Different types of newspapers

What is the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers? Does one always deal with more respectable news / produce more professional journalism than the other? Are there in-between types of newspapers?

Broadsheet and tabloid newspapers have quite a number of differences. Firstly, broadsheets are larger, usually about twice the size of a tabloid newspaper. An example of a broadsheet in Singapore is The Straits Times, whereas an example of a tabloid in Singapore is Today. Broadsheets usually tend to report more respectable news and produce more professional journalism than tabloids, which focus more on sensational news. A broadsheet tends to focus more on articles which are more important and relevant to our daily lives, for example, new policies being enforced by the government. As a result, much more details, points of views, et cetera are reported in a broadsheet. In contrast, a tabloid focuses less on important news. If a law was being passed by the government, it would usually only occupy one page of a tabloid, whereas it may cover three to four pages in a broadsheet. The tone of a tabloid is also much less formal and less factual, tending to use slangs and colloquial terms more frequently then broadsheets. Broadsheets are more often than not read by people living in the suburbs, especially those more affluent and educated, as the news it covers have more relevance to them, and because they would be more interested in current events going on in the world. In contrast, tabloids are more usually read by the working class, which are easier to carry and read when going to work on buses and trains. Broadsheet, generally being more upper-class, also tend to have fewer and more subtle pictures, as well as a plainer layout (less colourful, smaller words, et cetera), making it look clean and thus, being better able to attract its main target audience. Tabloids, generally being for the lower social classes, tend to have more pictures, more colour and bold typeface in order to make it look more dramatic and more sensational, thus appealing to its main target audience.

However, there are some exceptions to these generalizations. Some tabloids such as New York Daily News deal with respectable news which has in fact won 10 Pulitzer Prizes. Also, from this analysis, one can find that prejudice exists everywhere and is so common that it manifests itself in the formatting of newspapers. From the way publishers design their newspapers to attract its main target audience, prejudice can clearly be seen. For example, the fact that tabloids have more sensational news and a bolder layout suggests that the working class is ignorant of global and important affairs, as well as that the working class “judges a newspaper by its cover”. In contrast, the broadsheet that is plainer, more in-depth and has more important regional and global affairs being reported suggests that those in the upper-class have a finer culture and are more intellectual and more understanding of global events.