| dc.description.abstract | The phenomenon of tabloidization enteredthe realmof journalism as an undesirabletrend as early
as 1833 when the “penny press” emerged in US cities. These tabloid papers wrote for
semiliterateindustrial workerswho preferredheavily illustrated news storiesthat concentrated on
sensationand not objectivity; the personal asopposed to the public, as well as scandal, lifestyle
and human sufferingin place of economic and political news. These tabloids built up a
massmarket thatthose in the elitist market started to eye with envy. The result was that
mainstream spreadsheets started sneaking in a few tabloid elements, so as to get abigger share of
the readership, that had got addicted to the entertaining style and layout of the tabloid papers.
This study aimed atassessing the extent to which TheStandard newspaper, a
traditionalspreadsheet, has tabloidised its layout due to market pressure. The Standard is the
second largestdaily in Kenyain terms of circulation. Many elitist dailies have embraced elements
of tabloidization in their layout, in order to get an edge in thecompetition for market share. The
study found thatthe layout of TheStandard was toan extent tabloidized. Among other things, the
front pages were manipulated to increasethe visual effect so as to create an urge to buy among
the readers. Pictures chosen to illustrate some stories were too graphic and carried
emotivesemiotic messages. Some pages were crowded with tiny storiesthat lackeddepth detail
and analysis. Based on the agenda setting theory and the visual semiotics theory, this study used
the qualitative analysis of layouts of pages of The Standard, as well as photographs from the
editions of the paper, selected from the years between 1995 and 2015. The study confirmed the
incidence of tabloid elements inthe layout of The Standard. | en_US |
