Book review: A forensic examination of the gutter press’s race to the bottom

The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism is a thoroughly researched, well-crafted history of tabloid journalism from the 16th century right through to the clickbait journalism of today

Terry Kirby argues convincingly that the line between the third and fourth estate has gradually eroded in Britain over the last few decades. Picture: Max Kirby

• The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism 
• Terry Kirby
• Reaktion Books €22.99 

Citizen Kane (1941) is often described as the most influential movie ever made. The main character, Charles Foster Kane, is loosely based on American media mogul, William Randolph Hearst, who developed the largest newspaper chain and media company in the United States, Hearst Communications.

Hearst began his career in 1887, aged 24, taking over the San Francisco Examiner from his father, George, who struggled to make it profitable. By 1890, the paper’s circulation had tripled.

“The young Hearst demonstrated an extraordinary insight concerning journalism of the future,” writes English journalist, author, and academic, Terry Kirby, in The Newsmongers: A History of Tabloid Journalism.

The book is a thoroughly researched, well-crafted history of tabloid journalism from the 16th century right through to the clickbait journalism of today.

The real star of Kirby’s book, though, is Alfred Harmsworth who became a newspaper man in 1894, when he bought the near bankrupt London Evening News. Within a year, it was the world’s biggest selling evening newspaper.

Harmsworth dominated the newspaper business in early 20th century Britain — he founded the Daily Mirror in 1903 and bought The Times in 1908. He died as Lord Northcliffe, aged 57, in August 1922. His media empire was passed onto his younger brother, Harold, then known as Lord Rothermere.

During the inter-war years, his papers championed Mussolini and Hitler. Closer to home, Rothermere backed the British Union of Fascists, and their thuggish street gang associates, the Blackshirts. In the summer of 1939, just before Nazi Germany invaded Poland, Rothermere wrote a letter to Hitler praising his “superhuman work”.

An omen? The British tabloid press in the post-war period was dominated by outsiders. Robert Maxwell rose from poverty in Czechoslovakia, to become an academic publishing magnate, and a UK Labour Party MP. A crude egomaniac, Maxwell acquired the Daily Mirror in 1984 but his life ended in disgrace.

The body of the millionaire publisher was found in early November 1991 off the coast of Tenerife. Maxwell was said to have fallen off the back of the yacht, Lady Ghislaine. He named it after his favourite daughter, who later became a criminal accomplice to serial sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. 

Prior to his death, Robert Maxwell had defaulted on $2bn worth of loans and subsequently raided millions of pounds from his company’s retirement fund, even stealing from his own staff’s pensions and shares in Britain’s Mirror Group.

Robert Maxwell acquired the Daily Mirror in 1984 but his life ended in disgrace. File photo

Rupert Murdoch, by contrast, was — and still is — a shrewd operator. He arrived in Britain, in late October 1968, aged 37. He was then already owner of a growing media empire in Australia that was started by his father.

When Keith Murdoch became editor of the Melbourne Herald in January 1921, Lord Northcliffe (who was a good friend) sent him advice on how to make a newspaper profitable. Later that year, Northcliffe sent Murdoch £5,000 (£300,000 in today’s money) to help him purchase the Sydney Morning Herald. By the mid-1980s, Murdoch owned The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and the News of the World.

That decade, as market competition increased, the British tabloid press gradually evolved into the gutter press. Kirby examines this topic with forensic analysis.

The emergence of HIV/Aids during the early 1980s, which devastated gay communities across the world, prompted little sympathy from the British tabloids. Typically, they sneered and mocked homosexuality.

When EastEnders broadcasted the first ever gay kiss in a British soap in 1989, The Sun published a front-page story titled “Eastbenders”. The article was written by Piers Morgan, then a young reporter for the paper, who wrote a regular column, The Poofs of Pop, where he speculated on whether various male pop stars were gay. 

There were numerous complaints made to Britain’s Press Council over these stories, which the Sun’s then-editor, Kelvin MacKenzie rejected. But Rupert Murdoch “seemed unconcerned”, as Kirby puts it.

Rupert Murdoch 'seemed unconcerned' by Piers Morgan's regular column in The Sun, The Poofs of Pop, where he speculated on whether various male pop stars were gay. File photo: Arthur Edwards/PA/News International (NI Group Ltd)

By July 2011, however, Murdoch had much to be concerned about. In fact, he voluntarily closed down his paper, the News of the World — after evidence emerged that a private investigator working there, Glenn Mulcaire, had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl, Milly Fowler. 

Journalists at the paper regularly used Mulcaire as a reliable source for stories they printed. The scandal led to then-British prime minister, David Cameron, to launch the Leveson inquiry, which began that year. It was supposed to bring back credibility and accountability to a press culture that was poisoned by years of criminal and unethical behaviour. 

In practice, after Leveson, the British media grew even more aggressive.

In April 2015, Katie Hopkins published an article in The Sun claiming that all migrants coming to Britain by boat are “cockroaches”. The new press watchdog, ipso, set up after Leveson, accepted the paper’s defence that as an opinion piece, it was fair game.

In November 2016, the Daily Mail ran a headline describing “Enemies of the People”. The story, written by the paper’s political editor, James Slack, claimed several High Court judges were risking a constitutional crisis. Actually, the judges were merely pointing out that Brexit needed to be passed in the House of Commons to become legally binding. 

Slack later went to work as a press officer for British prime minister, Theresa May. It’s a route many prominent members of the British press have made. Take Andy Coulson, for instance. He was editor of the News of the World from 2003 to 2007. He stepped down after being given the director of communications job for the Conservative Party, staying in that role until January 2011.

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In July 2014, Coulson was jailed for 18 months for plotting to hack phones while he was editor of the News of the World.

In October 2013, evidence emerged in London’s Old Bailey that Coulson, while working at the News of the World, had a secret six-year affair with a fellow editor, Rebekah Brooks, while they both plotted to hack phones at the paper.

Between 2003 and 2009, Brooks was editor of The Sun. Kirby cites a text message Brooks sent to David Cameron (then leader of the opposition) on October 7, 2009, on the eve of his Tory conference speech. “I am so rooting for you tomorrow not just as a proud friend but because professionally we’re definitely in this together! Speech of your life? Yes he Cam,” wrote Brooks.

“That last phrase was the Sun’s headline the day after the speech,” Kirby explains.

He argues convincingly that the line between the third and fourth estate has gradually eroded in Britain over the last few decades — where a motley crew of hacks, editors, press barons, and members of parliament, including several prime ministers, have all become a little too chummy for comfort.

Kirby gives the last word to Britain's Prince Harry, the duke of Sussex. Last December, he was awarded £146,000 following a successful legal fight against The Mirror’s publisher at the High Court in London, who ruled that he had been the victim of information gathering, including phone-hacking.

“Our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government — both of which I believe are at rock bottom,” the duke of Sussex told the court in a witness statement that day. 

“Democracy fails when your press fails to scrutinise and hold the government accountable, and instead choose to get into bed with them so they can ensure the status quo.”

A British royal giving a lecture about democratic values? It’s a bit rich. But he certainly has a point.

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