ABSTRACT
The term tabloidization is used by scholars to refer to a real or perceived deterioration of journalistic standards. Use of the term tabloid or tabloidization to refer to style, genre, or notions of quality has become even more widespread as a result of changing modes of news delivery, in particular the relatively diminished place of printed newspapers in the news media landscape. International comparisons in the literature point to the need to study the process of tabloidization within local specificities, rather than viewing it as a homogenous process occurring in the same way around the world. Tabloidization raises questions about journalism cultures, occupational ideologies, normative values, audience preferences, and strategies of appropriation, adaptation, and domestication of genre in different global contexts. In Mexico tabloid news is “primarily a phenomenon of television”, but as in the case of South Africa, some tabloid news in Mexico has more traditional public affairs content than tabloid news in the US or UK.
