominick also posits that following the end of the World War I, there was an
appearance with the consolidated trend of Jazz Journalism in New York between 1919 and
1924. This style of Journalism was “characterized by two features: (1) They were tabloids; and
(2) they were richly illustrated with photographs (Dominick, 2009, p.87). Dominick went
further, “after a slow start, by 1924…tabloid was easy for people to handle with photos and
cartoons, and the writing styles was simple and short.
The Nigerian experience
The elements of infotainment are already evident in the early Lagos press, especially in the
Yoruba language newspapers of the 1920 (Barber, 2012). The West African Pilot established
by Dr. Nnamdi in 1937 introduced the style of the American penny press into Nigerian
Journalism, deviating from the literary style of its predecessors.
Human interest publications became prominent in the 1980s – during the nation's economic
crisis leading to the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986
(Olatunji and Jimoh, 2014). Olatunji and Jimoh compared this development with an
informed claim by Muhammed (1991) that the major reason behind the proliferation of

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human interest publication in the 1980s was profit maximization.
Considering the evolution of tabloidization in Nigeria as explained by Olatunji and Jimoh the
first magazine to be published in Nigeria was In Leisue Hour by Christian Missionary Society
in 1917. Although, a religious publication, it focused on human interest issues. In 1919 and
1937, African Hope and Catholic Life – additional religious publications followed
respectively.
Consequently in the 70s, “a serious attempt at the publication of human interest magazines
was championed by the Daily Times of Nigeria which introduced the Spear, Drum and
Woman's World magazines (Hachten 1971, p.155), magazines such as Trust, Sadness, and Joy,
Modern Woman and Poise were added by the Daily Times in the decades of the 1970s and
1980s” (Olatunji and Jimoh, 2014).
Olatunji and Jimoh also identified the existence of Lagos Fun and Lagos Weekend
publications of the Daily Times, The Punch newspapers, Wale Adenuga's Super Story (1976)
and Ikebe Super, which was later added as a comic magazine. They went further,
In the 1980s, prominenet human interest magazines were Fun Time (1984);
Prime People (1986) and Climax (1988). The Hints, Today's choice, Akapa's
Top Magazine, Quality, Classique and Whispers magazines came later in that
decade. To the above list may be added Top Fun, Punch Fun, Super Woman
and Fantasy. From the period of the 1990s to the present, the prominent
human interest magazines in the country include National Encomium,
National Excel, Poise, The New Women, Crown Prince and City Life. The
others are the Empress, Fame Society People, Lover Expert, Global
Excellence, Hearts & Soul, Hints & TP and Treasure. Lately the Sun Dailies
and Weeklies [The Sun newspapers] have been added (Olatunji and Jimoh,
2014, p. 21).
Other soft-sell publications in Nigeria include: Quality magazine (July, 1987), which Olatunji
and Jimoh describe as 'child of circumstance'. This is because it sprang up after Newswatch
was banned for publishing report of Political Bureau set up by Babangida government. The
report was yet to be released before the publication by Newswatch. Hints magazine (1989), a
form of romance journalism. Fame magazine was incorporated on 6th July, 1990, inspired by
the success of Hints, Hearts magazine debuted on 14th March, 1995. This was accompanied
by Ovation magazine in 1996. Olatunji and Jimoh noted “one unique feature of Ovation is its
generous use of pictures to portray the life of affluent and successful African throughout the
world”. The magazine appears in three different editions – Ovation magazine, Ovation
International magazine (America) and Ovation International magazine (Africa). On 27th of
May, 1997, Encomium magazine was established. Encomium has published many exclusive
stories on prominent individuals and celebrities including Ojukwu and Bianca romance and
many scoops from Fela Anikulapo Kuti's family, amidst other. In 2002, Treasure People and
Life (TPL) made its debut in Lagos. TPL “had the primary aim of positively impacting on the
lives of people through the experiences and challenges that known personalities and ordinary

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people have gone through and excelled in.” TPL is an interview based human interest
magazine. It prided itself as not just a soft sell but a lifestyle magazine devoid of 'sleave and
gossips'” (Olatunji and Jimoh, 2014, p. 27). Global Excellence hit the street of Lagos in 1999
featuring celebrity politicians. In November 1996, City People magazine – known for
generous use of pictures on its cover pages was also established while October 2006 marks
the entrance of First Weekly magazine which debuted as a 'general interest magazine with
focus on celebrities, entertainment, politics and varieties' (op. cit., p. 27).
These developments were succeeded by The Sun Publishing Limited, incorporated in 2001,
debuting his publication The Sun on June 16, 2003. The Sun newspapers, branding itself,
“Nigeria's king of tabloids” is a replica in design and content of The Sun of the United
Kingdom. In reality, the newspaper is contemporarily the leading tabloid in the Nigeria media
space.
It is important to mention here that the development of tabloidization in Nigeria began
predominantly from magazine publications. However, the elements of tabloids and/or
human interest are found on the pages of most newspapers and are on the increase. Though
most of Nigeria's newspaper devote a lot of attention to politics, the treatment of such
political stories is another matter. In line with the cantankerous and theatrical actions of
Nigerian politicians, such stories are often sensationalised, designed to entertain the public.
Increasing a lot of space being devoted to sports and the private lives of music and
Nollywood celebrities.
In order to maximise sales at the quality and popular ends of the market, Nigerian
newspapers incorporate features of both in their publications. For instance, the newspaper
regarded as the flagship of quality journalism in the country, The Guardian has been forced
by market pressure to adopt some of the feature of tabloidisation. At the inception in 1983,
the writing style was literary with a definite slant to the elite end of the market. Stories
published by The Guardian were also longer in length, providing more context and in-depth
analysis. The stories are now shorter and the writing style more populist, in an idiom
recognisable and relevant to more readers outside a narrow highly educated and elite circle.
The front pages of the papers exhibit tabloid design format and style-bold, sometimes
screaming headlines and full of pictures. The first pages are designed more or less as 'news
billboard' advertising stories published in the inside pages. On daily basis, pages are devoted
to news of crime, sports and entertainment. Stories of celebrities are quite common, so also
dramatised stories of corruption and scandals. In an environment characterized by dwindling
circulation, shrinking advertising patronage, and high level competitions, Nigerian
newspapers do everything possible to attract the readers. Writing on the emerging trend, Oso
has argued that:
The adoption by most news organisations of tabloid news values exemplified
by the increasing use of sensational headlines and conflict/negative stories,

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entertainment features and human interest stories, shorter-story length and
reduced coverage of hard news is part of the strategy of attracting
advertisement (Oso, 2012, p. 50).
Sensationalism and Tabloidisation
Distorted journalistic reports can generate both false hopes and unwarranted
fear – (Ransohoff and Ransohoff, 2001).
Sensationalism has taken-over serious journalism practice. Sensationalism emphasises the
use of provocative subject matter, style or approach to reporting the news in the media.
Scholars have argued that sensationalism in tabloids is used to attract audience's attention.
This is targeted at expansion of newspaper readership and ensuring wider circulation.
However, tabloids are often accused of blowing media contents out of proportion. Many a
time facts are not verified before being published or broadcast. Objective analysis and
unbiased interpretation of news is seldom offered. This is contrary to the primary function
of journalism where journalists seek to report the truth and not some story modified to suit
the taste of consumers and advertisers (Source: http://myhazytirades.blogspot.co
m/2007/05 tabloidization-of-media.html.
Divya notes that sensational content has shock value and that sensationalism is used to attract
and engage the reader. He went further to say that a sensational writer aims at increasing the
curiosity and heightening the emotions of his audience. Hence, for tabloid journalism,
sensationalism is employed secondarily to arouse curiosity in the minds of the readers and
primarily to boost sells newspapers (this also get readers' subsequent desire to always read
tabloid newspapers). According to the author,
a reader is more likely to pick up a paper that has bold attractive headlines and
colour on the front page than an orthodox black and white design (Divya,
2014, p. 42).
In the early days, sensationalism in print journalism was used to inform the public about
corruption, bribery with the aim of inflaming the public spirit to fight for reform. But, due to
the growth of the television and film industry, sensationalism has extended its frontiers into
glorifying celebrities, politicians, entertaining the audience through human interest news.
These days, most news organisations find it difficult to avoid sensationalized or exaggerated
stories (Roberts, nd).
Consequently, the media have cultivated a desire to feed on people's hunger for
entertainment and instant gratification. Along the same line, a study ASNE found that 80%
of Americans believe sensationalized stories seem to have received more news coverage
because they are exciting not because they are newsworthy or serve greater good. According
to the study, American Public said they believe: “journalist chase sensational stories because

204
they think it will sell papers, not because they think it is important news”. In the same study,
the public believes that: “newspapers frequently over-dramatise some news stories just to
sell more papers” (Daily Source, n.d.).
This seems to suggest that celebrities are now viewed by the media as commodities and the
study of celebrities is a growing industry. Ordinary people are transformed into
extraordinary by the media and public. Media are now found to be forums for hype that
develop celebrities' status. Sensationalism and tabloidization are linked by the imperative of
commodification and commercialization of the media. Media contents and orientation are
now tailored toward commercialization thereby causing a shift from the fundamental
ideology of journalism.
Though Fiske has observed that defining characteristics of tabloid journalism are hard to
pin down, he identified its features as follows;
Its subject matter is generally that produced at the intersection between
public and private life, its style is sensational, sometimes skeptical, sometimes
moralistically earnest; its tone is populist; its modality fluidly denies any
stylistic difference between news and entertainment (Fiske, 1992, p. 48).
As many scholars have shown, the values that drive popular journalism which has been
identified as tabloid journalism are quite different from those of serious/quality journalism.
Their priorities are also different. Sparks (1992) has itemized the main concerns of tabloid
newspapers – relatively more preference for sports than to politics, more attention to human
interest than to economic life and heavy concentration on individuals (personality) than
institutions and contexts. He further explains “the nature of this difference … is one in
which the immediate issues of daily life are given priority over those concerns traditionally
ascribed to the 'public sphere.' The structure of “'the popular' in modern journalism is thus
one which is massively and systematically depoliticized” (p. 39).
The model of tabloid journalism puts a lot of emphasis on entertainment. As Sparks
observed in a later article “the serious business of informing the public about the
commonwealth and the profitable business of attracting readers, viewers, and listeners with
sensational entertainment confront each other as rival professional models” (Sparks, 2000,
p. 10).
It is on this point that many critics of tabloidization and popular journalism hinge their
criticism. The main concern in this regard is the role of the mass media in the democratic
process. To many critics, tabloidization “constitutes a crisis of democracy” (Sparks, 2000, p.
11). The general assumption is that tabloidization and similar words that commentators and
scholars have used to describe popular journalism constitute a threat to democratic politics
and the idea of civic engagement. The growing rate tabloidization is seen as a further
evidence of the debasement of the public sphere and provide(s) the fuel for dangerous

205
populist flames” (Sparks, 2000, p.25). The main concern according to Biressi and Nunn
(2008, p. 10) is “that the consumerization of news content and competitive pressure on the
media industry allow less time and space for the conduct of serious political reportage and
investigative journalism” (2008, p. 10).
Tabloidization and infotainment critics charge has turned politics into spectacle,
performance style and entertainment. Critics also assume that infotainment divert people's
attention away from the serious matters of politics and public affairs to the mundane and
emotional.
According to Blumler, infortainment tends,
…to stage politics as spectacle and theatre and can suffer from glitziness
and shallowness…and all too often populist programmes degenerate in
bear pits (Blumler, 1997).
Thussu has also argued in a similar vein that infotainment is more than just dumbing down
but 'it works as a powerful discourse of diversion…” (Thussu, 2009, p. 9).
It has also been argued that infotainment allows politicians to escape the critical scrutiny of
political journalists. Brants has labelled this a “bypass strategy” which politicians might
employ either to mislead or hide something from the public (Brants, 2005, p. 113 -114).
In defense of Tabloidization
Many scholars and commentators have argued that what is now deplored as tabloidization or
infotainment is nothing new, and that it is a case “of crying wolf” (Franklin, 2008, p. 14). It is
argued that the media have always operate under two conflicting goals – “providing
information that is essential to citizens in a democracy while at the same time entertaining
the public” (ibid). What seems to be happening under current market-driven situation is that
the balance seems to have shifted more towards entertaining content and style of
presentation.
More importantly however, those who defend and celebrate popular journalism anchor their
arguments on a fundamental issue – access to the media space by the ordinary people. They
also base their argument on the age-long opposition between the elite and the popular in
cultural studies.
On access, scholars like McNair and Fiske have argued the tabloidization afford the ordinary
people opportunity to see their concerns reflected in the media. As many studies have
shown, serious journalism has the tendency to concentrate attention on concerns, activities
and views of the powerful to the almost total neglect of those of ordinary citizens. The news
media are remote from the daily experiences of the man on the street. On this score,
defenders of tabloidization have noted that the model and style of journalism it represents

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“addresses issues that are of more direct concern to most people than are the deeds of the
leaders of politics and business.” (Sparks, 2000, p. 27). Tabloid journalism makes “certain
aspects of the world more accessible to its audience (Dahlgren, 1995, p. 60). John Fiske, a
noted defender of popular culture and its subversive potential has argued that because the,
public sphere has been so thoroughly, an often corruptly, colonized by
the power-bloc the people have directed their interests towards the
micro-politics of everyday life than to the macro-politics of socio-
economic structures (Fiske, 1992, p.60).
Thus, he argues that the “perceived existential utility of tabloid journalism is quite high for
its audience.”
Popular news, which another scholar, Langer calls “the other news” is about 'us' about our
everyday experiences. It is of and about the ordinary which only becomes newsworthy in
official news under abnormal conditions (Fiske, 1992, p.58). The 'other news' can be a link to
the world of serious issues. It paves the way into it;
The mundane, the world of everyday life is the baseline from which 'other
news' occurrences gain news-worthiness: the fire occurs in an ordinary
house; the flood submerges an ordinary suburb; the explosion happens in an
ordinary hospital; the star has ordinary doubt about his abilities. Located in
the everyday world ourselves, this kind of emphasis 'call us out' as subjects in
a relation of equivalence which asserts that 'we' all share more or less the
same fundamental conditions of existence, a mutuality of 'being' in the
world. If there is a sense that the television news is exclusively about the
opinion and actions of the powerful, there is another in which it can be seen
to 'make room' for 'us' via our proxies in the “other news.” This space which
opens up interpellates us into the news so that, even if most coverage seems
remote or irrelevant, there is still an assurance granted: despite out
ordinariness, 'we' have a position in the unfolding scheme of things. Rather
than distracting audience away from “more important” issues… the “other
news” paves a way into the news discourse where those important issues
reside, functioning not to trivialize the serious news, but instead to act as an
identificatory wedge into it (Langer, 1998, p.30)
To Fiske and others, popular journalism offers the people resources to counter the
hegemony of the powerful ruling class. Taking off from Hall's theoretical formulation of
the opposition between the powerful and the people;
The people versus the power-bloc: this rather than 'class-against-class', is the
central line of contradiction around which the terrain of culture is polarized.
Popular culture, especially, is organised around the contradiction: the
popular forces versus the power-bloc (Hall, 1981, p. 238),

207
Fiske argues that popular news which he distinguishes from official, and alternative news, is
the news that people want, make and circulate among themselves (and) differ widely from
the which the power-bloc wishes them to have. Such news, according to him contradicts that
of the power-bloc, and does not pretend to adhere to the notion of objectivity. To Fiske,
Popular information…is partisan, not objective: it is information that serves the people's
interests, not information as the servant of an objective truth acting as a mask for
domination (Fiske, 1992, p. 92).
Fiske has further argued that popular news offers alternative version of reality to the official
one and “carries utopian fantasies of emancipation from the constraints of poverty and
perceived social failure.”
In some ways, popular journalism has helped to open the public sphere to the ordinary
people. It has enabled issues, concerns and values of the non-elite to be registered in public
debates. According to Hallin, “it has promoted popular interest in politics…by expressing
political issues in terms accessible to the mass public…has forced elite political actors to
address the concerns of the mass public provided forum for popular mass movements and
opinions, and symbolized their relevance to the political process” (Hallin, 2000, p. 281).
Biressi and Nunn has also argued that popular journalism should not just be seen as vehicles
for commercialism and ideological persuasion but also as potential sites of cultural struggle,
transgressive pleasures and media visibility for ordinary people and common culture”
(Biressi and Nunn, 2008, p.10). To these scholars, popular journalism has helped to open the
democratic space to popular concerns and issues and as such should be considered as part of
any democratic media system (Hallin, 2000, p. 282).
In this sense tabloid journalism could be said to provide an alternative public sphere to the
main stream elite dominated mediated public sphere. It provides visibility and
representation to the ordinary people who are most often shut out of the public arena
provided by mainstream “serious” journalism. As Ornebring and Jonsson have argued:
“(The) type of structural elitism in the mainstream mediated public sphere… creates a
need for one or several alternative public spheres, where different people debate different
issues in different ways” (Ornebring and Jonsson, 2008, p.25).
Drawing from the arguments of Nancy Fraser (1989) in her critique of Habermas theory of
public sphere, Ornebring and Jonsson argue that tabloid journalism could function in the
four related ways they conceptualize the public sphere:
· Different forum for public debates
· Other people participating in public debates other than those normally
dominating media discourse
· Being able to put other issues other than those commonly debated in the
mainstream media

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· Use of other ways or forms of debating and discussing common issues than those
commonly used in the mainstream media.
In other words, tabloid journalism may provide an alternative, a counter public sphere
accessible to the ordinary people. In their conclusion, Ornebring and Jonsson submit
that,
The populist nature of tabloid journalism may have many faults, but it can
also be seen as an alternative for public discourse, wherein criticism of both
the priviledged political elites and traditional types of public discourse plays a
central role. Tabloid journalism has the ability to broaden the public, giving
news access to groups that previously have not been targeted by the prestige
press, to effect societal change by redefining previously undebatable issues as
in need of debate and give rise to new forms of journalistic discourse that
may be more accessible to the audience and less deferent towards traditional
authority…stimulate political participation, by speaking to the senses and
feeling as well as the rational mind.
With differential and unequal access to the mainstream media which flows from the pattern
of social inequalities existing in the society, tabloid journalism offers spaces for
subordinated social groups to articulate their views, interests, experiences and perspectives
to counter the dominant narrative of the ruling elite. In addition to this is, the tabloid
journalism provides the people an opportunity to see the inanities of the members of the
elite class display in the 'marketplace'. Tabloid journalism thus becomes a discursive space to
laugh at farcical theatrical display of politicians and other elite social groups
On his own part, McNair argues that tabloidization has a democratizing function. According
to him, through such programmes as TV talk shows, the ordinary citizens have access to the
public sphere to contribute to and participate in debates. Though he admits that 'talk show
democracy' is “admittedly a rather noisy spectacle of mass representation in the public
sphere.” However, while the “sound of the crowd isn't always music to the ears but no
democracy worthy of the name ought to exclude it” (McNair, 2000, p. 121). Mediated access,
to McNair, Hibberd and Schlesinger (2003) offers opportunity for critical scrutiny of power
and its users by non-elite social groups.
Defenders of tabloidization and infotainment have also drawn on reception and audience
theory in their argument. It is argued that what Larger calls the 'liberal lament' concerning
“other news” tends to be based on some of the postulates of the now discredited powerful
media effect theory. Rather than seeing the audience as passive recipients of meaning
ascribed in a media text by the source/producer, recent studies have argued that the audience
is active not just in terms of choice but in meaning-making. Scholars have also argued a
particular media message potentially has many meanings embedded in it (Hall, 1980; Parkin,
1972). In the words of John Street, “…no text escapes counter or multiple other readings …
and that all texts are available to countless readings” (Street, 1997, pp. 34, 162), thus allowing
for the possibilities of oppositional or subversive decoding (Liebes, 2005, p.303).

209
That the tabloid media place a lot of emphasis on personalities and personalization, many
defenders have argued does not mean that they do not address issues of social and political
importance. Personalization is a journalistic strategy of representing issues to make them
familiar, concrete and recognisable to the audience. In a discussion of the tabloid press in
Britain, Ian Connell has expressed this point;
Contrary to what has been claimed about the tabloid press, they are every bit
as pre-occupied with social differences and the tensions which arise from
them as serious journalists or for that matter academic sociologists. The
focus on personality and privilege is one of the ways in which these
differences and tensions are represented as concrete and recognizable rather
than remote, abstract categories (Connell, 1992, p.82).
Some writers have also defended popular journalism from the historical opposition between
elite and popular culture. It is a carry-over of earlier criticism levelled at other “lower or
popular cultural forms like comic books and true crime magazines (Biressi and Nunn, 2008,
p.1). To these writers, opposition to tabloidization mirrors the arrogance of the elite and
their intellectual supporters who regard popular cultural forms and expressions as the
debasement of culture and social values. As related to the press, Gripsrud has explained that
“at least since the emergence of the American 'Yellow Press', papers particularly favoured by
'lower-class audiences have been criticized by intellectuals, political left-wingers and the
traditional bourgeois much along the same line as the critiques of popular culture in general”
(Gripsrud, 1992, p. 84). The popular lacks quality, it is of low taste.
Conclusion and recommendation
To curb commodification of news through paid human interest (personality) content in
media, media practitioners should neither solicit nor accepts bribe, gratification or
patronage to suppress or publish information. Soliciting payment for media hype (not for
product/service advertising) has caused the media to deviate from its primary drive.
Commercialization is rapidly eroding standard media drill. Demanding payment for the
publication of news is inimical to the notion of news as a fair, accurate, unbiased and factual
report of an event; thus, such should be shunned.
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