The Brits divide the newspapers into two categories: “quality papers” or broadsheets and “popular papers” or tabloids. I am sure you have heard of the second term, but not on the first one. This is because we like more to read what is popular, what our next-door neighbour reads, we like to read about what X or Y bought from their trip to Uganda, more than we are interested in the discovery of a new vaccine, the release of a new book or the success of a swimming team. We simply don’t care of these things, unless we are part of that swimming team and we are in the staff of the person who travelled in Uganda.
Broadsheets are quality papers which include long information about certain events and persons. The articles written in this type of newspapers have editorial comments and present illustrations. Their main aim is to provide readers a comprehensive coverage of the subjects debated and an analysis of the international and national news of the day. They use a formal, serious tone. The English language used by them is a strict, without errors language. The grammar must be perfect. The best selling quality papers in the United Kingdom are The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent.
The tabloids are called popular press and in their printed version, they are at the half of a broadsheet. They contain a lot of photos and short articles. They are read especially for entertainment, than for the news they present. The emphasis is on sensational scandals, glamorous people, show-business, soap operas, sport and gossip. They use a simple language, which sometimes might be difficult to understand by the foreign readers, thanks to the slang used by the authors of the articles. The word play is used very much here and those who are not accustomed to it, will eventually leave this type of newspapers to some which use an accurate English. They have a great popularity and are better sold compared to broadsheets. The most important tabloid in the UK is The Sun, then it’s The Daily Mirror. The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, which are on the third and fourth positions sell more than the first newspaper, in the broadsheet category.
Let’s see the lexical and stylistic choices when we speak of tabloids and broadsheets. The headline of a tabloid is ambiguous and uses strong words to attract people and to cause a shock. A broadsheet uses a clear statement, tell you the exact information, how many people were there, what they were doing there, what was the name of the location and so on. The whole story is in a nutshell. The opening in the case of tabloids is an extension of the headline. It uses strong words, compared to broadsheets, which are cautious in venturing an opinion.
The body of a tabloid is composed of long sentences and uses strong adjectives and adverbs. The verbs of motion in quick succession are used to suggest the drama of the scene. The broadsheets have a normal length of their sentences and no color is added to the story. The conclusion of a tabloid says it simple: It must be abrupt. In a broadsheet, the conclusion is in fact an objective appraisal of the overall situation.