6 ms·

To Understand 'Brexit,' Look to Britain’s Tabloids

16 points by open-source-ux 10y ago

lomnakkus 10y ago
I wonder what demographic buys the most tabloids, because AFAIUI the Brexit support was skewed hugely towards rural (and non-Scottish/NI) areas. (I might have missed it in my extremely quick skim, but I don't think the article actually touched on this... which is suprising. I mean, it did mention something about "outside London", but...?)
- georgespencer 10y ago
  Rural, and older, and less likely to be educated to degree level.
- monk_e_boy 10y ago
  I used to deliver papers (this was a few years ago) but a good cross section of the community read tabloids (maybe with a broadsheets or two) so from the crappy little run down estate houses to the more affluent 'mini-mansions'
- cstross 10y ago
  Note that the tabloids have different Scottish editions with radically different editorial policies; the Scottish Sun and the Scottish Daily Mail, while visibly close siblings of their English sister-papers, often cover headline topics (and editorialize) in diametrically opposite directions on key issues (such as Europe, England/Scotland relations, etc). I can quite understand this distinction eluding a NYTimes reporter, though — it's not widely recognized even in England.
  - rmc 10y ago
    The same thing happens in Ireland with those newspapers. For example, when Martin McGuinness died a few weeks ago, the newspapers had radically different front pages: http://www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/C7gsyt4XQAA-efu.jpg http://www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/C7gsyt4X... https://1k95i3bqziq3bboq03r87f8x-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/sunmail-960x718.jpg https://1k95i3bqziq3bboq03r87f8x-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-...
  - oska 10y ago
    From the article: > Other newspapers in Mr. Murdoch’s group supported remaining in the European Union, Mr. Gallagher noted, reflecting the views of their readers. Among that group was the Scottish edition of The Sun, which like Scottish voters backed Remain.
  - lomnakkus 10y ago
    Oh, that's very interesting -- even though I like to think of myself as quite familiar with British culture (etc.) I had no idea!
chmaynard 10y ago
Wonderful article, entertaining and well-written. I wish the NYT would publish more stories like this.
tetraodonpuffer 10y ago
even if you don't buy the tabloids, wouldn't seeing the headlines over and over in all newsstands while you are walking around still influence you more or less subliminally? And obviously since the point of a headline is to get you to buy the paper, the incentive is to make it as purchase-baity and truth-stretching as possible Seems that for the press there can be influence even without an actual sale.
Safety1stClyde 10y ago
> Mr. Johnson, wild-haired and witty Boris has never struck me as witty.
NTDF9 10y ago
There is a major design flaw in democracy. Democracy works on majority votes which is a form of consensus. - If the majority believe that money is important, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that God exists and rules on us, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that paparazzi are smart, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that the leaders have their best interests at heart, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that Trump is smarter than Obama, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that science and climate change are phony, then they'll vote to reflect that The only and only way to mitigate the effect of this bug is to have a well-educated set of majority voters. Unfortunately, for far too many years, school-districting and "choice" of education to young kids has under-educated the masses...resulting in voters genuinely believing crap to be true. The result is Brexit and Trump. When the critical mass of our populace prefers news from tabloids and facebook and are unable to think for themselves, there's really not much democracy can do.
- Safety1stClyde 10y ago
  I won't comment on Trump, but repeating the mantra that the Brexit vote was due to stupidity on the part of voters over and over again not only won't make it true, it didn't work to convince the leavers to vote remain. There is a very interesting failure of imagination of the remain campaign in assuming that their best interests were the same as other people's, and denigrating or dismissing other people's concerns as due to stupidity or racism. The Brexit vote result is a comeupance for this self-serving elite.
  - NTDF9 10y ago
    >> There is a very interesting failure of imagination of the remain campaign in assuming that their best interests were the same as other people's, and denigrating or dismissing other people's concerns as due to stupidity or racism. The Brexit vote result is a comeupance for this self-serving elite. I'm not saying that they didn't vote with their best interest at heart. But best self-interest with incomplete information can lead to disasters. Let's say brexit causes some other country in EU to become the financial powerhouse of the region, means a lot of jobs get out of the UK, which means more strain on social services and lower value of investments already made by said voters, which means poorer retirement. The above could well be right or wrong. But do you really think the average citizen actually thought about all this? Or did they just charge out because they "felt" left out? Given a choice, most citizens' self interest dictates cheap housing, education and healthcare with lower taxes. Self-interest asks for wealth without working. Just voting it into law without understanding the repercussions is a recipe for disaster.
xmj 10y ago
To understand Trump, look at the NYT.

I wonder what demographic buys the most tabloids, because AFAIUI the Brexit support was skewed hugely towards rural (and non-Scottish/NI) areas. (I might have missed it in my extremely quick skim, but I don't think the article actually touched on this... which is suprising. I mean, it did mention something about "outside London", but...?)

georgespencer 10y ago
Rural, and older, and less likely to be educated to degree level.
monk_e_boy 10y ago
I used to deliver papers (this was a few years ago) but a good cross section of the community read tabloids (maybe with a broadsheets or two) so from the crappy little run down estate houses to the more affluent 'mini-mansions'
cstross 10y ago
Note that the tabloids have different Scottish editions with radically different editorial policies; the Scottish Sun and the Scottish Daily Mail, while visibly close siblings of their English sister-papers, often cover headline topics (and editorialize) in diametrically opposite directions on key issues (such as Europe, England/Scotland relations, etc). I can quite understand this distinction eluding a NYTimes reporter, though — it's not widely recognized even in England.
- rmc 10y ago
  The same thing happens in Ireland with those newspapers. For example, when Martin McGuinness died a few weeks ago, the newspapers had radically different front pages: http://www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/C7gsyt4XQAA-efu.jpg http://www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/C7gsyt4X... https://1k95i3bqziq3bboq03r87f8x-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/sunmail-960x718.jpg https://1k95i3bqziq3bboq03r87f8x-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-...
- oska 10y ago
  From the article: > Other newspapers in Mr. Murdoch’s group supported remaining in the European Union, Mr. Gallagher noted, reflecting the views of their readers. Among that group was the Scottish edition of The Sun, which like Scottish voters backed Remain.
- lomnakkus 10y ago
  Oh, that's very interesting -- even though I like to think of myself as quite familiar with British culture (etc.) I had no idea!

chmaynard 10y ago

Wonderful article, entertaining and well-written. I wish the NYT would publish more stories like this.

tetraodonpuffer 10y ago

even if you don't buy the tabloids, wouldn't seeing the headlines over and over in all newsstands while you are walking around still influence you more or less subliminally? And obviously since the point of a headline is to get you to buy the paper, the incentive is to make it as purchase-baity and truth-stretching as possible Seems that for the press there can be influence even without an actual sale.

Safety1stClyde 10y ago

> Mr. Johnson, wild-haired and witty Boris has never struck me as witty.

NTDF9 10y ago

There is a major design flaw in democracy. Democracy works on majority votes which is a form of consensus. - If the majority believe that money is important, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that God exists and rules on us, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that paparazzi are smart, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that the leaders have their best interests at heart, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that Trump is smarter than Obama, then they'll vote to reflect that - If the majority believe that science and climate change are phony, then they'll vote to reflect that The only and only way to mitigate the effect of this bug is to have a well-educated set of majority voters. Unfortunately, for far too many years, school-districting and "choice" of education to young kids has under-educated the masses...resulting in voters genuinely believing crap to be true. The result is Brexit and Trump. When the critical mass of our populace prefers news from tabloids and facebook and are unable to think for themselves, there's really not much democracy can do.

Safety1stClyde 10y ago
I won't comment on Trump, but repeating the mantra that the Brexit vote was due to stupidity on the part of voters over and over again not only won't make it true, it didn't work to convince the leavers to vote remain. There is a very interesting failure of imagination of the remain campaign in assuming that their best interests were the same as other people's, and denigrating or dismissing other people's concerns as due to stupidity or racism. The Brexit vote result is a comeupance for this self-serving elite.
- NTDF9 10y ago
  >> There is a very interesting failure of imagination of the remain campaign in assuming that their best interests were the same as other people's, and denigrating or dismissing other people's concerns as due to stupidity or racism. The Brexit vote result is a comeupance for this self-serving elite. I'm not saying that they didn't vote with their best interest at heart. But best self-interest with incomplete information can lead to disasters. Let's say brexit causes some other country in EU to become the financial powerhouse of the region, means a lot of jobs get out of the UK, which means more strain on social services and lower value of investments already made by said voters, which means poorer retirement. The above could well be right or wrong. But do you really think the average citizen actually thought about all this? Or did they just charge out because they "felt" left out? Given a choice, most citizens' self interest dictates cheap housing, education and healthcare with lower taxes. Self-interest asks for wealth without working. Just voting it into law without understanding the repercussions is a recipe for disaster.

xmj 10y ago

To understand Trump, look at the NYT.