>I doubt they were as influential in main political discussion as e.g. Fox News seems to be today. Why do you assume that? Absolute garbage tabloids have been

>I doubt they were as influential in main political discussion as e.g. Fox News seems to be today. Why do you assume that? Absolute garbage tabloids have been influencing elections and dominating mainstream political discourse in western countries for decades[1]. In the UK an entire political ideology was created to try and work around the influence of right wing mass media (spoiler: the answer was allowing media barons to dictate policy). If anything tabloid influence is lower today than in the past. Compare the result of the 1992 UK general election with the 2017 one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_The_Sun_Wot_Won_It https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_The_Sun_Wot_Won_It