The Decline of Tabloids and Everything Else

By SAM URETSKY

My object all sublime, I shall achieve in time
To make the punishment fit the crime (the punishment fit the crime)
And make each prisoner pent, unwilling represent, a source of innocent merriment (of innocent merriment)
The advertising quack who wearies with tales of countless cures,
His teeth I’ve enacted shall all be extracted by terrified amateurs
W.S. Gilbert (The Mikado)

As Donald Trump came to trial in New York, the government’s first witness was David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. Pecker discussed the nature of the supermarket tabloids, such as the National Enquirer and the Star, and made the point that the only page that matters is the front page. The more notable the celebrity on the front page, the better the sales would be (see Archive.org, which has a collection of front pages from the Enquirer) While the Enquirer still exists as a print edition, its web site features “EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: Heather Locklear Caught Popping Pills! Friends Fear For Troubled Rehab Grad!” The British Royal Family gets a lot of space too.

Actually, the inner pages matter too, if not in selling papers, then at least in selling advertising space. Into the late 20th century, the supermarket tabloids were a rich source of advertisements, largely for weight loss remedies.

In the early part of the century the small local newspapers carried ads for tuberculosis cures and even cancer cures. In the early 20th century, Americans were inundated with ineffective and dangerous drugs, and adulterated and deceptively packaged foods. Worse, consumers had no way of knowing what was actually in the products they bought.

A series titled “The Great American Fraud” by Samuel Hopkins Adams in Collier’s Weekly from 1905 to 1906 was particularly influential in exposing the dangers of unregulated patent medicines and food additives. The passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act marked a monumental shift in the use of government powers to enhance consumer protection by requiring that foods and drugs bear truthful labeling statements and meet certain standards for purity and strength.

The 1906 law required truthful statements about the ingredients of these products, but didn’t required proof of safety and efficacy. Still, it was a start. Today the tabloids advertise wrinkle remover creams, gold colored coins celebrating our nation’s presidents, and whole body pillows

But the local newspapers, which one could rely in large part on patent remedy ads, were closing, or at best discontinuing print editions in favor of a web site. Since 2005, the US has lost nearly 2,900 newspapers. The nation is on pace to lose one-third of all its newspapers by the end of next year. There are about 6,000 newspapers remaining, the vast majority of which are weeklies.

With the decline of supermarket tabloids, the nostrum vendors also moved to the internet, mostly by email. Many of the emails are probably phishing, defined as “… a sneaky attempt by criminals to steal your personal information. It’s like online fishing, where they cast a lure (a fake email, text, or message) to trick you into giving away valuable data.”

There are many offers of remedies for male sexual inadequacy, but other emails promise to “cure” diabetes or tinnitis (ringing in the ears). Toenail fungus or even COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). There are promises to eliminate backache, and knee pain, or any other sort of pain. They offer “OTC Morphine, NOW LEGAL.” (It’s not.)

And so, the man who made a living promoting spurious wrinkle removers, weight loss remedies with no drugs and no dieting, and the man who offered $399 “never surrender” sneakers and a $59.99 “God Bless the USA” Bible were in court breaking up their partnership. They probably deserved each other.

Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said of the ex-president, “He can be out there hawking it all he wants. But to me, it’s just one more moment of hypocrisy, and I hope people step back and look at some of the things he’s said and done in his life … and look at what the teachings of the Bible are and make a decision about who they’re going to support or not.”

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in Louisville, Ky. Email sam.uretsky@gmail.com

From The Progressive Populist, June 15, 2024

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