What's cheap and sentimental? The tabloids of course!

Stepping into the shoes of the famous elitist F.R. Leavis, the following analysis will completely rip apart a media text which I think the man himself would do if he was still with us! The question: choose a media text that you think Leavis would consider cheap, sentimental and appealing to base emotions. The answer: tabliod newspapers.

So, why do I (and why would Leavis)consider tabloids to be cheap? Well the obvious answer is they are literally - 20p for the Daily Star, 30p for The Sun - compared to The Times/Guardian (90p-£1). But their content is cheap - rumour-led, celeb-based, paparazzi-style gossip. And that's exactly the point - it's all just gossip (look at so-and-so falling out of London club drunk, another cheating footballer gets found out), who cares? (Except for the few million who buy tabloids daily, obviously.)

The pages and pages of celeb gossip and novelty human interest pieces appeal to the very base emotions Leavis describes. A bit of humour, a snigger at the Page 3 air-head's boobs and a sneer at anything else with a hint of serious-news-issue about it. In the eyes of Leavis, it's a paper for the working class, the unruly 'masses' that he feared were a threat to 'culture'.

So, onto the values of the tabloid paper (this shouldn't take long). 'Great literature has values we all recognise and share, and that makes them great' (Leavis). Well, in that case, I'd say that tabloids aren't great literature as I'm struggling to see the values that I share with The Sun. Does it even have any values? It shows commitment to appeal to the supposed values of it's readers - a light take on life, something to brighten up their day. But actual values - I'm stuck!

If I was Leavis, I would say that tabloid newspapers uphold the 'values' of the middle-aged, working class male (whatever they are!) with an interest in sport, women and a dislike of politics. They provide no educational material (no chance of making the 'canon' then) and have no place in middle-class society. They appeal to the populace, who have no air of culture about them whatsoever!

Sufficiently ripped apart I think!